Non-contact voltage sensing method and apparatus

24:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, wherein the measurement region is configured such that no other conductor is received by the measurement region.

25:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, wherein the electrode is mounted to, connected to, or formed in or by a flexible PCB.

26:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, wherein the measurement region is at least partly surrounded by a shield constructed from high-conductivity material.

27:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, further comprising a flexible sensing attachment providing the measurement region,
• wherein the flexible sensing attachment in operation is configured to at least partly surround the first hot conductor.

28:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 27, wherein the flexible sensing attachment comprises a shield constructed from high-conductivity material.

29:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 27, wherein the flexible sensing attachment comprises a bi-stable structure.

30:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, wherein the capacitance-determining electronic circuitry includes a shield driver circuit or chip.

31:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 30, wherein the shield driver circuit or chip drives a shield constructed from high-conductivity material with a signal or waveform to reduce a measurement of a capacitance or of an induced displacement current between the shield and the electrode.

32:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 30, further comprising a multiplexing circuit configured to selectively couple a shield constructed from high-conductivity material to the reference potential or to the shield driver circuit or chip.

33:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 32, wherein the multiplexing circuit is configured to couple the shield to the reference potential when the waveform-sensing electronic circuitry is in operation, and to the shield driver circuit or chip to drive it to approximately the same potential as the electrode to minimize an effect or a measurement of a capacitance between them when the capacitance-determining electronic circuitry is in operation.

34:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 27, wherein the flexible sensing attachment is configured to wrap around the first hot conductor.

35:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 27, wherein the flexible sensing attachment is configured to wrap around the first hot conductor to produce a determinable geometric relationship between the electrode and the first hot conductor, and wherein the determinable geometric relationship comprises a closest distance of between 1 mm and 15 mm.

36:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 27, wherein the flexible sensing attachment includes a relatively more flexible portion and a relatively less flexible portion.

37:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, further comprising a rigid portion and/or a housing.

38:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, further comprising a housing or attachment configured to connect to or be grabbable by a “hot stick” tool.

39:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, wherein the signal processing electronic circuitry is configured to process the AC voltage waveform obtained by the waveform-sensing electronic circuitry to obtain a line voltage waveform frequency spectrum or shape, and to scale the obtained line voltage waveform frequency spectrum or shape using the scaling factor based on the coupling capacitance obtained by the capacitance-determining electronic circuitry.

40:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, wherein the waveform-sensing electronic circuitry configured to obtain an AC voltage waveform induced by capacitive coupling between the first hot conductor and the electrode comprises an amplifier circuit having an output that depends on the coupling capacitance formed between the first hot conductor and the electrode and depends on the voltage between the first hot conductor and the reference potential.

41:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, wherein the amplifier circuit comprises a transimpedance amplifier circuit having an output that scales linearly with the coupling capacitance and with the voltage between the first hot conductor and the reference potential.

43:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, wherein the capacitance-determining electronic circuitry comprises a circuit including an astable op-amp multivibrator that is configured to switch an output signal between an output voltage and a ground potential at a switching frequency inversely proportional to the coupling capacitance formed between the first hot conductor and the electrode.

44:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, wherein the capacitance-determining electronic circuitry includes a capacitance measurement chip or circuit.

45:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, wherein the capacitance-determining electronic circuitry comprises a calibration circuit including a relaxation oscillator, a reference capacitance to the reference potential, a switch configured to selectively connect the reference capacitance and the coupling capacitance, and circuitry configured to obtain a difference between a first frequency of the calibration circuit when the switch is open, and a second frequency of the calibration circuit when the switch is closed.

47:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 46, wherein the measurement means are configured to sense one or more of:
• a diameter of the first hot conductor including an insulating layer, a circumference of the first hot conductor, a distance indicator of a flexible sensing attachment, or a curvature or bending of the flexible sensing attachment.

49:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, wherein the signal processing electronic circuitry is configured to process and time-synchronize a current waveform and a voltage waveform of the first alternating current electrical circuit to obtain a determination of a power factor of the first alternating current electrical circuit.

50:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, further comprising power supply means configured to power the electronic circuitry.

51:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 50, wherein the power supply means comprise one or more of a stored energy system, an external power supply, or energy harvesting circuitry suitable for obtaining power from the first alternating current electrical circuit.

52:

• The non-contact electric potential meter system of claim 23, further comprising a multiplexing circuit configured to share a current transformer between a current sensing mechanism and the energy harvesting circuitry, or configured to selectively couple the electrode to the waveform-sensing electronic circuitry or to the capacitance-determining electronic circuitry.