THE FEDERAL POLYTECHNIC ILARO

ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT

CTE 235 PRACTICAL MANUAL

ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENT &

INSTRUMENTATION II
EXPERIMENT 1

TITLE: Measurement of Power in Single Phase AC Circuit

AIM: Familiarizing students with instrument measurement

OBJECTIVE: To make use of the Wattmeter in determining power in a single-phase

AC load.

SIGNIFICANCE: To acquaint students with the use of instruments for measuring

electrical parameters.

THEORY: Power in AC circuit is measured using the wattmeter (either

electrodynamics or induction type). The electrodynamic wattmeter has two coils
namely the current coil and the potential coil. The wattmeter is essentially an inherent
combination of an ammeter and a voltmeter. The current coil is inserted in series with
the line carrying current to be measured and the potential coil in series with a high non
– inductive resistance R is connected across the load or supply terminals as shown
below. The wattmeter gives reading which is proportional to current coil flowing
through its current coil, potential drop across its potential coil and cosine of the phase
angle between voltage and current.i.e.

P=VI cos θ

Where P =Power measured

V=voltage across the potential coil

I=Current in the current coil

θ=Phase difference between voltage and current.

EQUIPMENT NEEDED

Wattmeter, Variac, Digital Multimeter, Single Phase Load, A.C. Supply, and Connecting Wires.

PROCEDURE

1. Connect the electric load to the Variac (variable AC supply) as shown in the diagram
with Wattmeter connected as shown below.
2. Set the Multimeter to A.C. current measurement and connect to measure load current.
3. Turn on the A.C. power supply and adjust the Variac to obtain V= 180V.
4. Measure the voltage, current and power when V= 180V.
5. Repeat steps 3 and 4 for V= 185V, 190V, 195V, 200V, 205V, 210V, 215V and 220V.
6. Tabulate your results.
7. Turn off the power supply and disassemble the circuit.

EXERCISE

1. Determine the power factor and phase angle for the load.
2. If the load is replaced by a 60W incandescent lamp, determine:
a. Current in the load and
b. Power factor of load.
EXPERIMENT 2

TITLE: Power Factor Measurement in AC Circuit

AIM: Familiarizing students with instrument measurement and monitoring.

OBJECTIVE: To make use of the power factor in determining actual load in circuit

SIGNIFICANCE: To establish relationship between energy loss and power factor.

THEORY: Power factor is the ratio between the KW and the KVA drawn by an electrical
load where the KW is the actual load power and the KVA is the apparent load power. The power
factor of an AC electrical power system is also defined as the ratio of the real power flowing to
the load, to the apparent power in the circuit. In an electric power system, a load with a low
power factor draws more current than a load with a high power factor for the same amount of
useful power transferred. The higher currents increase the energy lost in the distribution system,
and require larger wires and other equipment. Because of the costs of larger equipment and
wasted energy, electrical utilities will usually charge a higher cost to industrial or commercial
customers where there is a low power factor.

The power triangle

A high power factor is generally desirable in a transmission system to reduce transmission losses
and improve voltage regulation at the load. It is often desirable to adjust the power factor of a
system to near 1.0. When reactive elements supply or absorb reactive power near the load, the
apparent power is reduced. Power factor correction may be applied by an electric power
transmission utility to improve the stability and efficiency of the transmission network.
Individual electrical customers who are charged by their utility for low power factor may install
correction equipment to reduce those costs.

Power in single phase AC. circuit is measured as a product of current, voltage and the power
factor. That is
 P=VI cos ∅

where P = power

V = applied voltage

I = load current

and cos ∅ = power factor.

The power factor in a single-phase circuit (or balanced three-phase circuit) can be measured with
the wattmeter-ammeter-voltmeter method, where the power in watts is divided by the product of
measured voltage and current. The power factor of a balanced polyphase circuit is the same as
that of any phase. A direct reading power factor meter can be made with a moving coil meter of
the electrodynamic type, carrying two perpendicular coils on the moving part of the instrument.
The field of the instrument is energized by the circuit current flow. The two moving coils, A and
B, are connected in parallel with the circuit load. One coil, A, will be connected through a
resistor and the second coil, B, through an inductor, so that the current in coil B is delayed with
respect to current in A. At unity power factor, the current in A is in phase with the circuit current,
and coil A provides maximum torque, driving the instrument pointer toward the 1.0 mark on the
scale. At zero power factor, the current in coil B is in phase with circuit current, and coil B
provides torque to drive the pointer towards 0. At intermediate values of power factor, the
torques provided by the two coils add and the pointer takes up intermediate positions.

EQUIPMENT NEEDED

AC electric load i. Incandescent lamp, ii. Electric motor, AC power supply, analogue power
factor meter, digital multimeter, ammeter, and connecting wire.

PROCEDURE

1. Connect the electric load A provided to AC supply as indicated in the diagram with
power factor meter connected as shown below.
2. Set the multimeter to AC current measurement and connect to measure load current.
3. Connect the voltmeter as shown and turn ON the power supply.
4. Measure the voltage, current and power factor.
 5. Tabulate your results.
6. Repeat steps 2-4 with the electric load B.
7. Record any observations.
8. Disassemble the circuit.

Exercise

1. Calculate the power consumed by the two loads.

2. Explain the reasons for the power factor obtained for loads A and B.
3. Suggest ways of improving the power factor in the applicable load in the experiment.

EXPERIMENT 3

TITLE: Demonstrate the use of multimeter to measure voltage and Current using digital
instrument
AIM: Familiarizing students with the usage of digital instruments for measurement and
monitoring.

OBJECTIVE: To make use of multimeter to measure load voltage and current

SIGNIFICANCE: To establish ways to measure various circuit parameters using a

digital device

THEORY: Ohm’s law and Kirchhoff’s method are useful to analyze and design electrical
circuits, providing you with the voltages across, the current through, and the resistance of the
components that compose the circuit. To measure these parameters, require instruments,
a DIGITAL Multimeter is highly accurate and easier to read than an analogue type. It is best
used for finding the precise value of a voltage, current or resistance. Digital multimeter performs
all standard analog-meter measurement functions of AC and DC. Some offer frequency and
temperature measurement. A digital meter uses a component called an analog-to-digital (A to D)
converter and expresses the current or voltage as a series of the digits 0 and 1, which are used to
run a digital display. 
EQUIPMENT NEEDED:

Multimeter, connecting wires, Resistors

PROCEDURE·

Measuring Voltage

1. For voltage measurement, the red lead is inserted into the V – (volt ) meter jack.
2. Select volts AC (V~), volts DC (V--), mvolts (V--) as desired
3. Plug the black test lead into the COM jack and the red test lead into the V jack
4. Touch the probe tips to the circuit across a load or power source as show in the diagram
below
5. View the reading from the multimeter and ensure your note the readings

Measuring Current

1. Select amps AC (A~), or amps DC (A--) as desired

2. Select the range of the current to be read from the multimeter
3. Connect the probes tips to the circuit across the breadboard as shown in the diagram
below
4. Turn the circuit power on
5. View the reading from the multimeter.