What are electrical measuring instruments?
As per the requirement, electrical energy is being used at various stages. In order to ensure
quality and efficiency, it is important to measure accurately the electrical quantities involved.
• The instruments used to measure electrical quantities (e.g. current, voltage, power,
energy etc.) are called electrical measuring instruments.
The instruments which measure current, voltage, power and energy are called ammeter,
voltmeter, wattmeter and energy meter respectively.
The accuracy, convenience and reliability of electrical instruments are mainly responsible for
the widespread use of electrical methods of measurements.
Classification of Electrical Measuring Instruments
The various electrical measuring instruments can be broadly divided into two classes.
▪ Absolute instruments
▪ Secondary instruments
➢ Absolute instruments
The instruments which give the value of the quantity to be measured in terms of the constants
of the instrument and its deflection are called absolute instruments.
Example: tangent galvanometer
• A tangent galvanometer gives the value of current being measured in terms of the
tangent of the angle of deflection, the radius and number of turns of the coil and the
horizontal component of earth’s magnetic field.
No previous calibration or comparison is necessary in case of absolute instruments.
They are used only in standard laboratories as standardising instruments.
➢ Secondary instruments
The instruments in which the electrical quantity being measured is given directly by the
deflection of the instrument are called secondary instruments.
These instruments are provided with a calibrated scale. The calibration is done with the help
of an absolute instrument or another calibrated instrument.
The secondary instruments are generally used in everyday work (Example: laboratories, power
stations, substations, industries etc.).
Types of Secondary Instruments
Secondary instruments may be classified according to their functions as follows.
➢ Indicating instruments
➢ Integrating instruments
➢ Recording instruments
➢ Indicating instruments
The instruments which directly indicate the value of the electrical quantity at the time when it
is being measured are called indicating instruments.
Example: Ammeters, voltmeters and wattmeters
In these instruments, a pointer moving over a graduated scale directly gives the value of the
electrical quantity being measured.
➢ Integrating instruments
The instruments which measure the total quantity of electricity (in ampere-hours) or electrical
energy (in watt-hours) in a given time are called integrating instruments.
Example: Ampere-hour meter and watt-hour meter.
In these instruments, there are sets of dials and pointers which register the total quantity of
electricity or electrical energy supplied to the load.
➢ Recording instruments
The instruments which give a continuous record of the variations of the electrical quantity to
be measured are called recording instruments.
➢ A recording instrument is merely an indicating instrument with a pen attached to its
pointer. The pen rests lightly on a chart wrapped over a drum moving with a slow
uniform speed. The motion of the drum is in a direction perpendicular to the direction
of the pointer. The path traced out by the pen indicates the manner in which the quantity,
being measured, has varied during the time of the record.
Example:
➢ Recording voltmeters are used in supply stations to record the voltage of the supply
mains during the day.
➢ Recording ammeters are employed in supply stations for registering the current taken
from the batteries.
Principles of operation of electrical instruments
An electrical instrument essentially consists of a movable element and a scale to indicate or
register the electrical quantity being measured. The movable element is supported on jewelled
bearings and carries a pointer or set of dials.
The movement of the movable element is caused by utilising one or more of the following
effects of current or voltage.
Effect Type
Magnetic effect Moving-iron instruments
Electrodynamic effect (i) Permanent-magnet moving coil
(ii) Dynamometer type
Electromagnetic-induction effect Induction type instruments
Thermal effect Hot-wire instruments
Chemical effect Electrolytic instruments
Electrostatic effect Electrostatic instruments
Type Effect Suitable for Instrument
Moving-iron Magnetic effect DC and AC Ammeter, Voltmeter
Permanent-magnet Electrodynamic effect DC only Ammeter, Voltmeter
moving coil
Dynamometer type Electrodynamic effect DC and AC Ammeter, Voltmeter,
Wattmeter
Induction type Electro-magnetic AC only Ammeter, Voltmeter,
induction effect Wattmeter, Energy meter
Hot-wire Thermal effect DC and AC Ammeter, Voltmeter
Electrolytic meter Chemical effect DC only Ampere-hour meter
Electrostatic type Electrostatic effect DC and AC Voltmeter only
Essentials of Indicating Instruments for proper operation
An indicating instrument essentially consists of moving system pivoted in jewel bearings. A
pointer is attached to the moving system which indicates the value of the electrical quantity
being measured on a graduated scale.
In order to ensure proper operation of indicating instruments, the following three torques are
required.
➢ Deflecting (or operating) torque
➢ Controlling (or restoring) torque
➢ Damping torque
Deflecting (or operating) torque
The deflecting torque or operating torque (𝑇𝑑 ), causes the moving system (and hence the
pointer) to move from zero position to indicate the value of electrical quantity being measured
on a graduated scale.
How to produce the deflecting torque?
It is produced by utilising the various effects of electric current or voltage. The actual method
of producing the deflecting torque depends upon the type of instrument.
Controlling (or restoring) torque
Why do we need the controlling torque?
• If deflecting torque was acting alone, the pointer would continue to move indefinitely
and would swing over to the maximum deflected position irrespective of the magnitude
of current (or voltage or power) to be measured. Hence, this necessitates to provide
controlling or restoring torque (𝑇𝐶 ).
The controlling or restoring torque (𝑇𝐶 ) should oppose the deflecting torque and should
increase with the deflection of the moving system (i.e., linearly proportional to the angular
deflection of the pointer).
The pointer will be brought to rest at a position where the two opposing torques are equal i.e.
𝑇𝑑 = 𝑇𝐶 .
The controlling torque performs two functions.
➢ It increases with the deflection of the moving system so that the final position of the
pointer on the scale will be according to the magnitude of current (or voltage or power)
to be measured.
➢ It brings the pointer back to zero position when the deflecting torque is removed.
• If the controlling torque was not provided, the pointer once deflected would not
return to zero position when the deflecting torque is removed.
How to produce the controlling torque?
The controlling torque in indicating instruments may be provided by one of the following two
methods:
➢ By one or more springs ... Spring control
➢ By weight of moving parts ... Gravity control
➢ Spring control
This is the most common method of providing controlling torque in electrical instruments.
Fig. 1
In this method, generally two spiral springs (or hair springs) P and Q of phosphor bronze are
attached to the moving system, as shown in Fig. 1.
➢ The springs are wound in the opposite direction of each other to compensate for changes
in temperature. One end of each spring is attached to the spindle, while the other end is
attached to a fixed point in the instrument (not shown in the diagram).
➢ The two springs provide the necessary controlling torque as well as they provide
electrical connection to the operating coil.
The moving system is statically balanced in all positions by balance weights and an
arrangement, called zero adjuster, is provided on the pointer to adjust the zero of the pointer.
▪ When the instrument is not in use, the two springs are in their natural position without
any tension or compression and the controlling torque is zero.
▪ When the instrument is in the process of measuring of an electrical quantity with
production of the deflection torque, the pointer moves and one of the springs is
unwound while the other gets twisted. The resultant twist in the springs provides the
controlling torque.
• More the deflection, more is the twist and hence greater will be the controlling
torque.
Hence, the controlling torque becomes directly proportional to the deflection 𝜃 of the moving
system, i.e.
𝑇𝑐 ∝ θ
The pointer comes to rest at a position when the controlling torque is equal to deflecting torque
(i.e. 𝑇𝑐 = 𝑇𝑑 ).
Example
In a permanent-magnet moving coil instrument, the deflecting torque is directly proportional
to the current flowing through the operating coil i.e., 𝑇𝑑 ∝ 𝐼
With spring control, 𝑇𝐶 ∝ θ
At the final deflected position, 𝑇𝑑 = 𝑇𝐶
∴θ∝𝐼
Since the deflection is directly proportional to I, scale of such an instrument will be linear
(uniform) as shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 2
Advantages
➢ The levelling of the instrument is not required if the moving parts are balanced.
➢ In some instruments (e.g. permanent-magnet moving coil and dynamometer type),
springs also serve as the current leads to the moving coil.
➢ There is practically no increase in the weight of the moving system.
➢ In instruments where deflecting torque is uniform, spring control provides uniform
scale.
Disadvantages
➢ Change of temperature affects the spring length and hence the controlling torque.
➢ Controlling torque cannot be adjusted easily.
➢ Accidental stresses in the springs may damage them
Damping torque
Why do we need the damping torque?
• If the moving system is acted upon by deflecting and controlling torques alone, then
pointer, due to inertia, will oscillate about its final deflected position for quite some time
before coming to steady point. This is often undesirable because it makes difficult to
obtain quick and accurate readings.
In order to avoid these oscillations of the pointer and to bring it quickly to its final deflected
position, a damping torque is provided in the indicating instruments.
Function of damping torque:
The damping torque acts only when the pointer is in motion and always opposes the motion.
• When the pointer is at steady point (i.e., reaches a particular deflected position as per the
measured quantity), the damping torque is zero although deflecting and controlling
torques are acting on the moving system.
The degree of damping decides the behaviour of the moving system.
➢ If the instrument is under-damped, the pointer will oscillate about the final position for
some time before coming to rest.
➢ If the instrument is over-damped, the pointer will become slow and lethargic.
➢ If the degree of damping is adjusted to such a value that the pointer comes up to the
correct reading quickly without passing beyond it or oscillating about it, the instrument
is said to be dead-beat or critically damped.
Fig. 3 shows graph for under-damping, over damping and critical damping (dead-beat)
behaviour.
Fig. 3
How to produce the damping torque?
The damping torque in indicating instruments can be provided by the following ways.
➢ Air-friction
➢ Fluid friction
➢ Eddy currents
Eddy current damping
➢ We know that when a conducting (but non-magnetic material such as aluminium or
copper) disc is moved perpendicular to a magnetic field, eddy currents are induced in
the disc according to Faraday’s laws of electromagnetic induction.
These eddy currents counteract with the magnetic field to produce a force which opposes the
motion (Lenz’s Law).
• The eddy currents and hence the damping torque exists as long as the moving system
is in motion.
Fig. 4 Fig. 5
Fig. 4 shows a form of eddy current damping. A thin aluminium disc is attached to the spindle
and is allowed to rotate horizontally (i.e., perpendicular to magnetic field) in the air gap of a
permanent magnet.
When the pointer (or the spindle) moves, the aluminium disc also moves and cuts the magnetic
lines of force (produced by the permanent magnet) which induces eddy currents that produces
a force opposing the motion of the disc (Lenz’s Law).
In this way, eddy currents provide the damping torque to reduce the oscillations of the pointer.
In Fig. 5, the operating coil (coil which produces deflecting torque) is wound on an aluminium
former. When the coil moves in the field of the permanent magnet, eddy currents are induced
in the aluminium former, providing the necessary damping torque
Summary on the Essentials of the indicating instruments
➢ During motion, the deflecting torque due to the quantity being measured is opposed by
controlling torque and damping torque. Hence, the moving system of an indicating
instrument experiences all the three torques.
➢ When the pointer comes to rest at the final deflected position, damping torque is zero
and the controlling torque is equal to the deflecting torque. Hence, the moving system
of an indicating instrument experiences two torques only.
Discussion on Ammeters and Voltmeters
An ammeter is used to measure the flow of current in a circuit. It is thus connected in series
with the circuit under test so that current to be measured or a fraction of it passes through the
instrument itself.
• If the circuit current is large, a low resistance shunt is used to divert a major portion of
current so that only a small current flow through the instrument (It is called as Extension
of ammeter range)
The ammeter must be capable of carrying this current without injury to itself and without
abnormally increasing the resistance of the circuit into which it is inserted. For this reason, an
ammeter is designed to have low resistance.
A voltmeter is used to measure the potential difference between two points of a circuit. Thus,
it is connected in parallel with the circuit.
• The voltmeter must have enough resistance so that it will not be injured by the current
that flows through it, and so that it will not materially affect the current in the circuit to
which it is connected. For this reason, a voltmeter is designed to have high resistance.
The basic principle of the ammeter and of the voltmeter is the same. Both are current operated
devices i.e. deflecting torque is produced when current flows through their operating coils.
➢ In the ammeter, the deflecting torque is produced by the current we wish to measure,
or a certain fraction of that current.
➢ In the voltmeter, the deflecting torque is produced by a current which is proportional to
the potential difference we wish to measure.
Thus, the same instrument can be used as an ammeter or voltmeter with proper design.
Electrical analog indicating type measuring instruments
Common indicating type analog Electrical measuring instruments used in the laboratory are
electromagnetic type.
Electromagnetic type instruments are of various types and the important members of this group
are
➢ PMMC instruments (Permanent Magnet Moving Coil Type)
➢ MI instruments (Moving iron type) {Movement of soft iron piece/pieces}
➢ Dynamometer type (No permanent magnet, no soft iron pieces)
Permanent-Magnet Moving Coil (PMMC) Instruments
These instruments are used either as ammeters or voltmeters and are suitable for d.c. work only.
Working principle
When the instrument is connected in the circuit to measure current or voltage, the operating
current flows through the coil.
➢ Since the coil is carrying current and is placed in the magnetic field of the permanent
magnet, a force act on it. As a result, the pointer attached to the moving system moves
in a clockwise direction over the graduated scale to indicate the value of current or
voltage being measured. This type of movement is known as D’Arsonval movement.
Construction
Fig. 1 shows the various parts of a permanent-magnet moving coil instrument. It consists of a
light rectangular coil of many turns of fine wire wound on an aluminium former inside which
is an iron core as shown in Fig. 6.
Fig. 6 Fig. 7
The coil is delicately pivoted upon jewel bearings and is places between the poles of a
permanent horse-shoe magnet.
Two soft-iron pole pieces are attached to the ends of the permeant magnet, which are used to
concentrate the magnetic field.
Why the soft iron core is used?
▪ Due to the presence of soft-iron core, the magnetic field in the air gap will be radial
distribution. This means that coil will always move at right angles to the field.
▪ The soft-iron results in the decreased reluctance of the magnetic circuit and in a
uniform, radial flux in the air gap.
The current is led into and out of the coil by means of two control hair-springs, one above and
the other below the coil, as shown in Fig. 7.
➢ Moreover, the two springs provide the necessary controlling torque.
Mathematical relations:
If a current of 𝐼 amperes flows in the coil, then force acting on each coil side is given by
Force on each coil side, 𝐹 = 𝐵 𝐼 𝑙 𝑁 newtons
𝐵 = 𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑥 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑊𝑏/𝑚2
𝑙 = 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑟 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑚
𝑏 = 𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑡ℎ 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙 𝑖𝑛 𝑚
𝑁 = 𝑁𝑜. 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑛𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑖𝑙
Deflecting torque, 𝑇𝑑 = 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 × 𝑝𝑒𝑟𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑐𝑢𝑙𝑎𝑟 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
= (𝐵 𝐼 𝑙 𝑁) × 𝑏
∴ 𝑇𝑑 = 𝐵 𝐼 𝑁 𝐴 in Nm
where 𝐴 (= 𝑏 × 𝑙) is the area of the coil in m2.
Deflecting torque, 𝑇𝑑 = 𝐺𝐼
where 𝐺 is the Galvanometer constant and it is expressed as follows.
𝐺 = 𝑁𝐵𝐴 in Nm/ampere
For spiral springs, the controlling torque is directly proportional to the angle of deflection of
the coil
Control torque = 𝐶𝜃
where 𝜃 = deflection angle in radians and 𝐶 = spring constant in Nm/radian
The damping torque is provided by eddy currents induced in the aluminium former as the coil
moves from one position to another
➢ The magnetic field produced by the eddy currents (i.e., magnetically induced currents) opposes
the motion of the coil and is proportional to the angular speed of the coil. The angular speed of
pointer will therefore be opposed and the pointer will settle to its equilibrium position quickly
with very small oscillation and overshoots.
𝑑𝜃
Damping torque = 𝐷 𝑑𝑡
Equation of motion,
𝑑2 𝜃 𝑑𝜃
𝐽 𝑑𝑡 2 = 𝐺𝐼 − 𝐶𝜃 − 𝐷 𝑑𝑡
𝐽 = is the moment of inertia of the moving part.
Why PMMC is not suitable for AC measurements?
If the current in the coil is reversed, the deflecting torque will also be reversed since the
direction of the field of the permanent magnet is the same. Consequently, the pointer will try
to deflect below zero. But Deflection in this direction (i.e. reverse direction) is prevented by a
spring “stop”.
Alternatively, we can say in the following.
The direction of the deflecting torque will alternate with the frequency of the AC current
(50Hz). The mechanical inertia will not allow for the mass to alternate at this frequency. Hence,
there will be no deflection for AC measurements.
Advantages
1. Uniform scale i.e., evenly divided scale.
2. Very effective eddy current damping because the aluminium former moves in an
intense magnetic field of the permanent magnet.
3. High efficiency as it requires very little power for its operation.
4. No hysteresis loss as the magnetic flux is practically constant.
5. External stray fields have little effect on the readings as the operating magnetic field is
very strong.
6. Very accurate and reliable.
Disadvantages
1. Such instruments cannot be used for a.c. measurements.
2. About 50% more expensive than moving-iron instruments because of their accurate
design.
3. Some errors are caused due to variations (with time or temperature) either in the
strength of permanent magnet or in the control springs.
Extension of PMCC
➢ For PMCC ammeter, a low value of shunt resistance is used.
When PMMC instrument is used as an ammeter, its range can be extended with the help of a
low resistance shunt as shown in the following figure.
➢ This shunt provides a path for extra current because it is connected across (i.e. in
parallel with) the instrument.
These shunted instruments can be made to record currents many times greater than their normal
full-scale deflection currents. The ratio of maximum current (with shunt) to the full-scale
deflection current (without shunt) is known as the ‘multiplying power’ or ‘multiplying factor’
of the shunt.
➢ For PMCC voltmeter, a high value of series resistance is used.
Similarly, the range of PMCC when used as a voltmeter can be increased by using a resistance.
But, a high value of series resistance is used for extension of voltage measurement.