Ammeter and Voltmeter

No fundamental difference in their operating principles

Depend upon a deflecting torque produced by an electric current

Essential requirements of a measuring instrument are: q g

Its introduction into the circuit, where the measurement are to be made, does not alter the circuit conditions. The power consumed by them for their operation should be small
For Ammeter : Pa=I2Ra For Voltmeter : Pv=V2/Rv i.e. Ra should be small i.e. Rv should be large g

Type of instrument used as Ammeter and Voltmeter

PMMC Moving Mo ing Iron Electrodynamometer Hot wire Thermocouple Induction Electrostatic Rectifier

PMMC is only used for DC Analysis and Induction for AC

Other types of meter can be used with either DC or AC

 Both Moving Iron (MI) and Moving Coil (MC) types depend for their action upon the magnetic effect of current
MI is most generally used form of indicating instrument, as it is cheapest. p
It can be used for either dc or ac measurement and, very accurate.

MC instrument is the most accurate type for dc measurement

Permanent Magnet Moving Coil Most accurate type for dc measurement Working principle is same as that of dArsonval type of GM
Difference is that a direct reading instrument is provided with a pointer and a scale

Operating p Op g principle: p
when a current carrying conductor is placed in a magnetic field, it is acted upon by a force which tend to move it to one side and out of field

PMMC Construction Details Moving Coil: wounded with many turns of copper wire Coil is mounted on a rectangular aluminum former which is pivoted on jeweled bearings Coils move freely in the field of a permanent magnet Most VM coils are wounded on metal former
to provide the required electromagnetic damping

Most AM coils are wounded on non-magnetic former

because coil turns are effectively shorted by ammeter shunt coil itself, therefore, provides electromagnetic damping

PMMC Magnet System Consist of relatively long U-shaped permanent magnet I small instruments, it is possible to use a small coil having In ll i t t i ibl t ll il h i small number of turns
reduction in volume

In the instruments having a large scale length

It is possible to increase the air gap length to accommodate large number of turns Movement of coil is restricted

End pole pieces are cylindrical

To make filed radial and uniform To decrease the reluctance of air path between poles
Hence, increases the magnetic flux , g

PMMC

PMMC Advantages:
They have low power consumption Their scales are uniform and can be designed to extend over an arch of niform e tend o er 2700 or so. They can be modified with the help of shunts and resistances to cover a wide range of currents and voltages They have very effective and efficient eddy-current damping

Disadvantages: Some errors are set in due to the ageing of control springs and the permanent magnets

Ammeter Shunt Th basic movement of a DC ammeter is a PMMC dArsonval The b i t f t i dA l galvanometer

The coil winding of basic movement is small and light and can carry very small current (< 100mA)

In case of heavy current measurement, the major part of current is bypassed through a low resistance called a shunt shunt. The resistance of the shunt can be calculated using conventional circuit analysis. y
Explained on the board.

General requirements for constructing the shunts are:

T Temperature coefficient of shunt and instrument should be low and nearly ffi i f h di h ld b l d l same Resistance of shunt should not vary with time
Manganin is usually used for shunt.

Voltage Multiplier g p A dArsonval galvanometers basic movement is converted into a voltmeter by connecting a series resistance with it. The multiplier limits the current through the meter so that it does not exceed the value for full scale deflection
Thus prevents the movement from being damaged

The calculation of the value of multiplier is explained on the board

Sensitivity of PMMC Voltmeter The current sensitivity is defined as the deflection per unit current
G/K

Hence for sensitivity to be large

G should be large
Since A (=l*d) is constant for a given coil area and flux density also Thus G can be increased when the coil is wound with many turns of fine wire Thus,

K should be small
By using a light flat spring and the coil assembly lightly pivoted

Thus a higher sensitive instrument will have a larger resistance

because it is wound with many turns of fine wire

Different values of resistance are used in VM of various range The sensitivity range, printed on the meter dial, specifies the resistance o the meter for a one volt range, i.e., es s ce of e e e o o e vo ge, .e.,
Sv= 1/Ifsd = 1/Im (/V)