THE CHUBB-FORTESCUE METHOD
Chubb and Fortescue suggested a simple and accurate method of
measuring peak value of a.c. voltages. The basic circuit consists
of a standard capacitor, two diodes and a current integrating
ammeter (MC ammeter) as shown in Fig.1 (a).
Basic circuit
circuit
(b)
Fig.1 (a)
Modified
The measuring instrument (M.C. ammeter) is included in one of
the branches. The ammeter reads the mean value of the current.
An increased current would be obtained if the
current reaches zero more than once during
one half cycle.
This means the wave shapes of the voltage
would contain more than one maximum per
half cycle. The standard a.c. voltages for
testing should not contain any harmonics and,
therefore, there could be very short and rapid
voltages caused by the heavy predischarges,
within the test circuit which could introduce
errors in measurements
The standard a.c. voltages for testing should
not contain any harmonics and, therefore,
there could be very short and rapid voltages
caused by the heavy predischarges, within
the test circuit which could introduce errors
in measurements. To eliminate this problem
filtering of a.c. voltage is carried out by
introducing a damping resistor in between
the capacitor and the diode circuit, Fig.1 (b).
Also, if full wave rectifier is used instead of
the half wave as shown in Fig. 1, the factor 2
in the denominator of the above equation
should be replaced by 4. Since the frequency
f, the capacitance C and current I can be
measured accurately, the measurement of
symmetrical a.c. voltages using Chubb and
Fortescue method is quite accurate and it
can be used for calibration of other peak
voltage measuring devices.
Fig.3 shows a digital peak voltage measuring
circuit. In contrast to the method discussed
just
now,
measured
the
rectified
directly,
instead
current
a
is
not
proportional
analog voltage signal is derived which is then
converted
into
proportional
medium
frequency (fm) using a voltage to frequency
convertor (Block A in Fig.3).
The frequency ratio fm /f is measured with a gate circuit
controlled by the a.c. power frequency (supply frequency f)
and a counter that opens for an adjustable number of period
t = p/f. The number of cycles n counted during this interval
is:
Where p is a constant of the instrument.
where A represents the voltage to frequency conversion
factor. Thus the indicator can be calibrated to read Vm
directly by selecting suitable values of A, p and R. The
voltmeter is found to given an accuracy of 0.35%.
Peak Voltmeters with Potential Dividers
Passive circuits are cheap, reliable and have
high
order
compatibility.
of
electromagnetic
However,
in
contrast,
the
most sophisticated electronic instruments
are
costlier
compatibility
and
their
(EMC)
circuits
cannot
directly
and
is
electromagnetic
low.
measure
use
The
passive
high
voltages
potential
dividers
preferably of the capacitance type. Fig.4
shows
simple
peak
voltmeter
circuit
It has been observed that in order to keep the
overall error to a low value, it is desirable to have a
high value of R2. Rabus developed another circuit
shown in Fig.
To reduce errors due to resistances. Two
storage
capacitors
are
connected
by
resistor Rs within every branch and both are
discharged by only one resistance Rd
Two-way booster circuit designed by Rabus
Example
A peak reading voltmeter is required to measure
voltage up to 150 kV. The peak voltmeter uses an RC
circuit, a microammeter and a capacitance potential
divider. The potential divider has a ratio of 1200 : 1
and the micrometer can read up to 10 A. Determine
the value of R and C if the time constant of RC circuit
is 8 secs.
Solution
