lOMoAR cPSD| 18075533

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

Lab # 02: Measurement of Phase Angle in RC & RL Circuits
Learning Objective:
 To measure the phase difference of voltages in RC series circuit.
 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)
 Capacitor(100nF)
 Inductor(1mH)

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 leads v by 90˚ in a pure capacitor. In a series
-1 1
RC circuit, the current leads the voltage by tan ( RC ) as shown in the Figure 3.1.

Figure: 3.1
 lOMoAR cPSD| 18075533

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

The sign of the angle depends on which of the two waveforms is used as the reference
for zero phases. If the left waveform in Figure-3.3 is used as the reference, then since the
other waveform reaches zero before the reference reaches zero it is leading the reference
waveform. This is a positive phase shift. A negative phase shift would move the waveform
to the right of the reference waveform.

(a) An alternate method for determining phase difference between two signals is as follows:
Switch the display mode from voltage-time mode to X-Y mode. The display on the
oscilloscope will show an elliptical pattern similar to the Figure-3.4. Always adjust the
oscilloscope horizontal scale so that the ellipse, X total, is the full width of the screen. This
will maximize the accuracy of the measurements. Before measuring the, X zero, distance
increase the vertical gain to make the zero crossings steep for more accurate measurements.
Having the top and bottom of the figure off the screen will not affect the measurement
since the distance measured is along the horizontal axis. The horizontal scale does not
matter since both measurements are measured with the same scale. Therefore the scale
factor cancels out when the two values are divided. Also check to make sure the vertical
zero is exactly in the center of the screen.

Figure-3.4 Figure-3.5

The pattern in Figure-3.4 corresponds to a phase difference of 45 degrees, or -45 degrees,

and if the ellipse were sloping in the other direction as shown in Figure-3.5, it would
correspond to 135 degrees, or -135 degrees. The big problem with this method is that you
cannot determine if the angle is leading or lagging from this figure. You will have to go
back to the voltage-time scale to determine this.

The angle is then calculated as

θ = sin-1 (Xzero/ Xtotal)

 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 capacitor on Channel
2 of the oscilloscope.
4. Measure the phase difference between the source voltage, VS and the voltage across the
capacitor, VC using voltage-time mode of oscilloscope. Record this value in Table-1.
5. Measure the phase difference using X-Y mode and record the value in Table-1.
6. Repeat above two steps for each frequency in Table-1.
7. Swap the capacitor with resistor and hook the probes in the same fashion.
8. Repeat all above steps for figure 3.7 and record the values in Table 2.

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

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

Phase θ1
Using voltage-
Time mode

Phase θ1
Using X-Y
mode
 lOMoAR cPSD| 18075533

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

RL Circuit:

Figure-3.7
TABLE-2:

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

Phase θ1
Using voltage-
Time mode

Phase θ1
Using X-Y
mode

EXPLAINATION OF LEARNING ACHIEVED IN THIS LAB (in your own

words)

Student’s Names signature and Date