Electrical Instrumentations and Measurements

[ELC 213]- Fall 2022

Lecture #5

Dr. Hany S. E. Mansour

Electrical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Suez Canal University
Email: hany_salem@eng.suez.edu.eg
Phone: 010 243 27 200
AC Meters: Half-Wave Rectifier meter

➢ During the +ve half cycle: ➢ During the -ve half cycle:
✓ The diode is forward-biased → (S.C). ✓ The diode is reverse-biased → (O.C).
✓ There is an output. ✓ There is not an output.
✓ I is the current through the meter. ✓ No current flows through the meter.

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AC Meters: Half-Wave Rectifier meter
➢ If the frequency of the input signal is very low, the deflection of the meter actually follows
the variation in current.
➢ However, if the frequency is high enough, the inertia of the moving parts prevents the
pointer from following the variations in the current.
➢ The deflection actually converges upon the average value of the current variation, which is
given by the equation,

➢ Since in ac voltmeters we are interested in measuring the input voltage, the scale is
calibrated in volts. Customarily, ac voltmeters are marked in the root mean square (rms)
value of the pure sinusoidal input voltage, which is 0.707 of the peak voltage.

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AC Meters: Half-Wave Rectifier meter
➢ The multiplier resistance, Rs, can be expressed in terms of the rms voltage, Vrms, average
current and meter resistance as follows:

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Example 1

➢ A 50 µA meter movement with an internal resistance of 50 Ω is to be used in a

0-50 V rms range in the arrangement shown in the Fig. Find the value of the
required multiplier resistance.

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New circuit
➢ The following problems exist in the previous circuit.
✓ In the –ve half cycle, the diode may breakdown due to a large reverse voltage if the same is
not of appropriate rating.
➢ The following circuit addressed this problem

➢ During the +ve half cycle: ➢ During the -ve half cycle:
✓ The diode D1 is forward-biased → (S.C). ✓ The diode D2 is forward-biased → (S.C).
✓ The diode D2 is reverse-biased → (O.C). ✓ The diode D1 is reverse-biased → (O.C).
✓ It is as the previous circuit. ✓ All currents flow through D2.
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Sensitivity of the voltmeter
➢ The input resistance of the circuit is Rs + Rm, in the positive-half cycle and Rs, in the
negative-half cycle.
➢ Generally, Rs >> Rm. We can therefore assume that the internal resistance is Rs, throughout
the entire cycle.
➢ The input resistance can thus be expressed as follows:

➢ Ifsd is the full-scale average current and Vfsd is the full-scale deflection (rms) voltage.
➢ The ac sensitivity of the voltmeter and is defined as
➢ The dc sensitivity is defined as follows:
➢ ac sensitivity is always less than the dc sensitivity.

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Example 2

➢ An ac voltmeter has dc sensitivity of 10 kΩ per volt and ac sensitivity of 2 kΩ

per volt. Find the input resistance of the voltmeter in the 0-10 V dc range and
0-10 V ac rms range.

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Full-wave Rectifier-based Meter
➢ Diodes D1, and D2, conduct for positive-half cycle.
➢ Diodes D3, and D4, conduct for the negative-half
cycle of the input.
➢ For both the halves, the direction of the current
through the meter remains the same.

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Full-wave Rectifier-based Meter

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Moving Iron (MI) Instrument
➢ Whenever a piece of iron is placed nearer to a magnet it would be attracted by
the magnet.
➢ The force of this attraction depends upon the strength of magnetic field.
➢ If the magnet is electromagnet, then the magnetic field strength can easily
increase or decreased by increasing or decreasing the electric current through
its coil.
➢ Accordingly, the attraction force acting on the piece of iron would also be
increased and decreased.
➢ Depending upon this attraction the moving iron instrument was developed.
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MI Instrument
➢ The measured current is connected to the stationary coil producing a magnetic field that

interacts with the moving iron element.

➢ The field pulls the core into the coil.

➢ A torque proportional to the square of the current is produced on the shaft.

➢ A spring is used to produce a counter torque proportional to the rotation angle.

➢ The shaft and pointer rotate with an angle proportional to the square of the quantity to be

measured.

➢ The pointer comes to the steady-state when the torque and the counter torque are equal.
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MI Instrument

Moving Iron
Instruments

Attraction Repulsion
(Single-iron) type (Double-iron) type

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Construction of MI Instruments

➢ Moving element: a piece of soft iron (a vane or rod).

➢ Stationary coil: to produce the magnetic field.

➢ Fixed vane or rod magnetized with the same polarity (in repulsion type only)

➢ Air chamber and a moving vane to produce damping torque.

➢ A spring or weight (gravity)

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Attraction Type

➢ The operation depends on the attraction of a piece

of soft iron into the magnetic field.
➢ When current flows in the coil, a pivoted soft iron
disc is attracted towards the solenoid and the
movement causes a pointer to move across a
scale.
➢ This is attributed to need for reducing the
reluctance by attracting the piece of un-
magnetized soft iron to the current-carrying coil.

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Attraction Type

➢ The soft iron is shaped as an oval disc to swings

into the coil.
➢ The irregular shape is to enable the greatest bulk
of iron to move to the coil centre, where the field
is maximal.
➢ The flux depends on the current.
➢ There is no restriction on the current direction on
the coil “ the instrument is used for ac and dc”.

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Attraction Type
➢ The deflection angle is defined based on the

balance between the control torque and the

deflection torque T = Tc

➢ The deflecting torque is proportional to the product

of the magnetic field intensity “H” and the current.

➢ The produced magnetic field intensity is

proportional to the flowing current.

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Attraction Type

𝑇 ∝ 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝐻 2
𝑇 ∝ 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠

➢ If control torque is proportional to the deflection

angle 𝜃:

2
𝑇𝑐 ∝ 𝜃 𝜃 ∝ 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠

➢ The scale of the instrument is non uniform.

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Repulsion Type
➢ Two pieces of iron are placed inside the solenoid, one being fixed, and the other is attached

to the spindle carrying the pointer.

➢ When current passes through the solenoid, the two pieces of iron are magnetized in the same

direction and therefore repel each other.

➢ The pointer moves across the scale.

➢ The force moving the pointer is proportional to I2.

➢ The direction of current does not matter.

➢ This type can be used for dc and ac measurements.

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Repulsion Type

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Moving Iron (MI) Instrument
❖ Advantages:

➢ Cheap price.

➢ Dependent on the rms value.

➢ Used for dc and ac measurements.

➢ Less friction errors.

❖ Disadvantages:

➢ Low accuracy in the dc measurements.

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Example 3

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