Subject: Electronics

Semester: 5th
Paper Title: Electronic Instrumentation
Unit I: Measurements and Instruments
Topic: HAY BRIDGE
The Hay bridge of Fig.1 differs from the Maxwell bridge by having resistor R1 in series with standard capacitor C1
instead of in parallel. It is immediately apparent that for large phase angles, R1 should have a very low value. The
Hay circuit is therefore more convenient for measuring high-Q coils.
The balance equations are derived by substituting the values of the impedances of the bridge arms into the general
equation for bridge balance. For the circuit of Fig.1, we find that
Z1 = R1 – (j/wC1)
Z2 = R2
Z3 = R3
And Zx = Rx + jwLx
Substituting these values in Equation Z1 Z4 = Z2Z3, we get
[R1 – (j/wC1)][Rx + jwLx] = R2R3
Separating the real and imaginary terms, we obtain
R1Rx + Lx / C1 = R2R3 …………………… (1)
and
Rx / wC1 = wLxR1 …………………. (2)
Both Eq. (1) and (2) contain Lx and Rx, and we must solve these equations simultaneously. This yields
Rx = w2C12 R1R2R3 / (1+ w2C12R12 ) …………….. (3)
And Lx = R2R3C1 / (1+ w2C12R12 ) …………….. (4)
These expressions for the unknown inductance and resistance both contain the angular frequency w and it therefore
appears that the frequency of the voltage source must be known accurately. That this is not true when a high-Q coil
is being measured follows from the following considerations: Remembering that the sum of the opposite sets of
phase angles must be equal, we find that the inductive phase angle must be equal to the capacitive phase angle, since
the resistive angles are zero. Figure 2 shows that the tangent of the inductive phase angle equals
tan ƟL = XL / R = wLx / Rx = Q
and that of the capacitive phase angle is
tan Ɵc = Xc / R = 1 / wC1R1
When the two phase angles are equal, their tangents are also equal and we can write
tan ƟL = tan Ɵc or
Q = 1 / wC1R1 ………………. (5)
Returning now to the term (1+ w2C12R12 )which appears in Eqs. (3) and (4), we find that, after submitting Eq. (5) in
the expression for Lx, Eq. (4) reduces to
Lx = R2R3C1 / [1 + (1/Q)2] ………………….. (6)
For a value of Q greater than ten, the term (1/Q)2 will be smaller than 1/100 and can be neglected. Equation (4)
therefore reduces to the expression derived for the Maxwell bridge,
Lx = R2R3C1
The Hay bridge is suited for the measurement of high-Q inductors, especially for those inductors having a greater
than ten. For Q-values smaller than ten, the term (1/Q) becomes important and cannot be neglected. In this case, the
Maxwell bridge is more suitable.