Influence of the pulse voltage injection configuration on the electromagnetic distortion in space charge measurements using the PEA method

The Pulsed Electroacoustic Method is one of the most common methods for space charge measurements in solid dielectrics. This method involves applying a voltage pulse across the dielectric under test, which modifies the electrostatic force balance across the dielectric, creating an acoustic signal that can be measured externally. This work analyzes the influence of the pulsed voltage circuit connection location at the PEA test towards the generated distortion due to the electromagnetic interaction between the pulsed voltage and the acoustic sensor by means of experimental tests. From the tests, it can be observed that the connection locations of the pulsed voltage circuit directly connected to the test cell have a significant influence on the distortion magnitude. In practice, this means that the generated distortion can be significantly diminished by modifying the physical location of the connection to the PEA test cell of the pulsed voltage injection electrodes. The results of this paper could serve as a guideline for the construction of PEA measurement setups to minimize the signal distortion caused by the pulsed voltage, which can also reflect in simpler post-processing.