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BKE 2263/BTE 2063: Digital Instruments

This document discusses digital instruments and their advantages over analog instruments. It describes different types of digital instruments, including digital instruments which have fully digital circuitry and digital readout instruments which have analog circuitry with a digital display. It also summarizes different analog to digital conversion techniques used in digital instruments, such as single-slope, dual-slope, and voltage-to-frequency conversion. Finally, it provides an overview of electronic counters and their operating modes as well as the basic components and functioning of a digital multimeter.

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WatashiNo
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105 views

BKE 2263/BTE 2063: Digital Instruments

This document discusses digital instruments and their advantages over analog instruments. It describes different types of digital instruments, including digital instruments which have fully digital circuitry and digital readout instruments which have analog circuitry with a digital display. It also summarizes different analog to digital conversion techniques used in digital instruments, such as single-slope, dual-slope, and voltage-to-frequency conversion. Finally, it provides an overview of electronic counters and their operating modes as well as the basic components and functioning of a digital multimeter.

Uploaded by

WatashiNo
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
Available Formats
Download as PPS, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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BKE 2263/BTE 2063

Digital Instruments
Digital Instruments
Advantages:
 Greater speed

 Increased accuracy and resolution

 Reduction in user errors


Digital Instruments vs Digital
Readout Instruments
Digital instrument:
 One in which the circuitry required to obtain a
measurement is of digital design

Digital readout instrument:


 One in which the measuring circuitry is of analog
design while only the indicating device is of digital
design
 No more accurate than the same analog instrument
with analog readout
Digital Instruments vs Digital
Readout Instruments
Comparison of Digital and
Analog Meters
Readability
 Digital readout is more comfortable than analog readout

Accuracy
 Low-cost digital multimeters are more accurate than
comparably priced analog meters by a factor of 10

Resolution
 Digital instrument provide better resolution
Comparison of Digital and
Analog Meters
Sample speed
 Depends on the response time of the analog input circuitry
and the sampling rate of the digital circuitry

Digits displayed and overranging


 Overrange greatly extends the usefulness of digital
multimeters by maintaining resolution up to, and beyond, full
scale
Analog to Digital Conversion
Three conversion techniques normally used:
 Single-slope converter

 Dual-slope converter

 Voltage-to-frequency conversion
Single-slope Converter
 Used in low-cost instrument
 Concept: to make a linear conversion of unknown
voltage to time
Single-slope Converter
Single-slope Converter
Single-slope Converter
Single-slope Converter
 Unknown voltage, VX places a positive voltage on the
noninverting input of the op-amp in the comparator circuit
 Main gate control generates a positive pulse  opens switch
S  AND gate top input be high
 Integrator circuit capacitor, C charges linearly in positive
direction  increasing output is applied to the inverting input
of the comparator
 Comparator output is positive due to VX applied to its
noninverting input  middle input of the AND gate to be high
 Clock pulses are applied to the third input of AND gate. Since
the other two inputs are high, the output is the clock pulses to
the counter
Single-slope Converter
 When capacitor C charges to a voltage level slightly higher
than VX, comparator output switches to zero  AND gate
stops passing clock to the counter
 Count stored is directly proportional to VX and is indicated on
the digital readout as the value of the VX
 After a short time interval, the output of the main gate goes
low  switch S closes  capacitor C discharges  disable
the gate until the start of the next cycle
Single-slope Converter
Limitations:
 Measure voltages of only one polarity
 Require additional circuitry for overrange conditions
 Susceptible to oscillator frequency drift
 Susceptible to drift in the constant-current source
 Accuracy depends on the stability of the capacitor
 Accuracy depends on the stability of the different voltage that
trips the comparator
 Very susceptible to noise on the analog voltage
Dual-slope Converter
 Overcome most limitations in single-slope
converters
 Improved long term accuracy
 Not only charges the capacitor, but also discharges
it during measurement cycle
Dual-slope Converter
Dual-slope Converter
 When S1 at position A  capacitor C charges  output of the
integrator is
1
VA 
RC  Vi dt

 When VA rises, voltage comparator A2 will be high  AND gate


passes clock pulses to the counter circuit
 When the counter overflows, control logic section sets switch S1 to
position B
 Vref is connected to the input of the integrator  capacitor C
discharges  output of the integrator is

1
VA 
RC  Vref dt
Dual-slope Converter
Dual-slope Converter
 If the capacitor charges linearly,

VA  Vi (T / RC )  Vi (t 2  t1 ) /( RC )
 If the capacitor discharges linearly,

VA  Vref (T / RC )  Vref (t3  t 2 ) /( RC )


 Since both equations are equal to VA,

Vi (t 2  t1 ) /( RC )  Vref (t3  t 2 ) /( RC )
 Hence,
Vi t3  t 2

Vref t 2  t1
Voltage-to-frequency
Converter
 Converts an input voltage to a periodic waveform
whose frequency is directly proportional to the input
voltage
 Very linear, wide range, voltage-controlled-
oscillators (VCO)
Voltage-to-frequency
Converter
Voltage-to-frequency
Converter
 Output signal from VCO is applied to one input of a two-input
AND gate
 Second input of AND gate is gating pulse
 During the time that both signals are present, the output of the
AND gate is identical to the VCO output
 Output of the AND gate can be applied to a digital counter to
provide an indication of the VCO input voltage
Voltage-to-frequency
Converter
Advantages:
 Good noise rejection
 Easily adapted to a digital counter
 Does not require overranging circuit

Limitations:
Accuracy is limited by
 Stability of the integrating time constant
 Stability and accuracy of the comparator switching point
 Stability and accuracy of the reference voltage source
Electronic Counters
a) Totalizing mode

 Input pulses are totalized by decade counters as long as


switch S1 is closed
 If overflow happens, the counter starts counting again from
zero
Electronic Counters
b) Frequency mode
Electronic Counters
b) Frequency mode (cont.)
 Accurate control of time interval is achieved by applying a
rectangular pulse of known duration to the AND gate
 The frequency of the input signal is computed as:
f=N/t where f = freq of the input signal
N = pulses counted
t = duration of gate pulse
Electronic Counters
c) Period mode

 Using the input signal as gating pulse and count the clock pulse
 The period is computed as:
T = N/f where T = period of the input signal
N = pulses counted
f = freq of the clock
Electronic Counters
d) Ratio mode

 Displays the numerical value of the ratio of the frequency of


two signals
 Lower frequency signal is used in place of the clock
Electronic Counters
e) Time-interval mode

 Measurement of the elapsed time between two events


 During time interval between START signal and STOP signal,
clock pulses accumulate in the register
Digital Multimeter
Digital Multimeter
Current-to-voltage converter:
 IR is equal to Ii
 IR causes a voltage drop across one of the resistors
proportional to the current  read by ADC

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