EC1022 – Electrical Systems

Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Faculty of Engineering
B.Sc. Eng. (Hons) / BEng (Hons) – Year 01, Semester 01

Laboratory Experiment 01 Guide

G1: Overview of Multisim

Upon opening Multisim, the user will be greeted by the following screen:

Figure 1: Multisim start screen

The software will automatically open to a fresh canvas in which components can be
added/removed accordingly. Commonly found equipment such as function generators,
oscilloscopes and multimeters can be found on the right-hand bar in the software:

Figure 2: Equipment location on Multisim

Similarly, components can be found on the top toolbar as shown in the figure below:

Figure 3: Component location on Multisim

In order to place a piece of equipment or component, the appropriate option can be selected. In
the case of a resistor, the ‘place basic’ option can be selected and a new window will appear as
follows:

Figure 4: Component selection on Multisim

In the new window, the all families option can be selected which allows all possible
components to be displayed, and the desired component can be searched for as shown. In order
to add the component, the option can be double clicked and placed on the canvas. In this case
‘RESISTOR_RATED’ can be selected and added accordingly.
The values of components can be changed after the components have been added on the canvas
by double clicking on them and entering the required value as shown below:

Figure 5: Changing component values on Multisim

In a similar manner, equipment can be selected as per figure 2 and configured by double
clicking on them in the canvas as shown below:

Figure 6: Changing equipment values on Multisim

As portrayed, parameters can be changed for different equipment. In the case of the function
generator, the output waveforms and according parameters can be selected as required.
G2: Laboratory tasks
Upon familiarizing ourselves with the component and equipment location, placement and
configuration, it is possible to construct the circuit shown in figure 1 in the lab sheet on the
blank canvas. Sources and ground connection can be selected from the ‘Place source’ option
in the component section (as shown in figure 3) and has been illustrated below:

Figure 7: Selection of source components

The circuit components as per figure 1 of the lab sheet can be added to the canvas and values
selected accordingly. Components can be rotated by using CTRL+R after selecting the
component on the canvas. The canvas with all components is as shown below:

Figure 8: Components placed on the canvas

Wires can be drawn between items by selecting the end of one component/equipment and
joining them to the start of another component/equipment.
Considering the requirement of subpart L3.1, upon adding the DC source to the canvas (as per
the guidelines mentioned previously) the following circuit can be obtained:

Figure 9: Configuration of input DC voltage

The DC source added was the ‘STEP_VOLTAGE’ source and can be configured as per the
figure above in order to attain the 5V output expected. The step time and rise time are negligibly
low and thus will not affect the results. Upon successful construction of the circuit the
simulation could be run however no output would be seen as no scope or meter is attached.
Based on the requirements of subpart L3.1, a multimeter can be added in parallel to each
component of which voltage identification is required. In the case of measuring Vin, the
multimeter can be added in parallel to the source as shown below:

Figure 10: Placement of multimeter and its configuration

As portrayed in the figure above, the negative terminal has to be connected to the grounded
side, whereas the positive terminal is connected to the positive end of the source. The
multimeter can be set to measure a DC voltage by selecting the configuration option shown
above.
Upon simulating the circuit, the voltage of the source ‘Vin’ can be determined by using the
multimeter display:

Figure 11: Simulation and reading of multimeter values

Upon clicking the (previously) green start button as highlighted above, the simulation will run
and the multimeter display can be read accordingly. As expected, the source voltage is 5V as
predefined previously. In a similar manner, the voltages across R1 and R2 (the 10k and 1k
resistors) can be determined and noted down.
The requirements of subpart L3.2 is to measure the current flowing through the circuit. For this
requirement, the previously used multimeter to measure the voltage can be connected in series
to the source and current can be measured (Note: Current in a series circuit is the same
throughout). In order to read the current, the multimeter can be connected as shown below:

Figure 12: Measuring current in the circuit

Note the terminals in which the wires are attached to. The positive end of the multimeter should
be connected source side and negative end, ground side in order to attain the appropriate
polarity.
The final subpart of the lab sheet requires the function generator to be used to provide an AC
input signal to the circuit instead of the previously used DC source. The requirements are that
it has a frequency of 1kHz with a peak to peak voltage of 5V. These parameters can be set
using the configuration window of the function generator as shown below. The type of wave
can be selected based on the images shown in the configuration window:

Figure 13: Configuring the input signal using a signal generator

As shown above, the appropriate sine wave waveform can be selected. In order to achieve a
peak to peak voltage, the amplitude Vp has to be set to 2.5V. What this results in is a waveform
which transitions from +2.5 to -2.5V thus a total of 5V (magnitude) between the two peaks.
The first requirement is to measure the input voltage and voltage across resistor R2 (the 1k
resistor) using the multimeter. In order to do this the multimeter can be connected in parallel
to the component and set to the AC mode as shown below:

Figure 14: Configuring the multimeter for AC readings

When in AC mode, the RMS value is read, therefore to find the peak, the value should be
multiplied by root 2. Similarly, the voltage across R2 using the multimeter can be determined.
For the final component of the lab, the same two voltage readings in addition to the period of
the waveform need to be identified using the oscilloscope. The oscilloscope can be found under
the equipment list (refer figure 2) and connected in parallel to both the source and R2 resistor
as shown below. It is worth noting that a two-channel oscilloscope is used in this case. For each
channel, the positive and negative terminals should be connected appropriately.

Figure 15: Oscilloscope window

As made evident by the window, several options are available. The x axis is determined by the
‘Timebase’ option (the red circle above), and the scale can be increased or decreased. 1kHz
corresponds to a period of 1ms. A period consists of both positive and negative values.
Therefore, an appropriate x axis division would be 1milliseconds or 500microseconds in order
to see the output clearly. Similarly, channel A and B are as the name suggests (and are shown
by the green circle above). The scale can be altered in order to see the expected outcome clearly.
In this case, we have set the output peak to be 2.5V in order to achieve 5Vpp therefore, the
scale could be set to 1V/div and we should see two and a half y divisions filled for channel A
(the input). Similarly, channel B can be altered accordingly to get a readable outcome.
For the case of the input voltage on channel A, the output would be as follows:

Figure 16: Input voltage waveform as per the oscilloscope

As made evident from the figure above, the output is as expected. For 1kHz, the period is 1ms.
Upon setting the timescale to 500microseconds/division, the 2 x blocks are the time taken for
1 period to be concluded (1ms). This information can be input to the area circled red of Table
1 as shown below. Similarly, with a y scale of 1V/div, approximately 2 and a half y blocks
correspond to the magnitude which is 2.5Vp (and will result in 5Vpp) which is as was set on
the configuration window (figure 13) and can be inserted into the area circled green as shown
below.

Figure 17: Table 1 areas to be filled with oscilloscope information

In a similar manner, the values across R2 can be determined and table 1 of the lab sheet can be
filled.
A sample calculation for the measurements related to the input with regards to as per how Table
1 of the lab sheet should be filled are as follows (which are derived from figure 16):
Measured by the oscilloscope:
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒 = 2.5
𝑉𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑠
(𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑤) = 1𝑉/𝐷𝑖𝑣
𝐷𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛
𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 = 2.5 × 1 = 2.5𝑉
∴ 𝑃𝑒𝑎𝑘 − 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒 = 2.5 × 2 = 5𝑉 (𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 − 𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘)
As shown above, the peak voltage is simply the number of divisions in the y axis multiplied by
the volts/division defined for the channel. The peak to peak voltage is twice the peak voltage
as it consists of both positive and negative sides of the waveform as explained previously.
Period of the waveform measured from the oscilloscope:
𝑁𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑐𝑎𝑙𝑒 = 2
𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒
(𝑎𝑠 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑠𝑐𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑜𝑠𝑐𝑜𝑝𝑒 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑜𝑤) = 500𝜇𝑠/𝐷𝑖𝑣
𝐷𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑛
𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑑 = 2 × 500𝜇𝑠 = 1𝑚𝑠
As the period of the waveform is required, the number of divisions between two similar points
need to be taken. For instance, distance from 1 positive peak to the next. As per the
oscilloscope, 2 divisions (in the x axis) are present between two positive peaks. Therefore, the
period is the number of divisions multiplied by the x axis scale (Time/Division) which results
in 1ms as the period of the wave which is in line with the frequency of the wave set in the
function generator window.