New internal multi-range resistors for ac voltage calibration by using TVC

Abstract

Accurate calibration of ac voltages up to 1000 V by using thermal converters requires range resistors connected in series with the converter. The combination of a thermal converter and range resistor is known as the thermal voltage converter. In this paper, multi-range internal range resistors are designed and implemented in the National Institute for Standards (NIS), Egypt to cover the ac voltage ranges from 10 V to 750 V. The range resistor values are 2 kΩ, 10 kΩ, 20 kΩ, 40 kΩ, 100 kΩ, and 150 kΩ to cover the voltage ranges 10 V, 50 V, 100 V, 200 V, 500 V, and 750 V, respectively. The six range resistors are mounted in series with a single-junction thermo-element in the same box to provide a new thermal voltage converter. The required range resistor is selected by using a six-pin selector switch. Each resistor is connected to a selector pin. The new thermal voltage converter ranges are automatically calibrated against other standard thermal voltage converters at different frequencies by using a LabVIEW program to determine their ac–dc transfer difference at each range. The expanded uncertainties are estimated according to the GUM for all ranges at different frequencies. The performance of the new thermal voltage converter is also evaluated by comparing its ac–dc differences and its accuracy in measuring the ac voltage at different frequencies with a traditional thermal voltage converter.