In electrical and electronic engineering, a current clamp or current probe is an electrical device having two jaws which open to allow clamping around an electrical conductor. This allows properties of the electric current in the conductor to be measured, without having to make physical contact with it, or to disconnect it for insertion through the probe. Current clamps are usually used to read the magnitude of a sinusoidal current (as invariably used in alternating current (AC) power distribution systems), but in conjunction with more advanced instrumentation the phase and waveform are available. Very high alternating currents (1000 A and more) are easily read with an appropriate meter; direct currents, and very low AC currents (milliamperes) are more difficult to measure.
Read more about Current Clamp: Clamp Meter
Famous quotes containing the word current:
“It is a quite remarkable fact that the great religions of the most civilized peoples are more deeply fraught with sadness than the simpler beliefs of earlier societies. This certainly does not mean that the current of pessimism is eventually to submerge the other, but it proves that it does not lose ground and that it does not seem destined to disappear.”
—Emile Durkheim (1858–1917)