Introduction to Electrical Measurement Instrumentation

The content of this course was divided into two parts. The first focusing on traditional electrical measuring
instrumentations and the second part focused on more advance measurement systems, instruments and
software used to perform measurements on these systems.

Part I

- Galvanometer
- Ammeter
- Voltmeter
- Current Clamp
- Capacitance meter
- Cos Phi meter
- Frequency counter
- Oscilloscope
- Wattmeter
- Signal Generator
- Tachometer
- Ohmmeter
- Multimeter
- Megger Tester
- LCR meter

Part II

- Introduction to Vacuum measurements system (Vacuum probe system)

- Closed Cycle Cryogenic System
- Physical Property Measurement Systems
- Keithley instruments (KE 6221, KE 2182A, KE 6430, KE 6487)
- Integration of Keithley Instruments with LabVIEW
Galvanomater:

In Lecture

- Introduction to galvanometer
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle
- Types
o Tangent Galvanometer
o Astatic Galvanometer
o Mirror Galvanometer
o Ballistic Galvanometer

In Lab:

- Demonstrate the use of galvanometer to students

- Allow them to the instrument freely

Assignment:

- Ask the students to make a table to list the pros and con of each type.
Ammeter:

In Lecture

- Introduction to ammeter
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle
- Types
o Moving coil
o Moving magnet
o Moving Iron
o Hot-wire
o Electrodynamic

In Lab:

- Demonstrate the use of each ammeter to students

- Allow them to the instrument freely

Assignment:

- Ask the students to make a table to list the pros and con of each type of ammeter.
Voltmeter

In Lecture

- Introduction to Voltmeter
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle
- Types
o Analog Voltmeter
o Vacuum tube Voltmeters
o Field Effect Transistors Voltmeter
o Digital Voltmeter

In Lab:

- Demonstrate the use of each ammeter to students

- Allow them to the instrument freely

Assignment:

- Ask the students to make a table to list the pros and con of each type.
- Make a comparison table between ammeter, voltmeter and galvanometer
Current Clamp

In Lecture

- Introduction
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle
- Types
o Current Transformer
o Iron Vane
o Hall Effect
o Rogowski coil

In Lab:

- Demonstrate the use of clamp to students

- Allow them to the instrument freely
- Ask students to measure the current in different wires in the lab (e.g. AC, heating, projectors
etc)

Assignment:

- Make accuracy comparison between digital and analog clamps.

Capacitance Meter

In Lecture

- Introduction
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle
- Types
o How capacitance is measured in multimeter
o Dedicated bridge capacitance meters

In Lab:

- Demonstrate the use of multimeter capacitance measurements to students

- Allow them to the instrument freely

Assignment:

- Why bridge type is more accurate and sensitive compared to multimeter capacitance
measurements
Cos Phi Meter

In Lecture

- Introduction
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle
o Linear circuits
o Nonlinear circuits
- Power triangle
o Real Power
o Apparent power
o Reactive power
o Lagging Power Factor
o Leading Power Factor
- Power Factor Correction
o Passive Power Factor Correction
o Active Power Factor Correction
- Types
o Electrodynamic Type
o Polarized Vane Type
o Digital Instruments
o Power Analyzers

In Lab:

- Demonstrate the use of Cos Phi Meter measurements to students

- Demonstrate the use in Linear and nonlinear circuits

Assignment:

- Divide student into small groups and ask them to make circuits which have lagging or leading
power factors
Frequency Counter

In Lecture

- Introduction
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle
o Accuracy
o Resolution
o Timebase

In Lab:

- Demonstrate the use of Frequency counter measurements to students

- Allow them to the instrument freely

Assignment:

- Ask students to make a simple interface program where the frequency counter reading can be
displayed on computer in real time
Wattmeter

In Lecture

- Introduction
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle
- Types
o Electrodynamic
o Electronic

In Lab:

- Demonstrate the use of wattmeter measurements to students

- Allow them to the instrument freely

Assignment:

- Ask students to study the wattmeters outside their homes/dorms and make a report on the
energy consumption of their meters
Ohmmeter

In Lecture

- Introduction
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle

In Lab:

- Demonstrate the use of ohmmeter to students

- Allow them to the instrument freely
Tachometer

In Lecture

- Introduction
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle

In Lab:

- Demonstrate the use of ohmmeter to students

- Allow them to the instrument freely
Megger Test:

In Lecture

- Introduction
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle

In Lab:

- Demonstrate the use of Meggar to students

- Allow them to the instrument freely

Assignment

- Ask students to measure the insulation of different wires in the lab

- Ask students to measure the grounding wire resistance of different building
- Make a report on the above measurements
Signal Generator

In Lecture

- Introduction
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle
- Functions of signal generator
o Arbitrary waveform generations
o Digital pattern generation

In Lab:

- Fully explain how to use the signal generator

- Combine this with Oscilloscope lab
Oscilloscope

In Lecture

- Introduction
- Brief Overview of history
- Features

In Lab:

- Demonstrate use of oscilloscope with signal generator

- How to calculate time period, frequency, and amplitude of wave.
- AC voltage measurement with oscilloscope

Assignment:

- Generate a triangle wave from the function generator and measure its component on
oscilloscope (amplitude, time period). Note the setting on the oscilloscope
- Repeat above experiment with square wave and sine wave
LCR Meter:

In Lecture

- Introduction
- Brief Overview of history
- Working Principle

In Lab:

- Demonstrate use of LCR

Assignment:

- Ask students to measure LCR of circuits which were prepared previously by 1st year students and
report on their measurements.
- Ask students to measure LCR of circuits which they designed for cos phi meter testing.