An Oscillating Magnet Watt Balance

Abstract

We establish the principles for a new generation of simplified and accurate watt balances in which an oscillating magnet generates Faraday's voltage in a stationary coil. A force measuring system and a mechanism providing vertical movements of the magnet are completely independent in an oscillating magnet watt balance. This remarkable feature allows to establish the link between the Planck constant and a macroscopic mass by a one single experiment. Weak dependence on variations of environmental and experimental conditions, weak sensitivity to ground vibrations and temperature changes, simple force measuring procedure, small sizes and other useful features offered by the novel approach considerably reduce the complexity of the experimental setup. We formulate the oscillating magnet watt balance principle and establish the measurement procedure for the Planck constant. We discuss the nature of oscillating magnet watt balance uncertainties and give a brief description of the National Metrology Institute (UME) watt balance apparatus.