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Based on the resonant electric field microsensors with coplanar electrodes, a novel non-intrusive measurement scheme of DC power-line voltage suitable for actual product is presented in this paper. Compared with using microsensors directly without some protection, employing the proposed scheme can avoid the influence of humidity and electromagnetic disturbance on non-contact voltage measurement. A theoretical model is developed to analyze the influence of the structural parameters of the proposed measurement scheme on its sensitivity and to predict the voltage response. Furthermore, the theoretical analysis reveals that the proposed scheme obtains the DC power-line voltage non-intrusively by measuring the voltage of a floating electrode. A prototype of the non-intrusive measurement apparatus of DC power-line voltage has been developed, calibrated, and tested. The prototype shows a favorable linear response characteristic with a linearity of 0.86%. And the experimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical results. The maximum relative deviation noticed is −2.16% over a range of voltages from −1000 V to 1000 V. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a highly sensitive resonant electric field microsensor based on silicon on insulator (SOI) technology. To improve the electric field coupling effect, the microsensor uses coplanar shutter electrodes and sense electrodes. To obtain higher conversion gain, both electrodes adopt novel comb-shaped structures. A finite element method (FEM) was used to simulate and optimize the structures of the comb-shaped electrodes. The sensitivity model of the microsensor was analyzed by the conversion gain of the vibration-amplitude-to-charge variation. The resolution of the microsensor is approximately 40 V m-1 with an uncertainty of 1% for the dc field, while the resolution is better than 10 V m-1 for the 50 Hz ac field. The microsensors were packaged and assembled to form an electric field probe to measure the atmospheric electric field. The test results showed that the probe precisely detected the occurrence of thunderstorms, and the plotted data agreed well with those of the conventional electric field mill. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]