Magnetoelectric DC current sensor operating in d₃₆ face-shear mode for smart grid application

A DC current sensor based on magnetoelectric (ME) coupling effect operating in d₃₆ face-shear mode is proposed, which consists of the Metglas/PMN-PT magnetoelectric composite, a rigid base, a magnetic core, an excitation coil, and a pair of permanent magnets. Within the linear range up to 2.5–10 mT, the magnetoelectric magnetic field sensor exhibits a linearity of 0.935, a sensitivity of 1.57 mV/mT, and a resolution of 2 μT. Under the excitation of 0.01 mT AC magnetic field at 20 kHz, the proposed ME current sensor reveals the ability to detect DC current. Experimental results show that the ME current sensor operating in d₃₆ face-shear mode achieves high precision in the range of 0–210 A, with a full-scale error of 0.99 %FS and a sensitivity of 0.055 mV/A, which is potentially useful for DC current monitoring and measurement in smart grid.