High resolution measurements of surface charge densities on insulator surfaces

Author

Faircloth, D.C. ; Allen, N.L.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Electr. Eng. & Electron., Univ. of Manchester Inst. of Sci. & Technol., UK

Volume

10

Issue

2

fYear

2003

fDate

4/1/2003 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

285

Lastpage

290

Abstract

The uses and limitations of the electrostatic probe for the measurement of charge densities on insulating surfaces are discussed. A development of the technique is described in which two important limitations have together been overcome: (i) The effects on the probe signal of charges on all points of the surface have been taken into account by means of a matrix inversion procedure; (ii) A robotic control system has been developed which enables the probe to follow and scan a wide range of axi-symmetric insulator profiles. The degree of resolution achieved enables the probe system to display and measure charge densities in individual streamer channels of a corona discharge on a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) surface. An example is given and comparison made with a dust figure of the same event.

Keywords

charge measurement; insulator testing; polymers; probes; surface discharges; axi-symmetric insulator profiles; corona discharge; electrostatic probe; high resolution measurements; individual streamer channels; insulator surfaces; matrix inversion procedure; polytetrafluoroethylene; robotic control system; surface charge densities; Charge measurement; Control systems; Current measurement; Density measurement; Displays; Electrostatic measurements; Insulation; Probes; Robot control; Signal resolution;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1070-9878

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/TDEI.2003.1194112

Filename

1194112