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At the start of the measurement cycle, a ramp voltage is initiated; this voltage can be positivegoing or negative-going. The negative-going ramp, (see Fig. 10) is continuously compared with
the unknown input voltage. At the instant that the ramp voltage equals the unknown voltage, a
coincidence circuit, or comparator, generates a pulse which opens a gate. The ramp voltage
continues to decrease with time until it finally reaches 0 V (or ground potential) and a second
comparator generates an output pulse which closes the gate. An oscillator generates clock pulses
which are allowed to pass through the gate to a number of decade counting units (DCUs) which
totalize the number of pulses passed through the gate. The decimal number, displayed by the
indicator tubes associated with the DCUs, is a measure of the magnitude of the input voltage.
Sem/Sub: 04- Electronics Instrumentation
The sample-rate multivibrator determines the rate at which the measurement cycles are initiated.
The oscillation of this multivibrator can usually be adjusted by a front-panel control, marked
rate, from a few cycles per second to as high 1,000 or more. The sample-rate circuit provides an
initiating pulse for the ramp generator to start its next ramp voltage. At the same time, a reset
pulse is generated which returns all the DCUs to their 0 state, removing the display momentarily
from the indicator tubes.
Staircase-Ramp DVM
It is a variation of the ramp-type DVM but is simpler in overall design, resulting in a moderately
priced general-purpose instrument that can be used in the laboratory, on production test-stands,
in repair shops, and at inspection stations. Stair case ramp DVM makes voltage measurements
by comparing the input voltage to an internally generated staircase-ramp voltage.
It contains a 10-M_ input attenuator, providing five input ranges from 100 mV to 1,000 V full
scale. The dc amplifier with a fixed gain of 100 delivers 10 V to the comparator at any of the
full-scale voltage settings of the input divider. The comparator senses coincidence between the
amplified input voltage and the staircase-ramp voltage which is generated as the measurement
proceeds through its cycle. A Clock (4.5 kHz oscillator) provides pulses to three DCUs in
cascade. The units counter provides a carry pulse to the tens decade at every tenth input pulse.
The tens decade counts the carry pulses from the units decade and provides its own carry pulse
after it has counted ten carry pulses. This carry pulse is fed to the hundreds decade which
provides a carry pulse to an over range circuit. The over range circuit causes a front panel
indicator to light up, warning the operator that the input capacity of the instrument has been
exceeded. The operator should then switch to the next higher setting on the input attenuator.
Each decade counter unit is connected to a digital-to-analog (D/A) converter. The outputs of the
D/A converters are connected in parallel and provide an output current proportional to the
current count of the DCUs. The staircase amplifier converts the D/A current into a staircase
voltage which is applied to the comparator. When the comparator senses coincidence of the
input voltage and the staircase voltage, it provides a trigger pulse to stop the oscillator. The
current content of the counter is then proportional to the magnitude of the input voltage. The
sample rate is controlled by a simple relaxation oscillator. This oscillator triggers and resets the
transfer amplifier at a rate of two samples per second. The transfer amplifier provides a pulse
that transfers the information stored in the decade counters to the front panel display unit. The
trailing edge of this pulse triggers the reset amplifier which sets the three decade counters to
Sem/Sub: 04- Electronics Instrumentation
zero and initiates a new measurement cycle by starting the master oscillator or clock. The
display circuits store each reading until a new reading is completed, eliminating any blinking or
counting during the computation. The ramp type of A/D converter requires a precision ramp to
achieve accuracy.
Maintaining the quality of the ramp requires a precise, stable capacitor and resistor in the
integrator. In addition, the offset voltages and currents of the operational amplifier used in the
integrator are critical in the accurate ramp generator. One method of reducing the dependence of
the accuracy of the conversion on the resistor, capacitor, and operational amplifier is to use a
technique called the dual-slope converter.
Dual-Slope Converter
In the dual-slope technique, an integrator is used to integrate an accurate voltage reference for a
fixed period of time. The same integrator is then used to integrate with the reverse slope, the
input voltage, and the time required to return to the starting voltage is measured. The Order of
integrations does not matter. Consider the integration of the unknown first as shown in Fig.
Where t - elapsed time from when the integration began. The above Equation also assumes that
the integrator capacitor started with no charge & thus the output of the integrator started at zero
volts. If the integration were allowed to continue for a fixed period of time T1, the output
voltage would be
Notice that the integrator output has gone in the opposite polarity as the input. That is, a positive
input voltage produces a negative integrator output. If a reference voltage Vref, were substituted
for the input voltage Vx, as shown in Fig.13, the integrator would begin to ramp toward zero at a
rate of Vref/ RC assuming that the Vref was of the opposite polarity as the unknown input
voltage. The integrator for this situation does not start at zero but at an output voltage of V1, and
the output voltage Vout is
Setting the output voltage of the integrator to zero and solving for Vx yields
Where Tx is the time required to ramp down from the output level of V1 to zero volts. Notice
that the relationship between the reference voltage and the input voltage does not include R or
C of the integrator but only the relationship between the two times. Because the relationship
between the two times is a ratio, an accurate clock is not required but only that the clock used
for the timing be stable enough that the frequency does not change appreciably from the up
ramp to the down ramp.
As the integrator responds to the average of the input, it is not necessary to provide a sample
and hold, as changes in the input voltage will not cause significant errors. Although the
integrator output will not be a linear ramp, the integration will represent the end value obtained
Sem/Sub: 04- Electronics Instrumentation
by a voltage equal to the average of the unknown input voltage. Therefore, the dual-slope
analog-to-digital conversion will produce a value equal to the average of the unknown input.
The dual-slope type of A/D conversion is a very popular method for digital voltmeter
applications. When compared to other types of ADC techniques, the dual-slope method is slow
but is quite adequate for a digital voltmeter used for laboratory measurements. For data
acquisition applications, where a number of measurements are required, faster techniques are
recommended. Many refinements have been made to the technique and many large-scaleintegration (LSI) chips are available to simplify the construction of DVMs. When a dual-slope
A/D converter is used for a DVM the counters may be decade rather than binary and the
segment and digit drivers may be contained in the chip. When the converter is to interface to a
microprocessor, and many high performance DVMs use microprocessors for data manipulation,
the counters employed are binary. One significant enhancement made to the dual-slope
converter is automatic zero correction. As with any analog system, amplifier offset voltages,
offset currents, and bias currents can cause errors. In addition, in the dual-slope A/D converter,
the leakage current of the capacitor can cause errors in the integration and consequentially, an
error. These effects, in the dual-slope AID converter, will manifest themselves as a reading of
the DVM when no input voltage is present. Fig. shows a method of counteracting these effects.
The input to the converter is grounded and a capacitor, the auto zero capacitor, is connected via
an electronic switch to the output of the integrator. The feedback of the circuitry is such that the
voltage at the integrator output is zero. This effectively places an equivalent offset voltage on
the automatic zero capacitor so that there is no integration. When the conversion is made, this
offset voltage is present to counteract the effects of the input circuitry offset voltages. This
automatic zero function is performed before each conversion, so that changes in the offset
voltages and currents will be compensated.
A D/A converter is used to provide the estimates. The "equal to or greater than" or "less than"
decision is made by a comparator. The D/A converter provide the estimate and is compared to
the input signal. A special shift register called a successive-approximation register (SAR) is used
to control the D/A converter and consequentially the estimates. At the beginning of the
conversion all the outputs from the SAR are at logic zero. If the estimate is greater than the
input, the comparator output is high and the first SAR output reverses state and the second
output changes to a logic "one." If the comparator output is low, indicating that the estimate is
lower than the input signal, the first output remains in the logic one state and the second output
assumes the logic state one. This continues to all the states until the conversion is complete.
DIGITAL MULTIMETER
Measurement of any quantity is a result of comparison between the quantity to be
measured and a definite worldwide standard. The instruments which are used for such
comparison are called measuring instruments. In electronics measurement three basic
quantities current, voltage and power are important to measure. The measurement of these
quantities can be used to obtain measurement of some other quantities and also can be used to
analyze performance of different electronic circuits, devices and components. The measuring
instruments which are used to measure current flowing in a circuit are called ammeter while the
instruments are used to measure voltage across two points are called voltmeter. The instruments
which are used to measure power are called power meters or wattmeters. Measuring
instruments can be classified as analog instruments and digital instruments.
Digital multimeters:
The digital multimeter is an instrument which is capable of measuring a.c. voltages, d.c.
voltages, a.c. and d.c. currents and resistances over several ranges. The basic circuit of a digital
multimeter is always a d.c. voltmeter as shown in figure-5. The parameter which is to be
measured has to be converted into voltage form firstly. Then if parameter in the form of voltage
Sem/Sub: 04- Electronics Instrumentation
is analog will be converted into digital form by ADC. Digital data can now be displayed in the
form of BCD, decimal or digital form. Digital multimeter can also be interfaced to other suitable
device through interface terminal.
To measure voltage, firstly rotate knob to a.c. or d.c. voltage terminal whatever be the required.
Then voltage will be converted into digital form, and then will be displayed.
Left part of figure-6 shows conversion of multiple parameters into voltage form (from figure-5)
and right part shows digital voltmeter (from figure-4) which displays parameters digitally.
Adjustment: The adjustment of the frequency meter is simple. Hook it to a power supply
(about 5V) and connect known input frequency. Then set the trimmer P1 to display the correct
value.
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DIGITAL IC TESTER
To explain how the Digital I.C. Tester works, lets examine the humble 7400 TTLNAND gate
device as an example. The datasheet says the package contains four logic gates, each one having
two inputs and one output, which behave according to the truth table in Table 1.
To test the satisfactory functioning of each of the four gates in the i.c. package, each of the four
input logic configurations in Table 1 must be applied to each gate and the resulting logic output
levels recorded and compared against the expected results. A profile for an i.c. to be tested is
first generated from the devices datasheet. Within the profile, an instruction sequence is
specified that applies defined logic levels to the specified input pins, and records the results
generated on the output pins. The actual results received are compared against those that are
expected, and from this it is possible to ascertain if the i.c. is functioning correctly. It should be
noted that some i.c.s require a great many individual logic operations to test them completely.
For example, the 7430 8-input NAND gate requires 256 separate input logic level permutations
to be tested.
CIRCUIT DESCRIPTION
The complete circuit diagram for the Digital I.C. Tester is shown in Fig.1. When power
is supplied to the board, it first passes through bridge rectifier REC1. If the input supply input is
Sem/Sub: 04- Electronics Instrumentation
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a.c., REC1 converts it to d.c. If the input is already d.c. it ensures that the polarity is correct for
IC1, which then regulates the voltage down to approximately 5V. Capacitors C1 to C4 plus C11
provide smoothing. A PIC16F877-20 microcontroller, designated as IC3, is used as the core of
the circuit and is run at its maximum speed of 20MHz, as defined by crystal X1. Since this
design uses RS232 protocol to interface to a serial port on a PC, a voltage level converter is
employed to convert the PICs 5V logic levels to the 12V levels required by the RS232
standard (many PCs do not actually require this higher voltage for serial common input and will
accept +5V/0V inputs. Ed).
This is accomplished by IC2, a MAX232 line driver. Capacitors C5 to C8 are used by
IC2s internal circuitry to convert the supplied voltage from 5V to 12V. Connection to the PC
is via a 9-pin female D-type connector, SK2. To test the functionality of a digital logic i.c., a
known set of logic levels must be presented on each pin and the resulting responses received
back from the i.c. then analysed.
The PIC16F877 has a total of 33 I/O (input/output) pins. Of these, 24 are used to connect
the PIC to the i.c. under test. Each of the 24 I/O pins is connected to a pin on the i.c. test socket
(SK3) via a 100_ resistor, within resistor modules RM1 to RM3. These resistors act as current
limiters to protect the PIC and the device under test. The danger is that an output of the test i.c.
could become connected to a PIC I/O pin also designated as an output. Each pin on the i.c. test
socket is biased to the +5V test power rail via a 4k7_ resistor (within resistor modules RM4 to
RM6). This is to force unused pins on the test socket to a known logic level, and also enables
open collector TTL i.c.s that have their outputs either floating or pulled to ground to be tested.
During the test cycle, the PIC sends a low logic level to the base of transistor.
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Construction
The Digital I.C. Tester is constructed on a single-sided p.c.b. whose component layout
and tracking details are shown in Fig.2. This board is available from the EPE PCB Service, code
371. It is recommended that good quality i.c. sockets are used for IC2, IC3 and the three 100_
resistor modules, RM1 to RM3. Assemble the board in any order you prefer, but preferably
making the link-wire connections first. The two link wires located to the left of SK2, the 9-pin
RS232 connector (between TP7/TP8 and TP9/TP10), help determine which type of serial cable
will be used, see Fig.3. If a straight-through serial cable is to be used, pin 2 to pin 2, pin 3 to pin
3, then these links should be parallel to each other as shown in Fig.3b. If a cross-over serial
cable is being used(pin 2 to pin 3 and pin 3 to pin 2 as in Fig.3a) then the links should be
crossed as in Fig.3c. Place a small piece of sleeving over one of the link wires so that they do
not short together.
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The waveform shown below shows the graphical representation of errors in time interval.
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Figure 1A. In a time interval measurement, clock pulses are accumulated for the duration
the main gate is open. The gate is opened by one event, START and closed by the other,
STOP.
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Minimum time measurement is much less (to a nanosecond and below) than possible
with a stopwatch. Also resolution and accuracy are much greater than attainable with a
stopwatch.
Some typical time measurements that might be made are:
2. The counted clock frequency is typically 0.1 Hz to 100 MHz in decade steps or 500 MHz
each derived from a crystal oscillator.
2.Digital IC Tester
An Integrated Circuit tester (IC tester) is used to test Integrated Circuits (ICs). We can
easily test any digital IC using this kind of an IC tester. For testing an IC, we need to use
different hardware circuits for different ICs; like we need a particular kind of tester for testing
a logic gate and another for testing flip flops or shift registers which involves more
complication and time involved will also be more.
This IC tester is constructed using 8951 microcontroller along with a keyboard and a
display unit. It can test digital ICs having a maximum of 24 pins. Since it is programmable,
any number of ICs can be tested within the constraint of the memory available. This IC tester
can be used to test a wide variety of ICs which includes simple logic gates and also sequential
and combinational ICs like flip-flops, counters, shift registers etc. It is portable and easy to
use.
The block diagram of the programmable digital IC tester is as shown in below. It
consists of two 8951 microcontroller ICs, a 24-pin IC socket, a keyboard unit, a display unit
and indicators.
To test a particular digital IC, one needs to insert the IC into the IC socket and enter
the IC number using the keyboard and then press the ENTER key. The IC number gets
displayed in the 7-segment display unit.
Four LEDs are provided as indicators. If the IC being tested is a logic gate, then each
of the 4 indicator LEDs correspond to the 4 gates of the IC. In any other case wherein the
inserted IC is not a logic gate, all the 4 LEDs work as a single indicator.
Start
Initialise LCD
IC not ok
No
Yes
Is IC ok?
IC ok
End
list and then goes to the corresponding service routine. The service routine checks the
particular IC. Depending to the IC, it assigns some ports as input ports and some as output
ports. It gives the corresponding inputs and checks for the output according to the IC logic. If
the output is according to the IC logic, the slave sends the data to the master IC. If the IC is a
logic gate, then the data will consist of 4 bits, where each bit corresponds to each gate of the
IC. In case the IC is not a logic gate, the data consists of a single bit, which may be a 0 or a
1. Corresponding to these four bits, the master sets or resets the lower port of P3, which is
connected to the indicators.
Four LEDs are interfaced to the master IC as indicators. If the IC being tested is a logic
gate, then each of the 4 indicator LEDs correspond to the 4 gates of the IC. In any other case
wherein the inserted IC is not a logic gate, all the 4 LEDs work as a single indicator.
Using this IC tester, any digital IC can be tested provided its program is written. For a
particular IC, the corresponding program must be written in the slave. The total number of
ICs that can be tested using this IC tester depends on the memory available in the slave. The
8951 microcontroller consists of a 4k ROM, using which around 150 ICs can be tested. To
test more number of ICs, a microcontroller with an 8k ROM can be used.
The keyboard is provided with a RESET button, which when pressed resets both the
microcontrollers and the 4 shift registers.
3.Multimeters
A multimeter is an instrument which measures electrical parameters such as AC or
DC voltage, current, and resistance. Rather than having separate meters, a multimeter
combines a voltmeter, an ammeter, and an ohmmeter. The two main kinds of a multimeter are
analog and digital.
A digital multimeter has an LCD screen that displays the value of the parameter being
measured. while in an analog multimeter display, a needle moves through a graduated scale.
Topmost scale is usually for resistance and the readings increases from right to left while
other scales readings increase from left to right. Another name for an analog multimeter is
Volt-Ohm-Milliammeter (VOM).
Each type of meter has its advantages and disadvantaged. When used as a voltmeter,
a digital meter is usually better because its resistance is much higher, 1 M or 10 M, compared
to 200 for an analogue multimeter for a similar range. On the other hand, it is easier to
follow a slowly changing voltage by watching the needle on an analogue display. Most
modern multimeters are digital and traditional analogue types are becoming obsolete.
Multimeter is a device used for the measurement of AC or DC voltages, currents and
also resistances. Some meters are also capable of measuring temperatures, conductivities and
frequencies. Multimeters can be analog or digital, or combination of these (the most modern
meters).
is to be used. To do the zero adjustment, set the mode selection knob in resistance mode.
Connect the two leads to positive and common terminals respectively and short the leads. The
needle should move to extreme right to the last reading on the ohms scale. If it stops before or
goes beyond then the zero adjustment knob has to be rotated (clockwise or anticlockwise)
such that the needle rests at the last reading on the right end of the bar on the ohms scale.
Subsequently, to measure voltage, the multimeter has to be first set in AC or DC mode.
After selecting a suitable range defined by the uppermost limit of the expected value,
the range knob has to be set. Next connect the common (gnd) terminal through a lead (black)
to the gnd of the circuit and the red lead to the point where voltage is to be measured. For the
case of an analogue multimeter, if the needle goes the wrong way the leads have to be
reversed or if the needle doesnt move at all the range has to be changed.
(ii) Resistance Measurement:
To measure resistance in a circuit, first the power supply is to be turned off (or
disconnected) otherwise the multimeter might get damaged. Next, select a range on the
multimeter and touch two metal points in the circuit. If the needle doesnt move or goes all
the way to the end of the scale, select another range. One can not use this method to measure
the resistance of a resistor in the circuit because there may be other paths between the nodes
of a resistor.
One leg of a resistor must be disconnected from the circuit to make sure that the only
path between the two probes is through that resistor. To measure the resistance of a resistor,
select the range on the meter that might be closest to the right value and use the probes to
touch either side of the resistor. If the right range is selected then the needle will be
somewhere between the left and the right end of the scale.