Design and Modeling of MEMS-Based Trace-Level Moisture Measurement System for GIS Applications in Smart Grid Environment

This paper presents a system to monitor the presence of trace moisture in SF6 gas insulated switchgear (GIS) employing a micro-cantilever sensor. The main objective of the proposed system design is to continuously monitor the moisture concentration inside the GIS for enhanced safety. Microcantilever-based sensors reduce the overall size of the measurement system as well as enhance the measurement accuracy and sensitivity. A new system approach is proposed to detect trace moisture by monitoring the change in Q-factor of the microcantilever. It makes the measurement of resonant frequency of the microcantilever easier to implement and analyze. The system is made Internet of Things (IoT) enabled using Raspberry Pi. It allows easy local and remote accessibility of sensor data. The usefulness of the proposed system lies in its continuous monitoring ability, compact nature, and easy integration and accessibility, which are some of the essential and current requirements of the smart grid environment.