A capacitor voltage transformer (CVT) is a transformer used in power systems to step-down extra high voltage signals and provide low voltage signals either for measurement or to operate a protective relay. In its most basic form the device consists of three parts: two capacitors across which the voltage signal is split, an inductive element used to tune the device to the supply frequency and a transformer used to isolate and further step-down the voltage for the instrumentation or protective relay. The device has at least four terminals, a high-voltage terminal for connection to the high voltage signal, a ground terminal and at least one set of secondary terminals for connection to the instrumentation or protective relay. CVTs are typically single-phase devices used for measuring voltages in excess of one hundred kilovolts where the use of voltage transformers would be uneconomical. In practice the first capacitor, C1, is often replaced by a stack of capacitors connected in series. This results in a large voltage drop across the stack of capacitors that replaced the first capacitor and a comparatively small voltage drop across the second capacitor, C2, and hence the secondary terminals.
