Sensitivity enhancement of the flexible inductive coil tag using magnetic C-clamp stripes for the current detection of household two-wire power lines

This paper presents a sensitivity enhancement scheme for the flexible inductive coil tag used for the current detection of household two-wire power lines. Experimental results show that the inductive coil tag can exhibit a larger induced voltage by the introduction of the magnetic C-clamp stripes that can guide and concentrate the magnetic flux in the center area of the inductive coil. For a 30-turns inductive coil, the incorporation of a 2μm thick Ni and NiFe C-clamp stripes with 14.5 mm in length and ~20μm in height onto the coil can provide 15.5% and 37.2% sensitivity enhancement, respectively, for detecting 1A, 60Hz electric current flow in a SPT-2 16AWG power line.