NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, TIRUCHIRAPPALLI

Electrical and Electronic

Measurements
Self Study Notes

Ashesh B Vignesh
110110013





ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC MEASUREMENTS NOTES

Ashesh B Vignesh Page 1

ELECTRI CAL AND ELECTRONI C
MEASUREMENTS
SELF STUDY NOTES
CONTENTS
Chapter 1: Electro Mechanical Instruments........................................................................................... 2
Permanent Magnet Moving Coil Meters (PMMC Meters) .......................................................... 2
Moving Iron Meters .................................................................................................................................. 3
Electrodynamic Meters (Dynamometer Type) .............................................................................. 4
Clamp On Meters ....................................................................................................................................... 6
Analogue Multimeters ............................................................................................................................. 6
Measurement of High Frequency Signals Using Analogue Meters ......................................... 7
Thermocouple Meters ............................................................................................................................. 7
Current Transformer ............................................................................................................................... 8
Potential/Voltage Transformer ........................................................................................................... 9


ELECTRICAL AND ELECTRONIC MEASUREMENTS NOTES

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CHAPTER 1: ELECTRO MECHANICAL INSTRUMENTS
PERMANENT MAGNET MOVING COIL METERS (PMMC METERS)
Commonly used form of analogue voltmeter
o Due to its sensitivity, accuracy and linear scale
Responds only to DC input
Uses a pointer that moves over a calibrated scale to indicate a measured quantity
Three forces are operating in the electromechanical mechanism
o A deflecting force
o A controlling force
o A damping force
The deflecting force cause the pointer to move from its zero position when a
current flows
o The deflecting force is magnetic
The controlling force is provided by springs
o These springs retain the coil and point at zero position when no current is
flowing
The pointer and coil tend to oscillate for some time before settling down at their
final position
A damping force is required to minimize the oscillations
o The damping force is providing by eddy currents

Fig 1.1: Moving Coil Meter
Consists of a rectangular coil wound round a soft iron core that is suspended in
the field of a permanent magnet
The signal being measured is applied to the coil and this produces a radial
magnetic field
Interaction between this induced field and the field produced by the permanent
magnet causes a torque, which results in rotation of the coil
The amount of rotation of the coil is measured by attaching a pointer to it that
moves past a graduated scale
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The theoretical torque produced is given by:

Where B is the flux density of the radial field
o I is the current flowing in the coil
o h is the height of the coil
o w is the width of the coil
o N is the number of turns in the coil
If the iron core is cylindrical and the air gap between the coil and pole faces of
the permanent magnet is uniform, then the flux density B is constant
o Equation can be rewritten as:

This implies that the torque is proportional to the coil current and the
instrument scale is linear
Basic instrument operates only at low current levels of one milliamp or so
o Suitable for measurement up to 2 volts
Measurement range can be increased by placing resistance in series with coil
such that only a known proportion of applied voltage is measured by coil
o Such resistance is called shunting resistor
MOVING IRON METERS
As well as measuring DC signals, the moving-iron meter can also measure AC
signals at frequencies up to 125 Hz
Cheapest form of meter available
The signal to be measured is applied to a stationary coil
The associated field produced is often amplified by the presence of an iron
structure associated with the fixed coil
The moving element in the instrument consists of an iron vane that is suspended
within the field of the fixed coil
When the fixed coil is excited, the iron vane turns in a direction that increases
the flux through it
The majority of moving-iron instruments are either of the attraction type or of
the repulsion type
o A few instruments belong to a third combination type
Attraction and Repulsion types are shown in the figure below:
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Fig 1.2: Moving Iron Meters: a) Attraction Type b) Repulsion Type

For an excitation current I, the torque produced that causes the vane to turn is:

Where
o M is the mutual inductance
o is the angular deflection
Rotation is opposed by a spring that produces a backwards torque given by:

At equilibrium,

, and is therefore given by:

The instrument thus has a square-law response where the deflection is
proportional to the square of the signal being measured
o The output reading is a root-mean-squared (r.m.s.) quantity
The instrument can typically measure voltages in the range of 0 to 30 volts
It can be modified to measure higher voltages by placing a resistance in series
with it, as in the case of moving coil meters
A series resistance is particularly beneficial in AC signal measurements
o It compensates for the effect of coil inductance by reducing the total
resistance/inductance ratio, and hence measurement accuracy is
improved
ELECTRODYNAMIC METERS (DYNAMOMETER TYPE)
Electrodynamic meters (or dynamometers) can measure both DC signals and AC
signals up to a frequency of 2 kHz
The figure of a dynamometer is shown below:
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Fig 1.3: Electrodynamic Meter

The instrument has a moving circular coil that is mounted in the magnetic field
produced by two separately wound, series-connected, circular stator coils
The torque is dependent upon the mutual inductance between the coils and is
given by:

Where
o

and

are the currents flowing in the fixed and moving coils

o M is the mutual inductance
o represents the angular displacement between the coils
When used as an ammeter, the measured current is applied to both coils
o The torque is thus proportional to

If the measured current is AC, the meter is unable to follow the alternating
torque values and it displays instead the mean value of

By suitable drawing of the scale, the position of the pointer shows the
squared root of this value, i.e. the r.m.s. current
Electrodynamic meters are typically expensive
o Have the advantage of being more accurate than moving-coil and
moving-iron instruments
Voltage, Current and Power can all be measured if the fixed and moving coils
are connected appropriately
When used for voltage measurement, the instrument can typically measure
voltages in the range of 0 to 30 volts
It can be modified to measure higher voltages by placing a resistance in series
with it, as in the case of moving-coil and moving-iron meters
A series resistance is particularly beneficial in AC signal measurements as it
compensates for the effect of coil inductance
o Reduces the total resistance/inductance ratio, and hence
measurement accuracy is improved
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CLAMP ON METERS

Fig 1.4: Clamp On meter
These are used for measuring circuit currents and voltages in a non-invasive
manner that avoids having to break the circuit being measured
The meter clamps onto a current carrying conductor, and the output reading is
obtained by transformer action
From the figure above, it can be seen that the clamp on jaws of the instrument
act as a transformer core and the current-carrying conductor acts as a primary
winding
Current induced in the secondary winding is rectified and applied to a moving-
coil meter
Although it is a very convenient instrument to use the clamp-on meter has low
sensitivity and the minimum current measurable
o Usually about 1 amp
ANALOGUE MULTIMETERS
The analogue multimeter is a multi-function instrument that can measure
current and resistance as well as DC and AC voltage signals
The instrument consists of a moving-coil meter with a switchable bridge rectifier
to allow it to measure AC signals
This is shown in the figure below:

Fig 1.5: Analogue Multimeter
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A set of rotary switches allows the selection of various series and shunt resistors
o Makes the instrument capable of measuring both voltage and current over
a number of ranges
An internal power source is also provided to allow it to measure resistances as
well
This instrument is very useful for giving an indication of voltage levels
o Compromises in its design that enable it to measure so many different
quantities necessarily mean that its accuracy is not as good
MEASUREMENT OF HIGH FREQUENCY SIGNALS USING ANALOGUE METERS
Major limitation in using analogue meters for AC voltage measurement is that
the maximum frequency measurable directly is low
o 2 kHz for the dynamometer voltmeter
o 100 Hz for the moving-iron instrument
A partial solution to this limitation is to rectify the voltage signal and then apply
it to a moving-coil meter, as shown in figure below:

Fig 1.6: Measurement of High Frequency voltage signals using rectifier circuit
This extends the upper measurable frequency limit to 20 kHz
The inclusion of the bridge rectifier makes the measurement system particularly
sensitive to environmental temperature changes
Also, non linearities significantly affect measurement accuracy for voltages that
are small relative to the full-scale value
THERMOCOUPLE METERS
The principle of operation of the thermocouple meter is shown in figure below:
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Fig 1.7: Thermocouple meter
The measured AC voltage signal is applied to a small element
This heats up and the resulting temperature rise is measured by a thermocouple
The DC voltage generated in the thermocouple is applied to a moving-coil meter
The output meter reading is an r.m.s. quantity that varies in a non-linear fashion
with the magnitude of the measured voltage
Very high-frequency voltage signals up to 50MHz can be measured by this
method
CURRENT TRANSFORMER
Current transformers provide an alternative method of measuring high-
magnitude currents that avoids the difficulty of designing a suitable shunt
Different versions of these exist for transforming both DC and AC currents
A DC current transformer is shown in the figure below

Fig 1.8: A DC Current Transformer
The central DC conductor in the instrument is threaded through two magnetic
cores that carry two high impedance windings connected in series opposition
It can be shown that the current flowing in the windings when excited with an AC
voltage is proportional to the DC current in the central conductor
o This output current is commonly rectified and then measured by a
moving-coil instrument
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An AC current transformer typically has a primary winding consisting of only a
few copper turns wound on a rectangular or ring-shaped core
The secondary winding on the other hand would normally have several hundred
turns according to the current step-down ratio required
The output of the secondary winding is measured by any suitable current-
measuring instrument
The design of current transformers is substantially different from that of voltage
transformers
The rigidity of its mechanical construction has to be sufficient to withstand the
large forces arising from short-circuit currents
o Special attention has to be paid to the insulation between its windings for
similar reasons
A low-loss core material is used and flux densities are kept as small as possible to
reduce losses
In the case of very high currents, the primary winding often consists of a single
copper bar that behaves as a single turn winding
o The clamp-on meter, is a good example of this
POTENTIAL/VOLTAGE TRANSFORMER