I was just thinking about core saturation and how it might be detected/measured and I remembered something about current transformers being ruined if they were allowed to saturate. Am I remembering correctly? Previously I had been thinking that saturation was a harmless event -- if currents were limited. Yes or no?
Thanks
You can magnetize a CT by running it without a burden resistor, and that will subsequently mess up low-current accuracy. But it's easy to demagnetize it and fix it.
In an extreme case, I guess you could arc it over or something, but that's not common.
Core saturation is normally a reversible process.
It doesn't ruin the transformer - it ruins the waveform and you get an inaccurate answer.
And in a current transformer application, the primary current is limited by the load itself, so that's certainly not a problem, but do pay attention to that burden resistor! :-)
Good Luck! Rich
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