A Simplified Tilt-Resilient Probe Design for Noninvasive Current Measurement Using Magnetic Sensors

This article presents a new simplified design of a noninvasive current probe that accurately measures current flowing through a conductor using magnetic sensors. The innovative design incorporates four magnetic sensors on the base of a 3-D printed current probe. A suitable interface circuit processes the output of the magnetic sensors of the probe to accurately determine the unknown current. The probe head is suitably designed to have a pointed axis of axial length
$R$
to accurately place the magnetic sensors at a calibrated distance
$R$
from the center of the conductor. Experimental validation was conducted on a prototype of the proposed current probe and the effect of the tilt of the probe in three-dimensional space was studied. The prototype of the current probe was designed for a range of (0–50) A. The accuracy of the designed current probe is observed to be 1.83 % when measuring a current range of (0–15) A and 0.93 % for a current range of (16–50) A. The proposed design ensures accurate positioning and orientation of the current probe for current measurement with fewer positional adjustments required to compensate for the effect of tilt compared to previous topology.