What type of sensor is this?

[Upbeat1]

Hi everyone,

what is the type of sensor in the iVac Pro Tool Plus called? The device can be seen in this youtube video:

At the moment I am using a current transformer clamp to detect if current is flowing through an AC carrying cable. However, at the moment I have to split the wires out so I can clamp about a single wire so that the signal doesn't cancel each other out. I am looking to find out the sensor that would let me achieve this fully non-invasive.

Thank you very much1

Kind regards
Upbeat1

 

[rjenkinsgb]

The fact that it says the clamp must be adjusted on the cable until it works correctly implies a capacitive voltage sensor (like a "Voltstick" style sensor) picking up the live core of the power cable, once power is switched on.

If it is that, it would not work to sense a load on a permanently powered cable, as that's always live.

 

[JimB]

I think that it works using a Hall effect sensor.

Normally we would expect that with the close proximity of the line and neutral wires, the magnetic fields would cancel, rendering the Hall sensor ineffective.

But if the Hall sensor was positioned so that it was close to either the line or neutral wire, at a point where there was minimal cancellation of the magnetic field by positioning of the device along the cable for best detection, it may be possible to detect the flow of current in the cable.

JimB