ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL SYSTEMS (WLE-306)

Presented by: Mr. Shahnawaz Uddin

Unit-2 ANALOG & DIGITAL INSTRUMENTS

Electronic Voltmeters (EVMs) & Their Advantages

A basic dArsonval movement (PMMC) can be converted into a dc voltmeter by adding a series resistor known as multiplier The function of multiplier is to limit the current through the movement so that the current doesnt exceed the full scale deflection value A dc voltmeter measures the potential difference between two points in a dc circuit A dc voltmeter can be modified by adding a rectifier circuit at the input of the dArsonval movement, which function as an ac voltmeter The merits of electronic voltmeters are as follow: (i) Detection of Low Level Signals (ii) Low Power Consumption (iii) High Frequency Range

Advantages of Electronic Voltmeters

(i) Detection of Low Level Signals: Analog instruments use PMMC (dArsonval) movement for indication This movement cant be constructed with full scale sensitivity of less than 50 A and if conventional voltmeters are used, a PMMC movement must draw a current of 50 A from the measured quantity for its operation for full scale deflection This would produce great loading effects especially in electronic & common circuits Electronic voltmeters avoid the loading errors by supplying power required for measurement by using external circuits like amplifiers The amplifiers not only supply power for the operation but make it possible for low level signals (which produce current less than 50 A for full scale deflection) to be detected which otherwise cant be detected in the absence of amplifiers For the case of ac measurements, the use of an amplifier for detection of low power signals is even more necessary for sensitive measurements

Advantages of Electronic Voltmeters (-contd.)

(ii) Low Power Consumption: The conventional PMMC voltmeter lacks both high sensitivity & high input resistance The EVM, on the other hand, can have input resistance ranging from 10100 M with the input resistance remaining constant over all ranges instead of being different at different ranges, the EVM also gives far less loading effects The EVMs utilize amplifier, and therefore, the power required for operating the PMMC can be supplied from an auxiliary source Thus, while the circuit whose voltage is being measured, controls the sensing element of the voltmeter, the power drawn from the circuit under measurement is very small or even negligible This can be interpreted as that the voltmeter has a very high input impedance (iii) High Frequency Range: The most important feature of EVMs is that their response can be made practically independent of frequency within extremely wide limits Some EVMs permit the measurement of voltage from dc to frequencies of the order of hundreds of MHz

Voltmeter with Direct Coupled Amplifier

The dc EVMs consist of a conventional dc meter movement PMMC preceded by a dc amplifier of one or more stages When a very high input resistance is required, it is convenient to use an FET at the input stage The output of the FET is directly coupled to the input of a BJT BJT Q2 along with resistors forms a balanced bridge circuit & FET Q1 serves as a source follower which provides impedance transformation between the input & base of Q2 The bias on Q2 is such that i2 = i3 when Vin = 0, and under this condition, Vx = Vy and no current flows through the meter movement, i.e., i4 = 0 The bias on Q2 is controlled by Vin Thus, when an unknown voltage Vin is applied, the bias on Q2 increases, which causes Vx to increase Since Vx becomes greater than Vy, current i4 is no longer zero and the magnitude of i4 (i.e., deflection of meter) is proportional to Vin The value of Vin that causes maximum meter deflection is the basic range of the instrument

Voltmeter with Direct Coupled Amplifier (-contd.)

Voltmeter with Direct Coupled Amplifier (-contd.)

This is, generally, the lowest range on the range switch in non-amplified models Higher ranges can be obtained by using an input attenuator & lower ranges can be obtained by preamplifier Bridge balance is obtained by adjusting the zero set potentiometer when Vin = 0 Full scale calibration is obtained by adjusting the potentiometer marked calibration in series with ammeter Advantages: (i) It decreases the amount of power drawn from the circuit under test by increasing the input impedance using an amplifier with unity gain (ii) The source follower drives an emitter follower, and this combination is capable of thousand fold or more increase in impedance while maintaining a voltage gain of nearly unity (iii) The input impedance of this meter is 10 M, which requires a power of 0.025 W for a 0.5 V deflection as compared to 25 W for an unamplified meter, thereby giving an increased sensitivity of 1000 times

Amplified Voltage & Current Meter

A block diagram of a meter used for measurement of small voltages & currents is shown in fig. (20.18) The input voltage is amplified & applied to a meter (PMMC) If the amplifier has a gain of 10, the sensitivity of the measurement is also increased by the same amount An amplifier capable of a fixed dc gain of 20 is not difficult to construct and to keep stable A simple op-amp with required feedback components is suitable for this job But dc gains of much higher values (of the order of 106) are required to use a standard PMMC movement to measure very small currents & voltages such as nano-ampere & microvolt In theory, when large gains are desired, all the defects of the op-amp become significant Offset current, offset voltage, and bias currents become so troublesome that it is practically impossible to achieve acceptable performance with standard op-amp

Amplified Voltage & Current Meter (-contd.)

Electronic AC Voltmeter using Rectifiers

The dc EVMs may be used to measure ac voltages by first detecting the alternating voltage In some situations, rectification takes place before amplification (as shown in fig. (20.23a)) Here, the amplifier, ideally requires zero-drift characteristics and unity voltage gain & a dc meter movement with sufficient sensitivity In another method, rectification takes place after amplification (as shown in fig.(20.23b)) This method generally uses a high open-loop gain & large negative feedback overcomes the non-linearity of the rectifier diode AC voltmeters that uses half-wave or full-wave rectification are usually of the average responding type, with the meter scale calibrated in terms of the rms value of a waveform instead of the average value

Electronic AC Voltmeter using Rectifiers (-contd.)

Thus, most meters are calibrated in terms of both rms & peak values Since most of the waveforms encountered in electronics are sinusoidal; these methods are satisfactory & much less expensive than a true rms-reading voltmeter However, non-sinusoidal waveforms will cause this type of meter to read high or low, depending on the form factor (kf = Vrms /Vav ) of the waveform The main advantage of the ac voltmeter is that using negative feedback greatly reduces the response time In some cases, there may be requirement to measure the peak value of a waveform instead of average value and the circuit of fig. (20.24c) may be used for peak reading In most cases, the meter scale is calibrated in terms of both rms & peak values of sinusoidal input waveform

Electronic AC Voltmeter using Rectifiers (-contd.)

Electronic AC Voltmeter using Rectifiers (-contd.)

Electronic AC Voltmeter using Rectifiers (-contd.)

Considerations in Selecting an Analog Voltmeter

Selecting most appropriate instrument for a particular voltage instrument depends on the performance required in a given situation Some important considerations in selecting a voltmeter are given below: (i) Input Impedance, (ii) Voltage Ranges, (iii) Decibel Unit, (iv) Sensitivity versus Bandwidth, (v) Battery Operation, & (vi) AC Current Measurement
(i) Input Impedance: In order to avoid loading effects, the input resistance or impedance of the voltmeter should be at least an order of magnitude higher than the impedance of the circuit under measurement, e.g., when a voltmeter with a 10 M input resistance is used to measure the voltage across a 100 k resistor, the circuit is hardly disturbed & loading effect of the meter on the circuit is negligible The same meter placed across a 10 M resistor, however, seriously loads the circuit and causes an error in measurement of approximately 30% The input impedance of the voltmeter is a function of the inevitable shunt capacitance across the input terminals

Considerations in Selecting an Analog Voltmeter

The loading effect of the meter is partly noticeable at the higher frequencies, when the input shunt capacitance greatly reduces the input impedance
(ii) Voltage Ranges: The voltage ranges on the meter scale may be in the 1-3-10 sequence with 10 dB of separation, or in the 1-5-15 sequence, or in a single scale calibrated in dB In any case, the scale divisions should be compatible with accuracy of the instrument, e.g., a linear meter with 1% full scale should have 100 divisions on the 1.0 V scale so that 1% can be easily resolved An instrument with an accuracy of 1% or less should also have mirror backed scale to reduce parallax and to improve accuracy (iii) Decibel Unit: Use of the decibel scale can be very effective in measurements that cover a wide range of voltages

Considerations in Selecting an Analog Voltmeter

For example, a measurement of this kind is found in the frequency response curve of an amplifier or filter, where the output voltage is measured as a function of the frequency of the applied input voltage Almost all voltmeters with dB scale are calibrated in dBm, referred to some particular impedance (iv) Sensitivity versus Bandwidth: As noise is a function of bandwidth, a voltmeter with a wide bandwidth will pick up & generate more noise than one operating over a narrow range of frequencies In general, an instrument with a bandwidth of 10 Hz to 10 MHz has a sensitivity of 1 mV A voltmeter whose bandwidth extends only to 5 MHz could have sensitivity of 100 V

Considerations in Selecting an Analog Voltmeter

(v) Battery Operation: For field work, a voltmeter powered by an internal battery is essential If an area contains troublesome ground-loops, a battery powered instrument is preferred over a mains powered voltmeter to remove the ground paths (vi) AC Current Measurements: Current measurements can be made by a sensitive ac voltmeter and a series resistance In the usual case, however, an ac current probe is used which enables the operator to measure an ac current without disturbing the circuit under test

Digital Voltmeter (DVM)

A DVM displays the value of ac or dc voltage being measured directly as discrete numerals in the decimal number system Numerical readout of DVM is advantageous since it eliminates observational errors (e.g., parallax & approximation errors) committed by operators The use of DVMs increases the speed with which readings can be taken Also the output of DVMs can be fed to memory devices for storage & future computations On account of developments in IC technology, the size, the power requirements, & the cost of DVM have been reduced Because of small size, the portability of DVM has been increased In fact, for the same accuracy, a DVM is now less costly than its analog counterpart

Types of DVMs
Some of the most usually used DVMs are: (i) Ramp Type DVM, (ii) Integrating Type DVM, & (iii) Successive Approximation Type DVM (i) Ramp Type DVM: The operating principle of a ramp type DVM is to measure the time that a linear ramp voltage takes to change from level of input voltage to 0 voltage (or vice versa) The time interval is measured with an electronic time interval counter & the count is displayed as a number At the start of measurement, a negative going ramp voltage (as shown in fig. 28.41) is initiated but a positive going ramp may also be used The ramp value is continuously compared with the voltage being measured (unknown voltage) At the instant, the value of ramp voltage is equal to that of unknown voltage, a coincidence circuit (input comparator), generates a pulse which opens a gate

Ramp Type DVM (-contd.)

The ramp voltage continues to decrease till it reaches ground level (zero volt), at which instant another comparator (called ground comparator) generates a pulse & closes the gate The time elapsed between opening & closing the gate is t as indicated in fig. (28.41) During this time interval, pulses from a clock pulse generator pass through the gate and are counted & displayed The decimal number displayed by the readout is a measure of the value of the input voltage The sample gate multivibrator determines the rate at which the measurement cycles are initiated The sample gate circuit provides an initiating pulse for the ramp generator to start its next ramp voltage At the same time, it sends a pulse to the counters which sets all of them to 0, which momentarily removes the digital display of the readout

Ramp Type DVM (-contd.)

Integrating Type DVM

Integrating type DVM measures the true average value of the input voltage over a fixed measuring period This voltmeter employs an integration technique which uses a voltage to frequency conversion The voltage to frequency (V/F) converter functions as a feedback control system which governs the rate of pulse generation in proportion to the magnitude of input voltage Actually when we use the voltage to frequency conversion technique, a train of pulses (whose frequency depends upon the voltage being measured), is generated Then the number of pulses appearing in definite interval of time is counted Since the frequency of these pulses is a function of unknown voltage, the number of pulses counted in that period of time is an indication of the input (unknown) voltage The heart of this technique is the operational amplifier acting as an integrator

Integrating Type DVM (-contd.)

Output voltage of integrator is given by E o -

1 Ei E i dt .t RC RC

Thus if a constant input voltage Ei is applied , an output voltage Eo is produced which rises at a uniform rate and has a polarity opposite to that input voltage In other words, it is clear from the above relationship, that for a constant input voltage the integrator produces a ramp output voltage of opposite polarity Let us examine fig. (28.43), here the graphs showing relationships between input voltages of three different values and their respective output voltages are shown It is clear that polarity of the output voltage is opposite to that of input voltage, not only that , the greater the input voltage the sharper is the rate of rise (or slope) of output voltage The basic block diagram of a typical integrating type of DVM is shown in fig. (28.44)

Integrating Type DVM (-contd.)

The unknown voltage (Ei) is applied to the input of the integrator, and the output voltage (Eo) starts to rise The slope of Eo is determined by the value of Ei This voltage is fed to a level detector and when Eo reaches certain reference level, the detector sends a pulse to the pulse generator gate The level detector is a device similar to a voltage comparator, in which the output voltage from integrator Eo is compared with the fixed voltage of an internal reference source , and when Eo reaches that level , the detector produces an output pulse It is evident that greater the value of input voltage Ei, the sharper will be the slope of output voltage Eo, and quicker Eo will reach its reference level The output pulse of the level detector opens the pulse generator gate, permitting pulses from a fixed frequency clock oscillator to pass through pulse generator

Integrating Type DVM (-contd.)

The pulse generator is a device such as a Schmitt trigger, that produce an output pulse of fixed amplitude and width for every pulse it receives This output pulse (whose polarity is opposite to that of Ei and has a greater amplitude) is fed back to the input of the integrator, & the net input to the integrator is now of the reversed polarity as in fig. (28.45) As a result of this reversed input, the output Eo drops back to its original level Since, Eo is now below the reference level detector, there is no output from the detector to the pulse generator gate & gate gets closed Thus, no more pulses from the clock oscillator pass through to trigger the pulse generator When, the output voltage pulse from the pulse generator has passed, Ei is restored to its original value

Integrating Type DVM (-contd.)

Integrating Type DVM (-contd.)

Successive Approximation Type DVM

The block diagram of the successive approximation DVM is shown in fig. (5.10) When the start pulse activates the control circuit, the SAR is cleared (i.e., the output of SAR is 00000000) and Vout of D/A converter is 0 Now, if Vin > Vout , the comparator output is +ve During the first clock pulse, the control circuit sets the D 7 to 1; Vout jumps to Vref /2 and SAR output is 10000000 If Vout > Vin , the comparator output is ve and the control circuit resets D7 However, if Vin > Vout , the comparator output is +ve and the control circuit keeps D7 set Similarly, the rest of the bits beginning from D7 to D0 are set & tested Hence, the measurement is completed in 8-clock pulses At the beginning of the measurement cycle, a start pulse is applied to the start/stop multivibrator, which sets 1 in the MSB and 0 in all other bits of the SAR (i.e., the reading would be 10000000)

Successive Approximation Type DVM

The ring counter then advances one count, shifting a 1 in the second MSB of the SAR and its reading becomes 11000000 This causes the DAC to increase its output by Vref /4 (i.e.,Vout=Vref/2+Vref /4), and again it is compared with Vin In this case, Vout > Vin , the comparator produces an output that causes the control circuit to reset second MSB of SAR to 0 The DAC output (Vout) then returns to its previous value of Vref/2 and awaits another input from SAR When the ring counter advances by 1, the third MSB is set to 1 and the Vout rises by Vref /8 (i.e.,Vout=Vref/2+Vref /8) The measurement cycle, thus proceeds through a series of successive approximations Finally, when the ring counter reaches its final count, the measurement cycle stops & the digital output of the SAR represents the final approximation of the unknown input voltage (Vin)

Successive Approximation Type DVM (-contd.)

Successive Approximation Type DVM (-contd.)

Digital Frequency Meter

The signal whose frequency is to be measured is converted into the train of pulses, one pulse for each cycle of signal Then the number of pulses appearing in a definite interval of time is counted by means of an electronic counter Since the pulses represent the cycles of unknown signal, the number appearing on the counter is a direct indication of frequency of the unknown signal
BASIC CIRCUIT: The block diagram of the basic circuit of a digital frequency meter is shown in fig. (28.33) The unknown frequency signal is fed to Schmitt trigger through an amplifier In the Schmitt trigger, the signal is converted into a square wave with very fast rise and fall times, then differentiated and clipped As a result, the output from a Schmitt trigger is a train of pulses, one pulse for each cycle of the signal

Digital Frequency Meter (-contd.)

The output pulses from the Schmitt trigger are fed to start stop gate When this gate opens (start), the input pulses pass through this gate and are fed to an electronic counter which starts registering the input pulses When the gate is closed (stop), the input of pulses to counter ceases and it stops counting The counter displays the number of pulses that have passed through it in the time interval between start and stop If the interval is known, the pulse rate and hence the frequency of the input signal can be known Suppose f is the frequency of unknown signal, N the number of counts displayed by counter, and t is the time interval between start and stop gate N Therefore, frequency of unknown signal is given by f

Digital Frequency Meter (-contd.)

TIME BASE SELECTOR: It is abundantly clear that in order to know the value of frequency of input signal, the time interval between start and stop of gate must be accurately known This time interval known as time base can be determined by circuit given in fig. (28.34) The time base consists of a fixed frequency crystal oscillator (known as clock oscillator) and must be very accurate In order to ensure its accuracy, the crystal is enclosed in a constant temperature oven The output of this constant frequency oscillator is fed to the Schmitt trigger which converts the input to an output consisting of a train of pulses at a rate equal to the frequency of the clock oscillator The train of pulses then passes through a series of frequency decade divider assemblies connected in cascade

Digital Frequency Meter (-contd.)

Each decade divider consists of decade counter and divides the frequency by 10 Connections are taken from the output of each decade in series chain, and, by means of selector switch, any output may be selected In the block diagram of fig. (28.34), the clock oscillator frequency is 1 MHz Thus the output of Schmitt trigger is 106 pulses per second and thus the time interval between two consecutive pulses is 1 s At x10-1 tap, the pulses (having gone through decade divider-1) are reduced by a factor 10, and now there are 105 pulses per second Therefore the time interval between them is 10 s Similarly, there are other time intervals at the output of respective taps This time interval between the pulses is the time base and it can be selected by means of the selector switch

Digital Frequency Meter (-contd.)

Circuit for Measurement of Frequency: As shown in fig. (28.35), the +ve pulses from the unknown frequency source (called counted signal) are arriving at input-A of the main gate & the +ve pulses from time base selector switch are arriving at the input-B of the start/stop gate Initially, FF-1 is in its 1 state The resulting voltage from output Y, applied to input-A of the stop gate opens this gate and 0 V from output of FF-1,applied to input-A of start gate closes that gate As the stop gate is opened, the +ve pulses from the time base, can get through to set input S of FF-2 & keep it in state 1 The resulting 0 output voltage from Y is applied to input-B of main gate, and no pulses from the unknown frequency source can pass through the main gate

Digital Frequency Meter (-contd.)

In order to start the operation, a +ve pulse (called read pulse) is applied to reset R of FF-1; which causes FF-1 to reverse its state from 1 to 0 Now, output Y of FF-1 is 0 and output is +ve voltage; as a result, the stop gate is closed & start gate is opened The same pulse is applied to the decades of the counters bringing them to 0 and thus count can start now When the next pulse from the time base arrives, it is able to pass through the start gate to reset R of FF-2 flipping it from state 1 to 0 The resulting +ve voltage from its output (called gating signal) is applied to input-B of main gate, opening that gate Now, the pulses from unknown frequency source are able to pass through and are registered on the counter The same pulse that passes through the start gate is applied to the input S of FF-1 changing it state from 0 to 1

Digital Frequency Meter (-contd.)

This results in closing of start gate & stop gate is opened However, since main gate is still open, pulses from the unknown frequency source continue to get through to the counter The next pulse from the time base selector passes through the stop gate to the input S of FF-2 changing it back to its 1 state Its output from becomes 0 and so the main gate is closed and the counting stops Thus, the counter registers the number of pulses passing through the main gate in the time interval between two successive pulses from the time base selector, e.g., if time base selected is 1 s then the number indicated on the counters will be the frequency of the unknown frequency source in Hz The assembly consisting of the two AND gate & the two FFs is known as Gate Control Flip Flop

Digital Frequency Meter (-contd.)

From Time Base

Digital Frequency Meter (-contd.)

Simplified Composite Circuit of Digital Frequency Meter

As shown in fig. (28.36), the principle of operation is same as that described for Circuit for Measurement of Frequency in the previous section There are two signals to be traced: (i) Input Signal (or counted signal): the frequency of which to be measured (ii) Gating Signal (or counting signal): this determines the length of time during which the counters are allowed to totalize the pulses The input signal is amplified and is applied to a Schmitt trigger where it is converted to train of pulses A selector switch allows the time interval to be selected from 1s to 1s

Simplified Composite Circuit of Digital Frequency Meter (-contd.)

The first output from the time base selector switch passes through the Schmitt trigger to the gate control flip flop The gate control flip flop assumes a state such that an enable signal is applied to the main gate The main gate being an AND gate, the input signal pulses are allowed to enter the DCAs (Decade Counter Assemblies) where they are totalized and displayed This process continues till a second pulse arrives at the control gate FF from DDAs (Decade Divider Assemblies) The control gate reverses its status, which removes the enabling signal from the main gate & no more pulses are allowed to go to counting assemblies since the main gate closes Thus, the number of pulses which have passed during a specific time are counted & displayed on the DCAs

Digital Frequency Meter (-contd.)

Time Period Measurement

Sometimes, it is desirable & necessary to measure the period of an input signal rather than its frequency This is specially true when measuring the low frequencies because low frequency range using frequency mode of operation gives low accuracy To get good accuracy, we should measure the time period (T = 1/f) to know the unknown frequency (f) rather than make direct frequency measurement Thus the period (T) measurement can be done directly by interchanging the two input signals to the main gate The circuit for measurement of frequency in fig. (28.36) can be used for measurement of time period but the counted & the gating signals are interchanged Fig. (28.37) shows the circuit for measurement of time period The gating signal is derived from unknown input signal which now controls the opening and closing of the main gate

Time Period Measurement (-contd.)

In the diagram the time base is set at 10 s The number of pulses which occur during one period of the unknown signal are counted and displayed by the decade counting assemblies The only drawback in using period measurement is that to get accuracy at low frequencies, the operator must take the reciprocal of the answer displayed by the display of the counters if he wants to know the input frequency For example when measuring the period of a 60 Hz frequency, the electronic counter must display 16.667 ms 1 Therefore, f 59.998 Hz

16.667 10-3

The accuracy of the period measurement and hence of frequency can be greatly increased by using the multiple period average mode of operation In this mode, the main gate is held open for more than one period of unknown signal

Time Period Measurement (-contd.)

This is done by passing the unknown signal through one or more decade divider assemblies (DDAs), so that the period is extended by a factor of 10, 100, or more Hence the digital display on the counters will show more digits of information thus increasing the accuracy However, the decimal point location and measurement units are usually changed each time an additional decade divider is added so that the display is always in terms of the period of 1 cycle of the input signal, even though the measurement may have lasted for 10 or 100 or more cycles Fig. (28.37) also shows the multiple period average mode of operation by the dashed portion of the block diagram In this diagram, 5 more DDAs have been added so that the gate now remains open for an interval of 105 times than it did with that only one DDA

Time Period Measurement (-contd.)

Time Interval Measurement

Universal Counter Timer

The measurements of frequency and time use almost identical fundamental building blocks These fundamental blocks may be assembled together to form modern universal counter timer The universal counters use logic gates which are selected and controlled by a single panel switch known as the function switch A simplified block diagram of a universal counter is shown in fig. (28.40) With the function switch in the frequency mode (as shown in fig.28.40), a control voltage is applied to the specified gates of logic control circuitry Thus the input signal is connected to the counted signal channel of the main gate

Universal Counter Timer (-contd.)

The selected output from the time base dividers is simultaneously gated to the control flip flop , which enables or disables the main gate Both control paths are latched internally to allow them to operate only in the proper sequence When function switch is in Period mode, the control voltage is connected to proper gates of logic circuitry ,which connect the time base signal to the counted signal channel of the main gate At the same time the logic circuitry connects the input to the gate control for enabling or disabling the main gate The other function switches (like time interval, ratio, external standard) perform similar functions The exact details of switching and control procedures vary from instrument to instrument

Universal Counter Timer (-contd.)