Comparative Analysis of Current Transducers for Development of Smart Plug through Rank Order Centroid Method

The development of electronic design evolves every day. The adequate selection of electronic components is at the heart of a project's success. Therefore, it is necessary to make a preliminary study of the characteristics of the components to be used in order to select the most appropriate ones for each application. For a smart plug project, an essential part is the current measurement system where the transducer represents a critical component. In this context, this paper makes a comparative study among three current transducer technologies: hall effect sensor, current transformer (CT) and shunt resistor. The applied current was measured by conducting a test using an existing sensor available on the market for each technology. In addition, a comparative analysis of the characteristics of the transducers was carried out and for some transducers both qualitative and quantitative analysis were undertaken. Finally, a multicriteria technique is used in the selection of transducers, taking into consideration the weight defined for each criteria in the project, using the mathematical process ROC (Rank Order Centroid). From the analysis, we can state that the hall effect sensor presents the best results when compared to the other transducers.