Non-destructive potential-free capacitive tap for low and mid voltage smart grid communication

A smart grid can be created with the help of additional glass-fiber wires or with power line communication. For power line communication (PLC) an ohmic contact is needed which results in harming the wire insulation and defining the potential. A capacitive tap can be installed without these disadvantages and allows retrofitting ever grid to a smart grid. A floating tap which reads the high frequency signal uses the capacitance between the wire and the isolated electrode. To prevent all following components from overvoltage conditions, a filter is realized including the capacity for a passive high-pass design. An active band-pass approach is advisable in the case of high frequency interferences. The proposed solution of a non-destructive and potential-free tap is experimentally evaluated.