Effect of outer spherical shell opening structure on the sensitivity of double spherical shell electric field sensor

Zhengang Zhao; Xuanyi Yang; Yitan Li; Chuan Luo

doi:10.1063/5.0167489

Effect of outer spherical shell opening structure on the sensitivity of double spherical shell electric field sensor

Rev Sci Instrum. 2024 Jan 1;95(1):015008. doi: 10.1063/5.0167489.

Authors

Zhengang Zhao^{1

2}, Xuanyi Yang¹, Yitan Li¹, Chuan Luo¹

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Information Engineering and Automation, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming 650500, China.
² Yunnan Key Laboratory of Computer Technologies Application, Kunming 650500, China.

PMID: 38284813
DOI: 10.1063/5.0167489

Abstract

A double spherical shell (DSS) electric field sensor based on charge sensing has characteristics of small size and simple fabrication, which are appropriate for measuring complex electric field environments, but the sensitivity is low. To improve the sensitivity of the DSS electric field sensor, we theoretically analyze the effect of the diameter of the outer spherical shell opening on the sensitivity of the sensor. The sensors with outer spherical shell apertures of 2, 4, and 6 mm are designed and manufactured, and the sensor's sensitivity, linearity, hysteresis, and repeatability are tested. The relative error of the sensor is evaluated by measuring the rotational characteristics of the sensor. The experimental results show that the sensor sensitivity increases with the increase in hole diameter, while the sensor has good linearity, hysteresis, and repeatability after opening the hole. The rotational characteristics experiments' results show that the sensors' relative errors with different apertures are 18, 23, and 31%, respectively. The DSS open-hole structure is more suitable for electric field measurements than the conventional flat plate structure.