Instrumentation system used to determine the effects of steep front short duration impulses on electric power system insulation

The author describes instrumentation which is capable of recording steep-front short-duration or EMP (electromagnetic pulse) transients. The instrumentation includes a digitizer that samples the voltage (digitizes) at 742 ps per sample and has a 10 K work (sample) memory depth. A second digitizer is capable of nanoseconds per sample, and 32 K words of memory. The instrumentation system used in a specific project is described. It proved to be efficient and reliable in recording and storing data and providing hard copy for this steep-front impulse investigation. There were no major failures of instrumentation equipment or software. The instrumentation arrangement, shielding and performance experiences described are applicable to high-voltage high-frequency transients