Measuring power system voltage remotely using micromachined electric field sensor

This paper describes a new type of miniature electric field sensor that can be used to measure power system voltages remotely. The ability to measure both ac and dc voltage is a significant advantage of this sensor in comparison to other sensors, which can only measure either ac or dc voltage. Micromachining technology was used to fabricate the sensor. The sensing area of this sensor is only 1 mm² and it requires only 75 mV and 70 muW to drive its shutter. The use of a miniature sensor also helps to measure local electric field accurately since the field distortion caused by the sensor is minimum.