Introduction

This invention is a device able to detect the presence of either continuous or slowly time-variables electric fields, for applications regarding specifically high potentials present in nature and DC powered electrical circuits.  In particular it can be applied both to the measurement of the atmosphere electric field and of the electric field between high-voltage power supply lines.
The versatility of the device allows to easily assess if an electrical circuit is powered or not.

 

Technical features

The basic idea is attributed to Lord Kelvin (1800) and has been employed in recent years for the measurement of the work functions difference of two different materials constituting the capacitor plates (involved in the experiment). The knowledge of the work function of one of the two materials allows the determination of the other’s work function. In this invention, unlike traditional applications of the Kelvin Probe, the presence of the rotating disk allows to reach higher capacity variation frequencies, some kHz, compared to those obtainable by the method in which one of the capacitor armatures is made to vary with a lever in resonance, about 200 Hz.

Possible Applications

• Sensing device in those areas where high DC electrical voltages are present.

Advantages

The greatest advantage of the proposed device is related to the ability to measure non-contact continuous voltages, which are hard to determine with other methods because they require variable voltages even if at very low frequency. It can be applied where high DC voltages are present.