Electrical Measurement and Electronic Instruments

Prof. Avishek Chatterjee

Lecture - 04
Features of PMMC & Electrodynamic Instrument

Hello and welcome. In last two videos we have studied about PMMC Instrument and
Electrodynamic Instrument. In this video we shall talk about some very important
properties and comparison between these two instruments which we all should know.

(Refer Slide Time: 00:55)

So, important properties of PMMC and Electrodynamic instruments; so, let me do it side
by side. I will do PMMC here an electrodynamic instrument here. This is also called
dynamometer type instrument just for your knowledge. Now, a quick recap, we have seen
that PMMC instrument is made up of a permanent magnet and inside that, we have a coil
which carries the current to be measured. In case of electrodynamic instrument, this
permanent magnet is replaced by a pair of electromagnets.

So, this is the coil carrying a current which generates the magnetic field, call it If, because
these coils are called fixed coils and we have a moving coil inside which carries another
current called this Im. So, here we have permanent magnet and here electromagnet. Now,
we have seen that the deflecting torque
 TD = B A N I

𝑇𝑐 = 𝑇𝐷

𝐾𝜃=𝐵𝐴𝑁𝐼

𝐵𝐴𝑁
𝜃= 𝐼
𝐾

where B is the flux density A is the area of this coil, N is the number of turns and I is the
current through this coil. And, then at equilibrium we have the controlling torque or spring
torque.

𝑑𝑀 𝑑𝑀
𝑇𝐷 = 𝐼𝑚 𝐼𝑓 = 𝐼2
𝑑𝜃 𝑑𝜃

M is the mutual inductance between the fixed and the moving coil, θ is the angular position
of the moving coil.

𝑇𝑐 = 𝑇𝐷

𝑑𝑀 𝑑𝑀
𝐾𝜃 = 𝐼𝑓 𝐼𝑚 = 𝐼2
𝑑𝜃 𝑑𝜃

And, we also have said that normally we can connect these two coils in series, maybe like
this. So, if we connect them in series,

𝑑𝑀 1
𝜃 = 𝐼2
𝑑𝜃 𝐾

So, important property is that, for electromagnet for PMMC instrument we have,

𝜃 𝛼 𝐼2
(Refer Slide Time: 07:38)

So therefore, we can now write for this instrument that the direction of the torque T D or
the angle of deflection θ, depends on the direction of the current I. So, for that let us look
at this schematic here. We have north and south pole like this, flux lines are all from left
to right. And if the current is flowing like this, then it will have some direction of force or
some direction of torque, which you can find out using Fleming’s left-hand rule which we
did yesterday in our last class.

And, if I now change the direction of the current then we will immediately see that the
direction of torque and force will get reversed. So, in this case the direction of the torque
and force depends on the direction of the current. Also, this expression θ proportional to I
and the fact that TD is also proportional to I this implies that if I have negative current, if I
becomes negative with respect to some reference, then TD will be negative, or its direction
will be negative, θ will be negative; that means, the pointer will move in the opposite
direction.

So, the direction of TD and θ so, both depend on the direction of the current I. Here the
direction of TD and theta do not depend on the direction of current. Why, because one
observation you can make here is that theta is proportional to I square. So, if I take minus
I, I square will still be positive. So, the direction of theta or sign of theta will not change.
So, once again the direction of TD or the sign of TD will not depend on the sign or direction
of the current and from the physical consideration, what can we say. Suppose if I if the
current is flowing in this direction, which may possibly create flux, say from left to right.
And, then the current is flowing in some direction, it will generate a torque it will generate
some force and torque. Now, if I change the direction of the current, then both the direction
of the current as well as the direction of flux will change.

So, if I change the direction of the current like this, then the flux will also get reversed.
Then the flux lines will become in the opposite direction. Now, if you apply Fleming’s
left-hand rule, the flux lines are reversed the current is reversed. So, the force will remain
in the same direction and therefore, the torque will remain in the same direction. It is like
2 minus signs cancelling each other.

So, the direction of TD and theta do not depend on the direction of the current. Now, the
next question is what will happen if I apply AC current. The answer is like this, say if the
frequency of I is very low, say like 0.1 hertz or even lower. So; that means, one oscillation
in every 10 seconds. So, every 10 second the direction of the current is reversed. So, what
will happen?

So, let me draw the scale of the instrument and I have a pointer. So, every 10 second the
direction of the current is reversed. So, I would like to go to the overhead camera. Now,
what will happen the pointer will change it is direction every 10 seconds like first positive
current so, the pointer goes towards the positive value, then it comes back to 0 and again
to the negative side comes back again to 0 and to positive side and so on.

So, this way it will oscillate between positive and negative value. So, the conclusion is that
if the frequency is very low, then the pointer oscillates. Now, let us increase the frequency
slowly, if the frequency is high, maybe as high as power frequency 50 Hz.

So, 50 oscillations per second what will happen. So, let us see what happens if we increase
the frequency. So, for low frequency the pointer moves like this positive 0, negative 0,
positive 0 now I increase the frequency. Positive 0, negative 0, positive 0, negative 0,
positive 0, negative 0 like that, but at the same time the amount of oscillation or the
amplitude of oscillation will be reduced, because due to inertia, in a smaller time it cannot
go far too much. So, if the frequency is increased, it is getting smaller time less time to
move. So, the amplitude will be decreased.
So, this will work like this, for low frequency plus 0 minus 0 for higher frequency, plus 0
minus 0 plus 0 minus so, with small oscillation. And, at very high frequency plus 0 minus
0 plus 0 minus 0 plus 0 minus 0, only a small vibration we can see. And, if the frequency
is even higher the vibration will be invisible, unobservable. Then, the pointer will stay at
some average position and the average position for pure AC current is 0. So, the pointer
will stay at 0 position, it will not move at all.

So, once again for low frequency it will oscillate plus 0 like that and at high frequency as
frequency increases plus minus plus minus plus minus very fast plus minus plus minus
plus minus only a vibration and then no movement at all. So, the conclusion is if the
frequency is high, then pointer does not move at all. So, it stays at 0 value or indicates 0
value.

Now, same thing what will happen for electrodynamic instrument. For electrodynamic
instrument, we know that the direction of pointer movement does not depend on the
direction of the current. In this case, if this is my 0 position then one side may indicate
plus current may be say 10 ampere another side will indicate minus 10 amperes. For
electrodynamic instrument the pointer can move only in one direction, because for both
positive and negative value of I, theta is always positive.

So, in this instrument we will always have 0 value on 1 extreme, like this is 0 ampere and
then this side will be a higher value. And, we also know that theta is proportional to I
square. Therefore, if this angle denotes 1 ampere, then for 2 ampere current theta will be
4 types. So, theta will be 4 types. So, if this is 1 ampere then 2 3 4 so, this will be 2 amperes
and so on. So, the scale is non-uniform.

So, in this case scale is non-uniform. So, and what will happen to the pointer if we apply
AC, if frequency is low then of course, the pointer will once again move from 0 to positive,
and then comes back to 0, then current becomes negative, but the pointer will go towards
the positive so, current minus pointer towards the right side. So, the motion will be like 0
plus 0 minus 0 plus 0 minus and if frequency increases then the amplitude will be reduced,
because it will not have enough time to move very far.

So, as frequency increases it will be like 0 sorry 0 plus 0 minus, 0 plus 0 minus, 0 plus 0
minus like that. And, the amplitude will decrease slowly, at very high frequency it will
only oscillate, or it will only vibrate at. Even further even higher frequency the vibration
will be invisible, and the pointer will stay at some average position. So, the conclusion will
be if frequency is low pointer oscillates and if frequency is high, then pointer stays steadily
at an average position. So, what do I mean by average position precisely? I mean this.

(Refer Slide Time: 21:40)

̅ 𝐼 2 (𝑡)
𝜃(𝑡) = 𝐾

𝜃 = 𝐴𝑣𝑔 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒[𝑘̅𝐼 2 (𝑡)]

𝜃 = 𝑘̅ × 𝐴𝑣𝑔 𝑇𝑖𝑚𝑒[𝐼 2 (𝑡)]

Now, what is this quantity? You must have studied this earlier. This is nothing but the
square of the rms value of the current.

2
𝜃 = (𝑘̅ 𝐼𝑟𝑚𝑠 )

So, therefore, this meter indicates rms value. So, one observation very important
electrodynamic instruments indicate rms value. So, this is very important to note. On this
side, we can write PMMC instrument indicate average value. Why? We can give a similar
argument that we know, in this case theta is some constant times I where this constant. So,
this case different from the spring constant K, this is not the spring constant. This is a
different constant. So, if you if you want, let me put a different symbol here say 𝑘̅
everywhere, some constant.
(Refer Slide Time: 26:18)

So, this is another important point to note. And, the final point that I will talk about is
which I already have mentioned, but I will write it down. For PMMC instrument the scale
is linear or uniform, because theta is proportional to I.

So, the scale is uniform like if this is 0 this is 1 ampere, this is 2 ampere, then this is minus
1 ampere, this is minus 2 ampere, all these gaps are equal. In this case, the scale is non-
uniform or non-linear or quadratic, since theta is proportional to I square. So, we already
have mentioned, if this is 0 ampere this is 1 ampere, 2 ampere will be further here, 3 ampere
will be quite far somewhere here and so on.

Thank you for watching, we will continue in the next video.