OBJECTIVES 1. To use Lissajous figures to take phase measurements. 2. To use Lissajous figures to take frequency measurements.

LIST OF REQUIREMENT Equipment 1. General purpose oscilloscope (10MHz) 2. Function generators (1Hz to 1MHz) 3. Digital multimeter THEORY Oscilloscope is the one most versatile instruments available as a measuring tool. It can be used many ways to measure voltage, frequency, and phase angle. Two channel measurements are very useful and are presented. The uses of lissajous figures foe various measurement are provide in oscilloscope. Background Lissajous (pronounced LEE-suh-zhoo) figures were discovered by the French physicist Jules Antoine Lissajous. He would use sounds of different frequencies to vibrate a mirror. A beam of light reflected from the mirror would trace patterns which depended on the frequencies of the sounds. Lissajous' setup was similar to the apparatus which is used today to project laser light shows. Before the days of digital frequency meters and phase-locked loops, Lissajous figures were used to determine the frequencies of sounds or radio signals. A signal of known frequency was applied to the horizontal axis of an oscilloscope, and the signal to be measured was applied to the vertical axis. The resulting pattern was a function of the ratio of the two frequencies.Lissajous figures are useful in the calibration of frequencies in tuning forks. With these properly calibrated tuning forks one is able to verify the functionality of police radar, or the tuning of musical instruments. A Lissajous pattern is a graph of one frequency plotted on the y axis combined with a second frequency plotted on the x axis. Y and X are both periodic functions of time t given by equations such as x = sin (w*n*t + c) and y = sin w*t. Different patterns may begenerated for different values of n(period shift) and c (phase shift). The simplest patterns are formed when n is a ratio of small whole numbers such as 1/2, 2/3, or 1/3. The value of c is usually taken as 0 or 1.57 (which is actually p /2). Lissajous figures If the oscilloscope has the x-versus-y or A-versus-B capability, one can apply one signal to the vertical deflection plates while applying a second signal to the horizontal deflection plates. The horizontal sweep section is automatically disengaged at this time. The resulting waveform is called a lissajous figure. This mode can be used to measure phase or frequency relationships between two signal.

Phase measurement using lissajous figures. If the signals forming a lissajous figure are of equal frequency but there is phase difference between the, the resulting waveform might look like figure 3.1. A point-by-point plot may be taken to show how the figure is formed. Figure 3.2 represents a 45 phase difference between two signals of equal frequency. Figure 3.3 illustrates some other phase relationships shown by lissajous figures.

Figure3.1 lissajous figure resulting from two input signals out of phase but the same frequency.

Figure 3.2 Plotting a lissajous figure showing two signals 45 out of phase.

Figure 3.3 Phase relationship of lissajous figures.

If a stable pattern can be achieved, a reasonable accurate determination of the phase angle is possible. Only at 0 and 180 does the lissajous figure give a unique answer. All other figures are associated with two phase-angle value. For example, the figure for 225 is the same as gigure for 135 thus, the figure gives an angle an its supplement. In figure 3.4 : Sin =

yo ymax

= arc sin =

yo ymax

where yo is the displacement between the y-intercepts if the figure is centred, and ymax is the vertical peak-peak displacement. This yield , which is a reference angle and not necessarily the actual phase measurement.

Figure 3.4 phase-angle measurement using lissajous figures Frequency Measurements Using Lissajous Figures If the signals input to the vertical and horizontal deflection plates are not the same frequency and a stable pattern can be established, the ratio of the frequencies can be determined. Figure 3.5 illustrates the formation of a lissajous figure when the frequency is 2:1. The horizontal trace moves back and forth twice while the vertical move up and down once. Therefore, the frequency of the signal on the horizontal is twice the frequency of the signal on the vertical. Other frequency patterns appear in the figure 3.6.

Figure 3.5 A lissajous figure showing a 2:1 frequency ratio

Figure 3.6 : lissajous plotting patterns of some frequency. As illustrated in figure 3.6, the frequency ratio can be determined by the number of vertical peaks to the number of horizontal peaks. A pattern open at one end considered to have one-half peak at that end as in figure 3.7. If one of the signals used is a standard, the other frequency may be determined with considerable accuracy. If the two signals have frequencies that differ by 1 Hz, the pattern will rotate at the rate of one cycle per second. (A 2 Hz difference represents two rotations per second). Low frequencies are easier to measure than those high frequencies because a stable pattern is easier to establish. With higher frequencies, stable patterns may be very difficult. It is virtually impossible to tune two 1 MHz generators to exactly 1000000 Hz or even close enough to get a stationary pattern.

Figure 3.7 Frequency ratios of open-ended figures At 200 Hz, the difference that produce a 1 Hz rotation in the pattern is 1 part in 200. At 1 MHz, the difference is 1 part in 1000000. Even under the best circumstances, it may be impossible to adjust the frequency sources to a high enough accuracy to produce a stationary lissajous pattern. Table 3.1 shows the accuracy required to produce a pattern that rotates at 1 Hz using both 200 Hz and 1MHz as a reference. Vertical 200 Hz 1000000 Hz Horizontal 199 Hz 1000000 Hz Difference 0.5% 0.00001% Rotations 1/s 1/s

In many cases, even a glimpse of a circular pattern will suffice when taking a measurement. Although a circle shows a 90 phase difference between two signals, it alsi indicates that their frequencies are equal.

PROCEDURES PART A : FREQUENCY MEASUREMENT USING LISSJAOUS FIGURES 1- Use two signal generators and consider the first generator(generator1) as known standard frequency source. Assume that it has correct dial markings. Generator 2 will be the variable (unknown) source. 2- Set generator 1 at 1kHz. Set the signal voltage at 4V peak-to-peak. Vary the frequency of generator 2 until a circular pattern occurs on the scope. 3- Record this pattern in table 3.2. Record the number of vertical and horizontal tangencies and calculate the frequency of the generator 2 (A vertical tangencies is a point where the figure is tangent to the vertical axis). 4- Repeat these procedures for other convenient ratio and complete table 3.2 Use at least one other standard frequency for the last three entries (e.g.,3kHz). PART B : PHASE MEASUREMENTS USING OSCILLOSCOPE AND LISSAJOUS FIGURES 1- Connect the circuit as in figure 3.8 2- Set the frequency of Ein at 1kHz. Set R 0. Set the signal voltage at 4V peak-topeak. Centre the display. Change R to 10k and record the pattern in table 3.3. Record the measured and calculated values in table 3.3, for the different value of R.

REFERENCES. 1- http://chullickal.blogspot.com/2009/04/introduction-to-lissajous-patterns.html 2- Instrumentation Reference Book By Walt Boyes 3- http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Trigonometry/For_Enthusiasts/Lissajous_Figures