A comprehensive design method of an active electronic current transformer for stable energy harvesting from power lines

Abstract The real‐time monitoring technology of power line is an important guarantee for the digitization and intelligence of the modern power system. Traditional current transformers cannot provide continuous and stable energy when the power line current fluctuates in a large range. This paper proposes a comprehensive design method of an active electronic current transformer (AECT) based on a single‐phase full‐bridge voltage‐type PWM rectifier (VSR), which can acquire continuous and stable energy from the power line with a minimum magnetic core. The control of the AECT is divided into four different operation modes to adapt the fluctuation of primary current. Maximum power point tracking (MPPT) mode and minimum loss (ML) mode is designed to harvest the maximum power with lower iron core loss when the primary current is relatively low. Excitation mode and demagnetization mode are designed to harvest stable power when the primary current is higher than a certain current. The specific mode operation principles and control strategies are analysed in detail. Besides, the calculation method of the primary current is also presented for the primary current measurement. Finally, simulations and experiments verify that the iron core can obtain power steadily (9.91 W/kg) when the current fluctuation between 50 and 600 A.