EE 123 HANDOUTS: ELECTRICAL TOOLS AND MEASURING INSTRUMENTS

I. ELECTRICAL TOOLS:

Classifications:
1. Hand Tool – tools operated by our hands without the use of electricity to operate it.
2. Machine Tool – tools operated by our hands with electricity to operate it.

Basic Types of Electrical tools:

1. Center Punch – used for marking metal parts

2. C – clamp – used in holding objects together while they are being assembled.
3. Electrician’s knife – used by electricians to remove insulation of large wires or big cables
4. File – used to remove rough edges
5. Gimlet – used to make an initial hole for wood screws
6. Hacksaw - used for cutting metals
7. Hammer – used for striking hard objects like nails , etc.
a. Claw Hammer – used for striking and pulling out nails
b. Ball Pen Hammer – used to flatten metal surfaces
c. Soft-faced hammer – used in rewinding jobs
8. Handrill and Bit – used for boring holes
9. Hickey – used for bending small size pipes
10. Micrometer - used to measure the diameter of small wires in mils
11. Pipe cutter – used to cut small size of pipes
12. Pipe-threader - used in threading pipes
13. Pipe – vise – used to hold down the pipes while it is being cut.
14. Pliers – used for cutting , twisting, or gripping electrical components
a. Lineman’s pliers – Side cutting pliers
b. Long Nose pliers
c. Diagonal pliers – commonly known as “cutter”
d. Mechanical pliers
15. Puller – used for pulling out gears, bearings, or bushings.
16. Push-pull Tape rule – a length measuring tool
17. Reamer - used to cut away the rough edges inside the pipe after being cut
18. Screw Drivers – used to turn or drive screws with slotted heads
a. Standard screw drivers
b. Phillips screw driver
c. Stubb screw driver – short length
19. Wire stripper - used in removing the insulation of small sizes of wire
20. Wrenches – used to tightened or loosened objects
a. Adjustable wrench – size is adjustable
b. Open-end wrench – used to grip the nut only in two sides
c. Box wrench – used to grip the nut in all sides
d. Allen wrench – used for hexagonally shaped nuts
e. Vise-grip wrench – used to lock on the objects and grip it.
f. Pipe wrench - used for gripping pipes only
 II. ELECTRICAL MEASURING INSTRUMENTS
- devices which are used to measure important electrical quantities like voltage, current,
resistance , etc.

Types of Instruments

a. Indicating Instruments – devices that indicate directly the value of the quantity being
measured on the scale.
b. Integrating Instruments – device that combines two or more electrical quantities and
registers it as a single equivalent unit.
c. Recording Instruments – devices that give a record f the variations of the electrical quality
being measured over a period of time.

Instrument Name Quantity being measured/observed

Ammeter Current
Calorimeter Heat generated
Clamp-ammeter Current
Dynamometer Mechanical output of a motor
Frequency meter Frequency
Galvanometer Small voltage or current
Hydrometer Specific gravity of the liquid in a battery
Inductometer Inductance
Kilowatt-hour meter Electrical energy consumption
Megger Insulation resistance
Ohmmeter Resistance
Oscilloscope Waveform characteristics
Photometer Luminous intensity of light
Power factor meter Power factor
Pyrometer High temperature
Synchroscope Alternator’s synchronization
Tachometer Speed of shaft
Thermometer Temperature
Voltmeter Voltage
Wattmeter Active power

III. TYPES OF INDICATING INSTRUMENTS ACCORDING TO

CONSTRUCTION

a. Permanent magnet moving coil meter (also called d’ Arsonval meter) – a coil wound on soft-
iron core is placed between the poles of a permanent magnet. The needle of the meter is attached
to the core and it will deflect in proportion to the current of the coil.
- invented by a Frenchman Arsen d’Arsonval in 1882 and named in honor of the Italian
scientist Galvani.

Advantages:

1. very accurate, reliable and rugged

2. requires small operating current
3. energy consumption is low
4. scale is linear
Disadvahtages:

1. can only be used in DC measurements

2. cost is high
3. errors are due to aging of springs and magnets

b. Moving iron meter (also called iron vane meter)

- two piece of rectangular pieces of soft iron, called vanes are placed inside a coil of wire.
One iron vane is free to move while the other is fixed. The pointer of the meter is
connected to the moving vane. Once current flows through the coil, the moving vane will
repel with the fixed bar and move causing the pointer to detect in proportion to the current
flowing the coil.

Advantages:

1. it is the cheapest
2. can be used in both AC and DC measurements
3. can stand for momentary overloads
4. applicable for low frequency and high power circuits

Disadvantages:

1. at low voltage range, it consumes more energy

2. errors are obtained with a change in frequency
3. external magnetic fields affect the reading of the meter
4. scale is non-linear

c. Dynamometer
- the meter basically consist of a fixed coil (current coil) and a moving coil (potential coil).
Its operation is based on the principle that a mechanical force exist between two current
carrying conductors. The moving coil is attached to the moving parts so that under the
action of deflecting torque, the pointer moves over the scale.
-

Advantages:

1. it can be used in both AC and DC measurements

2. not affected by external magnetic fields

Disadvantages:

1. not uniform scale

2. more expensive than the other two measurements
3. sensitivity of the meter is low