Sub - Electronics & Electrical

Measurement
Presentation on MI Type
instruments

By – Rohit Girase
Rupesh Girase
 Moving Iron (MI) Instruments
•Generally used to measure AC current
or voltage (but can measure DC current
and voltage without any external circuit)

•Pointer is connected to specially

designed soft iron that moves
according to the intensity of magnetic
field acting on it

•The magnetic field is produced by

current carrying coil
 Classification of MI

1) Repulsion (or double iron) type

2) Attraction (or single iron) type

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 Types of torque in MI

•Deflecting torque produces movement on an

aluminum pointer over a calibrated scale

• Control torque: provided by spring or weight

•Damping torque: Pneumatic (mechanical

damping) aluminum vane attached to the shaft

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Constructional details of
attraction type MI

•Moving element : Soft

iron
•Coil: Produces magnetic
field & magnetize the iron
piece
• Control springs or
weights, aluminum vane,
aluminum pointer, shaft,
calibrated scale, mirror, etc

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Constructional details of
Repulsion type MI

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Constructional details of
Repulsion type MI

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 Constructional details of
Repulsion type MI
•Two concentric iron vanes (Fixed & Movable)
•Solenoid coil (stationary)
•Pointer attached to movable vane
• Movable vane is curved rectangular in shape
•Fixed vane is tampered
•Controls springs, Aluminum pointer,
Aluminum vane, calibrated scale, mirror etc

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 Working principle
•Current flow magnetizes the coil

•The two iron vanes become magnetized with

north poles at their upper ends and south poles
at their lower ends for one direction of current
through the coil

•Due to repulsion, the unbalanced component

of force, tangent to the movable element,
causes it to turn against the force exerted by
the springs
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 Working principle

•When no current flows through the coil, the

movable vane is positioned so that it is
opposite the larger portion of the tapered
fixed vane, and the scale reading is zero

•The amount of magnetization of the vanes

depends on the strength of the field, which,
in turn, depends on the amount of current
flowing through the coil.

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 Design for MI Ammeter and MI
Voltmeter
Ammeter: Coil with few turns of large wire
Voltmeter:

1)Solenoid with many turns of small wire

2)Portable size: a) self contained series

resistance b)ranges up to 750 V

3)Higher ranges are obtained by the use of

additional external multipliers
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 MI for DC purpose

•Error due to residual magnetism in the

vanes

•The error may be minimized by reversing

the meter connections and averaging the
readings

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 Advantages

• Low cost
• used for both ac and dc purpose
• High accuracy for AC
• Robust
• Torque to weight ratio is high (less friction)

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 Limitations
•Non linear scale
•Draw more power
•Shielding (laminated iron cylinder)
should be provided to protect from
external magnetic fields
•Deflecting torque is not exactly
proportional to I2
•Variation of frequency introduce
error
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Comparison between the scale of
MI and MC

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