SENSOR DEVICE FOR MONITORING THE DIELECTRIC STRENGTH OF A DIELECTRIC FLUID, IN PARTICULAR A FLUID FOR THE THERMAL CONDITIONING OF A BATTERY

A sensor device for monitoring dielectric strength of a dielectric fluid has a sensor body which supports a sensitive part (SGi), designed for contact with the dielectric fluid. The sensitive part (SGi) comprises at least one pair of electrodes (E1, E2) having respective surface portions arranged at a predefined micrometric or sub-micrometric distance, to define therebetween at least one detection gap between which part of the dielectric fluid is suitable to seep in. The sensor device has a circuit arrangement comprising: -means for generating an electric field between the two electrodes of the at least one pair of electrodes (E1, E2) starting from a known supply voltage, and-means (V) for measuring a voltage representative of possible occurrence of an electric discharge between the two electrodes of the at least one pair of electrodes (E1, E2) through the dielectric fluid (5) present in the at least one detection gap (G), following generation of the electric field.