A Programmable Capacitor for Inductance Measurements

This paper describes a programmable capacitor intended for use as the reference impedance in an inductance measurement system. The capacitor is programmable from 1 pF to 39 <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{F}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> with a resolution of 1 pF and consists of a parallel combination of commercially available capacitors with values that follow the Fibonacci series progression. This paper presents a novel calibration procedure for the programmable capacitor that uses an <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$LCR$ </tex-math></inline-formula> meter performing only difference measurements and requires only three reference capacitance standards within the device’s programmable range. Design details and major sources of error for the use of the capacitor in an inductance measurement system are also discussed.

[1]  Kiyoshi Suzuki,et al.  A New Self-Calibration Method of an $LCR$ Meter for RF Resistance Calibration Using Capacitance Standards , 2009, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[2]  Thomas L. Nelson,et al.  AC power standard using a programmable Josephson voltage standard , 2008, 2008 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements Digest.

[3]  L..  Calibration of Inductance Standards in the Maxwell-Wien Bridge Circuit * , .

[4]  S. A. Awan,et al.  Calibration of IVDs at frequencies up to 1 MHz by permuting capacitors , 2000 .

[5]  Nile M. Oldham,et al.  The sensitivity of a method to predict a capacitor's frequency characteristic , 1999, IMTC/99. Proceedings of the 16th IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (Cat. No.99CH36309).

[6]  A.-M. Jeffery,et al.  Characterization of four-terminal-pair resistance standards: a comparison of measurements and theory , 2000, Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements. Conference Digest. CPEM 2000 (Cat. No.00CH37031).

[7]  S. Avramov-Zamurovic,et al.  Inductance Measurement Using an LCR Meter and a Current Transformer Interface , 2005, 2005 IEEE Instrumentationand Measurement Technology Conference Proceedings.

[8]  Nile M. Oldham,et al.  Uncertainty analysis for four terminal-pair capacitance and dissipation factor characterization at 1 and 10 MHz , 2000, IEEE Trans. Instrum. Meas..

[9]  Jeng Gong,et al.  An Automated Permuting Capacitor Device for Calibration of IVDs , 2014, IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement.

[10]  Thomas L. Nelson,et al.  A 600-V AC voltage amplifier for power measurements , 2014, CPEM 2014.

[11]  S. Avramov-Zamurovic,et al.  Uncertainty analysis for four terminal-pair capacitance and dissipation factor characterization at 1 MHz and 10 MHz , 1999, IMTC/99. Proceedings of the 16th IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Technology Conference (Cat. No.99CH36309).

[12]  Bryan C. Waltrip,et al.  A programmable capacitor for inductance measurements , 2016, 2016 Conference on Precision Electromagnetic Measurements (CPEM 2016).