Electrical and Electronics

Engineering Department

EEE124 Measurement &

Instrumentation(M & I)
Engr. Dr. P. N. Ayambire
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things, try to change the
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Electromechanical Energy Conversion and Transformers
Objectives:
 Classification of Electrical Measuring Instrument
 Moving Coil Instrument
 Moving Iron Instrument
 Principles of Operation of Electrical Measuring Instruments
 Permanent Magnet Moving Coil Instrument

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Introduction
 Electrical energy is used in the manufacturing of many commodities.
 To ensure quality and efficiency, it is important to measure the electrical
quantities accurately.
 Electrical measuring instruments are used to measure electrical quantities such
as: current, voltage, power, energy etc.
 The instruments which measure current, voltage, power and energy are
called ammeter, voltmeter, wattmeter and energy meter respectively.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Classification of Electrical Measuring Instrument

The various electrical measuring instruments can be broadly divided into two
classes:.
(i) Absolute instruments (ii) Secondary instruments.
Absolute Instruments
 These instruments gives the value of the measurand in terms of instrument
constant.
 These instruments do not require comparison with any other standard.
 Example of this type of instrument is tangent galvanometer
 They are used only in standard laboratories as standardizing instruments.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Secondary Instruments
 These instruments are constructed such that a deflection of a pointer
gives the magnitude of the electrical quantity to be measured.
 These instruments are required to be calibrated by comparing them
with either an absolute instrument or with another secondary
instrument which has already been calibrated before the use.
 They are very commonly used in laboratories, power stations,
substations, industries etc.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Types of Secondary Instruments

Secondary instruments may be classified according to their
functions as:
 Indicating instruments
 Integrating instruments
 Recording instruments.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Indicating Instruments
 Indicating instruments are those which indicate the magnitude of an electrical
quantity at the time it is being measured.
 In such instruments, a pointer moves over a graduated scale and directly gives
the value of the electrical quantity being measured.
 Examples:
 Ammeters
 Voltmeters
 Wattmeters
 frequency meters, etc.
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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Integrating Instruments
 These are instruments which measure the total quantity of electricity (ampere-
hours) or electrical energy (watt-hours) supplied over a period of time.
 The summation given by such an instrument is the product of time and the
electrical quantity under measurement.
 In these instrument there are sets of dials and pointers which register the total
quantity of electricity or electrical energy supplied to the load
 Examples:
 ampere-hour meters
 energy meters.
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Electrical Measuring Instruments
Recording Instruments
 These are instruments which keep a continuous record of the variation of the
magnitude of an electrical quantity to be observed over a definite period of time.
 These instruments are used in powerhouses where the current, voltage, power, etc.,
are to be maintained within certain acceptable limit.
 These are indicating instrument with a pen attached to its pointer.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Principles of Operation of Indication Instruments

 Measuring instruments may be classified according to the principle of
operation.
 The effects generally utilise are:
 Magnetic effect
 Heating effect
 Electrostatic effect
 Electromagnetic effect
 Hall effect

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Electrical Measuring Instruments
Operating Forces of Indicating Instruments
 Three types of forces are needed for satisfactory operation of any indicating instrument.
 These are
 Deflecting force
 Controlling force
 Damping force
Deflecting Force
 This is the force that causes the instrument pointer to move over a calibrated scale
indicating the magnitude of the signal being measure.
 The deflecting force value is dependent upon the electrical signal to be measured.
 This force causes the moving system to move from its zero position.
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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Controlling Force
 This force act opposite to the deflecting force to ensure accuracy in measurement.
 When the deflecting and controlling force are equal in magnitude then the movement
will be in equilibrium.
 The system which produces the controlling force is called the controlling system.
The functions of the control system
 To produce a force equal and opposite to the deflecting force at the final steady
position of the pointer.
 Controlling is achieved either by: Spring control or gravity control.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Damping Force
 This is the force that causes the pointer of the instrument to quickly move back to the
zero position after the deflection force is removed.
 Air friction, fluid friction and eddy currents provide the damping force.
 When the deflecting force is much greater than the controlling force, the system is
called underdamped.
 If the deflecting force is equal to the controlling force, it is called critically damped.
 When the deflecting force is much less than the controlling force, the system is
overdamped condition.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Permanent Magnet Moving Coil Instrument

 The operation of a permanent-magnet moving-coil type instrument is based
upon the principle that when a current-carrying conductor is placed in a
magnetic field, it is acted upon by a force which tends to move it to one side
and out of the field.

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Measurement System Design & Measuring Instruments
Construction of PMMC
 The instrument consists of a permanent horse-shoe magnet with soft iron
pole pieces attached to it.
 Between the two pole-pieces a cylinder-shaped soft iron core is situated.
 A coil of fine wire wound on a light metal frame moves around the
cylinder-shaped soft iron core.
 The metal frame is mounted on bearings so that it can rotate freely.
 A light pointer attached to the moving coil moves up the scale as the coil
rotates when current is passed through it.

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Measurement System Design & Measuring Instruments

Principle of Operation of PMMC

 This instrument works on the motor principle and is a current-responding device.
 When direct current flows through the coil, the magnetic field produced reacts with
the field of the permanent magnet.
 The resultant force turns the coil along with its pointer.
 The amount of deflection is directly proportional to the amount of current in the coil.
 With correct polarity, the pointer reads up the scale to the right whereas incorrect
polarity forces the pointer off-scale to the left.

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Measurement System Design & Measuring Instruments

Deflecting Force

For a permanent magnet, B is constant. Also, for a given coil and n

are constants and thus the product () is also a constant, say .

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Controlling Force
 The value of the control force depends on the mechanical design of the control device.
 For spiral springs and strip suspensions, the controlling force is directly proportional to
the angle of deflection of the coil.

At final steady state position, Control force = Deflecting force

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Measurement System Design & Measuring Instruments

Example Solution
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
degrees.

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Measurement System Design & Measuring Instruments

Solution
Example
A PMMC instrument has a coil of
dimensions 15 mm × 12 mm. The
flux density in the air gap is 1.8 × 10-3
wb/m2 and the spring constant is 0.14
× 10-6 N-m/rad. Determine the
number of turns required to produce
an angular deflection of 90° when a
current of 5 mA is flowing through
the coil.

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Measurement System Design & Measuring Instruments

Example Solution
A PMMC voltmeter with a resistance
of 20 Ω gives a full-scale deflection
of 120° when a potential difference
of 100 mV is applied across it. The
moving coil has dimensions of 30
mm × 25 mm and is wound with 100
turns. The control spring constant is
le
0.375 × 10 -6
N-m/degree. Find the
flux density in the air gap.

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Measurement System Design & Measuring Instruments

Example Solution
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 force 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 wb/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.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Characteristics of Moving Coil

Instruments
The following are the three main Full-scale Deflection Current ()
characteristics of moving coil  It is the current needed to deflect the pointer all the
instruments: way to the right to the last mark on the calibrated scale.
 full-scale deflection current (),  Typical values of for moving coil instrument vary
 internal resistance of the coil (), from 2 mA to 30 mA.
 sensitivity ().  Fine wire must be used to reduce the weight of the
moving coil.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Internal Resistance () Sensitivity (S)

 It is the dc ohmic resistance of It is also known as current sensitivity or sensitivity
the wire of the moving coil. factor. It is given by the reciprocal of full-scale deflection
 A movement with smaller has current .
higher and vice versa.
Example: Find the sensitivity of a instrument.
Solution

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Advantage of PMMC
Disadvantage of PMMC
i. It has uniform scale.
i. Used only for D.C measurements.
ii. Operating current is small.
ii. The cost of the instrument is high.
iii.It has high sensitivity.
iii.The moving system is very delicate and
iv.It consumes low power
can easily be damaged by rough handling.
v. It has high accuracy.
iv. The coil being very fine, cannot withstand
vi.Very effective built in damping
prolonged overloading.
vii.Extension of instrument range is possible.
v. The ageing of the instrument may
viii.Not affected by eternal magnetic fields called
introduce some errors.
stray magnetic fields.

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Measurement System Design & Measuring Instruments

DC instruments
Extension of Range of PMMC Instruments  It can be made into a DC ammeter,
 The basic moving-coil system can be milliammeter or micrommeter by connecting
converted into an instrument to measure a suitable shunt resistor in parallel with it.
DC as well as AC quantities like current,  It can be changed into a DC voltmeter by
voltage and resistance etc. connecting a multiplier resistor in series with
 Without any modification, it can carry a it.
maximum current of and can withstand a  It can be converted into an ohmmeter with the
maximum DC voltage . help of a battery and series resistor R.

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Measurement System Design & Measuring Instruments

D.C. Ammeter
 The D’Arsonval galvanometer is a moving coil ammeter.
 It uses magnetic deflection, where current passing through
a coil causes the coil to move in a magnetic field.
 The voltage drop across the coil is kept to a minimum to
minimize resistance across the ammeter in any circuit into
which it is inserted.

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Measurement System Design & Measuring Instruments

 The coil winding of a moving coil instrument is

very small and light
 It can carry very small value of currents.
 When a large current is to be measured it is
necessary to bypass the major part of the current
through a low resistance called shunt resistor.
 The shunt resistor is connected parallel with the
instrument. The ammeter is always connected in
series with the load in the circuit.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Form the diagram, the resistance of the shunt can be calculated by circuit analysis.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments
The voltage drop across the shunt and the meter must be same as they
are connected in parallel.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

The ratio of the total current to the current in the meter is

called multiplying power of shunt.
Multiplying power,

Properties of shunt resistor

1. Resistance of the shunt should not vary with time.
2. Temperature co-efficient of shunt and instrument should be low and should be same.
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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Precautions when using ammeter in measurement work

1. Never connect an ammeter across a source of EMF. Because of its low
resistance it draws damaging high currents and destroys the delicate
movement. It is always connected in series with a load.
2. Always connect in right polarity. Reverse polarity may damage the pointer

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

DC Voltmeter
 Voltmeter is used for measuring voltage
or the potential difference.
 To be able to measure a high voltage, a
high value resistor is connected in series
with the instrument.
 This resistor is called a multiplier.
 The multiplier limits the current so that it
does not exceed the full-scale deflection
current.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Precautions when using voltmeter in measurement work

1. Place the voltmeter across the circuit or component whose voltage is to be
measured.
2. Always be aware of the loading effect.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Example
A 1 mA meter movement
with an internal resistance of
100 is to be converted into Solution.
0–100 mA. Calculate the Given: =
value of the shunt resistance
required.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Example
A moving coil
instrument has a
resistance of 5 Ω and
gives a full scale
deflection of 10 mv.
Show how the
instrument may be used
to measure
(a) voltage up to 50 v
(b) current up to 10 A.
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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Example
A moving-coil voltmeter has a resistance of 100 Ω. The scale is divided into 150
equal divisions. When a potential difference of 1 V is applied to the terminals of the
voltmeter a deflection of 100 divisions is obtained. Explain how the instrument could
be used for measuring up to 300 V.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments
Solution
Let be the multiplier resistance that would be connected in series with the voltmeter.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Example 4.
Calculate the value of the
Solution. Given: Ifsd = 200 A, Rm = 100 and V = 50 V.
multiplier resistance on the 50 V
range of a DC voltmeter that uses
a 200 A meter movement with an
internal resistance of 100

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Example
A milliammeter of 2.5 ohms resistance reads up to 100 milliamperes.
Calculate the resistance which is necessary to enable it to use as:
(i) A voltmeter reading up to 10 V
(ii) An ammeter reading up to 10 A

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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Moving-Iron Instruments
 Moving-Iron or MI instruments can be classified as:
 Attraction-type moving-iron instruments
 Repulsion-type moving-iron instruments

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Electrical Measuring Instruments
Attraction Type M.I. Instruments
 This instrument consists of a cylindrical coil which is kept fixed.
 An oval-shaped soft-iron is attached to the spindle in such a way that it can move in
and out of the coil.
 A pointer is attached to the spindle so that it is deflected with the motion of the soft-
iron piece.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments
Working Principles.
 When the instrument is connected in a circuit to measure current or voltage, the operating
current flowing through the coil sets up a magnetic field.
 The coil behaves like a magnet and therefore it attracts the soft-iron piece towards it.
 The result is that the pointer attached to the moving system moves from its zero position.
 The pointer will come to rest at a position where deflecting force is equal to the controlling
force.
 If current in the coil is reversed, the direction of magnetic field also reverses and so does the
magnetism produced in the soft-iron piece.
 For this reason, such instruments can be used for both d. c. and a. c. measurements.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments
Repulsion Type M.I. Instruments
 The instrument consists of two soft-iron pieces surrounded by a fixed coil which carries
the operating current.
 One of these coils is fixed and the other is free to move.
 The movable coil is of cylindrical shape and is mounted on a spindle to which a pointer is
attached.
 The fixed coil which is wedge-shaped and has a larger radius, is attached to the stationary
coil.

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Electrical Measuring Instruments
Working Principles.
 When current or voltage to be measured flows through the coil, a magnetic field is set up.
 This magnetic field magnetizes the two irons in the same direction. Since the irons are of the
same polarity, the two irons repel each other.
 As the fixed iron cannot move, the movable iron deflects and causes the pointer to move from
its zero position.
 The pointer will come to rest at a position where deflecting force is equal to the controlling
force provided by the spring.
 If the current in the coil is reversed, the direction of deflecting force remains unchanged.
 It is because reversal of the field of the coil reverses the magnetization of both iron pieces so
that they repel each other regardless of which way the current flows through the coil.
 For this reason, such instruments can be used for both d.c. and a.c. applications.
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Electrical Measuring Instruments

Advantages
 They are less expensive, robust and simple in construction.
 Can be used for both DC and AC measurements.
 These instruments have high operating torque.
 These instruments are reasonably accurate.
Disadvantages
 These instruments have non-linear scales.
 These instruments are not as sensitive as the permanent-magnet moving coil
instruments.
 Errors are introduced due to change in frequency in case of AC measurements.
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