Estudo de transformadores de corrente ópticos e seu panorama no Paraná

Abstract

Instrument transformers (IT) are used to reduce current or voltage values of the electric power system (EPS) to values which are tolerated by the measurement, control and protection instruments, without changing its nature. The actual EPS is composed by conventional current transformers (CT) and voltage transformers (PT), with ferromagnetic core. Most problems of conventional CTs are caused by their core saturation. To reduce this kind of problem, a new type of TI was developed: optical ITs. These new equipaments do not have a ferromagnetic core and work based on electrical and magnetic field effects on polarized light waves, especially on Pockels and Faraday effects, in PTs and CTs, respectively. This academic work seeks to enable a greater understanding of CTs by students and professionals, as to divulge and compare them to conventional CTs and to analyze their panorama on the state of Paraná. Those CTs are connected to the measurement equipment through optical fibers, what allows a communication based on the IEC 61850 standard. Due to the conservative character of the electric industry and to the fact that it is a new technology, the power distribution companies seek more results that prove the efficiency of this equipment.