METHODOLOGICAL FEATURES OF CALCULATING ERRORS IN THE MEASUREMENT OF ELECTROSTATIC FIELD STRENGTH

Abstract

Measuring the intensity of the electric field of the atmosphere today has become a widespread task of modern meteorology. After all, the distribution of the intensity of the local electric field near the surface of the earth is closely related to the global distribution of thunderstorms and electrified clouds.
 The force characteristic of an electric field is its intensity. The change in the atmospheric electric field occurs relatively slowly, so electrostatic field mill (EFM) are most widely used to measure the electric field strength.
 Electrostatic field mills have been used to monitor the electric field in good weather, measure the vertical electric field inside clouds, and observe the movement and evolution of storms. Various designs of EFM have been developed and documented for more than a century, but since the subject is not popularized, their construction methods and calculation features are not documented. Therefore, there was a need to generalize the structure of the device and calculate its metrological characteristics.
 The work is aimed at increasing the accuracy of measurement and improving the hardware of electrostatic field mills. The task of increasing the accuracy of measuring the electrostatic field on a straight line depends on reducing the errors that occur in the device. The causes of these errors can be attributed to the imperfection of the measurement method or the inconsistency of the measurement object to its model, as well as the properties of the measurement tools. In previous studies, the authors used a mathematical model of the EF sensor, which does not correspond to the real shape of the signal, which created the need for its improvement.
 In this work, the authors proposed and substantiated a universal mathematical model of the EFM sensor. The paper also provides an analysis of the components of the proposed mathematical model, which will allow choosing the optimal structural parameters of the EFM sensor, which will increase its sensitivity. In addition, the paper proposed its own functional scheme of the EFM and developed a methodology for calculating its instrumental error, which allows to single out critical parameters during the selection of components for the construction of the device.
 The aspects considered in this article substantiate the relevance of increasing the accuracy of measuring the electrostatic field strength. The work carried out is the beginning of research aimed at improving the hardware of electrostatic field mills.