ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENT ASSIGNMENT

GROUP 7 MEMBERS
Nchende Abraham Ngongeh: UBA18P0255
Atam Joyce Amuyen: UBA18P0165
Gamo Wankam Daniel: UBA18P0174
Exercise 1
Compare and contrast between analogue and digital measuring instruments.
Exercise2
Explain how you will use the Wheatstone bridge to determine the value of an
unknown resistance
Exercise 3
Name three ac bridges, and explain how they are used to determine unknown
quantities.
Exercise 4
Explain how an analogue ammeter can be converted into an analogue voltmeter
and vice versa.
Solutions.
1. Differences between analogue and digital measuring instruments

Analog instrument Digital instrument

The instrument gives output, The instrument gives output that
which varies continuously, as varies in discrete steps and only
quantity to be measured is an has finite number of value is a
analog instrument. digital instrument.
Accuracy is less Accuracy is more
Instruments require more power Instruments require less power
More sensitive Less sensitive
Instruments are cheap Instruments are expensive
Extremely portable Not easily portable
Less resolution More resolution
The only similarity between analogue and digital measuring instruments is that
they have the same type of sensor or detecting device.
2) Consider the figure below
The basic concept of the Wheatstone bridge is that in a balanced condition,
When, R1/R2=R2/Rx, the deflection in the voltmeter Vg is zero, meaning no
current flows through arm BD.

The resistors R1 and R2 are fixed. Rx is the unknown resistance and R2 is a

variable resistor. We can vary R2 such that the voltmeter Vg shows no
deflection. In that case, we assume that the bridge is balanced.
Hence, at that particular value of R2,
Rx=R2*(R3/R1), which will give us the value of the unknown resistance R2.
3) three ac bridges are:
Maxwell’s Bridge, Hay’s Bridge and Kelvin Bridge.
Maxwell’s Bridge is used for the measurement of self-inductance of the
circuit. This bridge works on the principle of comparison, meaning the value of
the unknown inductance is determined by comparing it with the known value or
standard value. Consider the figure below

Let L1– unknown inductance of resistance R1

L2 – variable inductance of fixed resistance r1
R2– variable resistance connected in series with inductor L2.
R3R4– known non-inductance resistance.
At balance, L1= (R3/R4) L2
R1= R3/R4(R2+r2)
Hay’s bridge is used for determining the self-inductance of the circuit. This
bridge is the advanced form of Maxwell’s bridge. The Maxwell bridge is only
appropriate for measuring the medium quality factor. So the hays bridge is used
in measuring high quality factor in circuits. It works on the principle of
comparison like the Maxwell Bridge. Consider the circuit below

L1- unknown inductance having resistance R1

R2,R3,R4– known non-inductive resistance.
C4- standard capacitor
At balance condition,
(R1+jwL1)(R4-j/wC4) = R2R3
R1R4+L1/C4+jwL1R4-(jR1/wC4)= R2R3
Separating the real and imaginary term, we have
R1R4+L1/C4=R2R3 and L1= -R1/w2R4C4
Solving the above equation, we have
L1=R2R3C4/1+w2R42C42 and R1=w2C42R2R3R4/1+w2R24C24
Kelvin Bridge or Thompson Bridge is used for measuring unknown
resistances having a value less than 1Ω. It is the modified form of the
Wheatstone Bridge. This is because errors occur when a Wheatstone bridge is
used in measuring very small resistances. Consider the circuit below.
From figure above, r is resistance of the contacts that connect the unknown
resistance R to the standard resistance S. The m and n show the range between
which the galvanometer is connected for obtaining a null point. When G is
connected to m, the lead resistance r is added to S. Thereby the very low
indication obtains for unknown resistance R. And if G is connected to point n
then the r adds to the R, and hence the high value of unknown resistance is
obtained. So at point n or m either a very high or very low value of unknown
resistance is obtained. So, an intermediate point d is chosen where resistance of
lead r is divided into 2equal parts, r1 and r2.
So r1/r2=P/Q
The presence of r1 causes no error in the measurement of unknown resistance.
This means that the resistance of lead will not affect the results.
4) To convert an analogue ammeter to an analogue voltmeter, we connect a
resistor of high resistance in series with the ammeter. Suppose that the ammeter
reaches full scale at current Afs. Suppose the internal resistance of the meter is
Ri. If you want the full-scale voltage reading to be Vfs, the, you need a series
resistor of value R=Vfs/Afs-Ri.
For conversion of an analogue voltmeter to ammeter, we need to decrease the
voltmeter’s internal resistance by adding appropriate shunt. This means
resistance in parallel to the voltmeter. Consider the diagram below
Let Rm be the internal resistance of the voltmeter, and when R=0 the voltmeter
reading is Vm, the current through the circuit is i=Vm/Rm. Nevertheless, when
R≠0 and the voltmeter reads Vm/2, the current in the circuit reduces by half
implying i/2=Vm(R+Rm). The voltmeter resistance Rm is given by,
Vm/2Rm=Vm/R+Rm
Implying that, Rm=R
Once Rm is determined, the shunt Rsh can be determined by noting that, to get
full-scale reading V0 of the voltmeter, we need a maximum current of
Im=V0/Rm. For full-scale reading of the voltmeter V0 corresponding to full-scale
reading I0 of the constructed ammeter, we need to send a current Im through the
voltmeter and the remaining Ish through the shunt. Therefore the shunt resistance
Rsh, the maximum resistance that can allow minimum Ish current is calculated as,
Ish= I0-Im
Rsh=V0/Ish