A Current Transformer Energy Harvester with Stable Output Based on the
Saturable Magnetic Core
Abstract
One of the major bottlenecks of the traditional Current Transformer
Energy Harvester (CTEH) is the instable output induced by the wide-range
variations of the current in transmission lines. In this work, a novel
CTEH capable of generating a stable output is demonstrated by using a
core fabricated with saturable magnetic material. The stable output of
the CTEH is enabled by the constant voltage-time product in its
saturable characteristic. The proposed CTEH is implemented with a
resistive load representing the load of electronic devices. When the
current in the primary side of the CTEH’s increases from 1A to 1000A,
the maximum power on the load can reach about 0.5W, demonstrating the
feasibility of using the CTEH with the saturable magnetic core as a
quasi-stable power supply.