Packaged current-sensing device with self-biased magnetoelectric laminate for low-frequency weak-current detection

Abstract

A packaged current sensor consisting of a SmFe2/PZT/SmFe2 self-biased magnetoelectric (ME) laminate and a Fe73.5Cu1Nb3Si13.5B9 nanocrystalline flux concentrator for weak-current detection at the power-line frequency is fabricated and characterized. The giant magnetostrictive material of the SmFe2 plate with its large anisotropic constant provides a huge internal anisotropic field to bias the ME transducer in a closed magnetic loop. Consequently, the additional magnetomotive force induced by the internal field and the corresponding increased effective permeability contribute to an improvement in sensitivity. Experimental results demonstrate that the presented sensor has a higher sensitivity of 152 mV A−1 at 50 Hz with a slight nonlinearity of ∼0.01% FS and matches well with the predicted value. This current-sensing device exhibits approximately 2.3 times higher sensitivity than does conventional ME composite with PZT and Terfenol-D plates serving as the key sensitive component. In addition, the packaged sensor is evaluated for a long period of 72 h to determine stability over time, and the results are analyzed by means of a mathematical statistics method; favorable stability with an uncertainty of 0.5 μV is obtained in continuous 1 h testing. These results represent a significant advancement in the development of promising applications of tri-layer self-biased ME laminate for monitoring power-line electric cords.

Enhanced magnetoelectric voltage in ferrite/PZT/ferrite composite for AC current sensor application

“…Recently, the progress made in the field of magnetoelectric (ME) laminate composites allows potential high performance applications such as magnetic field sensors [2][3][4][5], current sensors [6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16], gyrators [17], filters [18] and more recently, memory devices [19][20][21][22][23]. In the field of current sensors, magnetoelectric composites show many advantages : (i) high performances, (ii) low cost, (iii) power supply free, (iv) galvanic isolation and (v) simplified electronic circuits [24].…”

Review of Magnetoelectric Sensors

“…In Figure 12b, they compared the detection ability at 119.75 kHz (resonance) and 1kHz (off-resonance), respectively. A linear output response was obtained for both cases, and the output sensitivity measured at resonance was roughly one order of magnitude higher [78].…”

“…Figure 12. (a) Schematic and photograph of the current-sensing device; (b) Comparison of the sensitivities measured at low frequency and resonant frequency[78]. (c) Measured ME voltage response with respect to an aluminum pipe with a 10 mm crack in the center (the inset highlighted by dashed line showed the structure of the ME ECT probe).…”

A High-Resolution Electric Current Sensor Employing a Piezoelectric Drum Transducer

“…In recent years, magnetoelectric (ME) mechanisms have been reported for energy harvesting [5][6][7][8][9] and current sensing [10][11][12]. ME structures can be used as electric current sensors by coupling the magnetic field generated by the alternating currents [13][14][15][16][17][18].…”