Electric Field Sensor Using Magnetometer and Orthogonal Coils
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electric field measurement devices, particularly current measurement electrometers, face challenges such as bulkiness and metrology issues due to the need for large electrode separation, and they often require complex architectures to measure multiple components of the electric field effectively.
Innovation Solution
A device comprising an insulating enclosure with three pairs of orthogonal electrodes, conductive coils, and a single magnetometer, which uses a control circuit to alternately connect the coils between the electrodes and measure the magnetic field, allowing for the determination of the three components of the electric field with a simpler architecture and improved sensitivity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If voltage measurement electrometers are used to measure electric field, then the measurement can be performed, but the device becomes bulky and requires large electrode separation distance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the voltage measurement method with a magnetic field measurement method. Instead of measuring voltage between electrodes to determine electric field, the invention uses coils to detect magnetic fields generated by currents in the conducting medium, thereby inferring the electric field. This substitution of measurement principle allows for compact device dimensions while maintaining measurement capability.
2Volume of moving object
If current measurement electrometers are used to improve compactness and sensitivity, then the device becomes more compact, but the architecture becomes complex to measure multiple electric field components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines three coils with orthogonal orientations into a single integrated measurement system. All three coils share common electrodes and are connected through a multiplexer to a single magnetometer, merging what would otherwise be three separate measurement systems into one unified device. This reduces architectural complexity while maintaining the ability to measure all three components of the electric field.
Solution Approach 2:
The single magnetometer serves multiple functions by measuring magnetic fields generated by currents associated with all three orthogonal electrode pairs. The multiplexer enables the magnetometer to sequentially measure each component of the electric field, making a single instrument perform the work of three separate measurement systems.
3Measurement precision
If voltage measurement electrometers are used, then the electric field can be measured, but only a very small portion of the propagating current is deviated, raising metrology problems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces voltage measurement with magnetic field measurement to improve metrological reliability. By measuring the magnetic field generated by the actual current flowing in the conducting medium through the coils, the system directly detects the current rather than inferring it from voltage measurements, thereby capturing a larger portion of the propagating current and improving measurement reliability.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
Enables precise and compact measurement of the electric field in a conducting medium, such as seawater, with a single magnetometer, providing a vector measurement of the electric field while maintaining a relatively simple device architecture and reducing alignment sensitivity.
Implementation Method 1
a single magnetometer capable of measuring a magnetic field induced by the flowing of currents through the first, second, and third coils
Data Source
AI summary
A device for measuring an electric field in a conducting medium, including: an insulating enclosure; first, second, and third pairs of electrodes, the electrodes of a same pair being arranged on opposite external walls of the enclosure, and the electrodes of the first, second, and third pairs being centered on first, second, and third orthogonal axes; a first conductive coil; a first pair of switches enabling to alternately connect the first coil between the electrodes of the first, of the second, and of the third pair of electrodes; and a single magnetometer.