CHAPTER 4

ELECTROMECHANICAL
INDICATING INSTRUMENTS

Dr. Wael Salah

 Classification of Instruments
1. Indicating Instruments
• indicate measured value at an instant of time
• by a pointer and a scale or digital (numerical) display
• instrument e.g.: ammeter, voltmeter, thermometer
• quantity e.g.: current (A), voltage (V), temperature (K)
2. Recording Instruments
• record measured value over a period of time
• instrument e.g.: chart recorders, X-Y recorder, plotters
• recording e.g.: I vs t, V vs t, T vs t, I vs V
3. Integrating instruments
• integrate measured value over a period of time
• instrument e.g.: Watt-hour meter, ampere-hour meter
• quantity e.g.: energy (W-h), charge (A-h) 2

Dr. Wael Salah

 Essentials of indicating instruments
All deflection instruments consist of a pointer
attached to a moving system that moves the
pointer over a calibrated scale.

The moving system is subjected by 3 torques:

• A deflecting torque F
• A controlling torque
• A damping torque

r
Torque = force × distance from center
T = F × r (N-m) 3

Dr. Wael Salah

Deflecting / Operating torque (Td)
Td is produced using one of the below effects:
• electromagnetic
• electrodynamic
• inductive
• thermal
• electrostatic

1. All these effects can be related to electric current.

2. Td causes the moving system to move from its zero
position.
3. Some deflection instruments are totally not electrically
related 4

e.g.: Bourdon tube pressure meter. Dr. Wael Salah

 GALVANOMETER – ELECTRIC CURRENT DETECTOR

Dr. Wael Salah PMMC

 PMMC: PERMENANT MAGNET MOVING COIL
(D’ARSONVAL MOVEMENT)

 The equation for the developed

torque derived from the basic
law for electromagnetic torque:

T  B  A I  N
 T= Torque (N.m)
 B= Air-gap Flux density

 A= Effective coil area

 I= Current in the moving coil

 N= turns on the coil

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Dr. Wael Salah

Deflection Instrument Fundamentals

7
Deflection Instrument Fundamentals

8
Suspension

9
Permanent Magnet Moving Coil
Instrument

10
Construction of Permanent Magnet Moving
Coil Instrument

11
Torque Equation & Scale

12
 Damping Torque
- acts on the moving system only when it is
moving and always opposes its movement
- Efficient damping: quickly reach final position
without overshooting.
UD
CD/OD
UD
UD
CD

OD 13

Dr. Wael Salah

Over Damping:
The coil returns slowly to its rest position
without overshoot or oscillation.

Under Damping:
The coil movement is subjected to sinusoidal
oscillation.

Critical Damping:
The coil returns immediately to its steady-state
position without oscillation. 14
Method of Damping
1- Mechanical
• Air friction (used if eddy current is not suitable)
• fluid friction (not often used)

Air friction damping: Air-chamber and Vanes

15

Dr. Wael Salah

Method of Damping

2- Electromagnetic
Eddy current (very efficient)

3- Electrical
CDRE: Critical Damping Resistance External
The CDRE connected in parallel with the coil.

16

Dr. Wael Salah

Controlling / restoring / balancing torque (TC)
TC opposes Td
TC increases with deflection angle ()
When TC = Td , the moving system will be at rest.
When Td is removed, the moving system will be
returned (restored) back its zero position by TC.
If TC is not introduced to the moving system, the
moving system will move continuously over its
maximum deflection position, as long as Td > 0.
Two methods for TC:
• A spring - spring control
• A weight - gravity control 17

Dr. Wael Salah

Methods for Controlling Torque ( TC ) ……………
1) Spring control
A spirally wound hair-spring is used.
When the spring is twisted from it equilibrium
position, a restoring torque (TC) is produced.

Example:
Permanent-magnet moving
coil (PMMC) instruments:
Td  I
However, TC  
At TC = Td ,   I 18
or I   (the scale is linear)
Dr. Wael Salah
Methods for TC ……………
Spiral spring characteristics:
The number of turns is fairly large so that no
deformation on the spring occurs. Then
TC = K for 0    max
K = spring constant (N-m/degree)
 = deflection angle from TC = 0 position.

Materials to make the spring must be:

• non-magnetic
• not subject to much deterioration with time
• low temperature coefficient of spring constant
Hence, phosphor-bronze material is used. 19

Dr. Wael Salah

Methods for TC ……………

2) Gravity control (seldom used nowadays)

Based on adding some weights to control the

movement of the indicator.

20

Dr. Wael Salah

Temperature Compensation

• Magnetic Field strength decrease with temp

• Spring Tension decrease with temp
• Coil Resistance increase with temp.

These factors causes the pointer to read low for a

given current with respect to magnetic field
strength.

The temperature may be compensated by

appropriate use of series and shunt resistors 21

with the moving coil.

Dr. Wael Salah
Temperature Compensation ……………….
Temperature Compensation …………
INDICATING INSTRUMENTS
FOR
CURRENT AND VOLTAGE
MEASUREMENTS

First Exam on
24

30/03/2015
Dr. Wael Salah
 Moving Coil Instruments
as DC or AC ammeters & voltmeters
1. Permanent magnet moving coil (PMMC)
- a moving coil & a pair of permanent magnets
(basically for DC measurements)
2. Dynamometer or electrodynamic
- a moving coil and a pair of fixed coils
(for DC and AC measurements)

PMMC - low N (hence low Lcoil), Rcoil and Vdrop

Dynamometer - large N, moderate Rcoil and
moderate Lcoil 25

Dr. Wael Salah

PMMC

Reference: [Link]

26
Dr. Wael Salah
 Current range extension

DC Ammeters: by a shunt (low R)

Multiplying power (Meter current very low)
Im = IFSD

Vshunt = Vmovement I Im RM
Is Rs = Im Vm I m Rm
Rs  IS
IS RS

Is =I – Im
I m Rm
Rs 
I  Im
27

Dr. Wael Salah

Example:
A 1 mA meter movement with internal resistance of 100 ohm,
is to be converted into a 0-100 mA ammeter. Calculated the
value of shunt resistor required.
I m Rm 1103 100
Rs    1.01
I  I m 100mA  1mA
I Im RM

IS
RS

28

Dr. Wael Salah

 Current range extension
* The current range of a dc ammeter can be further
extended by range switch to form multiage ammeter.
• R1,…R4 gives different current ranges.

For this type: During changing the shunt by selector

switch the meter is connected directly without shunt 29

 This may cause the damage of the meter.

Dr. Wael Salah
 Ayrton (Universal) Shunt
This connection will eliminate the possibility of
having the meter circuit without shunt.

 For higher current range the shunt resistor should be

lower

30

Dr. Wael Salah

Example:
Design an Ayrton shunt Ammeter using D’Arsonal movement to measure
current with ranges of 1A, 5A and 10A. Given that the meter internal
resistance Rm=50 Ω and the Full Scale Deflection current is 1 mA.

Is =I – Im=1A-1mA= 999 mA
1 (50)
Ra  R b  Rc   0.050005
999
1 ( Rc  50)
Ra  R b 
4.999
1 ( Rb  Rc  50)
Ra 
9.999
31

Dr. Wael Salah

Solving Equations 1, 2 and 3 giving:

Ra  0.0050005

5A 1A
Rb  0.0050005

Rc  0.04004 10A

For lager current value we need smaller resistor

32

Dr. Wael Salah

 Voltage range extension

DC Voltmeters: by a multiplier (high R)

Voltage magnification IM
VM RM
V  I m ( Rs  Rm ) V
RSr
V  I m Rm V
Rs    Rm
Im Im

33

Dr. Wael Salah

 Multi range Voltmeter

DC Voltmeters: by a
multiplier (high R)

More
practical
34
arrangement
Dr. Wael Salah
More practical arrangement

• Resistors are connected in series

• Advantage: All multiplier resistor except 1st (R4)
one have standared resistor values.

35

Dr. Wael Salah

Example:
A basic D’Arsonal movement with an internal resistance of 100Ω, and full
scale current of 1mA, to be converted into a multirange dc voltmeter with
series connected resistor to measure voltages ranges 10V, 50V, 250V and 500V.

36

Dr. Wael Salah

Voltmeter Sensitivity
Voltmeter Sensitivity: ratio of the total resistance / range of voltage

Example 10KΩ / 10V = 1000 Ω / V (for last example)

1 
S
I fsd V

S = Sensitivity of the voltmeter

V = Voltage range
Rm = Movement internal resistance + R4
Rs= Resistance of the multiplier.

RT  S  V

RS  ( S  V )  Rm 37

Dr. Wael Salah

 Example: with reference to the previous example
1 1 
S   1,000
I fsd 0.001A V
1000
R4 RS  ( ) 10V  100  9,900
V
1000
R3 RS  ( )  50V  10,000  40k
V
1000
R2 RS  ( )  250V  50k  200k
V
1000 38
R1 RS  ( )  500V  250k  250k
V Dr. Wael Salah
Voltmeter Loading Effect
Low Sensitivity meter may give correct reading when measuring
voltage in low resistance circuits.

But it produce unreliable reading in high resistance circuits.

The voltmeter acts as a SHUNT for that portion of the circuit

 thus reduces the equivalent resistance
 gives a lower indication of the voltage
This called loading effect

Thus voltmeter with low sensitivity gives higher error

39

Dr. Wael Salah

 Voltmeter Loading Effect
The voltage across a 50kΩ resistor in a circuit. Two voltmeters are
available for measurement. Voltmeter 1 with sensitivity 1,000Ω/V and
voltmeter 2 with sensitivity 20,000Ω/V. Both meters are used on their
50V range.
- Calculate the reading for each meter.
- Calculate the %Error in each reading.
Solution:
50k
VR 2  150V  50VTrue _ Value
150k
25k
VR 2  150V  30VMeter1
125k Rmeter  Vrange  S
46.6k
VR 2  150V  48.36VMeter 2 Rmeter || R2
146.6k
- % Error 1 = 50-30/50*100% = 40% 40

- % Error 2 = 50-48.36/50*100% = 3.28%

Dr. Wael Salah
EXAMPLE:
A moving-coil instrument has a resistance of 10 and gives full-
scale deflection when carrying a current of 50-mA.
Show how it can be adopted to measure voltages up to 750V and
currents up to 100A.

41

Dr. Wael Salah

 SOLUTION:
RM=10
100A 0.05A

99.95A 0.5V 

SUPPLY

LOAD
LOAD
750V 0.05A

RS RSr

As ammeter: As voltmeter:
Current range can be extended by using The range can be extended by using a
a shunt resistor across the instrument. high resistance placed in series with
Obviously, the instrument, RSr
10×0.05 = RS × 99.95 Obviously, RSr must drop a voltage of
(750 - 0.5)V = 749.5V while carrying
RS = 0.005 0.05A
42

0.05RSr = 749.5 or RSr = 14.99k

Dr. Wael Salah
EXERCISE:

A PMMC instrument with FSD of 100μA and a coil

resistance of 30kΩ is to be converted into a voltmeter.
-Calculate the multiplier resistance required for the voltmeter
to measure 10V at full scale.
-Determine the applied voltage when the instrument indicates
0.5 FSD and 0.1 FSD.

Multiplier Coil
Resistance Resistance
Rm Rs

Im

43
V

Dr. Wael Salah

 SOLUTION:

 At V = 10V FSD
I m  100A
V 10V
Rs   Rm   30k  70k
Im 100A
 At V = 0.5 FSD
I m  0.5  100A  50A
V  I m ( Rm  Rs )  50A(70k  30k)  5V
 At V = 0.1 FSD

I m  0.1 100A  10A

V  I m ( Rm  Rs )  10A(70k  30k)  1V 44

Dr. Wael Salah

INDICATING INSTRUMENTS
FOR
RESISTANCE
MEASUREMENTS

45

Dr. Wael Salah

Voltmeter Ammeter Method for
Measuring Resistance

Low R

High R
46
Resistance
the potential difference appearing across a device is
proportional to the current flowing through it.
The connecting relationships is known as
Ohm’s law and is written:
V = IR
where R is the resistance and is measured in ohms (Ω).

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Simple Voltmeter

If the test leads of this

ohmmeter are directly
shorted together
(measuring zero Ω),
the meter movement will
have a maximum amount
of current through it,
limited only by the
battery voltage and the
48
movement's internal
resistance
Dr. Wael Salah
Simple Voltmeter
To determine the proper value for R, we calculate the
total circuit resistance needed to limit current to 1 mA
(full-scale deflection on the movement) with 9 volts of
potential from the battery, then subtract the
movement's internal resistance from that figure:

49

Dr. Wael Salah

Series-Type Ohmmeter

R1 = current limiting resistor,

R2 = zero adjusting resistor,
E = emf of internal battery,
Rm = internal resistance of d’Arsonval movement,
R = the unknown resistor
50

Dr. Wael Salah

Series-Type Ohmmeter
 The current the the meter depends on the value of unknown
resistor.
 Calibration problem should be taken into account.

 When R=0 Ω (terminals A and B are shorted).

 R=0 Ω  indicated the full-scale current Ifsd

 R= ∞, indicates zero current

 The disadvantage of this type is that battery voltage decreases

with time and age. Though not giving zero reading when shorted.

 Change of the value of R1 : could change the calibration along

the scale.

 The solution for battery aging is by zero adjustment using R2. 51

Dr. Wael Salah

logarithmic scale
The scale of an ohmmeter does not smoothly progress from zero to infinity as
the needle sweeps from right to left.
The scale starts out "expanded" at the right-hand side, with the successive
resistance values growing closer and closer to each other toward the left
side of the scale

Infinity cannot be approached in

a linear (even) fashion, because the
scale would never get there!

With a logarithmic scale, the

amount of resistance spanned
for any given distance on the
scale increases as the scale
progresses toward infinity, making
infinity an attainable goal.

Best Reading at the middle 52

Dr. Wael Salah

 In the design of series-type ohmeter, the design based on the
value of unknown resistor (R) that cause half-scale current Ihsd

R  Rh
 Rh should be equal to the total ohmmeter resistance
R2 Rm
Rh  R1 
R2  Rm
E
 Rh reduces meter current to 0.5 Ifsd IT   2I h
2 Rh
 The total resistance presented to the battery RT  2 Rh
E
Ih  VR 2  Vm  I fsd Rm I fsd Rm Rh
2 Rh R2  
I T  I fsd E  I fsd Rh
I fsd Rm Rh
R1  Rh  53
E
Dr. Wael Salah
Example 4-7

( Rx = 0 Ω )

54

Dr. Wael Salah

 55

Dr. Wael Salah

 56
2,000  2,003.7
%error  100%  0.185%
2,007.3 Dr. Wael Salah
Shunt-Type Ohmmeter

• Not commonly used. R1

Switch
• The shunt type mainly used for
measuring low vale resistors.

• ON/Off Switch is placed to

connect and disconnect the
battery.
Rx
• The full scale reading depends
on R1 and Rm.

• Designed same as the same the

series type based on half-scale 57

reading Rh.
Dr. Wael Salah
Multirange Ohmmeter Circuit

58

© Oxford University Press 2013. All rights reserved.

Scale & Range Switch for a Typical
Multirange Ohmmeter

59
Multimeters volt - ohm - Ampere

60

Dr. Wael Salah

With all three fundamental functions
available, this multimeter may also be 61
known as a volt-ohm-milliammeter.
Dr. Wael Salah
Multimeter Example :
Simpson 260

62
Multimeter Example :
Simpson 260

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Multimeter Example :
Simpson 260

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Calibration of DC
Instruments (Ammeter)
DC Ammeter Calibration

Based on ohm’s Law

Compare the current

calculated with the meter
reading.

DC Ammeter

65
Calibration of DC
Instruments (Voltmeter)

The potentiometer voltage should be = Meter voltage

66
Calibration of DC
Instruments (Ohm Meter)

Ohm meter calibrated using

standard resistor.

First Exam on
30/03/2015 67
68