lOMoAR cPSD| 18075533

Measurement of Phase angle in RC and RL Circuits LAB:02

Lab # 03: Measurement of Phase Angle in RL Circuits
Learning Objective:
 To measure the phase difference of voltages in RL series circuit.

Equipment Required:
 Digital multi-meter
 Oscilloscope with 2 probes
 Function Generator with 1 probe
 Breadboard
 Resistors (1KΩ)
 Inductor

Introduction:
The sinusoid is a distinctive signal waveform. If a sinusoidal source is connected to a
network of linear passive elements, then every voltage and current in that network will be
sinusoidal in the steady state, differing from the source waveform only in amplitude and phase
angle. This concludes that the sum of number of sinusoids of one frequency, but of arbitrary
amplitude and phase, is a sinusoid of the same frequency. This summation property is important
because its analysis involves the application of Kirchhoff’s voltage or current law.
The Kirchhoff’s voltage law for ac circuit states that the phasor sum of the voltages
around the closed loop is equal to zero. If voltage or current are both sinusoidal functions of
time, a plot of both to the same time scale will show a displacement between them except
for the case of pure resistance. This displacement is the phase angle and never exceeds 90˚ or
π/2 radians. This phase angle is always described as “what the current i does with respect to
the voltage v”; e.g. i lags v by 90˚ in a pure inductor. In a series RL circuit, current lags
voltage by

ϕ = tan-1 (XL/R)

Figure: 3.1
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Measurement of Phase angle in RC and RL Circuits LAB:02

Measuring Phase Angle Using Oscilloscope:
Figure-3.1 shows two waveforms at the same frequency, but with a different phase
angles. There are two ways to measure phase angle using oscilloscope:
1. Measure the time period, T of the waveform first. It can be measured as long as there is at
least slightly more than a complete cycle on the screen (at least three zero crossings) as
shown in Figure-3.2. Never try to determine the period by measuring from one peak to the
next. The results will be less accurate due to the difficulty in finding the exact center of the
peaks.

Figure-3.2

Use AC coupling and carefully set the zero of both signals at the center of the screen.
Then measure the difference in time between the closest origin crossings of the same slope.
To improve the accuracy of this measurement, use the horizontal position control to center
the interval, Δt, on the screen and then expand the time scale to make the interval cover as
much of the screen as possible. Also expand the vertical scale so the zero crossings are
steep enough to make it easy to see exactly where the line crosses zero as shown in Figure-
3.3. Measure this interval as accurately as possible.

Figure-3.3
The phase angle is then calculated as:

θ = (Δt/T) x 360˚.
 lOMoAR cPSD| 18075533

Measurement of Phase angle in RC and RL Circuits LAB:02

Procedure:
1. Connect the circuit as shown in Figure-3.6.

2. At the frequency of 1K Hz, adjust the source voltage, Vs for peak amplitude of 4 V.
3. View the source voltage, Vs on Channel 1 and voltage across the inductor on Channel
2 of the oscilloscope.
4. Measure the phase difference between the source voltage, VS and the voltage across the
inductor, VL using voltage-time mode of oscilloscope. Record this value in Table-1.
5. Repeat above two steps for each frequency in Table-1.
6. Swap the inductor with resistor and hook the probes in the same fashion.

TABLE-1: Phase Shift of voltage across the inductor with respect to the applied voltage

1 kHz 5 kHz
Frequency
(kHz) Calculated Measured % Error Calculated Measured % Error

Phase θ1
Using voltage-
Time mode
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Measurement of Phase angle in RC and RL Circuits LAB:02

CALCULATIONS:

EXPLAINATION OF LEARNING ACHIEVED IN THIS LAB (in your own

words)

Student’s Names signature and Date