BKE 2263/BTE 2063
Digital Instruments
Digital Instruments
Advantages:
Greater speed
Increased accuracy and resolution
Reduction in user errors
Digital Instruments vs Digital
Readout Instruments
Digital instrument:
One in which the circuitry required to obtain a
measurement is of digital design
Digital readout instrument:
One in which the measuring circuitry is of analog
design while only the indicating device is of digital
design
No more accurate than the same analog instrument
with analog readout
Digital Instruments vs Digital
Readout Instruments
Comparison of Digital and
Analog Meters
Readability
Digital readout is more comfortable than analog readout
Accuracy
Low-cost digital multimeters are more accurate than
comparably priced analog meters by a factor of 10
Resolution
Digital instrument provide better resolution
Comparison of Digital and
Analog Meters
Sample speed
Depends on the response time of the analog input circuitry
and the sampling rate of the digital circuitry
Digits displayed and overranging
Overrange greatly extends the usefulness of digital
multimeters by maintaining resolution up to, and beyond, full
scale
Analog to Digital Conversion
Three conversion techniques normally used:
Single-slope converter
Dual-slope converter
Voltage-to-frequency conversion
Single-slope Converter
Used in low-cost instrument
Concept: to make a linear conversion of unknown
voltage to time
Single-slope Converter
Single-slope Converter
Single-slope Converter
Single-slope Converter
Unknown voltage, VX places a positive voltage on the
noninverting input of the op-amp in the comparator circuit
Main gate control generates a positive pulse opens switch
S AND gate top input be high
Integrator circuit capacitor, C charges linearly in positive
direction increasing output is applied to the inverting input
of the comparator
Comparator output is positive due to VX applied to its
noninverting input middle input of the AND gate to be high
Clock pulses are applied to the third input of AND gate. Since
the other two inputs are high, the output is the clock pulses to
the counter
Single-slope Converter
When capacitor C charges to a voltage level slightly higher
than VX, comparator output switches to zero AND gate
stops passing clock to the counter
Count stored is directly proportional to VX and is indicated on
the digital readout as the value of the VX
After a short time interval, the output of the main gate goes
low switch S closes capacitor C discharges disable
the gate until the start of the next cycle
Single-slope Converter
Limitations:
Measure voltages of only one polarity
Require additional circuitry for overrange conditions
Susceptible to oscillator frequency drift
Susceptible to drift in the constant-current source
Accuracy depends on the stability of the capacitor
Accuracy depends on the stability of the different voltage that
trips the comparator
Very susceptible to noise on the analog voltage
Dual-slope Converter
Overcome most limitations in single-slope
converters
Improved long term accuracy
Not only charges the capacitor, but also discharges
it during measurement cycle
Dual-slope Converter
Dual-slope Converter
When S1 at position A capacitor C charges output of the
integrator is
1
VA
RC Vi dt
When VA rises, voltage comparator A2 will be high AND gate
passes clock pulses to the counter circuit
When the counter overflows, control logic section sets switch S1 to
position B
Vref is connected to the input of the integrator capacitor C
discharges output of the integrator is
1
VA
RC Vref dt
Dual-slope Converter
Dual-slope Converter
If the capacitor charges linearly,
VA Vi (T / RC ) Vi (t 2 t1 ) /( RC )
If the capacitor discharges linearly,
VA Vref (T / RC ) Vref (t3 t 2 ) /( RC )
Since both equations are equal to VA,
Vi (t 2 t1 ) /( RC ) Vref (t3 t 2 ) /( RC )
Hence,
Vi t3 t 2
Vref t 2 t1
Voltage-to-frequency
Converter
Converts an input voltage to a periodic waveform
whose frequency is directly proportional to the input
voltage
Very linear, wide range, voltage-controlled-
oscillators (VCO)
Voltage-to-frequency
Converter
Voltage-to-frequency
Converter
Output signal from VCO is applied to one input of a two-input
AND gate
Second input of AND gate is gating pulse
During the time that both signals are present, the output of the
AND gate is identical to the VCO output
Output of the AND gate can be applied to a digital counter to
provide an indication of the VCO input voltage
Voltage-to-frequency
Converter
Advantages:
Good noise rejection
Easily adapted to a digital counter
Does not require overranging circuit
Limitations:
Accuracy is limited by
Stability of the integrating time constant
Stability and accuracy of the comparator switching point
Stability and accuracy of the reference voltage source
Electronic Counters
a) Totalizing mode
Input pulses are totalized by decade counters as long as
switch S1 is closed
If overflow happens, the counter starts counting again from
zero
Electronic Counters
b) Frequency mode
Electronic Counters
b) Frequency mode (cont.)
Accurate control of time interval is achieved by applying a
rectangular pulse of known duration to the AND gate
The frequency of the input signal is computed as:
f=N/t where f = freq of the input signal
N = pulses counted
t = duration of gate pulse
Electronic Counters
c) Period mode
Using the input signal as gating pulse and count the clock pulse
The period is computed as:
T = N/f where T = period of the input signal
N = pulses counted
f = freq of the clock
Electronic Counters
d) Ratio mode
Displays the numerical value of the ratio of the frequency of
two signals
Lower frequency signal is used in place of the clock
Electronic Counters
e) Time-interval mode
Measurement of the elapsed time between two events
During time interval between START signal and STOP signal,
clock pulses accumulate in the register
Digital Multimeter
Digital Multimeter
Current-to-voltage converter:
IR is equal to Ii
IR causes a voltage drop across one of the resistors
proportional to the current read by ADC