Lecture V

Lecture Overview
Measurement of Electrical Quantities

 Resistance: Wheatstone Bridge

 Inductance: Maxwell Bridge & Hay Bridge

 Capacitance: Schering Bridge

 Frequency: Wien Bridge

(Bridge Circuits (DC and AC Bridges)

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Measurement of Quantities using Bridge Circuits

 Bridge circuits operate on the method of comparison i.e. a known

(standard) value is adjusted until it is equal to an unknown value.

 Both null and deflection types of bridge exist

 Null types are mainly employed for calibration purposes

 Deflection types are used within closed-loop automatic control

schemes.

 Bridge circuits are normally classified according to the elements

that they are used to measure:

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Bridge Circuits

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 Null-Type, DC Bridge (Wheatstone Bridge)
 Suitable for measurement of medium resistance values i.e. 1Ω to 10MΩ.
 Consists of four resistive arms together with a source of e.m.f. and a null
detector (galvanometer) as shown.

 The arms consisting of the resistances R1and R2 are called ratio arms.
 The arm consisting of the resistance R3 is called the standard arm.
 The resistance R4 is the unknown resistance to be measured
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 When the bridge is balanced, there is no potential difference across
the galvanometer (points B and D are at the same potential & no
current flows across the galvanometer)

❖ At balance no current flows through the galvanometer which implies

I1 = I3 and I2 = I4. This means:
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The following points can be observed
• It depends on the ration of R1 and R2 hence these arms are called ratio
arms
• The standard resistance R3 can be varied to obtain the required balance
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 Bridge under unbalanced condition
❖ Apply circuit analysis to find current through the galvanometer

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Example:
❖ The figure below shows a bridge circuit with values of the
circuit elements. The battery voltage is 5V and the internal
resistance is negligible. The galvanometer has a current
sensitivity of 10mm/µA and an internal resistance of 100Ω.
Calculate the deflection of the galvanometer caused by the
5Ω unbalance in arm BC

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Solution:

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 Application - It is extensively used in industrial applications like quality control
of resistance wires, determination of resistance of transformers, motor winding,
relay coils and solenoids, calibration of sensors

 Advantages of a Wheatstone Bridge

 It is a low cost device which does not require skilled operation.
 With the use of high quality standard resistors, high accuracies of ± 0.5% can
be achieved leading to this being the preferred type when sensors are being
calibrated.

 Disadvantages of a Wheatstone Bridge

 A null-type bridge is somewhat tedious to use since careful adjustment of the
variable resistance is needed to get exactly to the null point.
 Not possible to measure with reasonable accuracy low values of resistance
below 1 Ω, as well as high values of resistances above 100 kΩ
 Small errors are caused due to the resistance of connecting wires and contact
resistances.
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AC Bridge Circuits

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 Comparison Bridges
❖ They measure an unknown inductance or capacitance by
comparing with a known inductance or capacitance.

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 Maxwell’s Bridge
 It is a AC bridge that employs a standard capacitor to
determine the value of unknown inductance
 The opposite arm of the bridge containing unknown
inductor has a standard resistor and a standard capacitor in
parallel.
❖ The positive phase angle of an inductive impedance may
be compensated by the negative phase angle of a
capacitive impedance put in the opposite arm.
❖ The unknown inductance then becomes known in terms
of this capacitance.
 It may be noted that Rx is the internal resistance of the
inductor.

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Maxwell’s Bridge

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Advantages of Maxwell’s Bridge
 The bridge balance equations are independent of frequency.
 The bridge yields simple equations for unknown values of
inductances and its associated internal resistances.
 The Q-factor of any coil can be determined conveniently using this
bridge.
 The bridge is suitable for the measurement of an unknown
inductance with an accuracy of ± 2% in the low values range of Q-
factor ranging between 1 and 10.
Disadvantages of Maxwell’s Bridge
 The bridge is difficult to achieve with very large Q factor (greater
than 10) and for very small Q factors (less than 1).
 The bridge requires a standard capacitor of high accuracy and this is
quite expensive.
 The resistance in parallel to capacitance is generally of high value
and resistance boxes of high value are costly.
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Hay’s Bridge

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  The four arms of a Hay’s a.c.
bridge are arranged as shown
below. If the supply frequency is
50 Hz, determine the Inductance
and the resistance at the
balance condition.

 2C4 2 R4 R2 R3 (2  50) 2  (0.38 10−6 ) 2 1000 16800  883

R1 = =
1 +  2C4 2 R4 2 1 + (2  50) 2  (0.38 10−6 ) 2  (883) 2
211.416
= = 209 
1.0111

R2 R3C4 16800 1000  0.38 10−6

L1 = =
1 +  2C4 2 R4 2 1 + (2  50) 2  (0.38 10−6 ) 2  (883) 2
6.384
= = 6.3 mH
1.0111
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Schering Bridge

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Advantage of Schering Bridge
 Can be used to measure capacitances between 100
pF - 10µF with ±2% accuracy.

Disadvantages of Schering Bridge

 In high voltage Schering bridge circuit, stray
capacitances in bridge elements may introduce
errors.
 The standard capacitor required is quite expensive.

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 In a test on a sample at 20 kV, 50 Hz by a Schering bridge, having a
standard capacitor of 106pF , balance was obtained with a
capacitance of 0.35µF in parallel with a non-inductive resistance of
318 Ω, the non-inductive resistance in the remaining arm of the
bridge being 130 Ω.
 Determine the capacitance, the p.f. and equivalent series resistance of
the specimen.
Here C3 = 106 pF, C1 = 0.35 μF , R1 = 318 Ω , R2= 130Ω

C1 0.35 10−6
RX = R2 =130  −12
= 0.429M 
C3 106 10
R 318
C X = C3 1 = 106 pF  = 259.3 pF
R2 130
RX
pf = D = =  RX C X
XX
= 2  50  0.429 106  259.3 10−12
= 0.035
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Wein Bridge

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Here C3 = 1μF, C1 = 2μF, R2 = 1000Ω , R3= 200Ω ,R4=
400Ω .
R2 R1 C3 1000 R1 1
= + → = +
R4 R3 C1 400 200 2

R1 5 1
= − =2
200 2 2

R1 = 400 

1 1
f = =
2 C1C3 R3 R1 2 (1 10−6 )  (2 10−6 )  200  100

= 796 Hz

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 Practice Question
 Qn: For the bridge circuit shown, determine the constants
of Zx, considering it as series circuit.

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 Practice Question
 Qn: For the bridge circuit shown, determine the constants
of Zx, considering it as series circuit.

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 Practice Question
 Qn: The four arms of the Wheatstone bridge have the
following resistances. AB = 1000Ω, BC = 1000Ω, CD = 120Ω
and DA = 120Ω. The bridge is used for strain measurement and
supplied from 5 V ideal battery. The galvanometer has
sensitivity of 1mm/µA with internal resistance of 200Ω.
Determine the deflection of the galvanometer if arm DA
increases to 121Ω and arm CD decreases to 119Ω.

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