BASIC ELECTRICAL

ENGINEERING (ESC102)

Measuring Instruments and

Circuit Protection Devices
 Measuring Instruments
High quality analogue instruments designed to measure an extensive range of
electrical and electronic parameters.
Galvanometer is essentially a PMMC instrument designed to be sensitive to
extremely current levels.
• The heart of most analog meters is a device called a galvanometer, denoted by G.
Current flow through a galvanometer, IG, produces a proportional movement, or
deflection, of the needle.
• The simplest galvanometer is a very sensitive instrument with the type of center-
zero scale, therefore the pointer can be deflected to either right or left of the zero
position.
• The two crucial characteristics of any galvanometer are its resistance and its current
sensitivity.
 Measuring Instruments
• A galvanometer can function as a voltmeter when it is connected in series with a large
resistance R. The value of R is determined by the maximum voltage that will be
measured.

• The same galvanometer can also function as an ammeter when it is placed in parallel
with a small resistance R, often called the shunt resistance. Since the shunt resistance
is small, most of the current passes through it, allowing an ammeter to measure
currents much greater than those that would produce a full-scale deflection of the
galvanometer.
 Measuring Instruments
Ammeters and voltmeters
Ammeters and voltmeters are classified together as there is no difference in the
Principle for torque production.
■ A voltmeter carries a current proportional to the voltage which produces operating
torque whereas in case of an ammeter, the torque is produced by the current to be
measured or by a definite fraction of it.
■ An ammeter is used to measure current in a circuit and hence it is to be connected in
series with the circuit. Now if there is certain current in the circuit, the insertion of
ammeter in the circuit should not disturb the current value. This requires that the
ammeter must have low resistance.
■ Similarly, a voltmeter is connected across the voltage to be measured and must,
therefore, have a high resistance so that the current taken by it should be small.
 …. Instruments
■ A low range ammeter i.e. the one which can measure small values of current can be
used as a voltmeter by connecting a high resistance in series with it. Of course, the
current through the converted voltmeter should not exceed it's range when used as an
ammeter.
■ It is to be noted that torque in an a.c. instrument can be produced only when there are
two fluxes displaced in time and space.
■ If an ammeter or a voltmeter whose operating torque is proportional to the current
passing through it, will produce a pulsating torque if used in ac circuits and hence the
inertia of the moving system of the instrument will not be able to respond to the
pulsating torque and hence no deflection would be observed.
■ It is, therefore, essential that while measuring a.c. quantities, the torque should be
proportional to the square of the current passing through the instrument.
 …. Instruments
■ The deflection would then be proportional to the mean value of the square of current
(assuming spring control is used) and the instrument can thus be used for the
measurement of rms values of current or voltage.
■ The following types of ammeters and voltmeters are in common use :
(a) Moving coil
(i) Permanent magnet form
(ii)Dynamometer form
(b)Moving iron
(c) Hot wire
(d)Electrostatic (voltmeters only)
(e) Induction
 …. Instruments

(a) Moving coil (b) Moving iron

(c) Electrostatic
 …. Instruments
■ An ammeter is a device for measuring the electric current through a wire or a
circuit element.
■ The deflecting (moving) force on the coil is proportional to the current flowing
through the coil. This deflecting force tends to cause the coil to rotate against the
restraining force of the hairsprings.
When the deflecting force and the
restraining force are equal, the coil and
the pointer stop moving. As we have just
stated, the deflecting force is
proportional to the current in the coil, the
angle (amount) of rotation is proportional
to the deflecting force; therefore, the
angle of rotation is proportional to the
current through the coil.
 …. Instruments
Wattmeters
■ Wattmeter is an electric instrument which is used to measure the electric power of various
electric circuits. It consists of a current coil and a voltage coil.

Method of Connection in the circuit

• There are two ways in which a wattmeter could
be connected in a circuit as shown in Fig. There
are four terminals in a wattmeter. Across
terminals ML is the current coil and across V1
V2 is the pressure coil. M stands for the mains
(supply) side of the current coil and L stands
for the load side of the
current coil. (a)
 …. Instruments
• In Fig. (a) where the pressure coil is connected on the supply (Main) side of the current
coil, the voltage applied to the pressure coil is higher than that of the load by an amount
equal to the drop in the current coil.
• In the first case, the instrument measures 𝐼2𝑅𝐶, lost in the current coil and in the
second case the watts lost in the pressure coil, as well as the power in the load.
• If the load current is small, the volt drop in the current coil is small and hence
first connection in Fig. (a) is suitable and would introduce small error.
• However, if the load current is large as compared to the current drawn by the pressure
coil, the watts lost in the pressure coil will he small as compared to the watts consumed
by the load and the second method of connection is preferred.
 …. Instruments
■ If connections of any one coil is made opposite to what is shown in Fig.(b),
the meter would give deflection in the opposite direction and hence the
connection of any one of the coils should be reversed to obtain positive
deflection.
■ In Fig. (b) the current in the current coil is greater than that in the load by
an amount equal to the current drawn by the pressure coil.

There are basically three types of

wattmeters:
(a) Dynamometer
(b)Induction
(c) Electrostatic (b)
 …. Instruments
• The instrument whose working depends on the reaction between the magnetic field of
moving and fixed coils is known as the Electro-dynamo-meter Wattmeter. It uses for
measuring the power of both the AC and DC circuits.
The following are the important parts of the Electrodynamometer Wattmeter.
1. Fixed coil – The fixed coil connects in series with the load. It is considered as a
current coil because the load current flows through it. For making the construction
easy the fixed coil divide into two parts. And these two elements are parallel
connected to each other. The fixed coil produces the uniform electric field which is
essentials for the working of the instruments. The current coil of the instruments is
designed to carry the current of approximately 20 amperes for saving the power.
2. Moving Coil – The moving coil consider as the pressure coil of the instruments. It
connects in parallel with the supply voltage. The current flowing through them is
directly proportional to the supply voltage.
 …. Instruments
3. Control – The control system provides the controlling torque to the instruments. The
gravity control and the spring control are the two types of control system. Out of two,
the Electrodynamometer Wattmeter uses spring control system. The spring control
system is used for the movement of the pointer.
 …. Instruments
4. Damping – The damping is the effect which reduces the movement of the pointer. In
this Wattmeter the damping torque produces because of the air friction. The other types
of damping are not used in the system because they destroy the useful magnetic flux.
5. Scales and pointers – The instruments use a linear scale because their moving coil
moves linearly. The apparatus uses the knife edge pointer for removing the parallax
error which causes because of oversights.
• These instruments are made to give very high accuracy and these are used as a
standard for calibration purposes.
• These instruments provide full accuracy on direct current (DC) on the other hand
These instruments cannot provide full accuracy on alternating Current (AC).These
instruments cause errors at low power factor.
 …. Instruments
Working Principle Induction Type Wattmeter
• These instruments are used on both AC and DC supplies. These
wattmeters provide accurate readings only when frequency and supply voltages are
constant.
• These wattmeters consists of two laminated electromagnets and one of them is excited
by the current with exciting winding. This winding is connected in series of the circuit.
• Its exciting coil is connected in parallel with the circuit. The winding of first magnet
carries line current and the other coil carries voltage and is highly inductive. This coil is
connected to the supply and the flux lags 90 degree behind the voltage.
• The torque is produced and is proportional to the power in the load circuit. The torque
acts on the disc and force is produced in the disc. The disc starts moving and the pointer
is attached on it with a spring and it shows reading on its scale.
 …. Instruments
Energy Meter or Watt-Hour Meter is an electrical instrument that measures the
amount of electrical energy used by the consumers.
The basic unit of power is watts and it is measured by using a watt meter. One
thousand watts make one kilowatt. If one uses one kilowatt in one-hour duration,
one unit of energy gets consumed. So energy meter measure the rapid voltage and
currents, calculate their product and give instantaneous power. This power is
integrated over a time interval, which gives the energy utilized over that time
period.
There are basically two types of energy meters:
• Electromechanical Type Induction Meter
• Electronic Energy Meter
 …. Instruments
Single Phase Induction Type Energy Meter
• It is a well-known and most common type of age-old energy meter. It comprises a
rotating aluminum disc placed on a spindle between two electromagnets. The rotation
speed of the disc is proportional to the power, and this power is integrated by the use
of gear trains and counter mechanism. It is made of two silicon steel laminated
electromagnets: shunt and series magnets.
• Series magnet carries a coil which is of a few turns of thickness wire connected in
series with the line; whereas the shunt magnet carries a coil with numerous turns of
thin wire connected across the supply.
• Braking magnet is a kind of permanent magnet that applies the force opposite to the
normal disc rotation to move that disc a balanced position and to stop the disc while
power gets off.
 …. Instruments
• Series magnet produces a flux which is
proportional to the flowing current, and
shunt magnet produces a flux proportional
to the voltage. These two fluxes lag at 90
degrees due to inductive nature.
• The interface of these two fields produces
eddy current in the disk, utilizing a force,
which is proportional to the product of
instantaneous voltage, current and the
phase angle between them.
 …. Instruments
• A braking magnet is placed over one side of the disc, which produces a braking
torque on the disc by a constant field provided by using a permanent magnet.
Whenever the braking and driving torques become equal, the speed of the disc
becomes steady.
• A Shaft or vertical spindle of the aluminum disc is associated with the gear
arrangement that records a number proportional to the revolutions of the disc. This
gear arrangement sets the number in a series of dials and indicates energy
consumed over time.
 …. Instruments
Multimeter
• Multimeters are very useful test instruments. They can measure DC as well as AC.
They are needed in every kind of robotic activity.
• Multimeters can be used as an ammeter, a voltmeter, an ohmmeter; by operating a
multi-position knob on the meter.
• There are also special functions in a multimeter like ‘Detecting a Short Circuit’, testing
transistors and some have additional features for measuring capacitance & frequency.
• They are available in two types:
 Analog Multimeter
 Digital Multimeter
 …. Instruments
• Analogue meters take a little power from the
circuit under test to operate their pointer.
• They must have a high sensitivity of at least
20k /V or they may upset the circuit under test
and give an incorrect reading.

• All digital meters contain a battery to power the

display so they use virtually no power from the
circuit under test.
 …. Instruments
• There DC voltage ranges have a very high resistance (usually called input
impedance) of 1M or more, usually 10 M , and they are very unlikely to affect
the circuit under test.
• In digital multimeter, there are three sockets of wire, the black lead is always
connected into the socket marked COM, short form for COMMON. The red lead
is connected into the socket labeled V mA. The 10A socket is very rarely used.
Measuring resistance with a multimeter:
• To measure the resistance of a component it must not be connected in a circuit.
If you try to measure resistance of components in a circuit you will obtain false
readings (even if the supply is disconnected) and you may damage the
multimeter. The techniques used for each type of meter are very different so they
are treated separately:
 …. Instruments
Measuring resistance with a DIGITAL multimeter:
 Set the meter to a resistance range greater than you expect the resistance to be.
Notice that the meter display shows "off the scale" (usually blank except for a 1
on the left).
 Touch the meter probes together and check that the meter reads zero. If it
doesn't read zero, turn the switch to 'Set Zero' if your meter has this and try
again.
 Put the probes across the component.
If the meter reads 1, this means that the resistance is more than the maximum which
can be measured on this range and you may need to switch to a new position, 2000 k
or so, to take a reading.
 …. Instruments
Testing a Transistor with a Multimeter
• Set a digital multimeter to diode test and an
analogue multimeter to a low resistance range
such as × 10 ohm as described above for testing a
diode.
• Test each pair of leads both ways (six tests in
total):
 The base-emitter (BE) junction should behave
like a diode and conduct one way only.
 The base-collector (BC) junction should behave
like a diode and conduct one way only.
 The collector-emitter (CE) should not conduct
either way.
 …. Instruments
Fuses
• A fuse is probably the simplest electrical device, but its function is critical in
protecting electrical circuits from damage.
• The primary job of a fuse is to break the circuit if a current higher than desired is
drawn by the circuit, thus preventing damage due to short circuits.
• Fuses are found in every circuit in one form or another in various shapes, sizes,
and ratings.
• Fuse elements are made of zinc, copper, silver, aluminium or other alloys to
provide predictable trip currents.
• The simplest kind of fuse consists of a resistive element, selected carefully for its
melting point. When a current passes through this element, a small voltage drop is
created across the element, and some power is dissipated as heat.
 …. Instruments
Fuses can be divided into two major categories, AC fuses, and DC fuses. The block
diagram illustrates the different types of the fuse under each category.
• However, if the current
draw exceeds the rated
current of the fuse, the
melting point is
quickly reached. The
thickness and length of
the resistive element
determine the rated
current.
 …. Instruments
• Cartridge Fuse: The fuse element is encased in a glass envelope that is terminated by metal
caps. The fuse is placed in an appropriate holder. Since the glass envelope is clear, it is easy
to visually determine if the fuse is blown. There are many variants of this design, including
slow blow fuse and fast blow fuse. Some variants of this fuse are encased in ceramic to
withstand high temperatures. Fuses for high voltage applications are filled with sand or oil.
• Automotive Fuse: These fuses are specifically designed
for automotive systems that run up to 32V and occasionally 42V.
They come in ‘blade’ form (a transparent plastic envelope with
flat contacts) and are colour coded according to rated current.
Some of these types are also used in other high-power circuits.

• Resettable /Polyphase Fuse: These fuses are self-resetting. They contain

carbon black particles embedded in organic polymers. When a large current
flows, heat is generated which expands the organic polymer. Conductivity is
restored as temperature decreases. Thus, the fuse does not have to be physically
replaced. This kind of fuse is also called a PTC, meaning positive temperature
coefficient, since resistance increases with temperature.
 …. Instruments
• MOV Fuse: Mov is simply a variable resistor, but unlike Potentiometers, MOVs can
change its resistance based on the applied voltage. If the voltage across it increases the
resistance decreases and vice versa. This property is useful in protecting the circuits from high
voltage spikes; hence they are mostly used as surge protectors in an electronic network.
• Rewireable fuses: They are a simple reusable fuse used in homes and
offices. They consist of a carrier and a socket. When the fuse is blown, the
carrier is taken out, rewired and put back in the socket to resume normal
operation. They are somewhat less reliable than HRC fuses.

• Expulsion Fuses: These fuses are filled with chemicals like boric acid that produce gases
on heating. These gases extinguish the arc and are expelled from the ends of the fuse. The
fuse element is made of copper, tin or silver.

HRC fuses: are cartridge type fuses consisting of a transparent envelope made of
steatite (magnesium silicate). The fuse is filled with quartz powder (and in the
case of a liquid-filled HRC fuses, a non-conducting liquid like mineral oil) that
acts as an arc extinguishing agent. These fuses are used for very high fault
currents.
 …. Instruments
Miniature Circuit Breakers (MCBs)
• Miniature circuit breakers are intended to prevent damage to an electrical
circuit as a result of excess current. They are designed to trip during an
overload or short circuit to protect against electrical faults and equipment
failure.
• Mini circuit breakers are triggered by overcurrent - electrical current that
exceeds a designated safe current and makes use of a relatively robust
mechanical mechanism designed to minimise failures and false alarms.
• An MCB is designed to protect against both overloading and short- circuiting.
 …. Instruments
Types of MCBs
• MCBs (Miniature Circuit Breaker) are all sub-100-amp devices and are
designed for low voltage circuits, so their trip curves cannot be adjusted.
• MCCBs (Moulded Case Circuit Breaker) have a very similar function to MCBs
but they also have a higher capacity. MCCBs feature adjustable trip
characteristics, which means that they can be used with higher voltages – as
much as 2,500 in some instances.
• ELCBs (earth-leaking circuit breakers) use earthing as their primary method of
controlling electrical current and preventing electrocution. They work by
detecting any stray voltage on the enclosure of a device and then breaking the
circuit if it exceeds a designated level.
 …. Instruments
• RCDs (Residual Current Device / RCCB(Residual Current Circuit Breaker) are
specifically built to protect against the frequently fatal risk of electrocution
from touching exposed wires or incorrectly earthed cables. They operate
directly within electrical circuits to detect faults and cut off potentially
hazardous currents.
• Several different MCB types are available – types A, B, C, D, K, and Z. Each
is designed to be responsive to the likely strength of electrical surges in
different settings. These variations are typically known as their ‘trip curve’ but
can also be known as their tripping characteristics or overcurrent
characteristics.
 …. Instruments
• Type A trips off the circuit when the current exceeds 2-3 times the actual
current rating. Since this type is highly sensitive to short circuit, it is better
suited for semiconductor devices.
• Type B circuit breakers are designed to trip if the current flowing through hits
between 3-5 times the recommended maximum or ‘rated load’. This is the most
sensitive type of MCB, designed for domestic and low voltage commercial
settings where any current surges are likely to be small.
• Type C circuit breakers are used for more powerful electrical devices where any
surges are likely to be higher – typically commercial and industrial; They are
designed to trip at currents between 5-10 times their rated load. Examples
include smaller electric motors and fluorescent lighting.
 …. Instruments
• D-type MCBs are the least sensitive type, only activating when current surges to
between ten and twenty times the recommended maximum. D-rated MCBs are
built for heavy-duty commercial and industrial devices where very strong current
surges occasionally occur. Examples include welding machines, X-ray machines,
large motors, and UPS.
• K-Type MCBs – these will trip when current reaches eight to twelve times the
recommended maximum. They are a good choice for motors.
• Z-type MCBs – these are highly sensitive MCBs, tripping when current exceeds
the rated load by only two to three times. They are used with more delicate
devices prone to short circuits, such as semiconductors.
 …. Instruments
• The main function of an MCB is to switch the circuit, i.e., to
open the circuit (which has been connected to it)
automatically when the current passing through it (MCB)
exceeds the value for which it is set.
• It can be manually switched ON and OFF as similar to
normal switch if necessary.
• MCBs are of time delay tripping devices, to which the
magnitude of overcurrent controls the operating time.
• This means, these get operated whenever overload exist long
enough to create a danger to the circuit being protected.
• Therefore, MCBs doesn’t respond to transient loads such as
switches surges and motor starting currents.
Uses of MCB
• MCB is vital for the efficient functioning and maintaining the safety of the electric
machines.
• Thus MCB finds use in most of the electrical appliances, be it for domestic usage or
industrial purposes.
 …. Instruments
Electronic Fan Regulator
• Fan Regulator Circuit, which can be used to regulate the speed of a fan.
• A conventional fan voltage regulator to control the speed, Such type of regulator is
called as Resistance Regulator, which works on the principle of a rheostat or a
resistance potential divider arrangement.
• As the steps (of the knob on a regulator box) are decreasing, this means that you are
actually increasing the resistance of the circuit and hence the lower power is applied
to the fan so that it becomes slower.
Obviously the power consumption by the fan will be less at lower speeds by this
arrangement, but this is not an energy saving method. The voltage drop across the
resistance is converted into heat losses (𝐼2R), so the energy is dissipated in the form of
heat.
 …. Instruments
Electronic Fan Regulator
• Due to the advancement in power electronic technology, the alternative design of fan
regulator can be easily implemented to reduce the energy losses that are caused by
conventional fan regulators.
• This type of voltage regulator
is an energy saving device
which uses TRIAC, DIAC and
potentiometric resistance. This
method provides the step less
control of the fan speed by
deriving the required amount
of power from the main
supply at a given instant.