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http://dx.doi.org/10.5207/JIEIE.2016.30.2.078

Measurement and Analysis of the Atmospheric Electric Field using Balloon-Carried E-Field Sensor  

Kim, Seung-Min (Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Graduate School, Inha University)
Lee, Bok-Hee (Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Inha University)
Publication Information
Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers / v.30, no.2, 2016 , pp. 78-84 More about this Journal
Abstract
This paper is focused on the measurement and analysis of an atmospheric electric field which is caused by thunderclouds. The electric field due to thunderclouds changes very slowly. For this reason, the extremely low frequency E-field sensor needs to be used for measuring the atmospheric electric field strength. The balloon-carried E-field sensor system with the time constant of 1sec was designed and fabricated. The electric field sensor consists of $100mm{\times}100mm$ copper plate, active integrator, high pass and low pass filters and batteries. The measurements of atmospheric electric fields were made by the balloon-carried E-field sensor and radiosonde, which sends the data back to ground in real time. From the calibration experiments, the response sensitivity of the E-field sensor was 0.154mV/kV/m in the frequency range of less than 1kHz. As a result from the actual experiment of the atmospheric electric field, the electric field signals were observed from the altitude of about 2.5km. Also, as the altitude was increased, the detected electric field wave oscillated with the fluctuation of sensing plate. The proposed method seems suitable for measurements of atmospheric electric fields, because it is inexpensive, simple to use and launch.
Keywords
Thunderclouds; Lightning discharge; Atmospheric Electric Fields; E-Field sensor; Active Integrator;
Citations & Related Records
Times Cited By KSCI : 2  (Citation Analysis)
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