Thermal step method for space charge measurements under applied dc field

The thermal step method (TSM) is a nondestructive technique which measures the distribution of the electric field and space charge density across solid insulating materials. This work first reviews the principle and the basic equations of the TSM when used on a short circuited flat insulating structure (film or plate). An evolution of the method, which allows the determination of space charge distribution in an insulator while submitted to an external dc field, is then described. The fundamentals, the experimental setup and the validation of this technique on flat samples and on power cables are presented and discussed.