I.

Meter Movements
The meter movement is, as the name
implies, the part of a meter that
moves. A meter movement converts
electrical energy into mechanical
energy. There are many different types
of meter movements. The first one you
will learn about is based upon a
principle with which you are already
familiar. That principle is the
interaction of magnetic fields.
DArsonval Movement Principle :
An action caused by electromagnetic deflection, using a coil of wire and a magnetized
field. When current passes through the coil, a needle is deflected.
Whenever electrons flow through a conductor, a magnetic field proportional to the
current is created. This effect is useful for measuring current and is employed in many
practical meters.
Since most of the meters in use have DArsonval movements, which operate because of
the magnetic effect, only this type will be discussed in detail. The basic dc meter
movement is known as the DArsonval meter movement because it was first employed by
the French scientist, DArsonval, in making electrical measurement.
This type of meter movement is a current measuring device which is used in the ammeter,
voltmeter, and ohmmeter. Basically, both the ammeter and the voltmeter are current
measuring instruments, the principal difference being the method in which they are
connected in a circuit. While an ohmmeter is also basically a current measuring
instrument, it differs from the ammeter and voltmeter in that it provides its own source of
power and contains other auxiliary circuits.

Electrodynamometer

An electrodynamometer is an instrument used for measuring the electric

power. The basic principle was laid out in an 1848 paper by Wilhelm Weber
(1804-1891): when the same current passes through two concentric coils
placed at right angles to each other, the resulting torque depends on the
square of the current.
The electrical inventor and entrepreneur, Werner von Siemens (18161892), used this principle in his electrodynamometer, first described in 1880.
In order to measure the power dissipated in an electrical load, it is necessary
to measure the current through the load and the potential drop across it. In
the Siemens instrument, the stationary coil is made of relatively few turns of
heavy wire and is connected in series with the circuit. The rotating coil
consists of many turns of fine wire, and is connected across the load with a
multiplier resistance in series with it to measure the potential drop. The
currents through the two coils are I and a current proportional to V, and the
product of the two currents is proportional to the power dissipated in the
load.

MOVING-VANE METER MOVEMENTS

The moving-vane meter movement (sometimes called the moving-iron movement) is the
mostcommonly used movement for ac meters. The moving-vane meter operates on the
principle of magneticrepulsion between like poles (fig.1-16). The current to be measured
flows through a coil, producing amagnetic field which is proportional to the strength of
the current. Suspended in this field are two ironvanes. One is in a fixed position, the
other, attached to the meter pointer, is movable. The magnetic fieldmagnetizes these iron
vanes with the same polarity regardless of the direction of current flow in the coil.Since
like poles repel, the movable vane pulls away from the fixed vane, moving the meter
pointer. Thismotion exerts a turning force against the spring. The distance the vane will
move against the force of thespring depends on the strength of the magnetic field, which
in turn depends on the coil current.

Voltmeter
An instrument
used for
measuring electr
ical
potential differe
nce between two points in an electric circuit. Analog voltmeters move a
pointer across a scale in proportion to the voltage of the circuit; digital
voltmeters give a numerical display of voltage by use of an analog to digital
converter. The voltmeter in a circuit is represented by encircled 'V'.

Voltmeters are made in a wide range of styles. Instruments permanently

mounted in a panel are used to monitor generators or other fixed apparatus.
Portable instruments, usually equipped to also measure current and
resistance in the form of amultimeter, are standard test instruments used in
electrical and electronics work. Any measurement that can be converted to a
voltage can be displayed on a meter that is suitably calibrated; for example,
pressure, temperature, flow or level in a chemical process plant.
General purpose analog voltmeters may have an accuracy of a few percent
of full scale, and are used with voltages from a fraction of a volt to several
thousand volts. Digital meters can be made with high accuracy, typically
better than 1%. Specially calibrated test instruments have higher accuracies,
with laboratory instruments capable of measuring to accuracies of a few
parts per million. Meters using amplifiers can measure tiny voltages.

Ammeter
Is a measuring
instrument used to measure
the current in a circuit.
Electric currents are measured in amperes(A), hence the name. Instruments
used to measure smaller currents, in the milliampere or microampere range,
are designated as milliammeters or microammeters. Early ammeters were
laboratory instruments which relied on the Earth's magnetic field for
operation. By the late 19th century, improved instruments were designed
which could be mounted in any position and allowed accurate measurements
in electric power systems.

Ohm
meter
Is

an elect
rical in
strume
nt that

measures electrical resistance, the opposition to

an electric current. Micro-ohmmeters
(microhmmeter or microohmmeter) make low
resistance measurements. Megohmmeters (also a
trademarked device Megger) measure large
values of resistance. The unit of measurement for
resistance is ohms ().

Wattmeter
Is an instrument for
measuring the electric power (or the supply rate of electrical energy)
in watts of any given circuit. Electromagnetic wattmeters are used for
measurement of utility frequency and audio frequency power; other types
are required for radio frequency measurements.

The Ampere hour meter or Amp Hr Meter or AH Meter

Is similar to the watt hour meter which is used to calculate the total usage
of electricity at households and commercial establishments. However,
ampere hour meter takes into account the ampere hours and just like the
watt hour meter, it is also an integrating meter. In the typical sense, the
ampere hour meters are similar to the digital current meter, just like the
odometers which are present in your automobile. In this article, we attempt
to understand the working mechanism and behind an ampere hour meter and
its applications.

The most typical applications of Ampere Hour Meters in modern times have
been in Electroplating, Battery Testing and Solar charging systems.

Electroplating
The plating thickness achieved in electroplating is directly proportional to
the current flowing through the plating electrodes and the time for which this
current flows. In older times, the current was kept reasonably constant and
the time for which that current flows was noted. Integrating the current over
the time gave an idea of the plating thickness. However, in practice, the
current would vary with power fluctuations and changes in load leading to
incorrect readings.
Modern day ampere hour meters, measure the instantaneous current and
integrate the current over time for which it flows. Since the instantaneous
current is being measured, the variations in current are automatically taken
into account leading to a accurate measure of the plating thickness. This

becomes increasingly important in precision electroplating applications like

rhodium/platinum/gold electroplating where the cost of the plating is very
high. Latest Ampere hour meters also help in automating systems where
dosing pumps are used to add brighteners and other additives after every
plating cycle using time relays on the AH meters which control the dosing
and time for which the dosing is done.

Power Factor Meter

A power factor meter is a type of electrodynamometer movement when it is

made with two movable coils set at right angles to each other. The method of
connection of this type of power factor meter, in a 3phase circuit. The two
stationary coils, S and S1, are connected in series in Phase B. Coils M and
M1 are mounted on a common shaft, which is free to move without restraint
or control springs. These coils are connected with their series resistors from
Phase B to Phase A and from Phase B to Phase C. At a power factor of unity,
one potential coil current leads and one lags the current in Phase B by 30;
thus, the coils are balanced in the position . A change in power factor will
cause the current of one potential coil to become more in phase and the other
potential coil to be more out of phase with the current in Phase B, so that the
moving element and pointer take a new position of balance to show the new
power factor.

A Frequency Meter
Is an instrument that
displays the frequency
of a periodic electrical
signal.
Various types of
frequency meters are
used. Many are instruments of the deflection type, ordinarily used for
measuring low frequencies but capable of being used for frequencies as high
as 900 Hz. These operate by balancing two opposing forces. Changes in the
frequency to be measured cause a change in this balance that can be
measured by the deflection of a pointer on a scale. Deflection-type meters
are of two types, electrically resonant circuits and ratiometers.
An example of a simple electrically resonant circuit is a moving-coil meter.
In one version, this device has two coils tuned to different frequencies and
connected at right angles to one another in such a way that the whole
element, with attached pointer, can move. Frequencies in the middle of the
meters range cause the currents in the two coils to be approximately equal
and the pointer to indicate the midpoint of a scale. Changes in frequency
cause an imbalance in the currents in the two coils, causing them, and the

pointer, to move.
Another type of frequency meter, not of the deflection type, is the resonant
reed type, ordinarily used in ranges from 10 to 1,000 Hz, although special
designs can operate at lower or higher frequencies.These work by means of
tuned steel reeds that vibrate like a tuning fork, under the effect of electric
current through a coil; only those reeds that are in resonance vibrate visibly.

An electric demand meter works on the

principle that customers who require a higher
or more intensive level of service during
bursts of peak demand should pay more for
the availability of that service. This is because
of the demand placed on the electricity grid to
accommodate peak-level demands for service. Even if that level of service is
necessary for only 15 minutes a day once every two weeks, when it's
needed, it must be immediately available.
Electricity flows in a current. It cannot be stored. It's not possible to cut back
on electricity four or five days in advance to have power on reserve for peak
demand. A demand meter calculates billing based on the highest level of
service that a residential or commercial customer would possibly need.
A demand meter is similar to a car's speedometer that can register speeds of
100 miles (161 km) per hour or more. Although the car's usual driving
speed, even on an expressway, will be much lower, there might be times
when the car needs to go as fast as possible, such as when passing a slowmoving car on a two-lane highway. The speedometer is designed to handle
the car's peak demand for driving speed.

Galvanometer
Is a type of sensitive
ammeter: an
instrument for
detecting electric
current. It is an analog
electromechanical
actuator that produces
a rotary deflection of some type of pointer in response to electric current
through its coil in a magnetic field.
Galvanometers were the first instruments used to detect and measure electric
currents. Sensitive galvanometers were used to detect signals from long
submarine cables, and to discover the electrical activity of the heart and
brain. Some galvanometers use a solid pointer on a scale to show
measurements; other very sensitive types use a miniature mirror and a beam
of light to provide mechanical amplification of low-level signals. Initially a
laboratory instrument relying on the Earth's own magnetic field to provide
restoring force for the pointer, galvanometers were developed into compact,
rugged, sensitive portable instruments essential to the development of
electrotechnology. A type of galvanometer that records measurements
permanently is the chart recorder. The term has expanded to include use of
the same mechanism in recording, positioning, and servomechanism
equipment.

In AC electrical
power systems, a
synchroscope is a
device that indicates
the degree to which
two systems
(generators or power

networks) are synchronized with each other.

For two electrical systems to be synchronized, both systems must operate at
the same frequency, and the phase angle between the systems must be zero
(and two polyphase systems must have the same phase sequence).
Synchroscopes measure and display the frequency difference and phase
angle between two power systems. Only when these two quantities are zero
is it safe to connect the two systems together. Connecting two
unsynchronized AC power systems together is likely to cause high currents
to flow, which will severely damage any equipment not protected by fuses or
circuit breakers.

An oscilloscope,
previously called an
oscillograph, and
informally known as a
scope, CRO (for
cathode-ray
oscilloscope), or DSO
(for the more modern
digital storage
oscilloscope), is a type of electronic test instrument that allows observation
of constantly varying signal voltages, usually as a two-dimensional plot of
one or more signals as a function of time. Other signals (such as sound or
vibration) can be converted to voltages and displayed.
Oscilloscopes are used to observe the change of an electrical signal over
time, such that voltage and time describe a shape which is continuously
graphed against a calibrated scale. The observed waveform can be analyzed
for such properties as amplitude, frequency, rise time, time interval,
distortion and others. Modern digital instruments may calculate and display
these properties directly. Originally, calculation of these values required
manually measuring the waveform against the scales built into the screen of
the instrument.
The oscilloscope can be adjusted so that repetitive signals can be observed
as a continuous shape on the screen. A storage oscilloscope allows single
events to be captured by the instrument and displayed for a relatively long

time, allowing observation of events too fast to be directly perceptible.

Oscilloscopes are used in the sciences, medicine, engineering, and
telecommunications industry. General-purpose instruments are used for
maintenance of electronic equipment and laboratory work. Special-purpose
oscilloscopes may be used for such purposes as analyzing an automotive
ignition system or to display the waveform of the heartbeat as an
electrocardiogram.

Wheatstone
bridge is an
electrical circuit
used to measure
an unknown
electrical
resistance by balancing two legs of a bridge circuit, one leg of which
includes the unknown component. The primary benefit of a wheatstone
bridge is its ability to provide extremely accurate measurements (in contrast
with something like a simple voltage divider).Its operation is similar to the
original potentiometer. It was invented by Samuel Hunter Christie in 1833
and improved and popularized by Sir Charles Wheatstone in 1843. One of
the Wheatstone bridge's initial uses was for the purpose of soils analysis and
comparison.

II. Wheatstone Bridge

A Wheatstone bridge is an electrical circuit used to measure an
unknown electrical resistance by balancing two legs of abridge circuit, one
leg of which includes the unknown component. The primary benefit of a
wheatstone bridge is its ability to provide extremely accurate measurements
(in contrast with something like a simple voltage divider).

III. Slide-wire Bridge

A bridge circuit in which the resistance in one or more branches is controlled
by the position of a sliding contact on alength of resistance wire stretched al
ong a linear scale

IV. Kelvin Bridge

A Kelvin bridge (also called a Kelvin double bridge and in some countries a
Thomson bridge) is a measuring instrument used to measure unknown
electrical resistors below 1 ohm. It is specifically designed to measure
resistors that are constructed as four terminal resistors.

V. Test Equipment
Electronic test equipment (sometimes called "testgear" or "bench top") is
used to create signals and capture responses from electronic Devices

Under Test (DUTs). In this way, the proper operation of the DUT can be
proven or faults in the device can be traced.

VI. Analog Meter

A typical multimeter can measure voltage, current, and resistance. Analog
multimeters use a micro-ammeter with a moving pointer to display readings.
Digital multimeters (DMM, DVOM) have a numeric display, and may also
show a graphical bar representing the measured value.

VII. Megger
The Megger test is a method of testing making use of an insulation
resistance meter that will help to verify the condition of electrical insulation.
This is certainly not a new test, and has been in use for a number of years.
One of the reasons that it is still such a popular option is because it is
nondestructive.

VIII. Insulation Tester

Determine the resistance of electrical insulation to the flow of direct current.

IX. Ground Detector

A ground detector, also known as a ground indicator, is a device that
indicates whether a ground is present in an electrical circuit. Such devices
are used in a variety of settings, including safety equipment intended to
identify problems with a circuit before it malfunctions, endangering people
or equipment.

X. Murray Loop Tester

Murray loop bridge is a bridge circuit used for locating faults in
underground or underwater cables. It has been used for more than 100 years.
One end of the faulted cable is connected through a pair of resistors to the
voltage source. Also a null detector is connected.

XI. Varley Loop Tester

A method of using a Wheatstone bridge to determine the distance from the te
st point to a fault in a telephone ortelegraph line or cable.