Measurement of high

AC voltages

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 1
Measurement of high AC voltages
• Measurement of high a.c. voltages employ conventional
methods like series impedance voltmeters, potential dividers,
potential transformers, or electrostatic voltmeters.
• But their designs are different from those of low voltage
meters, as the insulation design and source loading are the
important criteria.
• When only peak value measurement is needed, peak
voltmeters and sphere gaps can be used. Often, sphere gaps
are used for calibration purposes.
• Impulse and high frequency a.c. measurements invariably use
potential dividers with a cathode ray oscillograph for recording
voltage waveforms.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 2
 Problems in pure resistance used
for measurement
For power frequency a.c. measurements the series impedance
may be a pure resistance or a reactance.

• Power losses more

• Variation of resistance with temperature

• Residual inductance of the resistance gives rise to impedance

different from its ohmic values

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 3
 Series impedance voltmeter
• High resistance units for high voltages have stray capacitances
and hence a unit resistance will have an equivalent circuit as
follows.

Z = (R+jwL)/(1-w2LC+jwcR).
If wL and wC are small, Z=R(1+(jwL/R)+jwCR-w2LC)/(1+w2R2C2)

If w2LC and 1+w2R2C2 are neglected, Z=R(1+j(wL/R)-wCR)

Phase angle=tan =wL/R-wCR

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 4
 Series impedance voltmeter
• For extended and large dimensioned resistors, this equivalent
circuit is not valid and each elemental resistor has to be
approximated with this equivalent circuit.

• The entire resistor unit then has to be taken as a transmission

line equivalent, for calculating the effective resistance.

• Also, the ground or stray capacitance of each element

influences the current flowing in the unit, and the indication of
the meter results in an error.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 5
Extended series resistance
voltmeter
 Ground capacitance or stray
capacitance influences the meter
current.

 It can be removed by shielding the

resistor R by a second surrounding
spiral Rs.

 Rs does not contribute the current

through the instrument.

 Tuning resistor Ra is adjusted to get

minimum phase angle between
shield and measuring resistors.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 6
Series capacitance voltmeter
 It is used with cascaded transformer
for measuring rms values up to
1000kV.

 A rectifier ammeter is used . The

meter was usually a 0-100 µA
moving coil meter and the over all
error was about 2%.

 This method is not recommended

when a.c. voltages are not pure
sinusoidal waves but contain
considerable harmonics.
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 7
 Series capacitance voltmeter
• The current Ic through the meter is:

• If the a.c. voltage contains harmonics, error due to changes in

series impedance occurs.
• The rms value of the voltage V with harmonics is given by

• Hence, the resultant rms current is:

•
• With a 10% fifth harmonic only, the current is 11.2% higher,
and hence the error is 11.2% in the voltage measurement.
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 8
Capacitance potential divider
The errors due to harmonic voltages can
be eliminated by the use of capacitive
voltage dividers with an electrostatic
voltmeter or a high impedance meter
C2 has mica or paper as insulating
media.

C1 is a three terminal device and

connected through shielded cable.
Operation:

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 9
Capacitance voltage transformer(CVT)
• Capacitance divider with a suitable matching or isolating
potential transformer tuned for resonance condition is often
used in power systems for voltage measurements. This is
often referred to as CVT.

• In contrast to simple capacitance divider which requires a high

impedance meter or an electrostatic condenser voltmeter, a
CVT can be connected to a low impedance device like a
condenser wattmeter pressure coil.

• CVT can supply a load of a few VA.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 10
Capacitance voltage transformer(CVT)

A matching transformer is connected between the load or meter M and C2.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 11
 Capacitance voltage transformer
• High voltage winding rating-10 to 30kV
• Low voltage winding rating -100 to 500V

Operation:
At resonance , w(L+LT) = 1/(w(C1+C2))

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 12
 Capacitance voltage transformer
Advantages:
• Simple design and easy installation

• It can be used both as a voltage measuring device for meters

and transformer.

• In power line carrier communication ,CVT can be used.

• It provides isolation between HV terminal and low voltage

terminal.

• Voltage distribution is independent of frequency

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 13
 Capacitance voltage transformer
Disadvantages:
• The voltage ratio is susceptible to temperature variations.

• Ferro resonance occurs due to the presence of capacitance

and choke.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 14
 Electrostatic voltmeter
The force between the electrodes is given by

When one electrode is free to move ,

  1 2
F   CV  the force on the plate can be
S S  2 
measured by controlling it by a spring
1 2 C 1  ( 0 A / S )
 V  V2 or balancing It with a counter weight.
2 S 2 S
1 2 ( 0 A)
 V As the force is proportional to V2 ,the
2 S2
1 ( A) measurement can be made for AC or
 V 2 02
2 S DC voltages.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 15
 Electrostatic voltmeter
• Electrostatic voltmeters are made with parallel plate
configuration using guard rings to avoid corona and field
fringing at the edges.

• An absolute voltmeter is made by balancing the plate with a

counter weight and is calibrated in terms of a small weight.

• Usually the electrostatic voltmeters have a small capacitance

(5 to 50 pF) and high insulation resistance (R > 1013 ohm).
Hence they are considered as devices with high input
impedance.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 16
 Electrostatic voltmeter
The upper frequency limit is determined from,
1. Natural frequency of the moving system

2. Resonant frequency of the lead and stray inductance with

meter capacitance

3. RC behavior of the control spring.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 17
Electrostatic voltmeter

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 18
 Electrostatic voltmeter
Advantages:
• Low loading effect
• High pressure gas or vacuum provides very high resistivity
therefore active power losses are negligibly small.
• Voltage source loading is limited to the reactive power
needed to charge the system capacitance.
• Voltage up to 600kV can be measured.
Disadvantages:
The sensitivity is small.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 19
 Peak voltmeter
Chubb-Frotscue method

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 20
 Peak voltmeter
Chubb-Frotscue method
• This arrangement is suitable only for positive or negative half
cycles and hence is valid only when both half cycles are
symmetrical and equal.
• This method is not suitable when the voltage waveform is not
sinusoidal but contains more than one peak or maximum.
• The 'second* or the false maxima is easily spotted out by
observing the waveform of the charging current on an
oscilloscope.
• Under normal conditions with a.c. testing, such waveforms do
not occur and as such do not give rise to errors.
• But pre-discharge currents within the test circuits cause very
short duration voltage drops which may introduce errors.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 21
 Peak voltmeter
Chubb-Frotscue method
• The different sources that contribute to the
error are
– the effective value of the capacitance being
different from the measured value of C
– imperfect rectifiers which allow small reverse
currents
– non-sinusoidal voltage waveforms with more than
one peak or maxima per half cycle
– deviation of the frequency from that of the value
used for calibration

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 22
Digital peak voltmeter

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 23
 Digital peak voltmeter
• The rectified current is not measured directly, instead a
proportional analog voltage signal is derived which is then
converted into a proportional medium frequency for using a
voltage to frequency convertor.

• The frequency ratio fm/f is measured with a gate circuit

controlled by the a.c. power frequency (supply frequency f)
and a counter that opens for an adjustable number of period
Δt = p/f.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 24
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 25
Peak Voltmeters with Potential Dividers

The passive circuits cannot measure high voltages directly

and use potential dividers preferably of the capacitance type.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 26
 Peak Voltmeters with Potential
Dividers- Importance of Rd
• Suppose R2 and Rd are not present
and the supply voltage is V.

• The voltage across the storage

capacitor Cs will be equal to the peak
value of voltage across C2 assuming
voltage drop across the diode to be
negligibly small.
If the reverse current through the
• The voltage could be measured by an diode is very small & the discharge
electrostatic voltmeter or other time constant of the storage capacitor
suitable voltmeters with very high is very large,
input impedance. the storage capacitor will not
discharge significantly for a long time
and hence it will hold the voltage to
its value for a long time.
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 27
 Peak Voltmeters with Potential
Dividers- Importance of Rd
 If now, V is decreased, the voltage V2
decreases proportionately.

 Since now the voltage across C2 is

smaller than the voltage across Cs to
which it is already charged, therefore,
the diode does not conduct.

 And so the voltage across Cs does not

 From measurement point of
follow the voltage across C2.
view it is desirable that the
quantity to be measured
 Hence, a discharge resistor Rd must be
should be indicated by the
introduced into the circuit so that the
meter within a few seconds
voltage across Cs follows the voltage
and hence Rd is so chosen
across C2.
that RdCs ≈ 1 sec.
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 28
 Peak Voltmeters with Potential Dividers-
Errors due to the connection of Rd
 With the connection of Rd, the voltage
across Cs will decrease continuously
even when the input voltage is kept
constant.

 Also, it will discharge the capacitor C2

and the mean potential of V2(t) will
gain a negative d.c. component.  The second error corresponds
to the voltage shape across
 Hence a leakage resistor R2 must be the storage capacitor which
inserted in parallel with C2 to equalise contains ripple and is due to
these unipolar discharge currents. the discharge of the capacitor
The error is approximately proportional to the Cs.
ripple factor and is thus frequency dependent  If the input impedance of the
as the discharge time constant cannot be measuring device is very high,
changed. the ripple is independent of
If RdCs = 1 sec, the discharge error amounts to the meter being used.
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 29
1% for 50 Hz and 0.33% for 150 Hz.
 Peak Voltmeters with Potential Dividers-
Errors due to the connection of Rd
• The third source of error is related to this discharge error.

• During the conduction time (when the voltage across Cs is lower than
that across C2 because of discharge of Cs through Rd) of the diode the
storage capacitor Cs is recharged to the peak value and thus Cs becomes
parallel with C2.

• If discharge error is ed, recharge error er is given by

Hence Cs should be small as compared with C2 to keep down the recharge error.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 30
 Modified peak voltmeter circuit
• It has also been observed that in order
to keep the overall error to a low
value, it is desirable to have a high
value of R2.

• The same effect can be obtained by

providing an equalising arm to the low
voltage arm of the voltage divider as
shown in Figure.
 This is accomplished by the addition of a second network comprising diode,
Cs and Rd for negative polarity currents to the circuit shown in Fig.

 With this, the d.c. currents in both branches are opposite in polarity and
equalise each other.

 The errors due to R2 are thus eliminated.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 31
Modified peak voltmeter circuit by Haefely

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 32
Two-way booster circuit designed by Rabus

 Two storage capacitors are connected by a resistor Rs within every branch

and both are discharged by only one resistance Rd.

 Here because of the presence of Rs, the discharge of the storage capacitor
Cs2 is delayed and hence the inherent discharge error ed is reduced.

 However, since these are two storage capacitors within one branch, they
would draw more charge from the capacitor C2 and hence the recharge error
er would increase. Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 33
Two-way booster circuit designed by Rabus

• It is, therefore, a matter of designing various elements in the circuit so that

the total sum of all the errors is a minimum.

• It has been observed that with the commonly used circuit elements in the
voltage dividers, the error can be kept to well within about 1% even for
frequencies below 20 Hz.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 34
Two-way booster circuit designed by Rabus

• The capacitor C1 has to withstand high voltage to be measured and is

always placed within the test area whereas the low voltage arm C2
including the peak circuit and instrument form a measuring unit located in
the control area.

• Hence a coaxial cable is always required to connect the two areas.

• The cable capacitance comes parallel with the capacitance C2 which is

usually changed in steps if the voltage to be measured is changed.
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 35
Two-way booster circuit designed by Rabus
• A change of the length of the cable would also require
recalibration of the system.

• The sheath of the coaxial cable picks up the electrostatic fields

and thus prevents the penetration of this field to the core of the
conductor.

• Also, even though transient magnetic fields will penetrate into

the core of the cable, no appreciable voltage (extraneous of
noise) is induced due to the symmetrical arrangement and
hence a coaxial cable provides a good connection between the
two areas.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 36
Two-way booster circuit designed by Rabus

• Whenever, a discharge takes place at the high voltage end of

capacitor C1 to the cable connection where the current looks
into a change in impedance a high voltage of short duration may
be built up at the low voltage end of the capacitor C1 which must
be limited by using an over voltage protection device (protection
gap).

• These devices will also prevent complete damage of the

measuring circuit if the insulation of C1 fails.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 37
 Advantages of Passive circuits for peak
measurements
• Passive circuits are not very frequently used these days for
measurement of the peak value of a.c. or impulse voltages.

• The development of fully integrated operational amplifiers and

other electronic circuits has made it possible to sample and
hold such voltages and thus make measurements and,
therefore, have replaced the conventional passive circuits.

• However, it is to be noted that if the passive circuits are

designed properly, they provide simplicity and adequate
accuracy and hence a small description of these circuits is in
order.
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 38
 Advantages of Passive circuits for peak
measurements
• Passive circuits are cheap, reliable and have a high order of
electromagnetic compatibility.

• However, in contrast, the most sophisticated electronic

instruments are costlier and their electromagnetic
compatibility (EMC) is low.

• The passive circuits cannot measure high voltages directly and

use potential dividers preferably of the capacitance type.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 39
SPHERE GAPS FOR MEASUREMENTS

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 40
 SPHERE GAPS FOR MEASUREMENTS
• Sphere gap is one of the standard methods for the
measurement of peak value of d.c., a.c. and impulse voltages
and is used for checking the voltmeters and other voltage
measuring devices used in high voltage test circuits.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 41
 SPHERE GAPS – Reliability in Measurements
• The gap length between the sphere should not exceed a sphere radius.

• The sphere gap can be used for measurement of impulse voltage of either
polarity provided that the impulse is of a standard wave form and has wave
front time at least 1 micro sec. and wave tail time of 5 micro sec.

• the specifications regarding the shape, mounting, clearances of the spheres

are met, the results obtained by the use of sphere gaps are reliable to within
±3%.

• It has been suggested in standard specification that in places where the

availability of ultraviolet radiation is low, irradiation of the gap by radioactive
or other ionizing media should be used when voltages of magnitude less than
50 kV are being measured or where higher voltages with accurate results are
to be obtained.
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 42
 Importance of irradiation of sphere gap for
measurement
• The time lag consists of two components—

• (i) The statistical time lag caused by the need of an electron to

appear in the gap during the application of the voltage.

• (ii) The formative time lag which is the time required for the
breakdown to develop once initiated.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 43
 Importance of irradiation of sphere gap for
measurement
• The statistical time-lag depends on the irradiation level of the
gap.

• If the gap is sufficiently irradiated so that an electron exists in the

gap to initiate the spark process and if the gap is subjected to an
impulse voltage, the breakdown will take place when the peak
voltage exceeds the d.c. breakdown value.

• However, if the irradiation level is low, the voltage must be

maintained above the d.c. breakdown value for a longer period
before an electron appears.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 44
 Importance of irradiation of sphere gap for
measurement
• Various methods have been used for irradiation e.g.
radioactive material, ultraviolet illumination as supplied by
mercury arc lamp and corona discharges.

• It has been observed that large variation can occur in the

statistical time-lag characteristic of a gap when illuminated by
a specified light source, unless the cathode conditions are also
precisely specified.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 45
 Importance of irradiation of sphere gap for
measurement
• Irradiation by radioactive materials has the advantage in that
they can form a stable source of irradiation and that they
produce an amount of ionisation in the gap which is largely
independent of the gap voltage and of the surface conditions
of the electrode.

• The radioactive material may be placed inside high voltage

electrode close behind the sparking surface or the radioactive
material may form the sparking surface.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 46
 Importance of irradiation of sphere gap for
measurement
• The formative time lag depends mainly upon the mechanism
of spark growth.

• In case of secondary electron emission, it is the transit time

taken by the positive ion to travel from anode to cathode that
decides that formative time lag.

• The formative time-lag decreases with the applied over

voltage and increase with gap length and field non-uniformity.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 47
SPHERE GAPS FOR MEASUREMENTS

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 48
SPHERE GAPS FOR MEASUREMENTS

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 49
 Specifications on Spheres and Associated
Accessories
• The spheres should be so made that their surfaces are smooth
and their curvatures as uniform as possible.

• The curvature should be measured by a sphero-meter at

various positions over an area enclosed by a circle of radius
0.3 D about the sparking point where D is the diameter of the
sphere

• Sparking points on the two spheres are those which are at

minimum distances from each other.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 50
 Specifications on Spheres and Associated
Accessories
• For smaller size, the spheres are placed in horizontal
configuration whereas large sizes (diameters), the spheres are
mounted with the axis of the sphere gaps vertical and the
lower sphere is grounded.

• In either case, it is important that the spheres should be so

placed that the space between spheres is free from external
electric fields and from bodies which may affect the field
between the spheres

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 51
 Specifications on Spheres and Associated
Accessories
• In order to avoid corona discharge, the shanks supporting the
spheres should be free from sharp edges and corners.

• The distance of the sparking point from any conducting

surface except the shanks should be greater than

where V is the peak voltage is kV to be measured.

• When large spheres are used for the measurement of low
voltages the limiting distance should not be less than a sphere
diameter.
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 52
 Specifications on Spheres and Associated
Accessories
• It has been observed that the metal of which the spheres are
made does not affect the accuracy of measurements.

• The spheres may be made of brass, bronze, steel, copper,

aluminium or light alloys.

• The only requirement is that the surfaces of these spheres

should be clean,free from grease films, dust or deposited
moisture.

• Also, the gap between the spheres should be kept free from
floating dust particles, fibres etc.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 53
 Specifications on Spheres and Associated
Accessories
• For power frequency tests, a protective resistance with a
value of 1Ω/V should be connected in between the spheres
and the test equipment to limit the discharge current and to
prevent high frequency oscillations in the circuit which may
otherwise result in excessive pitting of the spheres.

• For higher frequencies, the voltage drop would increase and

it is necessary to have a smaller value of the resistance.

• For impulse voltage the protective resistors are not required.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 54
 SPHERE GAPS FOR MEASUREMENTS

• The procedure for high voltage measurement using sphere

gaps depends upon the type of voltage to be measured.

• Due to dust and fibre present in the air, the measurement of

d.c. voltages is generally subject to larger errors.

• Here the accuracy is within  5% provided the spacing is less

than 0.4 D and excessive dust is not present.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 55
 SPHERE GAPS FOR MEASUREMENTS
• For the measurement of a.c. or d.c. voltage, a reduced voltage
is applied to begin with so that the switching transient does
not flash over the sphere gap and then the voltage is
increased gradually till the gap breaks down.

• Alternatively the voltage is applied across a relatively large

gap and the spacing is then gradually decreased till the gap
breaks down.

• Corresponding to this gap the value of peak voltage can be

read out from the calibration tables.

• However, it is reminded that the calibration tables values

correspond to 760 mm Hg pressure and 20°C temperature. 56
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE
 SPHERE GAPS FOR MEASUREMENTS

• For the measurement of 50% impulse disruptive discharge

voltages, the spacing of the sphere gap or the charging
voltage of the impulse generator is adjusted in steps of 3% of
the expected disruptive voltage.

• Six applications of the impulse should be made at each step

and the interval between two applications is 5 seconds.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 57
 SPHERE GAPS FOR MEASUREMENTS
• The value giving 50% probability to disruptive discharge is
preferably obtained by interpolation between at least two gap
or voltage settings, one resulting in two disruptive discharges
or less out of six applications and the other in four disruptive
discharges or more out of again six applications.

• Another method, simple though less accurate, is to adjust the

settings such that four to six disruptive discharges are
obtained in a series of ten successive applications.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 58
Factors influence the breakdown value of air

• Nearby earthed objects

• Atmospheric conditions and humidity

• Irradiation

• Polarity and rise time of voltage waveforms.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 59
 Effect of nearby earthed objects
• The effect of nearby earthed objects was investigated by
Kuffel by enclosing the earthed sphere inside an earthed
cylinder.

• It was observed that the spark over voltage is reduced.

• The reduction was observed to be

where, V= percentage reduction,

B = diameter of earthed enclosing cylinder,
D = diameter of the spheres,
S = spacing, and m and C are constants.
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 60
 Effect of nearby earthed objects

• The reduction was less than 2% for S/D < 0.5 and B/D  0.8.

• Even for S/D =1.0 and B/D  1.0 the reduction was only 3%.

• Hence, if the specifications regarding the clearances are

closely observed the error is within the tolerances and
accuracy specified.

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 61
 Effect of atmospheric conditions
• The spark over voltage of a spark gap depends on the air
density which varies with the changes in both temperature
and pressure.

• If the spark over voltage is V under test conditions of

temperature T and pressure p torr and if the spark over
voltage is V0 under standard conditions of temperature T =
2O0C and pressure p = 760 torr, then

where k is a function of the air density factor d, given by

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 62
 Relation between Correction Factor k
and Air Density Factor d

The spark over voltage increases with humidity. The increase is

about 2 to 3% over normal humidity range of 8 g/m3 to 15 g/m3.
It may be concluded that

i) The humidity effect increases with the size of spheres and is

maximum for uniform field gaps

ii) The spark over voltage increases with the partial pressure of
water vapour in air, and for a given humidity condition, the
change in spark over voltage increases with the gap length. 63
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE
 Effect of Irradiation
• Illumination of sphere gaps with ultra-violet or x-rays aids easy
ionization in gaps.

• The effect of irradiation is pronounced for small gap spacings.

• A reduction of about 20% in spark over voltage was observed
for spacings of 0.1 D to 0.3 D for a 1.3 cm sphere gap with d.c.
voltages.

• The reduction in spark over voltage is less than 5% for gap

spacings more than 1 cm, and for gap spacings of 2 cm or more
it is about 1.5%.
• Hence, irradiation is necessary for smaller sphere gaps of gap
spacing less than 1 cm for obtaining consistent values.
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 64
 Effect of polarity and waveform
• It has been observed that the spark over voltages for positive and negative
polarity impulses are different.

• Experimental investigation showed that for sphere gaps of 6.25 to 25 cm

diameter, the difference between positive and negative d.c. voltages is not
more than 1%.

• For smaller sphere gaps (2 cm diameter and less) the difference was about
8% between negative and positive impulses of 1/50 µs waveform.

• Similarly, the wave front and wave tail durations also influence the
breakdown voltage.

• For wave fronts of less than 0.5 µs and wave tails less than 5 µs the
breakdown voltages are not consistent and hence the use of sphere gap is
not recommended for voltage measurement in such cases.
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 65
 Summary
• Series impedance voltmeter
• Capacitance potential divider
• Capacitance voltage transformer
• Electrostatic voltmeter
• Peak Voltmeter
• Digital Voltmeter
• SPHERE GAPS FOR MEASUREMENTS

Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 66
Dr. S.Krishanveni,ASP/EEE 67