IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON POWER DELIVERY, VOL. 17, NO.

2, APRIL 2002

417

230 kV Optical Voltage Transducers Using Multiple

Electric Field Sensors
Farnoosh Rahmatian, Member, IEEE, Patrick P. Chavez, and Nicolas A. F. Jaeger, Member, IEEE

Abstract230 kV optical voltage transducers were constructed

and tested. These transducers use three electric field sensors whose
positions and outputs are selected and combined, respectively, in
accordance with the quadrature method to obtain a voltage measurement. They meet IEC 0.2% class specifications and maintain
0.2% class accuracies even in the presence of electric field disturbances caused by local changes in geometry external to the transducer. The local changes in geometry used in the testing mimic
those that may occur in a substation, e.g., installation or movement
of equipment.
Index TermsElectric field effects, electric field measurement,
electric fields, Gaussian quadrature, high-voltage techniques, integration (mathematics), numerical analysis, optics, transducers,
voltage measurement.

I. INTRODUCTION

PTICAL voltage transducers (OVTs) for power delivery

applications offer a variety of advantages over conventional inductive and capacitive voltage transformers. Among
these are better electrical isolation, wider bandwidth, larger dynamic range, lighter weight, and smaller size. Use of optical
fibers to carry the measurement light signal to and from the
sensor-head also electrically isolates the observer from the highvoltage (HV) environment and protects the measurement from
electromagnetic interference.
Here, the results of laboratory tests on 230 kV OVTs that
use three small electro-optic field sensors to measure voltage
accurately are presented. As with their predecessor [1], [2],
these OVTs are unique compared with most other OVTs in
that their internal electrodes are separated by a safe distance,
avoidi such as SF gas [3][7] or others [8]. This aspect of their
design is made possible by the use of the quadrature method
[9], which effectively produces an efficient numerical line
integration of the field using field sampling between an HV
electrode and a grounded electrode to give an accurate measure
of the voltage between these electrodes. The sensors are housed
inside a hollow off-the-shelf HV insulator filled with N
providing a secure environment to the sensors and making
the OVT structure mechanically and electrically very robust.
Using this approach, external changes in geometry, e.g., the
Manuscript received June 22, 2001. This work was supported in part by
funding from the British Columbia Advanced Systems Institute and the Natural
Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
F. Rahmatian is with NxtPhase Corporation, Vancouver, BC, V5M 1Z4,
Canada.
P. P. Chavez and N. A. F. Jaeger are with the Department of Electrical
and Computer Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC,
Canada.
Publisher Item Identifier S 0885-8977(02)02738-3.

installation of nearby equipment in a substation, do not affect

the OVTs accuracy nor does the OVT require recalibration.
In the next section, the basic operation of the OVTs is described. Then, an overview of standard HV laboratory tests and
of additional tests for the purpose of confirming the accuracy of
the OVTs in the presence of nearby external changes in geometry is given, and results are reported.
II. PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN AND OPERATION
The central concept behind the functionality of the OVT is
the efficient numerical integration of the electric field using the
quadrature method [9]. The quadrature method is used to determine the required number of sensors, where to place them, and
how to weight and combine their outputs for a desired voltage
measurement accuracy, for a particular standoff geometry, and
for an expected worst-case perturbation (stray field effect) of
the field along the path of integration.
Along any path, integrating the electric field component that
is oriented parallel to that path from point to point gives the
between those two points. Letting and
voltage difference
lie on the -axis with the integration path being a straight line
and approximating the integral by a weighted sum gives
(1)
is the -component of the electric field along the
where
-axis,
is the number of samples,
is the position of the
th sample, and
is the weight of the th sample.
The quadrature method can be used to determine and .
This involves defining an unperturbed system and a worst-case
perturbed system. Generally, the unperturbed system refers to a
particular configuration of conductors and media having a par. The
of any
ticular , between and , referred to as
perturbed system (a variation from the unperturbed system) is
,
expressed in terms of a multiplicative scaling factor and
. For a given
, the quadrature
i.e.,
method calculates the and so that (1) is exact for any that
can be exactly represented by a polynomial of degree 2
or less [9].
To begin with, we consider an off-the-shelf 230 kV insulator supported by a stand that is sitting on a ground plane, as it
would be in a substation. The insulator consists of a fiberglass
tube having an inner diameter of 358 mm and a wall thickness
of 8 mm, with silicone rubber shedding on the outside of it, and
provides a structurally robust design. A corona ring is also positioned around the top of the insulator. Inside the insulator tube,
there is a smaller fiberglass tube having an inner diameter of
198 mm and a wall thickness of 4 mm, and extending from the

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Fig. 3.  for a semi-infinite vertical ground plane 1.6 m away from the
OVTs axis.

Fig. 1.

Unperturbed OVT system.

Fig. 2. Axial electric field along the path of integration for an unperturbed
OVT and a perturbed OVT with 140 kV applied.

top flange to the bottom flange, to support field sensors. At the

ends of this inner tube are two electrodes separated by a distance
of approximately 2.2 m. This configuration is defined to be the
unperturbed system (see Fig. 1). The path of numerical integration is along the tube axis, or -axis, from the bottom electrode,
is
along this
at point , to the top electrode, at point .
path and is calculated for an applied rated voltage of 140 kV and
for a stand having a height of 2.5 m (see Fig. 2).
Determining the number of electric field sensors needed depends on the specified accuracy of the OVT and the behavior of
in perturbed systems. The OVT is specified to maintain good
accuracy, i.e., to meet IEC 0.2% class specifications, in the presence of the kinds of changes in external geometry that it may experience upon its installation or the installations of neighboring

equipment during its operation in a 230 kVsubstation. These are

considered perturbed systems, and, generally, the nearer that the
changes in geometry are to the OVT, the greater the distortion
of the electric field inside the OVT is, resulting in a less accurate numerical integration for a given or resulting in a larger
to ensure a given accuracy. This is so because the greater the
is, the more nonlinear is, and the higher the
distortion in
degree of the polynomial that accurately approximates is. Substation design safety standards specify minimum clearance distances between any two structures installed on different phases
or between grounded and energized structures depending on
their voltage class (typically about 3 m or 2 m, respectively, for
230 kV), thereby limiting the severity of the perturbations and,
consequently, the required number of sensors, . Fig. 2 shows
the axial electric field for a perturbation of a vertical ground
plane 1.6 m away from the -axis, and Fig. 3 shows the that
corresponds to that perturbation.
Using a mixed finite element/boundary integral method [10],
various insulators with various perturbations were simulated.
Examples of perturbations simulated include neighboring-phase
buses, a nearby, vertical ground plane, and a nearby conducting
sphere. For each of these cases, sample positions and weights for
various numbers of sensors were computed using the quadrature method, and the accuracy of the resulting weighted sums
were observed. It was found that three sensors are sufficient
to accurately measure voltage ( 0.2% error) for these types of
perturbations and for insulators with internal electrodes spaced
apart by approximately 2 m (length of the integration path).
Table I shows simulated errors for computer models of perturbed systems involving either a ground plane or a grounded
sphere near the OVT. The distance of a perturbing object refers
to the distance between the edge of the object and the -axis,
and a spheres height is approximately the height of its center
with respect to the bottom of the insulator, e.g., Low is at the
height of the bottom of the insulator and High is at the height
at
of the top of the insulator. Table II shows the changes in
the three sample locations inside the OVT for two of these simulated cases.
So, having established the need for three electric field sensors,
three s and three s were determined using the quadrature

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419

TABLE I
SIMULATED RATIO ERRORS DUE TO EXTREME PERTURBATIONS

Fig. 4.

High-voltage test set-up.

TABLE III
FORMULA SAMPLE POSITIONS, x , WITH RESPECT TO  AND WEIGHTS, x ,
NORMALIZED TO THE MIDDLE SENSORS (#2s) CALCULATED WEIGHT.

TABLE II
SIMULATED CHANGES IN E (x ) DUE TO PERTURBATIONS

III. LABORATORY TEST RESULTS

method with the calculated

of the OVT system. Then,
electric field sensors were mounted inside the inner tube at these
s, and their outputs were weighted with these s and summed
in real-time using digital electronics to give the output of the
OVT. The sensors measured the -component of the electric
field in which they were immersed. Table III gives the s and
s that were used in the OVT.
For numerical integration, the electric field sensors ideally
measure a single component of the electric field at a point.
Here, each sensor basically consists of a miniature, cylindrical,
Pockels-effect crystal having a height of 2 cm and a diameter of
3.5 mm whose axis is aligned with the insulators axis, or the
-axis. Light traveling along the axis of the crystal is modulated
by the axial component of the electric field. Light is transmitted
to and from each sensor using optical fibers. The outputs of
the sensors are then digitally processed giving measures of the
electric field, and further digital signal processing performs the
numerical integration in real-time.
The output of each sensor is effectively a measure of the average intensity of the axial component of the electric field, or
, inside the sensor-head and is insensitive to the transverse
over a finite
field component. The error between averaging
at a point, i.e., at the center of the
path length and measuring
along the path. It was
path, is a function of the curvature of
along 2-cm-long
found that using the average values of
at the
paths centered at the , in place of the point values of
, introduces less than a 0.01% error in (1).

Four identical three-sensor 230 kV OVTs, as described earlier

and illustrated in Fig. 1, were constructed and tested in an HV
gas at
laboratory (see Fig. 4). The OVTs were filled with
170 kPa. Each OVT weighs approximately 220 kg. During the
testing, they were supported by a grounded platform about 2.5 m
high (see Fig. 4). The electric field sensors were positioned and
their outputs were weighted according to the s and s given
in Table III. Cables supported the fibers that transmit light to and
from each OVT, and the analog and digital electronics resided
in the control room, where digital data acquisition took place.
The output of the digital electronics was passed through a D/A
converter and was amplified to give an analog voltage output,
which is also required for testing. For an applied rated voltage
of 140 kV, the OVTs produce 2 V, corresponding to a voltage
transformation ratio of 70 000 : 1.
Various tests were performed on the OVTs (at least one OVT
per test) in accordance with IEC standards [11][13], and they
included error testing, lightning impulse testing, wet testing,
power-frequency withstand testing, partial discharge testing,
chopped impulse testing, and mechanical testing. Special tests
were also performed to evaluate the accuracy of the OVT in
the presence of substation-like changes in local conductor
geometry.
Since the OVT design is essentially that of a standard standoff
insulator with a few extra internal dielectric components, it
inherits the advantageous mechanical and electrical properties
of the insulator, particularly with respect to HV withstand and
seismic withstand. The OVT successfully passed all of the standard withstand tests. Additionally, it withstood negative-polarity,
full-wave impulses down to 1211 kV, which exceeds the standard full-wave impulse test voltage magnitude of 1050 kV, with

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(a)

Fig. 6.

Grounded screen perturbation 1.6 m away.

Fig. 7.

Grounded sphere perturbation 1.2 m away.

(b)
Fig. 5. OVT (a) ratio errors and (b) phase errors.

no sign of disruptive discharge or insulation failure. Linearity

tests were done on three of the OVTs, one at a time, by observing
the ratio of their voltage measurements to the voltage output of
a reference. The OVTs were tested for IEC 0.2% accuracy class
[12], [13], which means that the ratio error should not exceed
0.2% and the phase displacement error should not exceed
10 min at 80%, 100%, and 120% of rated voltage. The OVTs
demonstrated ratio errors of less than 0.1% and phase displacement errors of 1 min or less, meeting the IEC 0.2% standards. All
the OVTs had a rated phase delay of 0.95 . Future versions of the
OVT will have user-defined rated phase delays to be set to any
value depending on the requirements of the application, e.g., 0
to meet the standard requirement in [12]. Additionally, switching
impulses were applied to an OVT, and the OVTs output faithfully
traced the applied waveforms demonstrating the high bandwidth
and dynamic range of the OVT.
Ratio and phase errors were recorded at various other voltages
outside of the standard range. Fig. 5 shows ratio and phase errors
for voltages from 3 kV to 350 kV. The ratio errors do not exceed
0.2% and phase errors do not exceed 1 min through this entire
range.
Perturbation tests were also conducted in which the accuracy of an OVT was tested at rated voltage with various objects
placed in its vicinity. A suspended, vertical, grounded metallic

screen at various distances from the OVT (see Fig. 6), a suspended, grounded metallic sphere (1 m in diameter) at various
heights and distances with respect to the OVT (see Fig. 7), a
grounded truck near the OVT (see Fig. 8), and a neighboring
energized OVT 120 out of phase with and 3 m away from (less

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421

TABLE VI
CHANGES IN E (x ) DUE TO PERTURBATIONS

Fig. 8.

Truck perturbation.

TABLE IV
RATIO ERRORS DUE TO SAFE PERTURBATIONS

Fig. 9.

TABLE V
RATIO ERRORS DUE TO UNSAFE PERTURBATIONS

OVTs at the Ingledow substation, Surrey, BC, Canada.

errors for some of the unsafe cases. Here, the distance of a perturbing object is defined as the distance between the edge of the
object and the OVTs central axis. The minimum safe distance
for a grounded object is defined as approximately 2 m or more
(the exact number depends on the local substation safety regulations). Heights of perturbing objects are with respect to the
bottom of the insulator. The phase displacement errors are less
than 1 min for all of the perturbed cases.
Demonstrating the effectiveness of the weighted sum used
in the OVT design to determine voltage accurately, Table VI
shows the percentage changes in the measured electric field at
the sensor locations in the perturbed cases with respect to the
unperturbed case. Table VI also shows phase changes in the
measured electric field for the case of the neighboring phase.
It should be noted that for the cases of the suspended sphere,
the sphere was vertically supported by a grounded cable, which
results in a more severe perturbation compared to the simulated
grounded-sphere perturbations.
Three of the tested OVTs have been installed as a three-phase
voltage measurement system at BC Hydros Ingledow substation in Surrey, BC, Canada. They have been in operation since
June 2000 and are being evaluated by BC Hydro (see Fig. 9).
IV. CONCLUSION

than minimum phase spacing) the tested OVT were used. The
ratio errors for the cases of the grounded sphere and grounded
screen at safe distances from the OVT and for the cases of the
truck and the neighboring phase are less than 0.1%. The ratio
errors for the unsafe cases do not exceed 0.3%. Table IV shows
the errors for some of the safe cases, and Table V shows the

Four 230 kV OVTs were constructed and tested. The OVT design is based on computer modeling and the quadrature method.
It performs an accurate numerical line integration of the electric
field with only three electric field sensors to give a measure of
the voltage. One or more of the OVTs were subjected to various IEC electrical and mechanical withstand tests, and all tests

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were passed successfully. They demonstrated 0.2% class accuracies in accordance with [13], i.e., ratio errors not exceeding
0.2% and phase displacement errors not exceeding 10 min.
The OVTs have a fixed rated phase delay of nearly 1 , which
will be set by the user in future versions of the OVT to meet
the requirements of specific applications, e.g., 0 to meet the
requirement of [12]. Further tests demonstrated that the OVTs
voltage measurements are accurate to within 0.1% and 1 min
for various cases of electric field perturbations caused by nearby
metallic objects and a neighboring OVT. The OVTs were also
shown to be very accurate (within 0.3%) even when the metallic
objects were placed dangerously close to the OVT. Significant
measured changes in the local electric field measurements at the
field sensor locations due to perturbations were also shown, displaying the effectiveness of the implementation of the quadrature method.
REFERENCES
[1] F. Rahmatian, D. Romalo, S. Lee, A. Fekete, S. Liu, N. A. F. Jaeger,
and P. P. Chavez, Optical voltage transducers for high-voltage applications, in Proc. 2nd EPRI Optical Sensor Syst. Workshop, Atlanta, GA,
Jan. 2628, 2000.
[2] P. P. Chavez, N. A. F. Jaeger, F. Rahmatian, and C. Yakymyshyn, Integrated-optic voltage transducer for high-voltage applications, in Applications of Photonic Technology 4, Proceedings of SPIE, vol. 4087, R.
A. Lessard and G. A. Lampropoulos, Eds., 2000, pp. 12291237.
[3] T. Sawa, K. Kurosawa, T. Kaminishi, and T. Yokota, Development of
optical instrument transformers, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 5,
pp. 884891, Apr. 1990.
[4] L. H. Christensen, Design, construction, and test of a passive optical
prototype high voltage instrument transformer, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, vol. 10, pp. 13321337, July 1995.
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[8] K. Bohnert, J. Kostovic, and P. Pequignot, Fiber optic voltage sensor
for 420 kV electric power systems, Opt. Eng., vol. 39, no. 11, pp.
30603067, Nov. 2000.
[9] P. P. Chavez, F. Rahmatian, and N. A. F. Jaeger, Accurate voltage measurement by the quadrature method, IEEE Trans. Power Delivery, Nov.
8, 2000.
[10] B. H. McDonald and A. Wexler, Finite-element solution of unbounded
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[11] High-voltage Test TechniquesPart 1: General Definitions and Test
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[12] Instrument TransformersPart 2: Inductive Voltage Transformers, International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), Geneva, Switzerland,
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Farnoosh Rahmatian (S89M91) was born in

Tehran, Iran, in 1969. He received the B.A.Sc.
(Hon.), M.A.Sc., and Ph.D. degrees from the
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC,
Canada, in 1991, 1993, and 1997, respectively, all
in electrical engineering.
Since 1997, he has been the Director of Research and Development at NxtPhase Corporation,
Vancouver, BC, Canada, working on precision
high-voltage optical instrument transformers for use
in high-voltage electric power transmission systems.
He is also an adjunct professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Dr. Rahmatian is also a member of the IEC TC38 Working Group on instrument transformers, the Standards Council of Canada, IEEE Power Engineering
Society, and IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society.

Patrick P. Chavez was born in Vancouver, BC,

Canada, in 1971. He received the B.A.Sc. and
M.A.Sc. degrees in electrical and computer engineering from the University of British Columbia,
Vancouver, BC, Canada, in 1995 and 1997, respectively, where he is currently pursuing the Ph.D.
degree in electrical and computer engineering.
He is also an advisor to NxtPhase Corporation,
Vancouver, BC, working on optical high-voltage instruments. His fields of interest include high-voltage
instrumentation, computer-aided design in electromagnetics and optics, and numerical analysis in industrial applications.

Nicolas A. F. Jaeger (M89) was born in New

Rochelle, NY, in 1957. He received the B.Sc. degree
from the University of the Pacific, Stockton, CA,
in 1981, and the M.A.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from
the University of British Columbia, Vancouver,
BC, in 1986 and 1989, respectively, all in electrical
engineering.
Since 1989 he has been a Faculty Member in
UBCs Department of Electrical and Computer
Engineering, where he is now a Professor, and since
1991 he has been the director of the Universitys
Centre for Advanced Technology in Microelectronics.
Dr. Jaeger is a past recipient of the Canadian Institute of Energys Research
and Development Award, the BC Advanced Systems Institutes Technology
Partnership Award, and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research
Council of Canada and the Conference Board of Canadas Synergy Award.