The Importance of Measurement

The world we live in often revolves around numbers, from the numbers in our bank accounts to the square footage of our homes to the number of cups of coffee we need in the morning. However, not everything is measure in the same units. Pizza’s come in a variety of slices, TV screens are measured in inches, and your cup of coffee holds 10 fluid ounces. Electricity is no different as it is measured by a certain unit; transformers measure the amount of current that is flowing in an electrical grid circuit.

Transformer manufacturers must take a number of factors into account when building a transformer to ensure accuracy. Some of the factors to consider include: burden class/saturation class, temperature, load, physical configuration, rating factor, external electromagnetic fields and many more. The build of an electric transformer is simply a primary winding, secondary winding and a magnetic core. The current flows in the primary creating a current in the second winding through the magnetic core. When both of these circuits are working properly an accurate reading can be produced.

Each country has a different way of measuring current transformers, so manufacturers must pay attention to the transformers destination while building it. The two main units of measurement are IEC 60044-1 (BSEN 60044-1) and IEEE C57.13 (ANSI). It is important to ensure constant electric supply through measurements to ensure we can all carry on with our day to day lives.