In industrial testing and research laboratories, it is essential to measure the voltages
and currents accurately, ensuring perfect safety to the personnel and equipment.
Hence a person handling the equipment as well as the metering devices must be
protected against overvoltages and also against any induced voltages due to stray
coupling. Therefore, the location and layout of the devices are important. Secondly,
linear extrapolation of the devices beyond their ranges are not valid for high voltage
meters and measuring instruments, and they have to be calibrated for the full range.
Electromagnetic interference is a serious problem in impulse voltage and current
measurements, and it has to be avoided or minimized. Therefore, even though the
principles of measurements may be same, the devices and instruments for measurement
of high voltages and currents differ vastly from the low voltage and low current
devices. Different devices used for high voltage measurements may be classified as
in Tables 7. land 7.2.
7.1 MEASUREMENT OF HIGH DIRECT CURRENT VOLTAGES
Measurement of high d.c. voltages as in low voltage measurements, is generally
accomplished by extension of meter range with a large series resistance. The net
current in the meter is usually limited to one to ten microamperes for full-scale
deflection. For very high voltages (1000 kV or more) problems arise due to large
power dissipation, leakage currents and limitation of voltage stress per unit length,
change in resistance due to temperature variations, etc. Hence, a resistance potential
divider with an electrostatic voltmeter is sometimes better when high precision is
needed. But potential dividers also suffer from the disadvantages stated above. Both
series resistance meters and potential dividers cause current drain from the source.
Generating voltmeters are high impedance devices and do not load the source. They
provide complete isolation from the source voltage (high voltage) as they are not
directly connected to the high voltage terminal and hence are safer. Spark gaps such
as sphere gaps are gas discharge devices and give an accurate measure of the peak
voltage. These are quite simple and do not require any specialized construction. But
the measurement is affected by the atmospheric conditions like temperature,
humidity, etc. and by the vicinity of earthed objects, as the electric field in the gap is
affected by the presence of earthed objects. But sphere gap measurement of voltages
is independent of the waveform and frequency.