ELECTRONIC ANALOG METERS

The voltmeters, ammeters and multimeters discussed earlier are rugged but suffer from following disadvantages:

Low sensitivity Low input impedance

For example, a 100 , 50 A PMMC movement with the sensitivity of 20 K/V.

For a 0.5 V range, input resistance is only 10 K. Current cannot measure much lesser than 50 A and voltage much lesser than 5 mV (50 A x 100 ) accurately. Power absorbed by this movement (0.25 W) may also be quite large for many electronic circuits.

Electronic Analog DC Voltmeter

A DC Input Input Switching and Range Selection Amplifier B Multiplier Resistor PMMC Movement

Typical Switching and Amplifier Gain Selection Circuit

R1

S1 100 K S2

S3

OPAMP

S5 R4

X1

90 K

R2 9.9 M

DC Voltage Input, Vin

S4

X10

S6 R5 S7 R6

9 K

R3 100 K

X100

1 K B

Typical Switching and Amplifier Gain Selection Circuit

R1

S1 100 K S2

S3

OPAMP

S5 R4

X1

90 K

R2 9.9 M

DC Voltage Input, Vin

S4

X10

S6 R5 S7 R6

9 K

R3 100 K

X100

1 K B

Electronic Analog DC Ammeter

Iin Electronic Analog Voltmeter

RS
RF

Vin

Iin

OPAMP Vin

Electronic Analog Voltmeter

For very low currents

Electronic Analog AC Voltmeter

Rectifier Based AC Voltmeter
A

AC Input Input Switching and Range Selection Ampli fier Rectif ier
B Multiplier Resistor

PMMC Movement

The scale is calibrated in terms of RMS value of a pure sine wave.

True RMS Meters

Thermal ac-to-dc converters Peak and Averaging ac-to-dc converters Analog ac-to-dc converters Digital sampling

RMS: Root-Mean-Square RMS is a measure of a signal's average power. Instantaneous power delivered to a resistor is : P= (v(t)) /R. To get average power, integrate and divide by the period: t0+T
Pavg= 1 R 1 T t0 2 [v (t)]dt = (Vrms) R 2

Solving for Vrms:

t0+T Vrms= 1 T t0 [v 2(t)] dt

1
1.733 v 1.414 v 1v 1v

Waveform Vpeak Vrms

Sine 1.414 1

Square 1 1

Triangle 1.733 1

DC 1 1

All = 1 WATT

* All the following voltage waveforms have the

same RMS value and indicate 1.000 VAC on an rms meter: * An AC voltage with a given RMS value has the same heating (power) effect as a DC voltage with that same value.

Thermal ac-to-dc converters

The disadvantages of the thermal approach are cost and lack of flexibility in trading off measurement speed with low-frequency accuracy. For these reasons, the technique is not used in the latest-generation DMMs.

Thermal ac-to-dc converters

This older technology for rms measurements uses the equivalent-heating value approach. The ac signal heats a thermocouple, then the dc section of the meter reads the thermocouple output. Advantages include wide bandwidth and the ability to handle very high crest factors, meaning this approach can deliver true rms for a wide variety of real-world signals.

Thermal ac-to-dc converters

Measuring Thermocouple Hea AC Input, Vrms ter DC Amplifier Vo Multiplier Resistor PMMC Movement Balancing Thermocouple V2 Feedback Current

V1

Heater

True RMS AC Voltmeter

Power delivered to the heater by any source is given by : P = Vrms2/Rheater The heat so generated is measured by a thermocouple which generates a voltage proportional to the temperature of the junction.

Vt = f(P) = f(Vrms2/Rheater) = K Vrms2 where K is the constant of proportionality and depends upon the distance between the heater and thermocouple and on the material used in the heater and the thermocouple

Measuring Thermocouple Hea AC Input, Vrms ter DC Amplifier Vo Multiplier Resistor PMMC Movement Balancing Thermocouple V2 Feedback Current

V1

Heater

Vo = A(V1 V2)
V1 V2 = Vo/A 0 Or Or Or V1 V2 K Vrms2 K Vo2 Vrms Vo for large A

Electronic Analog AC Ammeter

Shunt type arrangement similar to the DC current measurement is used in these meters. Input current is made to flow through a precision resistor and the voltage so developed across the resistor is measured by an AC voltmeter.

Electronic Analog Ohmmeter

Unknown Resistor, RU
I

Voltmeter
Vin

Ohmmeter

Two-Wire Sensing
Rlead

I V

RU

Rlead

Four-Wire Sensing (Kelvin Sensing Technique)

Rlead

Zero current

I V

Sense Lead Rlead

Source Lead RU Source Lead Rlead

Very high I/P impedance

Sense Lead

Rlead

This technique is widely used in applications where lead resistances become quite large and variable. The only disadvantage is in multi-channel systems, it requires twice as many switches and twice as many wires as the two-wire technique.

Electronic Analog Multimeter

Similar to a nonelectronic multimeter, electronic multimeter also includes the circuits, with a common movement, for the measurement of multirange AC and DC voltages and currents and the measurement of resistance. Device Testing
Device testing facility is offered by many multimeter manufacturers.

Problem 1.16: A basic ohmmeter circuit is shown below. Assume a meter movement with 500A full-scale deflection current and 2K internal resistance. The unknown resistance is connected across terminals XX. Calculate the value of Vdc and R so that half-scale deflection reading corresponds to 75 . Consider the op-amp as ideal.
Vdc 100 X R X
PMMC Movement OPAMP

Problem 1.19: For the waveform given, will a meter designed to read sinusoidal read high or low?

5V

T/2

Time

Problem 1.20: Design a switching and amplifier gain circuit for an electronics analog dc voltmeter using FETs and an op-amp. The input ranges of the voltmeter should be 10mV, 100mV, 1V and 10V. The input resistance of the voltmeter should be 10M

DIGITAL METERS

Block Diagram
AC Attenuator AC Converter Digital Processing Digital Display

HI (+) Amp Input

AC DC Ohm
Ohm Converter DC Attenuator

AC DC Ohm

A/D Converter

Output Ports (GPIB, RS 232)

Precision Shunts

Precision Reference

LO (-)