POWER FACTOR METER

Construction

 Have current coil and Pressure coil

 Pressure coil is split upto into two, one inductive and other non – inductive
 Deflection depends on the phase difference between current in current coil and voltage
across pressure coil
 Moving system is perfectly balanced at equilibrium by two opposing forces.
 Current coil is fixed and split into two for producing uniform magnetic field
 Two identical pressure coil A and B pivoted to spindle A is non – inductive resistance and
B is highly inductive choke coil L.
 Values of R and L are adjusted such that at normal frequencies R = ωL
 The angle between the planes of coil is made equal to angle between currents in P.C A
and B i.e 90 1.0
0.9 0.9
Lag Lead

F F
I I
X X
E Moving Coil E
D D
coil coil

IA IB Load
Supply

Deflecting torque

There will be two deflecting torques. One acting on A and other on B. The coil windings
are so arranged that the torques due to the two coils are opposite . So the pointer will take up a
position where two torques are equal

General torque equation T  I1I2cos(angle between I1 and I2) dM

d IA V
Where V  IA and angle between IA & I = 
For a coil placed in uniform magnetic field M = –Mmaxcos 
Therefore 90–

dM = Mmaxsin
d I

IB
TA = KVI cosMmaxsin and acts clockwise (say)

where  is angular deflection from plane of reference

Mmax is maximum mutual inductance between two coils

Deflecting torque acting on coil B is

TB = KVI cos(90 – )Mmaxsin(90 + ) and acts in anticlockwise
Where V  IB and angle between IB & I = 90 – 
TB = KVI sinMmaxcos
Coils take up such a position that two torques are equal
i.e TA = TB
KVI cosMmaxsin = KVI sinMmaxcos
or cossin= sincos
ie. =

Control torque

Since moving system is perfectly balanced, there is no need for a controlling force. Hence when
a power factor is disconnected from a circuit the pointer remains at the position which it occupied
at the instant of disconnection.

Scale

Deflection is proportional to phase angle of the circuit and hence scale can be calibrated
in terms of either the phase angle or power factor.

Advantages
1. Indicate directly by single reading the power factor of circuit whether lead or lag
2. Accuracy is sufficient than high precision testing

Disadvantages
1. For single phase, phase splitter (R &L) is required which are frequency dependent and
hence can be used on supply frequency for which it is designed.
2. Harmonics in supply frequency introduce errors.
MULTIMETER

This instrument can be utilized to measure volt, ohm and ampere of milli – ampere. This
is fundamentally, a combination of D’Arsonval instrument, series and shunt resistances and
switches. Figure shows single range multimeter.
Two switches S1 and S2 moves simultaneously. When switches are at position 1, the
instrument works as an 10mA ammeter, 2975 resistor limits the current through the D’
Arsonval movement and 25 acs as shunt. When switches is at position 2, it is a 50V voltmeter,
where 998 acts as a multiplier. When switches is at position 3, it is an ohmmeter, connecting
the battery source, standard resistor R and the D’ Arsonval movement to the unknown resistance.

– + 25
2975

R
998

E
2 2
3
3 1 1
S1 S2

– +
Fig: Single range multimeter

ELECTRONIC SOLID STATE MULTIPLER.

One of the most versatile general – purpose shop instruments capable of measuring DC
and AC voltages as well as current and resistance is the solid state electronic multimeter or VOM.
Although circuit details will vary form one instrument to the next, an electronic multimeter
generally contains the following elements.
a) Balanced bridge DC amplifier and indicating meter
b) Input attenuator or Range switch, to limit the magnitude of the input voltage to
desired value
c) Rectifier section , to convert an AC input voltage to a proportional DC voltage
d) Internal battery and additional circuitary, to provide the capability for resistance
measurement.
e) FUNCTION switch, to select the various measurement function of the instrument.
In addition, the instrument generally has a built – in power supply for ac line operation and in
most cases, one or more batteries for operation as a portable test instrument.
Construction

 Circuit consists of two FETs, which should be reasonably well matched for current gain
to ensure thermal stability of the circuit. They form the upper arm of a bridge circuit.
 Source resistors R1 and R2 together with zero adjust resistor R3 form the lower bridge
arms
  Meter movement is connected between the source terminals of FET.

Operation

 Without an input signal, the gate terminals of the FETs are at ground potentioal. In this
case, the bridge is balanced and the meter indication is zero
 In practice, however small difference in operating characteristics of the FETs and slight
tolerance differences in the various resistors, cause a certain amount of unbalance from
zero.
 Hence the circuit is balanced by zero adjust control R3 for the true null indication
+ DC
supply
Range
D
G Q1 Q2
S

+
DC R1 R2
input R3
–
Zero

 When positive voltage is applied to the gate of input transistor Q1 its drain current
increases which causes the voltage at the source terminal to rise.
 The resulting unbalance between Q1 and Q2 source voltage is indicated by the meter
movement, whose scale is calibrated to agree with the magnitude of the applied input
voltage.
 Maximum voltage that can be applied to Q1 is determined by operating range of FET and
is normally few volts
 Range can be extended by input attenuator or Range switch.

Resistance measurement

 When the function switch of multimeter is placed in ohms position, the unknown
resistance is connected in series with internal battery and the meter simply measures the
voltage drop across the unknown resistor
× 100K 
Resistance
Amplifier and
× 10K  Range Selector Meter section
+
× 1K  Ohms
1.5V
terminal
×
Vx Rx
  When resistor Rx is connected to “Ohms” terminal of the multimeter, the 1.5V battery
supplies current through one of range resistor and unknown resistance to ground.
 Vx and Rx is applied as input to the bridge amplifier and causes deflection
 Vx is proportional to Rx hence meter scale is calibrated to give Rx directly.

Multimeter Operating Instructions

1. To prevent meter overloading and possible damage when checking voltage or current,
start with the highest range of the instrument and move down the range successively.
2. For higher accuracy, the range selected should be such that the deflection falls in the
upper half of meter scale
3. Verify the circuit polarity before making a test, particularly when measuring DC current
or voltages
4. For maximum accuracy and minimum loading, choose a voltmeter range such that the
total voltmeter resistance is atleast 100 times the resistance of the circuit under test.

DIGITAL MULTIMETERS

 Analog meters require no power supply, they give a better visual indication of changes
and suffers from less electronic noise and isolation problems. They are simple and
inexpensive.
 Digital meters offers high accuracy, high input impedance and are smaller in sizes. The
output available is electrical in addition to visual readout.
 All digital meters employ some kind of analog to digital converters (often dual slope
integrating type) and have a visual readout display at the converter output.
 A basic digital multimeter ( DMM ) is made up of several A / D converters, circuitary for
counting and an attenuation circuit.
dc V
ac V dc V
dc mA ac V
ohm dc mA
Attenuator ohm

A/D
Converter
Compensated Rectifier
dc V Attenuator
ac V
dc mA
Decade
ohm
Current to Counter
Voltage converter

Digital
Constant Readout
current source
Current measurement
10 

100 

1K 

IR
Ii – A/D Decade Digital
Unknown Converter counter Read out
Current +

 The current to be measured is applied to the summing function (i) at the input of the
opAmp.
 Since the current at the amplifier input is close to zero ii = iR causes a voltage drop
proportional to current across the resistors.
 This voltage drop is the input to A / D converter, thereby providing a reading proportional
to current.

Resistance measurement

 Resistance is measured by passing known value of current from constant current source,
through an unknown resistor
 The voltage drop across the resistor is applied to the A / D converter, thereby producing
indication of the value of the unknown resistor.

DIGITAL FREQUENCY METER

Principle

 The signal whose frequency is to be measured is converted into a train of pulses, one
pulse for each cycle of the signal.
 This is applied continuously to an AND gate, A pulse of 1s is applied to the other terminal
 The number of pulses occurring in a definite interval of time is then counted by an
electronic counter.
 Since each pulse represents the cycle of unknown signal, the number of counts is a direct
indication of frequency

1s 1s
Basic circuit for frequency measurement

 The unknown frequency output is applied to Schmitt trigger, producing positive pulses at
the output which is given to point A of the main gate.
 Positive pulses from the time base selector are present at point B of the START gate and
STOP gate
 Initially the Flip Flop (F/F – 1) is at its logic 1 state i.e Y  1 and Y  0
 This Y  0 is applied to B point of main gate, hence no pulses from Schmitt trigger passes
through
Main Gate
A
Input Unknown Schmitt
Frequency Trigger To counter
B
and Display
unit

B
R Y
A F/F – 2
Pulses START Gate
S Y
From Time
base
selector Y S
F/F – 1
Y R
Read Pulse

STOP Gate
A
B Gate Control F / F

 To start the operation, a positive pulse is applied to reset input of F/F – 1 hence changing
the state to Y  0 and Y  1
 Hence now START gate is enabled and stop gate is disabled.
 The same positive pulse is also applied to all decade counters so that counting starts.
 Hence when next pulse arrives form Time base selector, it passes through start gate which
resets F/F – 2 so that Y  1 , hence enabling main gate
 Now the pulses from the unknown frequency source pass through main gate to the counter
and hence counting starts
 The same pulse from the START gate is applied set i/p of F/F – 1 hence changing its
state to Y  1 and Y  0 thus enabling STOP gate and disable START gate.
 The next pulse from Time base selector passes through STOP gate to set i/p terminal of
F/F – 1 setting it output Y  1 and Y  0 thereby disabling the main gate.
 The counter counts the number of pulses occurring between the two successive pulse
from time base selector
 If the time interval between this two successive pulses from time base selector is 1 s, then
number of pulses within this interval is the frequency in Hertz.