Device for detecting electrical currents on or in the vicinity of electrical conductors

A device for detecting electrical currents on or in the vicinity of an electrical conductor with at least one reed contact as a magnetically responsive switch, which is arranged in the vicinity of the electrical conductor such that, when there is a significant current flow of more than 50 A up to 200 kA through the conductor, the developing magnetic field triggers the switch and initiates an evaluation electronics connected to the switch,

• characterized in that
• for detecting surge current variables and differentiating long-term pulse currents, on the one hand, and short-time pulse currents, on the other, a plurality of reed contacts (4;
• 5;
• 6) is arranged in a predefined distance from the electrical conductor (8), wherein the evaluation electronics (2) determines the response and the switching times of the respective reed contacts (4;
• 5;
• 6), from the allocation of the determined values to the respective reed contact, the surge current variable is detected, and from the switching time, the pulse shape is detected, wherein, for setting the response behavior, at least one of the reed contacts (9) has a shield for influencing the magnetic field (B) acting upon the respective reed contact (9).