Abstract:
In the past few decades, immense contributions have
been put in by researchers to measure the accumulation of
space charge in dielectric materials. At the same time, the direct
measurement of the amount of space charge in materials has been
completely neglected, probably due to the difficulties in measuring currents at high-voltage (HV) electrode. Although the amount
can be measured indirectly with the available methodologies,
the measured results suffer from accuracy issue. Also, indirect
measurements involve complex, post measurement mathematical
analysis such as deconvolution and filtering to get the amount of
accumulated charge. Keeping the lacunas in mind and contrary to
the basic approach of the present methodologies, a novel wireless
system is developed which separately monitors the ultralow,
volumetric, electrode currents flowing into and out of the material
at both HV and ground electrodes. The obtained current data
are further processed to observe the accurate temporal variation
in the accumulated charge using the fundamental concept of
charge conservation law. Some more parameters have also been
identified which unmistakably determine the presence of the
packet-like-charge phenomenon in dielectric materials such as
low-density polyethylene. Furthermore, for comparing the results
of the proposed electrode system, space charge measurements
have been done using pulsed electroacoustic system. Based on
the comparison of the results, it is concluded that the newly
developed electrode system monitors the charge accumulation
closely but with less effort and complexity
