BITS Pilani: INSTR F311: Electronic Instruments and Instrumentation Technology Analog Meters
BITS Pilani: INSTR F311: Electronic Instruments and Instrumentation Technology Analog Meters
Analog meters
An analog meter is one in which the output or display is a continuous function of time and has
proportional relation to its input.
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Types of analog meters
Permanent magnet moving coil meter (PMMC) is also called as D’ Arsonval meter, after its inventor.
It requires very low power to operate and a low current is enough to produce a full scale deflection.
PMMC meter can be used for DC measurements only and not for AC.
PMMC instrument is basically a low level dc ammeter, however with the use of parallel connected
resistors (shunts), it can be employed to measure a wide range of dc currents.
This PMMC can also be used to measure dc voltage by connecting suitable resistors in series with its
moving coil.
AC ammeters and voltmeters also can be constructed by using rectifier circuits with PMMC.
Ohmmeters can be made from precision resistors, PMMC and batteries.
- deflection force
- controlling force
- damping force
A force is exerted on the coil when the current flows, causing the coil to rotate on its pivots. A pointer
attached to the coil moves over a calibrated scale as the coil rotates.
This force is called deflecting force which causes the pointer to move from its zero position. The deflecting
force is magnetic.
The coil and the pointer will stop rotating when the
controlling force becomes equal to the deflecting force.
Ebt 3 C K
K
12l Spring control
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Gravity control
C WL sin
W= control weight
θ= deflection angle
L= distance from the axis of rotation to the moving system
Gravity control
The pointer and the coil tend to oscillate for some time before settling to their final position.
The damping force is normally provided by eddy currents and it is achieved by constructing the coil
frame or former with aluminum (non magnetic material).
The current in the coil of a PMMC instrument must flow in one particular direction to cause the pointer to
move right from the zero position over the scale.
When the current is reversed, the interaction of the magnetic flux from the moving coil with that of the
permanent magnet causes the coil to rotate in opposite direction, and the pointer is deflected to the left of
the zero position (i.e., off-scale).
The terminals of a PMMC are identified as ‘+’ and ‘-’ symbols to indicate the correct polarity for
connection, and the instrument is said to be polarized.
Because it is polarized, the PMMC instrument cannot be used to directly measure alternating currents.
Numerical: Estimate the controlling torque produced by a spiral spring used in a moving coil
instrument, which gives a deflection of 30°. The length, depth and radial thickness of the spring are
10 cm, 20 mm and 1 mm respectively (young's modulus for spring material is 120 MPa).
Ebt 3 Ebt3
c K K
12l 12l
Answer: 0.06 Nm
Numerical: A spring produces a controlling torque of 16 x 10-6 Nm for a deflection of 100°. If the
width and length become two times their original values and the thickness is halved, the value of
controlling torque produced by the spring for the same deflection will be?
1
2
8
Answer: 2 x 10-6 Nm
When a current I flows through one turn of the coil in a magnetic filed, a force F is exerted on each side of
the coil.
F BIL
B= magnetic flux density in Tesla
I= Current in amperes
L= Length of the coil in meters
The force on each side of the coil at a radius r, producing a deflecting torque ΓD is given by
D= coil diameter
D BILND BIAN ( BAN ) I GI A= area enclosed by the coil =L*D
The controlling torque exerted by the springs is directly proportional to the deformation of the springs.
Thus the controlling torque ΓC is proportional to the actual angle of deflection θ of the pointer
C K K= spring constant
For a given deflection, the deflecting torque ΓD and the controlling torque ΓC are equal
K BIAN
BIAN BAN
I
K K
Because all except θ and I are constant for a given instrument, the deflection angle is given by
BAN
CI C is a constant C
K
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Contd..
Numerical: The coil of a PMMC instrument has 60 turns, on a former that is 18 mm wide, the effective
length of the conductor being 25 mm. It moves in a uniform field of flux density 0.5 Tesla. The control
spring constant is 1.5 × 10-6 Nm/degree. Calculate the current required to produce a deflection of 100°.
BAN
CI C
K
100 0 ; L 25mm; D 18mm; B 0.5Tesla; K 1.5 10 6 Nm / deg ree
A L D
K
I
BAN
Answer: 11.11 mA
As the coil moves in the field of the permanent magnet, eddy currents are set up in the metal former or
core.
The magnetic field produced by the eddy currents opposes the motion of the coil. The pointer will
therefore swing more slowly to its proper position and come to rest quickly with very little oscillation
Electromagnetic damping is caused by the induced effects in the moving coil as it rotates in magnetic
field
let the resistance of the coil circuit with N turns be R Ω. Then the velocity of a coil side will be
d
v(t ) r m/sec
dt
d
2 BLV (t ) 2 BLr
dt
Induced current across N turns of coil
2 BLrN d BLDN d G d
I I
R dt R dt R dt
G d G 2 d
GI G
R dt R dt
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d
Damping torque D
dt
D is the damping constant for the induced currents in the coil due to its motion.
A metal former may be considered as a single-turn coil and if its dimensions are l1, r1 and its resistance R1.
Similarly, damping torque for the former can be computed as
d
Damping torque D1
dt
In addition to the induced current damping, there will be a small damping torque due to air friction.
d
Air damping torque D2
dt
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Contd..
Numerical: The coil of a moving-coil voltmeter is 40 mm long and 30 mm wide and has 100 turns on
it. The control spring exerts a torque of 240 × 10-6 N-m when the deflection is 100 divisions on full
scale. If the flux density of the magnetic field in the air gap is 1 weber/m2, estimate the resistance that
must be put in series with the coil to give one volt per division. The resistance of the voltmeter coil may
be neglected.
d B I A N A L D
c d
I 2mA
100V
R
2mA
Answer: 50 KΩ
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Swamping resistors
The PMMC meter is highly sensitive to temperature. Both the magnetic field strength and the spring
tension decreases with an increase in temperature.
Compensation can be achieved by simply using swamping resistors in series with the moving coil. The
swamping resistor is made up of manganin combined with copper. (low temperature coefficient of
resistance)
The total resistance of the coil and swamping resistors increase slightly with a rise in temperature, to just
only enough to counteract the changes of springs and magnetic field.
BIAN
K
As the temperature B and the current I because the resistance of the coil increases with temp.
This will make the pointer to read low for a given current with respect to magnetic filed and the coil resistance
B() I () AN
()
K
As the temperature the spring constant K also
This will conversely tends to make the pointer to read high with an increase in temperature.
BIAN
()
K ()
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Contd..
Sensitivity (S):
1 ohm
It is also known as current sensitivity or sensitivity factor S. It is given by S
I m volt
the reciprocal of full-scale deflection current Im.
Advantages
The scale is uniformly divided. (linear scale)
The power consumption is very low.
Low operating current.
No hysteresis errors.
Disadvantages
The cost of these instruments is higher than that of moving iron instruments.
These instruments cannot be used for AC measurements directly.
Friction and temperature might introduce some errors.
Measuring θ
Primary Sensing Signal Manipulation Signal Conversion Data Presentation
Medium Element Element Element Element
I Scale
reading
Electric current Observer
Signal Conversion
Element
dθ/dt
Coil with pivoted
axis
PMMC meter is a low level ammeter, however maximum pointer deflection is produced by a very small
amount of current. The coil is usually wound of thin wire that would be quickly destroyed by large
currents.
For large currents the instrument should be modified so that most of the current to be measured should be
bypassed from the moving coil. Only small portion of the measuring current passes through the coil.
A shunt or very only resistance is connected in parallel with the moving coil.
The shunt sometimes referred to as four terminal resistor because it has two sets of voltage and current
terminals.
This is to ensure that resistance in parallel (Rsh) with coil is accurately defined and the contact resistance
of the current terminals is removed from Rsh
Ammeter is always connected in series with the load in the circuit.
Shunt in Ammeter
Vsh Vm I sh Rsh I m Rm
I m Rm
Rsh
I sh Ammeter equivalent circuit
I m Rm
Rsh
I Im
Rm
Rsh
I
1
Im
Numerical: A 100 μA PMMC meter with an internal resistance of 1000Ω is to be converted into an
ammeter with ranges (a) 0 - 100 mA and (b) 0 - 1A. What is the value of shunt resistance required in each
case?
I sh Rsh I m Rm
I m Rm
Rsh
I Im
I 100 mA and I 1A
Numerical: A 1mA PMMC meter with an internal resistance of 25Ω is to be converted into an ammeter
to measure 100 mA. If the meter coil is made of copper and the shunt with manganin material, Calculate
the error in the meter current for a 10oC rise in the temperature. (Given temperature coefficient of
resistance of copper is 0.004/oC and magnanin is 0.00015/oC respectively)
Numerical: An additional 75Ω manganin resistance is added in series with the copper coil of the meter
specified in the previous numerical. If the shunt is made of manganin material, calculate the error in the
meter current for a a 10oC rise in the temperature.
The current range of the dc ammeter is further extended by a number of shunts, selected by a range
switch. This type of meter is called a multi-range ammeter.
A rotatory switch is employed to select any one of several shunts being different resistance values
A make before break switch is used within the instrument so that the instrument is not left without a shunt in
parallel with it even for a brief instant.
When switching between shunts, the wide ended moving contact of the make before break switch makes
contact with the next terminal before it breaks contact with the previous terminal.
During switching , there are actually two shunts in parallel with the instrument.
Numerical: Calculate the value of shunt resistors for the circuit given below. Given Im=100 µA
I m 100A; Rm 1k
The coil resistance is normally quite small and thus coil voltage is also usually very small.
Without any additional series resistance , the PMMC instrument would only be able to measure very low
voltage.
The voltmeter range is easily increased by connecting a series resistance with the PMMC.
Voltmeter is connected in parallel to the circuit and ideally it should have an high resistance.
V I m ( Rm Rs )
V I m Rm
Rs
Im
V
Rs Rm
Im Voltmeter equivalent circuit
Two possible configurations can be made. In one configuration, only one of the three multiplier resistors
is connected in series with the meter at any time.
V I m ( Rm R)
In the other configuration, the multiplier resistors are connected in series and each junction is
connected to one of the switch terminals.
V I m ( Rm R)
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Contd..
Numerical: Convert a basic PPMC meter with internal resistance of 100 Ω and a full scale deflection
current of 10 mA into a multirange dc voltmeter with ranges from 0-5V, 0-50V and 0-100V using the
below configuration.
I m 10mA; Rm 100
Types of ohmmeter:
1. Series type
2. Shunt type
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Series type ohmmeter
Series type ohmmeter essentially consists of a PMMC meter connected in series with a resistance
and a battery to a pair of terminals to which the unknown Rx is connected.
When Rx is zero (terminals A and B are shorted), maximum current flows in the circuit.
Under this condition shunt resistor R2 is adjusted until the meter indicates full scale current Ifsd.
This full scale current position of the pointer is marked as zero ohms on the scale.
R1 A
I2
R2
Rm Rx Series type ohmmeter
circuit
E
Ifsd B
It
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Contd..
When Rx is infinity (terminals A and B are open), the current in the circuit drops to zero and the meter
indicates zero current, which is marked as infinity on the scale.
Intermediate markings are made on the scale by connecting different known values of Rx to the
instrument.
The accuracy of these scale markings depend on the repeating accuracy of the meter and the tolerances
of the calibrating resistors.
Internal battery whose voltage decreases gradually with time, so that full scale deflection drops and the
meter does not read zero when the terminals A and B are shorted.
The variable shunt resistor R2 provides an adjustment to counteract the effect of battery change.
At this position, the resistance across the terminals A and B is defined as half scale position
resistance Rh.
Given full scale current Ifsd, internal resistance of the meter Rm, battery voltage E and the desired
value of half scale resistance Rh ,The values of R1 and R2 can be found.
Rm R2
Rh R1
Rm R2
E
To produce full scale deflection, the battery current is given by It
Rh
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Contd..
R1 A
I t I 2 I fsd I2
R2
Rm Rx
I 2 I t I fsd
E
Voltage across R2 will be equal to voltage across the meter Ifsd B
I fsd Rm It
I 2 R2 I fsd Rm R2
I2
Shunt type ohmmeter consists of a battery in series with an adjustable resistor R1 and a PMMC meter.
An on-off switch to disconnect the battery from the circuit when the instrument is not in use.
When Rx is zero (terminals A and B are shorted), the meter current is zero and if Rx is infinity, the
current find a path only through the meter and by selecting R1, the pointer can be made to read full
scale current.
R1 A
Im
E Shunt type ohmmeter
Rm Rx circuit
S B
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Contd..
E
I fsd
R1 Rm
E
R1 Rm
I fsd
For any value of Rx connected across the meter terminals A and B, the meter current is given by
ERx
Im
R1 Rm Rx ( R1 Rm )
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Contd..
The meter current for any value of Rx, expressed as a fraction of full scale meter current is given by
Im Rx ( R1 Rm )
S
I fsd Rx ( R1 Rm ) R1 Rm
R1 Rm Rx
Rp S
R1 Rm Rx R p
ERh R1 Rm
0.5 I fsd Rh
R1 Rm Rh ( R1 Rm ) R1 Rm
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Multi meter or VOM
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Contd..
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Contd..
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Contd..
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