Unit - 5

Analog and Digital Instruments

 Digital Voltmeter (DVM)

Used to measure the ac and dc voltages and displays the
result in digital form.
Types:

Ramp type DVM

Integrating type DVM
 Potentiometric type DVM

Successive approximation type DVM
 Continuous balance type DVM
 Advantages:

1. Errors on account of parallax and

approximations are entirely eliminated
2. Operating speed is increased
3. Data can be fed to memory devices for storage
and future computation.
4. Size reduced after the advent of ICs and easily
portable.
 Ramp type DVM
Principle:
Input voltage is converted into digital equivalent
by counting the time taken for the ramp wave to
decrease from the magnitude of input voltage to
0V.
Construction:
The block diagram of the Ramp-type ADC can be
divided into two sections as follows:
1. Voltage to time conversion section
2. Time measurement section
 Voltage to time conversion section
 In the voltage to time conversion section, the analog
input voltage is fed to the attenuation circuit. The
attenuated signal is compared with the the ramp signal
generated by the ramp generator given in the block
diagram by the input comparator 'C1'. Similarly, The
ramp signal generated is compared with 0V via a zero-
crossing detector 'C2'. A sample rate multivibrator is
connected to the ramp generator whose purpose is to
provide an initiating pulse for the ramp generator to
start the next ramp voltage for the next measurement.
It is also used to reset the counter before generating
the next ramp voltage.
 Time measurement section
 In the time measurement section, there is
counter which is triggered by a gating pulse.
The inputs of the gating pulse are (i) Output of
'C1' (ii) Output of 'C2' (iii) Clock pulse from the
oscillator. The counter is reset after each
successful completion of time measurement by
a control signal from the sample rate
multivibrator. The count produced is displayed
by connecting suitable display device.
 Operation
 Initially, the attenuated signal is compared with a
negative going ramp signal generated by the ramp
generator. When the ramp voltage coincides with the
input signal, the output of 'C1' becomes low. This point
is called coincidence point. This initiates the counting
process ( start of count ). The counter continues to
count until the ramp voltage reduces and crosses zero
(0V). This is detected by zero crossing detector 'C2'.
The output of 'C2' becomes high which ends the
counting process (end of count).
Triangular wave displaying Ramp type
 Waveform
 The count displayed is the count of number of
clock pulses produced by the oscillator during
the time in which the ramp signal is less than
the input signal and greater than 0V (ie) |input
signal| > ramp > 0V. This count gives the digital
equivalent of input analog voltage.
 DVM
Equations Involved:
(∆)t = t2 - t1= Vin/m = nT ;
Hence, Vin = nmT;

where
t1-> start of count
t2-> end of count
Vin-> input analog voltage
m-> slope of the ramp curve
n-> number of clock pulses to counter
T-> clock period
 DVM
Merits:
 low cost
 simple, easy to design

long distance transmission of output pulse is possible

Demerits:
 accuracy of output greatly depends on linearity of the ramp.
(since only one ramp is used)
 input filter are needed for filtering noise from input signal.
Dual Slope Integrating type DVM
Block Diagram of Integrator type DVM
Waveform of output voltage
Potentiometric type Digital voltmeter
Digital Multimeter
 Table of Contents
 Introduction
 Working
 Block diagram
 Application
 Introduction
 Digital multimeter is an instrument used to
measure voltage, current and resistance and
display the measured voltage using LCD or
LED to display the results in floating point
format
 Special characters
 DMM has a variety of special features that are
designed for a wide number of applications
 Frequency
 Temperature
 Capacitance
 Continuity check
 Diode check
Block diagram
 Parts of a DMM
In te g ra t o r :

T h e i n t e g r a t o r s t a b i l i z e s t h e v o l t a g e a s a fi r s t s t e p i n m e a s u r i n g i t . I t t a k e s a b r i e f ti m e s a m p l e ,
i n t e g r a t e s i t a n d o u t p u t s a p r o p o r ti o n a l v o l t a g e . I n t e g r a ti n g a ti m e s a m p l e m a k e s t h e v o l t m e t e r
m o r e im m u n e t o n o is e in t h e s ig n a l.

A /D co n v e rte r:

T h e a n a lo g / d ig it a l c o n v e r t e r is a c lo c k e d c ir c u it t h a t t a k e s t h e s a m p le d in p u t v o lt a g e a n d
o u t p u t s a n u m b e r r e p r e s e n ti n g t h e v o l t a g e v a l u e . S i n c e i t i s c l o c k e d , w e g e t a s t e a d y s t r e a m o f
n u m b e r s t h a t c h a n g e w h e n t h e in p u t v o lt a g e c h a n g e s .

Z e r o in g & S a m p lin g :

A d ig it a l v o lt m e t e r n e e d s t o k n o w w h e r e z e r o is in o r d e r t o g iv e a t r u e r e a d in g . T h is is d o n e w it h
a p r e c is io n z e r o r e f e r e n c e v o lt a g e p r o v id e d e it h e r in t e r n a l t o t h e A D C c h ip o r e x t e r n a lly .

D is p la y :

T h e d ig it a l d is p la y r e q u ir e s a r iv e r c ir c u it r y t o h a n d le t h e d r iv e c u r r e n t . A n A D C c h ip c o n v e r t s t h e
g e n e r a t e d a n a lo g s ig n a l t o d ig it a l d a t a a n d is d is p la y e d in t h e L C D .
 Advantages
 Easy to handle
 Very accurate
 Noise signals absent
 Portable
 Has very good resolution
Digital Storage Oscilloscope
 Measurement of resistance
 Wheatstone bridge
 Kelvin bridge
 Wheatstone bridge
The Wheatstone Bridge was originally developed by Charles
Wheatstone to measure unknown resistance values and
as a means of calibrating measuring instruments,
voltmeters, ammeters, etc, by the use of a long resistive
slide wire. Although today digital multimeters provide the
simplest way to measure a resistance, The Wheatstone
Bridge can still be used to measure very low values of
resistances down in the milli-Ohms range.
Wheatstone Bridge Circuit
Kelvin bridge
Derivation
Kelvin Double Bridge
Kelvin Double Bridge
Derivation
 Measurement of Inductance
Inductance can be measured by,
 Maxwell Bridge
 Anderson Bridge
AC Bridge
Derivation
AC bridge
Maxwell Inductance bridge
Maxwell Inductance Capacitance Bridge
 Advantages
 The frequency does not appear in the final
expression of both equations, hence it is
independent of frequency.
 Maxwell's inductor capacitance bridge is very
useful for the wide range of measurement of
inductor at audio frequencies.
 Disadvantages
 The variable standard capacitor is very
expensive.
 The bridge is limited to measurement of low
quality coils (1 < Q < 10) and it is also
unsuitable for low value of Q (i.e. Q < 1) from
this we conclude that a Maxwell bridge is used
suitable only for medium Q coils.
 Anderson Bridge
 This bridge is the modified version of Maxwell
Inductance Capacitance Bridge.
 Double balance can obtained by fixing the value
of capacitance and changing the value of
electrical resistance only.
Circuit diagram
Derivation
Derivation
Derivation
 Advantages
 It is very easy to obtain the balance point in
Anderson's bridge as compared to Maxwell
bridge in case of low quality factor coils.
 There is no need of variable standard capacitor
is required instead of thin a fixed value
capacitor is used.
 This bridge also gives accurate result for
determination of capacitance in terms of
inductance.
 Disadvantages
 The equations obtained for inductor in this
bridge is more complex as complex as
compared to Maxwell's bridge.
 The addition of capacitor junction increases
complexity as well as difficulty of shielding the
bridge.
Considering all the advantages and
disadvantages, Maxwell bridge is preferred over
Anderson's bridge whenever use of variable
capacitor is permissible.
 Schering Bridge
This bridge is used to measure to the
 Capacitance of the capacitor
 Dissipation factor and
 Measurement of relative permittivity
Circuit diagram & Phasor diagram
Derivation
Derivation
 Advantages
 The balance equation is independent of
frequency.
 It is used for measuring the insulating
properties of electrical cables and equipments.
Wiens bridge
Derivation
Derivation
 High frequency measurements
We are going to see the measurement of R,L,C for frequency range 0.1 to
100MHz.

Some special effects are predominant at high frequency


High reactance due to stray series inductance and its variation with
frequency

Low reactance due to stray shunt inductance and its variation with
frequency

Increase of effective resistance with frequency on account of skin effect.

Increase of effective resistance on account of proximity effect.

Increase of effective resistance due to production of eddy current

Variation of dielectric loss of capacitors with frequency.
Measurement of inductance by Resonance method
Measurement of capacitance
Measurement of effective resistance by
Resistance variation method
Measurement of effective resistance by
Reactance variation method
 Variation of frequency
The capacitance C is kept constant and the frequency is varied. Let ω0 be the
angular frequency to give maximum current Io and ω1 & ω2 be the two
frequencies which give the value of current I=Io/
2R = (ω1L-1/ ω1C) – (ω2L-1/ ω2C)
= (ω1- ω2)L + ω02L(ω1- ω2)/ω1ω2 as ω02L = 1/C

Now for a peak and symmetrical resonance curve,

ω02=ω1ω2
2R = (ω1- ω2)L + ω02L(ω1- ω2)/ω0 = 2 (ω1- ω2)L
R = (ω1- ω2)L
= (ω1- ω2)/ω02C
Quality factor is,
Q = ω0L/R = ω0/(ω1- ω2)
 T-networks
Parallel T-network
Bridge T-network
Parallel T-network
Parallel T-network for measurement of
frequency
Bridge T-network
Q-Meter