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    The Oscilloscope

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    sumith85
    The oscilloscope uses a cathode ray tube to display a graph of an electrical signal over time. It has a vertical axis for voltage and a horizontal axis for time. An electron beam is deflected by the electrical signal on the vertical plates and swept horizontally by a time base signal to draw the graph on the fluorescent screen. Key controls include voltage and time scales, input coupling, trigger modes, and the ability to display multiple signals or use one channel as the horizontal reference in XY mode.

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    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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    The Oscilloscope

    Uploaded by

    sumith85
    935 views6 pages
    The oscilloscope uses a cathode ray tube to display a graph of an electrical signal over time. It has a vertical axis for voltage and a horizontal axis for time. An electron beam is deflected by the electrical signal on the vertical plates and swept horizontally by a time base signal to draw the graph on the fluorescent screen. Key controls include voltage and time scales, input coupling, trigger modes, and the ability to display multiple signals or use one channel as the horizontal reference in XY mode.

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    Its about structure and operation of Oscilloscope

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    The oscilloscope uses a cathode ray tube to display a graph of an electrical signal over time. It has a vertical axis for voltage and a horizontal axis for time. An electron beam is deflected by the electrical signal on the vertical plates and swept horizontally by a time base signal to draw the graph on the fluorescent screen. Key controls include voltage and time scales, input coupling, trigger modes, and the ability to display multiple signals or use one channel as the horizontal reference in XY mode.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    935 views6 pages

    The Oscilloscope

    Uploaded by

    sumith85
    The oscilloscope uses a cathode ray tube to display a graph of an electrical signal over time. It has a vertical axis for voltage and a horizontal axis for time. An electron beam is deflected by the electrical signal on the vertical plates and swept horizontally by a time base signal to draw the graph on the fluorescent screen. Key controls include voltage and time scales, input coupling, trigger modes, and the ability to display multiple signals or use one channel as the horizontal reference in XY mode.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
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    At a glance
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    An oscilloscope displays voltage over time by using an electron gun to produce a beam that is deflected by voltage signals. This allows it to graph electrical waveforms.

    A signal is fed into the vertical system and deflects the electron beam up and down. Meanwhile, the horizontal sweep moves the beam across the screen, tracing the signal as a visible line.

    Features like volts/div, coupling, alternate/chop modes, and secs/div allow control over scale, filtering, and timebase to view signals clearly.

    The Oscilloscope

    Introduction
    The oscilloscope is basically a graph-displaying device - it draws a
    graph of an electrical signal. In most applications the graph shows
    how signals change over time: the vertical (Y) axis represents
    voltage and the horizontal (X) axis represents time. The intensity or
    brightness of the display is sometimes called the Z axis.

    Structure
    The cathode-ray tube consists essentially of an "electron gun" for
    producing a beam of rapidly moving electrons called cathode rays, a
    fluorescent screen upon which a luminous spot is produced by the
    impact of the cathode rays, and a means for displacing the spot from
    its quiescent position as the result of current or voltage applied to the
    deflecting mechanism. Although the electron beam may be focused by
    means of magnetic fields, electrostatic focusing is usually used.
    The figure below shows the electrode structure of a typical cathode-ray
    tube having an electron gun with electrostatic focusing.
    The electron gun consists of an electron source (i.e. an electrically
    heated cathode which "boils off" electrons), a grid G for controlling the
    intensity of the electron beam, hence the brightness of the luminous
    spot, and two anodes A1 and A2. The final velocity with which the
    electrons leave the gun is determined by the potential of A2 which is
    normally maintained constant. The electrostatic fields between G and
    A1 and between A1 and A2 focus the stream of electrons in a manner
    somewhat analogous to the focusing of light rays by lenses. Usually,
    the focus control on the oscilloscope adjusts the potential of A1.

    How does an oscilloscope work?

    When you connect an oscilloscope probe to a circuit, the voltage signal


    travels through the probe to the vertical system of the oscilloscope.
    The figure below is a simple block diagram that shows how an
    oscilloscope displays a measured signal.
    Depending on how you set the vertical scale (volts/div control), an
    attenuator reduces the signal voltage or an amplifier increases the
    signal voltage.

    Next, the signal travels directly to the vertical deflection plates of the
    cathode ray tube (CRT). Voltage applied to these deflection plates
    causes a glowing dot to move. (An electron beam hitting phosphor
    inside the CRT creates the glowing dot.) A positive voltage causes the
    dot to move up while a negative voltage causes the dot to move down.

    The signal also travels to the trigger system to start or trigger a


    "horizontal sweep." Horizontal sweep is a term referring to the action
    of the horizontal system causing the glowing dot to move across the
    screen. Triggering the horizontal system causes the horizontal time
    base to move the glowing dot across the screen from left to right
    within a specific time interval. Many sweeps in rapid sequence cause
    the movement of the glowing dot to blend into a solid line. At higher
    speeds, the dot may sweep across the screen up to 500,000 times
    each second.

    Together, the horizontal sweeping action and the vertical deflection


    action traces a graph of the signal on the screen. The trigger is
    necessary to stabilize a repeating signal. It ensures that the sweep
    begins at the same point of a repeating signal, resulting in a clear
    picture.

    Important Features
    An oscilloscope has many controlling options to produce a clear graph.
    Some of these are described below.

    Vertical Position and Volts per Division


    The vertical position control moves the waveform up or down to
    exactly where it is wanted.

    The volts per division (usually written volts/div) setting varies the size
    of the waveform on the screen. A good general purpose oscilloscope
    can accurately display signal levels from about 4 millivolts to 40 volts.

    The volts/div setting is a scale factor. For example, if the volts/div


    setting is 5 volts, then each of the eight vertical divisions represents 5
    volts and the entire screen can show 40 volts from bottom to top.

    Input Coupling
    Coupling means the method used to connect an electrical signal from
    one circuit to another. In this case, the input coupling is the connection
    from test circuit to the oscilloscope. The coupling can be set to DC, AC,
    or ground. DC coupling shows all of an input signal. AC coupling blocks
    the DC component of a signal .The ground setting disconnects the
    input signal from the vertical system, which lets to see where zero
    volts is on the screen.

    Alternate and Chop Display


    On analog scopes, multiple channels are displayed using either an
    alternate or chop mode.

    Alternate mode draws each channel alternately - the oscilloscope


    completes one sweep on channel 1, then one sweep on channel 2, a
    second sweep on channel 1, and so on.Chop mode causes the
    oscilloscope to draw small parts of each signal by switching back and
    forth between them. The switching rate is too fast to notice, so the
    waveform looks whole.

    Horizontal Position and Seconds per Division

    The horizontal position control moves the waveform from left and right
    to exactly where it is wanted.

    The seconds per division (usually written as sec/div) setting selects


    the rate at which the waveform is drawn across the screen (also known
    as the time base setting or sweep speed). This setting is a scale factor.
    For example, if the setting is 1 ms, each horizontal division represents
    1 ms and the total screen width represents 10 ms (ten divisions).
    Changing the sec/div setting provides an opportunity to look at longer
    or shorter time intervals of the input signal.

    As with the vertical volts/div scale, the horizontal sec/div scale may
    have variable timing, allowing to set the horizontal time scale in
    between the discrete settings.

    The Time-base Generator

    In order that the image plotted on the scope screen shall show the
    unknown y-axis voltage as a function of time, it is necessary that the
    spot shall periodically sweep across the screen horizontally (along x-
    axis) with uniform velocity up to a certain point and then return rapidly
    to its zero position. If the time taken for one timing sweep is equal to
    the period of the voltage applied to the y plates, the pattern will
    consist of one cycle of the y voltage. If the sweep frequency is equal to
    fy/n, the image will show n waves of the y voltage. The required
    horizontal movement of the fluorescent spot can be produced by
    means of an x voltage that periodically increases uniformly with time
    and falls to zero instantaneously upon reaching a given value. The
    wave form of such a linear sweep voltage is shown in the figure below.
    Because of its shape, this
    signal is called a "sawtooth" voltage.
    Trigger Modes
    The trigger mode determines whether or not the oscilloscope draws a
    waveform if it does not detect a trigger. Common trigger modes
    include normal and auto.

    In normal mode the oscilloscope only sweeps if the input signal


    reaches the set trigger point; otherwise the screen is blank . Auto
    mode causes the oscilloscope to sweep, even without a trigger. If no
    signal is present, a timer in the oscilloscope triggers the sweep. This
    ensures that the display will not disappear if the signal drops to small
    voltages.

    XY Mode

    Most oscilloscopes have the capability of displaying a second channel


    signal along the X-axis (instead of time). This is called XY mode.

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