School of Engineering

Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering

INFORMATION SHEET
BRANCH: ALL PROGRAM: B.Tech
COURSE NAME: ELEMENTS OF ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING COURSE CODE: EEE101
SEM: I/II DATE OF ISSUE: 01/05/19
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TITLE: Introduction to Electrical Measuring Instrument

Outcomes: On reading this information sheet the reader shall be able to:
1. Explain the basic concepts of Electrical Measuring Instruments
2. Explain the working of Traditional E.M.I.
3. Explain the Fundamentals of Modern Measuring System
I Introduction:
The measurement of a given electrical quantity is essentially an act or the result of
Comparison between the quantity (whose magnitude is unknown) and a predefined standard.
Since two quantities are compared, the result is expressed in numerical values. A measuring
instrument is a piece of apparatus used to measure a quantity such as Voltage, Current, and
Power ETC. It may indicate by a deflection, the quantity under measurement or give
consumption of electrical energy during a specified period or produce a continuous record of
the variations in a quantity. Over a period of time the process of measurement and the
functioning of measuring instruments have under gone a revolutionary changes. This
information sheet is aimed at providing some fundamental aspects of measuring instruments
both traditional and the advanced.

II. Need for Measurements:

1] To quantitatively express various electrical engineering variables observed
During experimentation and operation of equipment.
2] To carry out the design of various equipment and systems.
3] To operate and maintain various equipment and systems effectively.
4] To verify and confirm the validity of the various phenomenon and
Relationships.
III. Methods of Measurement:
1] Direct Method: In these methods, the unknown quantity [measurand] is directly
compared against a standard. The result is expressed in numerical number and a unit. Eg.
Measurement of length, Mass etc

2] Indirect Method: It is not possible to use direct methods for all the measurements
due to various reasons and hence an indirect methods are incorporated, in this the quantity to
be measured is obtained using some form of energy conversions with the help of transducers.
Eg. Measurement of Current, Voltage etc.
IV. Classification of Measuring Instruments:
A. Absolute Instruments: Used only in standard Laboratories under standard
atmospheric conditions and used for calibrating the secondary instruments.
B. Secondary Instruments: These instruments are widely used in the field for all types of
measurements. All the instruments discussed in this sheet are of this category.
C. Traditional Measuring Instruments: Following are the various type of measuring
instruments which were used before the advent of Digital Technology. Even now in
some places these instruments are in use:
1. Depending on the quantity to be measured
Volt meters, Ammeters, Watt Meters, Energy Meters, Frequency Meters, Megger
2. Depending on the working Principle:
Moving Iron Type, Moving Coil type, Induction Type, Hot wire Type.
3. Depending on how the quantity is measured:
Deflection Type, Integrating Type, Recording Type.
D. Modern Measuring Instruments:
1) Digital Instruments
Digital Voltmeters, Digital Multi Meters.
2) Virtual Instruments.

V. Important Characteristics of Measuring Instruments:

Following are some of the important characteristics of measuring instruments:
A] Error B] Accuracy C] Sensitivity D] Dead Zone

A] ERROR: It is the difference between the MEASURE VALUE and the TRUE VALUE
True value is one which is obtained based on computations and the measured value is
one which is obtained from the measurement.
Error = M.V.- T.V.
Adjustment = - ve (ERROR)
% ERROR = [M.V.- T.V./ T.V] *100
Numerical Example 1: A meter used to measure the voltage reads 127.5 Volts and the
corresponding value obtained from the computations is found to be 127.43 Volts. Identify and
compute the Unknown.
Solution: Data: T.V. = 127.43 VOLTS [ IT IS COMPUTED]
M.V. = 127.50 VOLTS
Unknown: ERROR, ADJESTMENT AND THE PERCENTAGE ERROR
Error = M.V-T.V. = 127.5-127.43 = +0.07 Volts
Adjustment = -ve of Error = -{+0.07} = - 0.07
%ge ERROR =[ 0.07/127.43] *100 = + 0.054 %
Numerical Example.2: An Voltage appearing across a component of a circuit is 1.5 Volts as per
the calculations but the measured value is found to be 1.46 Volts. Identify and compute the
Unknown.
Solution: Data: True Value [Calculated] = 1.5 volts
Measured Value = 1.46 volts
Unknown: Error, Adjustment, %ge error
Error = M.V.-T.V. = 1.46 – 1.5 = - 0.04 VOLTS
Adjustment = - ve [error] = -[ -0.04 ] = 0.04
% Error = [M.V.-T.V]/T.V. *100 = 1.46 – 1.5/ 1.5 *100 = - 2.67 %

B] Accuracy: It is the closeness with which an instrument reading approaches the true value of the
quantity to be measured.
C] Sensitivity: Ratio of the magnitude of the output quantity (signal) to the magnitude of the Input
quantity (signal)
D] Dead Zone: Largest change of the input quantity for which there is no output of the instrument.

VI. Fundamentals of Traditional Type of Instruments:

1) Basic Torques Required for deflecting type of Instruments: Following are the three
different essential torques require for functioning of any deflecting type of Instruments:
A] Deflecting Torque: This torque acts on the moving system of the instrument to give
the required deflection. It exists as long as the instrument is connected to the supply. This
torque is produced by any one effects of Electric current like magnetic, electromagnetic,
induction, thermal etc. The deflection torque is proportional to the quantity to be
measured.
B] Control Torque: This torque oppose the deflection torque and increases with the
deflection torque. This torque always exists in the instrument. The pointer comes to steady
position when the deflecting torque is equal to controlling torque.
C] Damping Torque: This torque is produced only when the instrument is in operation.
This ensures that the moving system takes just the required time to reach to the final
position. If the damping torque is not sufficient the pointer will be vibrating at its final
position.
2) Moving Iron Instrument:
The instrument in which the moving iron is used for measuring the flow of current or voltage is
known as the moving iron instrument. It works on the principle that the iron place near the magnet
attracts towards it. The force of attraction depends on the strength of the magnet field. The
magnetic field induces by the electromagnet whose strength depends on the magnitude of the
current passes through it. There are two types of Moving Iron Instruments Attraction Type and the
Repulsion Type. Only Attraction type is discussed in this paper
A] Construction of Moving Iron Instrument
Construction of Attraction Type Instrument – The stationary coil of the attraction type
instrument is flat and has a narrow opening. The moving element is the flat disc of the iron
core. The current flow through the stationary coil produced the magnetic field which attracts
the iron coil.

B] Working of the Moving Iron Instrument:

The iron vane deflects from the low magnetic field to the high magnetic field, and the
strength of the deflection is directly proportional to the magnitude of the current flow
through it. In short, we can say that the iron coil attracts towards in.
The attraction type instruments use spring, which provided the controlling torque. The
deflection of the coil is reduced by the aluminum piston which is attached to the moving coil.
Application of Moving Iron Instruments: These are used to measure both A.C. &D.C. voltages
and current.

3) Moving Coil Instrument: There two types of Moving Coil instruments: Permanent magnet
type [PMMC] and the Dynamo meter type only the Permanent Magnet type is discussed.
A] Construction of PMMC Instrument
A PMMC Equipment consists of two main parts; moving coil and a permanent magnet
along with other parts. These parts are explained below:
Magnet System
The instrument consists of two high intensity, high coercive force magnets or a big U-
shape magnet based on design. These magnets are made up of Alcomax and Alnico for
higher coercive force and better field intensity. In many designs an additional soft iron
cylinder is placed in between the magnetic poles to make the field uniform; while
reducing air reluctance to increasing field strength.
Moving Coil
It is one of the main component of permanent magnet moving coil equipment; and is
made up of copper coils wounded to a rectangular block in between the magnetic poles.
Made up of Aluminum; the rectangular block is called Aluminum former pivoted to the
jeweled bearing. It is what that allows the coil to rotate freely.
When current is passed through these coils; it receives a deflection in the field which is
then used to determine voltage / Current magnitude. Non-metallic former like that of
aluminum are used for current measurement; while metallic former with high
electromagnetic damping are used to measure voltage.

Control
Two spring made of phosphorus bronze acts as a control system for the permanent
magnet moving coil. These springs are mounted on the jewel bearing of PMMC;
providing the essential controlling torque. The controlling torque produced is mainly
due to ribon suspension. They oppose the force of deflection; so as the electromagnetic
force ( Of Moving Coil ) came in equilibrium with the spring tension.
This helps in keeping the pointer at a fixed position after initial deflection. These control
springs also serves the purpose of providing lead current path in and out of the system.
Damping System
Damping torque is produced in the PMMC equipment by the movement of aluminum
core in the magnetic field. It keeps the pointer at rest after the initial deflection. This
helps in proper measurement without fluctuations. Due to the movement of coil in the
magnetic field; eddy current is produced in the aluminum former.
This produce the damping force / Torque which oppose further motion of the coil.
Slowly the pointer deflection reduce and finally stop’s at a fixed position.
Scale and Pointer
The pointer connected to the moving coil, moves over a marked scale. The pointer
moves along with the coil deflection to show readings marked on the scale. Pointer is a
simple construction with light weight design and twisted section to reduce parallax
error. A Parallax error can be further reduced by proper alignment of pointer blades to
the initial scale.
B] Working Principle of a PMMC Instrument
“When a current caring conductor is placed in a magnetic field; it experiences a force
perpendicular to the field and the current.” (Fleming Left Hand Rule). This force tends
to move the conductor. According to Fleming left hand rule; if your left hand thumb, fore
finger and middle finger are at 90 degree to each other. Then the magnetic field would
be along the fore finger, current across the middle while the force along the thumb.
When current flows in the coil on the aluminum former; a magnetic field is produced in
the coil in proportion to the current flow. This electromagnetic force along with static
magnetic field from the permanent magnet produce the deflection force in the coil. The
spring then produce the controlling force to oppose further deflection; thus helps in
balancing the pointer.
Then damping force is produced in the system by the movement of aluminum core in
the magnetic field. It keeps the pointer fixed to a position after it reach equilibrium with
the controlling and deflection torque; providing better precision in measurement.
C] Application:
This instruments can be used only for D.C. Volt meter and Ammeter and not for A.C.
applications as the Permanent magnets are used. However the Dynamo meter type can
be used for both A.C. &D.C.

3] Induction Type of Energy Meter:

Definition: The meter which is used for measuring the energy utilizes by
the electric load is known as the energy meter. The energy is the total power
consumed and utilized by the load at a particular interval of time. It is used
in domestic and industrial AC circuit for measuring the power consumption. The meter
is less expensive and accurate.
A] Construction of Energy Meter
The construction of the single phase energy meter is shown in the figure below.
 The energy meter has four main parts. They are the
1. Driving System
2. Moving System
3. Braking System
4. Registering System
The detail explanation of their parts is written below.
1. Driving System:
The electromagnet is the main component of the driving system. It is the temporary
magnet which is excited by the current flow through their coil. The core of the
electromagnet is made up of silicon steel lamination. The driving system has two
electromagnets. The upper one is called the shunt electromagnet, and the lower one is
called series electromagnet.
The series electromagnet is excited by the load current flow through the current coil. The
coil of the shunt electromagnet is directly connected with the supply and hence carry the
current proportional to the shunt voltage. This coil is called the pressure coil.
The centre limb of the magnet has the copper band. These bands are adjustable. The main
function of the copper band is to align the flux produced by the shunt magnet in such a way
that it is exactly perpendicular to the supplied voltage.
2. Moving System:
The moving system is the aluminum disc mounted on the shaft of the alloy. The disc is
placed in the air gap of the two electromagnets. The eddy current is induced in the disc
because of the change of the magnetic field. This eddy current is cut by the magnetic
flux. The interaction of the flux and the disc induces the deflecting torque.
When the devices consume power, the aluminum disc starts rotating, and after some
number of rotations, the disc displays the unit used by the load. The number of rotations
of the disc is counted at particular interval of time. The disc measured the power
consumption in kilowatt hours.
3. Braking system:
The permanent magnet is used for reducing the rotation of the aluminum disc. The
aluminum disc induces the eddy current because of their rotation. The eddy current cut
the magnetic flux of the permanent magnet and hence produces the braking torque.
This braking torque opposes the movement of the disc, thus reduces their speed. The
permanent magnet is adjustable due to which the braking torque is also adjusted by
shifting the magnet to the other radial position.
1. Registration (Counting Mechanism):
The main function of the registration or counting mechanism is to record the number of
rotations of the aluminum disc. Their rotation is directly proportional to the energy
consumed by the loads in the kilowatt hour.
The rotation of the disc is transmitted to the pointers of the different dial for recording
the different readings. The reading in kWh is obtained by multiply the number of
rotations of the disc with the meter constant.
 4] Megger:
Construction and working principle of Megger for measurement of High resistances.
We know that the ratiometer ohmmeters may be designed to cover a wide range of
resistances. The principle of ratiometer ohmmeters is particularly adapted to
application in portable instruments measuring insulation resistance. This principle
forms the basis of insulation testing instrument known as Meggar.

Megger for measurement of high resistance

Construction and working of Megger:
The main parts of the Megger are shown in the above figure.
The current coil is same as that of permanent magnet moving coil instrument. V1 and V2
these are the two potential or voltage coils. The voltage coil V1 embraces the annular
magnetic core. As shown in figure voltage coil V1 is in weak magnetic field when the
pointer is at infinity and hence this coil exerts very little torque.
The torque exerted by this voltage coil increases as it moves into a stronger field and this
torque will be maximum when it is under the pole face and under this condition the pointer
will be at its zero end of the resistance scale.
In order to modify further the torque in the voltage circuit, another voltage coil V2 is used.
This coil is also located in such a way it can move from infinity to zero position of the
resistance scale. The coil finally embraces the extension H of the pole piece.
The combined action of the two voltage coils V1 and V2 may be considered as though the
coils constituted a spring of variable stiffness ,being very stiff near the zero end of the
scale where the current in the current coil is very small (on account of unknown resistance
Rx is very large).
Thus this effect compresses the low resistance portion of the scale and opens up the high
resistance of the scale. This is a great advantage since this instrument is meant to be used
as “insulation tester” as the insulation resistances are quite high.
VII. Fundamentals of Modern Instruments:
Digital Instruments and the Virtual Instruments are the most widely used type of
modern instruments in the industry.
1] Definitions:
Digital Instruments: The digital instrument indicates the value of the quantity to be
measured in the form of a digital number.
Virtual Instruments: It is an application of a customized software and modular
measurement hard ware to create user defined measurement system.
2] Advantages:
Digital Instruments:
i. Indicates the reading directly in decimal number and hence there is no reading
error.
ii. The reading may be carried to any value of the significant figure merely
positioning the decimal point.
iii. Output can be fed to any type of digital storage device.
iv. Power Requirement is less.
v. Relatively maintenance free.
Virtual Instruments:
i. Performance is very good
ii. Multiple, measurements are possible with necessary software modifications.
iii. Measurement system is very flexible for operation.
iv. Cost reduction.
v. Power consumption is less.

3. Block Diagram of Digital Volt Meter

We can see the working of digital voltmeter that it is nothing but an analog to digital
converter which converts an analog signal into a train of pulses, the number of which is
proportional to the input signal. So a digital voltmeter can be made by using any one of
the A/D conversion methods.

On the basis of A/D conversion method used digital voltmeters can be classified as:
 Ramp type digital voltmeter
 Integrating type voltmeter
 Potentiometric type digital voltmeters
 Successive approximation type digital voltmeter
 Continuous balance type digital voltmeter
Now-a-days digital voltmeters are also replaced by digital millimeters due to its
multitasking feature i.e. it can be used for measuring current, voltage and resistance. But
still there are some fields where separated digital voltmeters are being used.
Virtual Instrumentation System:
Every virtual instrument consists of two parts – software and hardware. A virtual
instrument typically has a sticker price comparable to and many times less than a similar
traditional instrument for the current measurement task. A traditional instrument
provides them with all software and measurement circuitry packaged into a product with
a finite list of fixed-functionality using the instrument front panel. A virtual instrument
provides all the software and hardware needed to accomplish the measurement or control
task. In addition, with a virtual instrument, engineers and scientists can customize the
acquisition, analysis, storage, sharing, and presentation functionality using productive,
powerful software.
Components of Virtual Instrumentation:
The concept of virtual instrumentation is, an engineer can use software running on a
computer combined with instrumentation hardware to define a custom, built-to-order
test and measurement solution.
The following block diagram shows the integral components of VI.

Software PC MODULAR I/O

1. Software
The heart of any virtual instrument is flexible software. Every virtual instrument is built
on this flexible and powerful software. Innovative engineer or scientist will apply his
domain expertise to customize the measurement and control application as per the
requirement. The result is a user-defined instrument, specific to the application needs.
With such software, engineers and scientists can interface with real-world signals;
analyze data for meaningful information, and share results and applications. NI Lab
VIEW, is an example software component of the virtual Instrumentation architecture,
with the graphical development platform for test, design and control
2. Modular I/O
The second virtual instrumentation component is the modular I/O for measurements
that require higher performance, resolution, or speeds. Advanced Modular Instrument
hardware use the latest I/O and data processing technologies, including Analog to
Digital Converters (ADC), Digital to Analog Converters, Filed Programmable Gate Arrays
(FPGAs), and PC busses to provide high resolution and throughput for measurements
.In combination with powerful software, engineers can create custom-defined
measurements and sophisticated analysis routines.
3. Computing Platform
The third virtual instrumentation element is - popular and commercially available
computing platform (PC or Server) to run the software and connect to I/O module this
element delivers virtual instrumentation on a long-term technology base that scales
with the high investments made in processors, buses, and more. Together, these
components empower engineers and scientists world over to create their own solutions
with virtual instrumentation. Virtual instrumentation has gradually increased
 addressable applications through continuous software innovation and hundreds of
measurement hardware devices. Having influenced millions of test and automation
professionals, today it is winning over experts in the control and design domains. Virtual
Instrumentation is rapidly revolutionizing the functions of control design, distributed
control, data logging, design verification, prototyping, simulation and more.
VIII. Conclusion:
Electrical Measurements and Measuring Instruments is a very vast area for the study,
this paper only attempts to provide an over view of the subject and the treatment given
to each topic is very elementary and the interested readers may refer to the texts
mentioned in the reference.
IX. Questions &Assignments:
1. Visit to the Electrical engineering laboratory and list all the type of instruments used in the
laboratory.
2. Mention the appropriate effects of Electrical current applied in explaining the functioning of
the following Instruments:
Moving Iron, Hot wire, Megger.
3. Visit to the website of M/S NATIONAL INSTRUMENTS and write an essay on Lab View
Software.
4. With the neat diagram briefly explain the working of the following instruments:
Moving Coil, Induction Type.
5. Write the Block Diagram of the Digital Volt Meter and the Virtual Instrumentation system.
X. Reference:
1. A.K. SAWHNEY “Electronic Instrumentation”
2. R. MUTHUSUBRAMANYAM “Basic Electrical and Electronics & Computer
Engineering.
3. WWW.NI.COM