NON-INVASIVE, NON CONTACT, MULTICONDUCTOR CURRENT SENSOR

POWER MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL ARE MAJOR ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND ENERGY CONSERVATION GROWTH INDUSTRIES. NEWLY PATENTED CURRENT TO VOLTAGE TRANSDUCER (CVT) TECHNOLOGY IS SMALLER, SAFER AND LESS EXPENSIVE THAN CTS. IN ADDITION, THIS NON-CONTACT CVT MONITORS CURRENT IN MULTICONDUCTOR CABLES NON-INVASIVELY--CTS CANNOT. RESEARCH IS NEEDED TO EXPAND THE UNDERSTANDING, EASE OF APPLICATION AND ACCURACY OF THESE CVTS. A THEORETICAL MODEL OF THE BEHAVIOR OF MAGNETIC FIELDS AROUND MULTIPLE, CURRENT CARRYING CONDUCTORS WILL BE DEVELOPED, ESPECIALLY AS IT PERTAINS TO WIRE GAUGE, CONDUCTOR SPACING AND WIRE TYPE. THIS MODEL WILL BE COMPARED TO AND REFINED WITH TEST DATA. EXPERIMENTAL RESEARCH WILL CHARACTERIZE THE VARIABLESIN MULTICONDUCTOR CABLES OF DIFFERENT WIRE GAUGES AND TYPES FROM DIFFERENT MANUFACTURERS. PHASE I WILL FOCUS ON CURRENTMEASUREMENTS WITH NM 14-8 GAUGE CABLES. THESE DATA WILL BE ANALYZED TO PRODUCE EQUATIONS THAT PREDICT SIGNAL OUTPUT FOR THE SENSOR FOR EACH WIRE TYPE AND GAUGE. EACH GAUGE WILL HAVE DIFFERENT "K" COEFFICIENTS. THE WIRE TYPES AND WIRE GAUGE DATA BECOME THE ONLY INPUTS A USER NEEDS TO GIVE TO A MICROPROCESSOR IN THE FIELD; THESE INPUTS ARE READILY AVAILABLE. PHASE II WILL EXTEND THE WORK TO SE 8-4(0) CABLEAND EXPAND UNDERSTANDING OF THE TECHNOLOGY'S MULTICONDUCTOR,NON-INVASIVE VOLTAGE MEASURING CAPABILITY.