Chapter-3

Electrical Measuring Instruments &

Measurements
Introduction
Tests and measurements are important in designing evaluating, maintaining
and servicing electrical circuits and equipment. In order to detect electrical quantities
such as current, voltage, resistance or power, it is necessary to transform an electrical
quantity or condition into a visible indication. This is done with the aid of instruments
that indicate the magnitude of quantities either by the position of a pointer moving
over a graduated scale (analogue instrument) or in the form of a decimal number
(digital instrument).
Analogue Instruments
The main devices in an analogue instrument are deflecting device, controlling device
and damping device.
(a) Deflecting or operating device: A mechanical force produced by current and
voltage causes the pointer to deflect from its zero position.
(b) Controlling device: The controlling force acts in opposition to the deflecting
force. It ensures that the deflection shown on the meter is same for a given
measured quantity. Also prevents pointer going to maximum deflection.
Types: Spring control and gravity control.
Damping device:The damping force ensures that the pointer comes to rest in
its final position quickly and without oscillation. There are three main types
of damping used.
Types: Eddy current, Air friction and Fluid friction damping

Moving Iron Instrument :

Attraction Type Fig.(a)
When current flows in the solenoid, a pivoted soft iron disc is attracted
towards the solenoid and the movement causes a pointer to move across a scale.
The force moving the pointer I 2
Repulsion Type Fig.(b)
As in fig. 2 pieces of iron are placed inside the solenoid. One is fixed and the
other is attached to the pointer. When current passes through the solenoid, the 2
pieces of iron are magnetized in the same direction and therefore repel each other.
The pointer thus moves across the scale.

*
Fig. Moving Iron Instrument

Moving Coil Instrument

A moving coil instrument operates on the motor principle. When a conductor
carrying current is placed in a magnetic field, a force F is exerted on a conductor,
given by F=BIL where B-flux density, L-conductor length, I-current flowing in the
conductor.

**

* http://www.electrical-engineering-assignment.com/repulsion-type
## http://yourelectrichome.blogspot.com/2014/05/moving-iron-instruments.html
** http://electrical4u.com/electrical-measuring-instruments-types-accuracyprecision-resolution-speed/

Comparison of moving coil and moving iron instruments

Ammeters and voltmeters

Voltmeters and ammeters are devices used to measure the electrical
characteristics of parts of a circuit.
Ammeters measure current.
Voltmeters measure voltage (potential difference).
Ammeters
Ammeters are always wired in series to the circuit.

Since the current in a series circuit is the same all the way, the current
measure with the ammeter is also the current flowing through the resistor.
If the ammeter was wired in parallel, part of the current would branch
off into the ammeter, part into the resistor, and we can not have an
accurate reading of the current in the circuit.
Since the ammeter is in series in the circuit it must has the lowest
resistance possible.
If it has very much resistance at all, it would increase the overall
resistance of the circuit and change the current what we are
measuring.
Voltmeters
Voltmeters are always wired in parallel to the circuit.

*
* www.studyphysics.ca/30/voltamm.pdf

Anything that is connected in parallel has the same voltage across

everything, so the voltage drop measured across the resistor is
accurate.
If there is no source of electricity or resistance between the
connections of the voltmeter it will read zero, since no potential
difference exists between the two points.
If the voltmeter was wired in series, it would have a voltage drop
of its own, but would not be able to measure the potential
difference between two points in the circuit.
Since the voltmeter is in parallel, voltmeters must always have
very high resistances.
Shunts and Multipliers
Shunts and Multipliers are the resistances connected in parallel or
series with the voltmeters or ammeters to enhance their measuring capacity.
Shunts
A resistance placed in parallel with an instrument (or Galvanometer)
to control the current passing through it, when placed in a circuit carrying a
fairly large current is called a shunt. The resistance of the shunt should not
vary with time.
For shunt, Ia ra = Is Rs

**

Multipliers
A high resistance in series with a galvanometer is connected, to limit the
current flowing through the meter so that it does not exceed the value for full
scale deflection and thus prevents the instrument from being damaged. Such
a resistance is called multiplier.
For Multiplier
,

**

**A Text book on Electrical-and-Electronic-Principles-and-Technology-ThirdEdition by john bird.

Practical Multirange Voltmeter

The range of the basic d.c. voltmeter can be extended by using number of
multipliers and a selector switch. Such a meter is called multi range voltmeter

#
#http://yourelectrichome.blogspot.com/2014/07/multirange-voltmeter.html

Ohmmeters
The purpose of an ohmmeter, of course, is to measure the resistance
placed between its leads. This resistance reading is indicated through a
mechanical meter movement which operates on electric current. The
ohmmeter must then have an internal source of voltage to create the
necessary current to operate the movement, and also have appropriate
ranging resistors to allow just the right amount of current through the
movement at any given resistance.

*http://electriciantraining.tpub.com/14188/css/14188_94.htm

The megger
Megger is a portable instrument which is used to measure insulation
resistance of the electrical machinery or system. It can be battery operated or
mechanically operated (hand crank dc generator) and gives direct reading in
ohms.
An ohmmeter designed for measuring high values of resistance (i.e.
megohms) is called an insulation resistance tester (e.g. Megger).
CIRCUIT DIAGRAM

**
(1) Deflecting & Control coil : Connected parallel to the generator,
mounted at right angle to each other and maintain polarities in such a way to
produced torque in opposite direction.
2) Permanent Magnets: Produce magnetic field to deflect pointer with
North-South pole magnet.
3) Pointer : One end of the pointer connected with coil another end deflects
on scale from infinity to zero.
4) Scale : A scale is provided in front-top of the megger from range zero to
infinity, enable us to read the value.
5) D.C generator or Battery connection : Testing voltage is produced by
hand operatedD.C generator for manual operated Megger. Battery /
electronic voltage charger is provided for automatic type Megger for same
purpose.
** http://avstop.com/ac/apgeneral/ohmmeters.html

A hand driven dc generator, G, which supplies the necessary current for

making the measurement
6) Pressure coil resistance and Current coil resistance : Protect
instrument from any damage because of low external electrical
resistance under test.
Working
Coil A is connected in series with R3 and the unknown resistance, Rx, to
be measured. Coil B is connected in series with R2 .
If the terminals are open circuited, no current flows in coil A, and the
current in coil B alone controls the movement of the moving element.
When a resistance is connected between the terminals, current flows
in coil A, tending to move the pointer clockwise. At the same time,
coil B tends to move the pointer counterclockwise.
Therefore, the moving element comes to rest at a position at which
the two forces are balanced.
This position depends upon the value of the external resistance.
ANALOGUE AND DIGITAL MULTIMETER

Multimeters are An instrument designed to measure electrical

quantities. A typical multimeter can measure alternating- and direct-current
potential differences (voltages), current, and resistance, with several fullscale
ranges
provided
for
each
quantity.

*https://rodzah.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/topic_2-1f37518.pdf

Wattmeter
The wattmeter is an indicating type instruments, generally used for
power measurement of the electrical circuit . A wattmeter consists of
(1) a low resistance current coil which is inserted in series with the line
carrying the current and
(2) a high resistance pressure coil which is connected across the two
points whose potential difference is to be measured.

**
Energy meter
An energy meter is a device that measures the amount of electrical
energy consumed by a residence, business, or an electrically powered
device.
The most common unit of measurement on the electricity meter is the
kilowatt hour, which is equal to the amount of energy used by a load of one
kilowatt over a period of one hour, or 3,600,000 joules.
Energy is the product of power and time for which power is used (i.e)
Energy=powertime
Principle of operation

The meters fall into two basic categories, electromechanical and

electronic.
The electromechanical induction meter operates by counting the
revolutions of an aluminium disc which is made to rotate at a speed
proportional to the power. The number of revolutions is thus proportional to
the energy usage. The metallic disc is acted upon by two coils. One coil is
connected in such a way that it produces a magnetic flux in proportion to the
voltage and the other produces a magnetic flux in proportion to the current.
The type of meter described above is used on a single-phase AC supply.

**A Text book on Electrical-and-Electronic-Principles-and-Technology-ThirdEdition by john bird.

**

Creep: In an induction type meter, creep is a phenomenon that can adversely

affect accuracy that occurs when the meter disc rotates continuously with
potential applied and the load terminals open circuited. A test for error due
to creep is called a creep test.
DIGITAL INSTRUMENTS:

The digital measuring instruments indicate the values of the quantity in

digital format that is in numbers, which can be read easily.
Examples of digital instruments:

Digital voltmeter
Digital millimeter
Digital frequency meter
Digital measurement of time etc.

Digital voltmeter (DVM):

Any digital instrument requires analog to digital converter at its input.
Hence first block in a general DVM is ADC.
Types of DVM
1. Ramp type DVM
2. Dual slope DVM
3. Successive approximation type DVM
**A TEXT BOOK OF ELECTRICAL TECHNOLOGY BY RAJPUT

Successive approximation type DVM

A D/A converter is used to provide the estimates. The "equal to or

greater than" or "less than" decision is made by a comparator. The D/A
converter provides the estimate and is compared to the input signal. A
special shift register called a successive-approximation register (SAR) is
used to control the D/A converter and consequentially the estimates. At the
beginning of the conversion all the outputs from the SAR are at logic zero.
If the estimate is greater than the input, the comparator output is
high and the first SAR output reverses state and the second
output changes to a logic "one."
If
the
comparator
output
is
low,
indicating
that the estimate is lower than the input signal, the first output
remains in the logic one state and the second output assumes
the logic state one. This continues to all the states until the
conversion is complete.

**http://www.allsyllabus.com/aj/note/EEE/Electric_and_Electronic_Measurement_and_Instrum
entation/unit5/Successive-approximation%20DVM.php#.VT8tedKqqko

Problems

1. Calculate the power dissipated by the voltmeter and by resistor R when (a)
R=300 and (b) R=3M. The voltmeter sensitivity (figure of merit) is 12k/V,
f.s.d=200V.

2. For the figure below, determine the (a) Power dissipated in the load (b) Wattmeter
reading

3. A 0-1A ammeter having a resistance of 50 is used to measure the current flowing

in a 1k resistor when the supply voltage is 250V. Calculate: (a) the approximate
value of current (neglecting the ammeter resistance), (b) the actual current in the
circuit, (c) the power dissipated in the meter, (d) the power dissipated in 1k resistor.
4. Electrical equipment in an office takes a current of 13A from a 240V supply.
Estimate the cost per week of electricity if the equipment is used for 30 hours each
week and 1 kWh of energy costs 12.5p.
5. An electric heater consumes 3.6 MJ when connected to a 250V supply for 40 minutes.
Find the power rating of the heater and the current taken from the supply.