Development of Battery-Less Wireless Current Sensor Node Utilizing Charging Time of Capacitors with Wide Measurement Range

Abstract

We report a novel battery-less wireless current sensor node without an analog to digital converter (ADC). If a capacitor is charged using a current transformer (CT) and a rectifying circuit, the charging time depends on the current flowing through a power line. In the case that the node transmits data every time when voltage of the capacitor exceeds a threshold voltage, we can indirectly measure the current by measuring the transmission intervals. In this method, the circuit of the node can be simplified and power consumption for the wireless transmission can be decreased because the measured current data does not need to be included in the transmitted packet. However, the measurable range is about single digit because the transmission interval decreases suddenly as the current increases. In this work, we have ex- panded the range using one CT, one wireless transmission module, and two charging circuits that include different load resistors connected in series. The results indicated that the measurable range was from 0.5 A to 50 A.