RICHLAND COLLEGE

School of
Engineering Business & Technology

INTC 1307
Instrumentation Test Equipment
Teaching Unit 3

Rev. 0 W. Slonecker
Rev. 1 (8/26/2012) J. Bradbury

Alternating Current Meters

Unit 3 AC Meters
Objectives:
Review basic AC signal concepts.
Convert the DArsonval movement into an AC ammeter and voltmeter.
Describe the operation of a half-wave rectified AC meter.
Describe the operation of a full-wave rectified AC meter.
Determine the sensitivity of an AC voltmeter.
Determine the loading effects of AC meters.
AC Sinusoids
The graph on the right
shows one cycle of an
AC sinusoid. One
cycle has 360 of phase,
which also equals to 2
radians. An AC signal
varies as a function of
time, in this case 9 ms
is required for one
cycle. The time of one
cycle of the waveform
in seconds is the period,
T. The frequency in
Hertz, f, is equal to the
reciprocal of the period.
f = 1/T. The frequency is 1/0.009 = 111.11 Hertz. The peak value for the waveform is 1.0. An
AC signal alternates between its positive and negative peak values. The Root-Mean-Square value
for a sinusoidal waveform is 0.707 times the peak value. For a peak value of 10, the RMS value is
7.07 (10 divided by the square root of 2 to be exact). RMS values can be calculated for non-sinusoidal waveforms, but only sinusoids have RMS values equal to 0.707peak. The RMS value is
also called the effective value. AC effective values are equivalent to the DC values needed to
produce the same resistive heating effects.
The signal peak-to-peak value is twice the
peak value. For a half-wave rectified AC
signal, the average value is peak/ or
peak0.3183. In the graph on the right, the
average value is 318mV. A rectifier
eliminates polarity reversals. For a half-wave
rectifier, half the signal is eliminated.

Page 1 of 6

For full-wave rectification, half of the AC

signal has its polarity reversed as shown on
the right. In this case, the negative polarity
is reversed. Instead of only 4 peaks in 40 ms
as for the half-wave signal, there are almost
9 peaks in 40 ms for the full-wave signal. It
is reasonable that the full-wave average is
twice the half-wave average; 2peak/ or
peak0.6366.

AC Definitions
Waveform Equation= Amplitudesin ( 2 ft+ )
f =frequency in Hertz , t=time in sec onds , = phase shift in radians
=radian frequency=2f
180
1 radian=
=57 .296 , 360 =2 radians

Amplitude
Amplitude= peak value , RMS value=
=0 . 707 peak value
2
Power in AC resistive circuits=I RMSV RMS
Waveform Period =T =time for 1 cycle
1
Frequency=f =Cycles per second , f =
T
1
Amplitude
2 Amplitude
Average
wave value=
, Average full wave value=
2

AC Meters
AC meters are DC meters with rectified inputs. If you understand DC meters, then all you need to
do is learn the basics of rectification and you will understand AC meters. Remember; rectification
converts signals with dual polarity components into signals with single polarity components. A
DC signal does not change polarity if it is voltage, or does not change direction if it is current. We
usually think of a DC signal as being steady and unchanging. However, the definition of DC
allows fluctuations in value so long as the polarity (or direction) does not reverse.

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Half-wave AC Voltmeter Analysis

The circuit on the right is a DC voltmeter modified to
D1
R1
Rm
+
measure AC voltage. Notice that the meter has a full scale
10kOhm
current of 1 mA, while the meter resistance is relatively
low, 100. These values imply that the meter is probably a
31.73 vpk
Ifs = 1 mA
10.1 vavg
Rm = 100
microammeter with a shunt resistor. To analyze the circuit,
consider that sensitivity is 1/Ifsd, or 1/1mA = 1000/volt.
If the meter were measuring DC voltage and if the diode
DC voltmeter modified to measure AC
behaved like a short circuit, then the full scale voltage
would be Ifsd Rtotal or 1mA10.1k = 10.1 VDC. However, the half-wave rectifier means that
the equivalent DC voltage applied to the meter (Vpk/) is equal to 10.1 volts. Thus VpkAC = vavgAC
= 10.1 = 31.73 v. Another consideration is that the diode has an intrinsic voltage drop of 0.7
volts. This adds to the VpkAC voltage required for full scale. So an AC peak voltage of 32.43 vpkAC
is needed for meter full scale deflection. Putting this voltage in terms of RMS input voltage gives
0.707 32.43 = 22.93 vRMS for a full scale reading. Sensitivity is (10k + 100)/22.93 = 440.5 ohms
per volt, about 44% of the DC sensitivity.
Half-wave AC Voltmeter Design
Design a half-wave AC voltmeter using a movement with Ifsd = 50A, Rm = 1500, and a full
scale voltage of 10 VRMS.
1. Calculate Vpk as 1.41410 = 14.14 vpk.
2. Subtract 0.7v from Vpk to adjust for diode drop: 14.14 0.7 = 13.44 vpk
3. Calculate half-wave average: 13.44/ = 4.278 v. This is the DC full scale value.
4. Meter sensitivity is 1/Ifsd = 20k/volt. This requires total meter resistance to be
4.27820k = 85.56k.
5. Rs = total R Rm = 85.56k 1.5k = 84.06k
The meter schematic is like the one at the top of the page only R1 = 84.06k, and the meter
parameters are given in the problem specification. In this case the actual AC sensitivity is total
resistance divided by input RMS voltage or 8.556k/volt. Therefore the half-wave sensitivity is
about 0.43 times the DC sensitivity. The sensitivity factor is not a constant because the rectifier
voltage drop (0.7v) is more or less of a factor depending on the magnitude of the full scale voltage
specification.
It should be pointed out that a rectifier produces pulsing DC. The meter movement inertia
(mechanical response time) will smooth out the pulse effect on the needle if the frequency of the
waveform is high enough. At lower frequencies, there will be noticeable pointer shake.
Full-wave AC Voltmeter Analysis
D1
R1
For the meter on the right, a full-wave bridge
rectifier has been added for full-wave recti10kOhm
fication of the input waveform. The full-wave
D4
17.27 vpk
bridge changes two aspects of the analysis. First,
D2
10.1 vavg
the average voltage, vavgAC, is 2vpk/, and second,
there are two diode drops in the bridge since two
diodes conduct instead of one. Since the DC
aspect of the meter is identical to the half-wave
case, we know that 10.1v for vavgAC will give a full Full-wave AC Voltmeter
scale reading as in the half wave case.

Rm

D3

Ifs = 1 mA
Rm = 100

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Thus VpkAC = vavgAC /2 = 10.1 /2 = 15.865 v, to which we add 1.4 volts for two diode drops,
giving an AC input peak voltage of 17.265 vpk. So for full scale deflection, the input RMS voltage
is 12.21 Vrms. Meter sensitivity is 827.2 ohms per volt, about 83% of the DC sensitivity.
Full-wave AC Voltmeter Design
Design a full-wave AC voltmeter using a movement with Ifsd = 50A, Rm = 1500, and a full
scale voltage of 10 VRMS.
1. Calculate Vpk as 1.41410 = 14.14 vpk.
2. Subtract 1.4v from Vpk to adjust for diode drop: 14.14 1.4 = 12.74 vpk
3. Calculate full-wave average: 12.742/ = 8.11 v. This is the DC full scale value.
4. Meter sensitivity is 1/Ifsd = 20k/volt. This requires total meter resistance to be
8.1120k/volt = 162.2k.
5. Rs = total R Rm = 162.2k 1.5k = 160.7k
The meter schematic is like the one at the bottom of page 3 only R1 = 160.7k, and the meter
parameters are given in the problem specification. In this case the actual AC sensitivity is total
resistance divided by input RMS voltage or 16.22k/volt. Therefore the full-wave sensitivity is
about 0.81 times the DC sensitivity. With a higher input resistance, the full-wave meter will load
circuits less than the half-wave meter.
As you can see, the design steps are the same as for the half-wave meter only adjusted for
the bridge rectifier; i.e. different vavg and 2 diode drops.
Full-wave Bridge Conduction Explanation
A diode only conducts in one direction.
For conventional current, the arrowhead
in the symbol points in the direction of
conduction. For electron current,
conduction is opposite the direction of
the arrowhead! The arrowhead is the
anode and the line is the cathode. A
diode conducts when the anode is more
positive than the cathode. For the bridge
circuit, when the input voltage is
positive, D1 conducts and the resulting
current flow causes D2 to also conduct.
When conducting, there is a 0.7 volt
drop across the diode. When the input
voltage is negative, the lower input lead
is more positive causing D3 to conduct
and also D4. The figure shows diode
conduction for the two polarities of input
voltage. The diodes effectively swap the
conduction path like switches.

D1

D4

D3
D2

Vp

D1

Vp-0.7

Vp-0.7
+

Vp

+0.7

V = Vp-1.4

D2

+0.7

Vp-0.7
+

-Vp
-

D4

Vp
+

+0.7

D3

Vp-0.7
+
V = Vp-1.4

+0.7

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You really need to understand bridge rectification before moving on. Look at it, study it, ask
questions about it!
AC Ammeters
AC rectified ammeters are exactly like DC ammeters but with a series diode. The problem for AC
ammeters is the 0.7 volt forward diode voltage. Since ideal ammeters should behave like short
circuits, the forward diode voltage causes a lot of measurement error. The only AC ammeter we
will consider is a half-wave ammeter for which we will ignore the forward diode voltage and only
consider the effects of half-wave averaging; iavg = ipk/.
Calculations are straightforward. The AC RMS
current is equal to the full scale DC current times
times 0.707.
iRMS = ifs0.707

D1

3.142 mapk
2.221 maRMS

Rm

Ifs = 1 mA
Rm = 100

Remember that this simple analysis ignores the

forward diode voltage!
AC Meter Loading
Meter loading for AC meters works just like it did for DC meters, except that sensitivity must be
adjusted for signal rectification. This works out to roughly 44% sensitivity for half-wave meters
and 81% for full-wave meters.
Rth
In the circuit on the right, Vth = 15 vRMS,
Rth = 10k, Rx = 10k. Using voltage division it is
easy to see that the voltage across Rx is 7.5 vRMS.
Vth
Rx +
0.000
V
The voltmeter is a half-wave rectified DC meter with a
sensitivity of 10k/v on a 20 volt scale. What does
the meter read?
Using a sensitivity of 44% of DC sensitivity gives a
meter resistance of 0.442010k/v = 88k. This
parallels the 10k load to give a total load resistance of 8.98k. Using voltage division, the
meter reads 158.98k/18.98k = 7.097 vRMS, for 0.403 v error or 5.37% error.

Using the same meter with a full-wave rectifier gives a meter resistance of 0.812010k/v =
162k. This changes the Rx load from 10k to 9.42k, for a meter voltage of 159.42k/19.42k
= 7.276 vRMS, for 0.224 v error or 3% error.

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Other AC Meters
Electrodynamometer movement is the most fundamental meter used prior to electronic digital
instruments. This meter is a current-controlled device. The pointer deflects because of current
flow through a moving coil wound in series with two fixed coils. It can measure DC or AC
current and voltage.
The iron-vane movement consists of a fixed coil of many turns and two iron vanes placed inside
the fixed coil. As current passes through the fixed coil, the resulting magnetic field magnetizes the
iron vanes with the same magnetic polarity, causing them to repel each other. One vane is fixed
while the other is free to rotate, moving the pointer.
The thermocouple meter (also called a bolometer) works by the measured heating in a
thermocouple junction. The heating causes a current to flow through a meter movement.

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