Comparison of high voltage thermal converter scaling to a binary inductive voltage divider

High-voltage thermal converters (HVTCs) are used as standards of AC-DC difference and for the measurement and calibration of AC voltage up to 1000 V and 100 kHz. Their multiplying resistors can be compensated to yield small AC-DC differences by using adjustable internal shields; however, the AC-DC differences of HVTCs may vary as functions of warm-up time, applied frequency, and applied voltage. Voltage coefficients between 100 V and 1000 V can be quite significant compared to calibration uncertainties, and can be major sources of error in the buildup process used to characterize the HVTCs. Formal and informal international intercomparisons of HVTCs have revealed variations among the participating laboratories. The present work was undertaken to compare the scaling accuracy of HVTCs to the completely independent principle of a binary inductive voltage divider.