Arbitrary Waveform Voltage Measuring Converter for Wideband AC Voltmeter

Alternating current (AС) voltage measurement is one of the most common types of measurements in various fields of science and technology. To evaluate the AC voltage level, special voltmeters are used which allow recording of amplitude, average and/or root mean square (RMS) voltage values. Among these measuring instruments, voltmeters of mean square voltage are especially significant because RMS is a fundamental physical characteristic of an electrical signal and is a true measure of power. The wide distribution of non-sinusoidal signals necessitates the creation of voltmeters for direct measurement of RMS. The main component of such voltmeter is an AC voltage to direct current (DC) voltage measuring converter based on the root-mean-square value level (AC RMS-DC converter). An analysis of existing technical solutions shows that it is advisable to use a thermoelectric converter (TEC) for high-precision measurement of RMS voltage of an arbitrary shape with a spectrum in the frequency band from 20 Hz to 20–50 MHz. Such a AC RMS-DC converter must contain a differential semiconductor TEC and an input broadband voltage amplifier with low nonlinearity of the frequency response. The aim of the paper was to develop a measuring AC RMS-DC converter of arbitrary shape voltage in which special attention is paid to modernization of the TEC and reduction of the AC RMS-DC converter error using corection of the frequency response of the input amplifier and introduction automatic calibration of the output voltage. Features of semiconductor chips and design of TEC in the form of a microcircuit or microassembly, results of converter’s and TEC elements’ parameters measurements are presented. A significant influence of the frequency response of the input amplifier and the offset voltage of the TEC transistors on the AC RMS-DC converter error was noted. Modernization of the input amplifier and introduction of automatic calibration of the output voltage ensured an error in a sinusoidal signal converting of less than 1 % in the range from 20 Hz to 50 MHz.

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