Optical voltage and current sensors used in a revenue metering system

The authors discuss the development of an optical voltage sensor as part of an all optical sensor based revenue metering system. The magnetooptic or Faraday effect was used to implement a magnetooptic voltage transducer (MOVT) to measure voltage by sensing the current flow through a capacitor connected from a 161 kV transmission line to ground. The current sensor was a magnetooptic current transducer (MOCT) developed previously. The design of the voltage sensors using the magnetooptic effect allows the implementation of a revenue metering system using all optical sensors. This method of measuring voltage was previously unproven. The components of the all optical sensor revenue metering system, the site installation, and the data acquisition system used to monitor the system are described. Decisions leading to the design of the MOVT are discussed