Galvanometer

A galvanometer is a type of ammeter: an instrument for detecting and measuring electric

current. It is an analog electromechanical transducer that produces a rotary deflection of some
type of pointer in response to electric current flowing through its coil in a magnetic field. The
term has expanded to include uses of the same mechanism in recording, positioning, and
servomechanism equipment.

to be measured.

History
The term "galvanometer" derives from the surname of Luigi
Galvani. Many early applications of galvanometers for
measuring and recording are associated with William Thomson
(Lord Kelvin). The earliest galvanometer was reported by
Johann (Johan) Schweigger of Nuremberg at the University of
Halle on 16th September 1820. André-Marie Ampère also
contributed to the development of the galvanometer.
Operation
The most familiar use is as an analog measuring instrument,
often called a meter. It is used to measure the direct current
(flow of electric charges) through an electric circuit. Such
devices are constructed with a small pivoting coil of wire in the
field of a permanent magnet. The coil is attached to a thin
pointer that traverses a calibrated scale. A tiny spring pulls the
coil and pointer to the zero position. In some meters, the
magnetic field acts on a small piece of iron to perform the same
effect as a spring.
When a direct current (DC) flows through the coil, the coil
generates a magnetic field. This field acts with or against the
permanent magnet. The coil pivots, pushing against the spring,
and moving the pointer. The hand points at a scale indicating
the electric current. A useful meter generally contains some
provision for damping the mechanical resonance of the moving
coil and pointer so that the pointer position smoothly tracks the
current without excess vibration.
The basic sensitivity of a meter might be, for instance, 100
microamperes full scale (with a voltage drop of, say, 50
millivolts at full current). Such meters are often calibrated to
read some other quantity that can be converted to a current of
that magnitude. The use of current dividers, often called shunts,
allows a meter to be calibrated to measure larger currents. A
meter can be calibrated as a DC voltmeter if the resistance of
the coil is known by calculating the voltage required to generate
a full scale current. A meter can be configured to read other
voltages by putting it in a voltage divider circuit. This is
generally done by placing a resistor in series with the meter
coil. A meter can be used to read resistance by placing it in
series with a known voltage (a battery) and an adjustable
resistor. In a preparatory step, the circuit is completed and the
resistor adjusted to produce full scale deflection. When an
unknown resistor is placed in series in the circuit the current
will be less than full scale and an appropriately calibrated scale
can display the value of the previously-unknown resistor.
Because the pointer of the meter is usually a small distance
above the scale of the meter, parallax error can occur when the
operator attempts to read the scale line that "lines up" with the
pointer. To counter this, some meters include a mirror along the
markings of the principal scale. The accuracy of the reading
from a mirrored scale is improved by moving the head while
reading the scale so that the pointer and the reflection of the
pointer are aligned; at this point, the operator's eye must be
directly above the pointer and any parallax error has been
minimized.
Types
Extremely sensitive measuring equipment once used mirror
galvanometers that substituted a mirror for the pointer. A beam
of light reflected from the mirror acted as a long, massless
pointer. Such instruments were used as receivers for early trans-
Atlantic telegraph systems, for instance. The moving beam of
light could also be used to make a record on a moving
photographic film, producing a graph of current versus time, in
a device called an oscillograph.
Galvanometer mechanisms are used to position the pens of
analog chart recorders such as used for making an
electrocardiogram. Strip chart recorders with galvanometer
driven pens might have a full scale frequency response of 100
Hz and several centimeters deflection. In some cases (the
classical polygraph of movies or the electroencephalograph),
the galvanometer is strong enough to move the pen while it
remains in contact with the paper; the writing mechanism may
be a heated tip on the needle writing on heat-sensitive paper or a
fluid-fed pen. In other cases (the Rustrak recorders), the needle
is only intermittently pressed against the writing medium; at
that moment, an impression is made and then the pressure is
removed, allowing the needle to move to a new position and the
cycle repeats. In this case, the galvanometer need not be
especially strong.
Galvanometers have been replaced as measuring instruments by
analog to digital converters (ADC) for most uses. There are, for
instance, self contained digital measuring systems, called digital
panel meters (DPMs), available to replace most traditional
analog meter functions.
 Tangent galvanometer

Tangent galvanometer made by J.H.Bunnell Co. around 1890.

A tangent galvanometer is an early measuring instrument used for the measurement of

electric current. It works by using a compass needle to compare a magnetic field
generated by the unknown current to the magnetic field of the Earth. It gets its name
from its operating principle, the tangent law of magnetism, which states that the tangent
of the angle a compass needle makes is proportional to the ratio of the strengths of the
two perpendicular magnetic fields. It was first described by Claude Pouillet in 1837.

A tangent galvanometer consists of a coil of insulated copper wire wound on a circular

non-magnetic frame. The frame is mounted vertically on a horizontal base provided
with levelling screws. The coil can be rotated on a vertical axis passing through its
centre. A compass box is mounted horizontally at the centre of a circular scale. It
consists of a tiny, powerful magnetic needle pivoted at the centre of the coil. The
magnetic needle is free to rotate in the horizontal plane. The circular scale is divided
into four quadrants. Each quadrant is graduated from 0° to 90°. A long thin aluminium
pointer is attached to the needle at its centre and at right angle to it. To avoid errors due
to parallax a plane mirror is mounted below the compass needle.

In operation, the instrument is first rotated until the magnetic field of the Earth, indicated
by the compass needle, is parallel with the plane of the coil. Then the unknown current is
applied to the coil. This creates a second magnetic field on the axis of the coil,
perpendicular to the Earth's magnetic field. The compass needle responds to the vector
sum of the two fields, and deflects to an angle equal to the tangent of the ratio of the two
fields. From the angle read from the compass's scale, the current could be found from a
table.
The current supply wires have to be wound in a small helix, like a pig's tail, otherwise
the field due to the wire will affect the compass needle and an incorrect reading will
be obtained.

Uses:
Past uses

A major early use for galvanometers was for finding faults in

telecommunications cables. They were superseded in this application late in the
20th century by time-domain reflectometers.

Probably the largest use of galvanometers was the D'Arsonval/Weston type

movement used in analog meters in electronic equipment. Since the 1980s,
galvanometer-type analog meter movements have been displaced by analog to
digital converters (ADCs) for some uses. A digital panel meter (DPM) contains
an analog to digital converter and numeric display. The advantages of a digital
instrument are higher precision and accuracy, but factors such as power
consumption or cost may still favor application of analog meter movements.

Galvanometer mechanisms were also used to position the pens in analog strip
chart recorders such as used in electrocardiographs, electroencephalographs and
polygraphs. Strip chart recorders with galvanometer driven pens may have a full
scale frequency response of 100 Hz and several centimeters deflection. The
writing mechanism may be a heated tip on the needle writing on heat-sensitive
paper, or a hollow ink-fed pen. In some types the pen is continuously pressed
against the paper, so the galvanometer must be strong enough to move the pen
against the friction of the paper. In other types, such as the Rustrak recorders, the
needle is only intermittently pressed against the writing medium; at that moment,
an impression is made and then the pressure is removed, allowing the needle to
move to a new position and the cycle repeats. In this case, the galvanometer need
not be especially strong.

Galvanometer mechanisms were also used in exposure mechanisms in film

cameras.

Modern uses

Most modern uses for the galvanometer mechanism are in positioning and
control systems. Galvanometer mechanisms are divided into moving magnet and
moving coil galvanometers; in addition, they are divided into closed-loop and
open-loop - or resonant - types.

Mirror galvanometer systems are used as beam positioning or beam steering

elements in laser scanning systems. For example, for material processing with
high-power lasers, mirror galvanometer are typically high power galvanometer
mechanisms used with closed loop servo control systems. The newest
galvanometers designed for beam steering applications can have frequency
responses over 10 kHz with appropriate servo technology. Examples of
manufacturers of such systems are Cambridge Technology Inc.
(www.camtech.com) - now part of General Scanning (www.gsig.com) - and
Scanlab (www.scanlab.de). Closed-loop mirror galvanometers are also used in
stereolithography, in laser sintering, in laser engraving, in laser beam welding,
in laser TV, in laser displays, and in imaging applications such as Optical
Coherence Tomography (OCT) retinal scanning. Almost all of these
galvanometers are of the moving magnet type.

Open loop, or resonant mirror galvanometers, are mainly used in laser-based

barcode scanners, in some printing machines, in some imaging applications, in
military applications, and in space systems. Their fat-free bearings are especially
of interest in all applications that require a vacuum.

A galvanometer mechanism is used for the head positioning servos in hard disk
drives. These are all of the moving coil type, in order to keep mass, and thus
access times, as low as possible.

Galvanometer mechanisms are also used for the head positioning in CD/DVD
players. Especially in automotive versions, these mechanisms allow a better
stability against external vibrations.

The e-meter, a device used by Scientologists during Auditing, is a

modified variant of the galvanometer.