AC Meters

Chapter 03
 Objectives
 At the end of this chapter, the
students should be able to:
 Describe the operation of half-wave
rectifier circuit.
 Trace the current path in a full-wave

bridge rectifier circuit.

 calculate ac sensitivity and the value of

multiplier resistors for half-wave and

full-wave rectification.
 Outlines

• Introduction: What is AC.

• D’Arsonval with Half-wave
Rectification.
• D’Arsonval with Full-wave
Rectification.
 Outlines

• Electrodynamometer
movement.
• Loading Effects of AC
Voltmeters
• Summary
 Introduction
• Several types of meter
movements maybe used to
measure AC current or voltage.
• The five principle meter
movements used in ac
instruments are listed in Table
below:
 Introduction
No Meter Movement DC AC Use Applications
Use
1 Electro- YES YES Standard meter,
dynamometer Wattmeter, etc…
2 Iron-Vane YES YES Indicator applications,
etc…
3 Electro-static YES YES High voltage
measurement.
4 Thermocouple YES YES Radio freq
measurement
5 D’Arsonval YES YES-w/ Voltage, currents,
rectifiers resistance, etc…
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
• In order to measure ac with
d’Arsonval MM, we must first rectify
the ac current by use of a diode
rectifier.
• This process will produce uni-
directional current flow.
• Several types of diode rectifiers are
available: -
copper oxide, vacuum diode,
semiconductor diode etc.
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
• Still remember our DC Voltmeter,
using d’Arsonval meter
movement?
Im Sensitivity= 1/Ifs
+ Rs

Rm Im

-
Figure 1: The d’Arsonval meter movement used in a DC voltmeter
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
• PMMC meter movements will not
work correctly if directly connected to
alternating current, because the
direction of needle movement will
change with each half-cycle of the AC.
• Permanent-magnet meter
movements, like permanent-magnet
motors, are devices whose motion
depends on the polarity of the applied
voltage.
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
• If we add a diode to a DC
Voltmeter, then we have a meter
circuit capable of measuring ac
voltage. SR
+

Rm I m
_
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
• The FW biased diode will have no
effects in the operations of the
circuit. (ideal diode)
• Now, suppose we replace the 10-
Vdc with 10Vrms, what will
happen?
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
• The voltage across the MM is just
the positive ½ cycle of the sine
wave because of rectifying action
of the diode.
• The peak value of the ac sine
wave
is :
Ep= Erms X 1.414.
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
• The MM will respond to the
average value of sine wave
where the average, or DC value
equal to 0.318 times the peak
value.
• The ave value of the AC sine
wave
is :
Eave= Ep/π =0.45x Erms
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
• The diode action produces an
approximately half sine wave
across the load resistor.
• The average value of this
voltage is referred to as the DC
voltage, which a DC voltmeter
connected across a load resistor
will respond to.
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
• Therefore, we can see that the
pointer that deflected full scale when
a 10-V DC signal was applied, deflects
to only 4.5V when we apply a 10-Vrms
sine AC waveforms.
• Thus, an AC Voltmeter using ½ wave
rectification is only approximately
45% sensitive as a DC Voltmeter.
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
• In order to have a full scale
deflection meter when a 10-Vrms
is applied, we have to design the
meter with the Rs having 45% of
Rs of DC Voltmeter.
• Since the equivalent DC voltage
is 45% of RMS value, we can
write like this:
Rs= (Edc/Idc)-Rm = (0.45Erms/Idc) -Rm
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
Example 1
Compute the value of Rs for a 10-Vrms AC range on the
voltmeter shown in Figure 1.
Given that Ein= 10-Vrms, Ifs= 1mA, Rm=300Ω.
RS
+

Rm I m
_
 d’Arsonval MM with
½ Wave Rectification.
Example 2
In the ½ wave rectifier shown below, D1 and D2 have an
average forward resistance of 50Ω and are assumed to have an
infinite resistance in reverse biased. Calculate the following:
(a) Rs value
(b) Sac
(c) Sdc
Given that Ein = 10-Vrms, Rsh = 200Ω, Ifs = 100mA, Rm = 200Ω
Rs D1
IT Im

Ish
Ein D2 Rsh

Rm