76 PRINCIPLES OF ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENTS

the coil is not very effective, because at the same time the weight and the
resistance of the coils increase. Currently, it is possible to manufacture the
moving coil device with the power consumption not larger than several PW
(and current not larger than several PA) for the full deflection of the pointer.

Figure 3.3. The movement of the pointer after connection of the device to the
measured current

The elasticity of the spring plays important role because it influences the
character of the pointer movement. It is convenient if this movement is with
small oscillation (see Fig. 2.24b). If it would be purely inertial without an
overshoot then the observer would not be sure when the pointer reaches final
position. It is important to obtain the oscillatory movement with a short
period and with reasonable damping of oscillation. Ideally, only one
oscillation period should be visible – the next one should be damped.
The parameters of the movement depends on the mass m of the moving
part and on the elasticity coefficient, k

T0 m P
T , T0 2S , b (3.3)
1 b 2 k 2 mk

where T is the time constant, T0 is the period of oscillations of the moving

element, b is the degree of damping and P is the damping coefficient.

Thus the character of the movement depends on the ratio between the
mass, the elasticity of the springs and the damping. Special air damper can be
used in order to obtain correct damping of the movement. In the case of a
moving coil device the aluminum frame of the coil can work as the damper –
the eddy currents induced in this frame interact with the magnetic field of the
magnet slowing down the velocity of the movements.