AC Meters

Chapter 03

Warm-ups

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.
DArsonval with Half-wave
Rectification.
DArsonval 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
Use

AC Use

Applications

Electrodynamometer

YES

YES

Standard meter,
Wattmeter, etc

Iron-Vane

YES

YES

Indicator applications,
etc

Electro-static

YES

YES

High voltage
measurement.

Thermocouple

YES

YES

Radio freq
measurement

DArsonval

YES

YES-w/ Voltage, currents,

rectifiers resistance, etc

Introduction
AC Waveforms

dArsonval MM with
Wave
Rectification.
In previous
chapter, we have
discuss in detail about dArsonval
MM (PMMC) and its applications in
Ammeter, Voltmeter and
Ohmmeters.
Now, well learn about using the
same MM to measure ac current or
voltages.

dArsonval MM with
Wave
In order to measure
ac with dArsonval
Rectification.

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.

dArsonval MM with
Wave
Rectification.
Still remember
our DC Voltmeter,
using dArsonval meter movement?
Sensitivity= 1/Ifs

Figure 1: The dArsonval meter movement used in a DC voltmeter

dArsonval MM with
Wave
PMMC meter
movements will not work
Rectification.

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.

dArsonval MM with
Wave
Rectification.

dArsonval MM with
Wave
Rectification.
If we add a diode
to a DC Voltmeter,
then we have a meter circuit capable of
measuring ac voltage.

dArsonval MM with
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?

dArsonval MM with
Wave
The voltageRectification.
across the MM is just the
positive 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.

dArsonval MM with
Wave
The MM willRectification.
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/ =0.45x Erms

dArsonval MM with
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.

dArsonval MM with
Wave
Therefore, weRectification.
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 wave

rectification is only approximately 45%
sensitive as a DC Voltmeter.

dArsonval MM with
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

Example 1

dArsonval MM with
Wave
Rectification.

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=300.

dArsonval MM with
Wave
Example 2
In the wave rectifier Rectification.
shown below, D1 and D2 have an average
forward resistance of 50 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 = 200, Ifs = 100mA, Rm = 200

Conclusion
dArsonval MM can be used to measure
both DC and AC current/ voltages.

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.

Sac = 0.45Sdc

Evaluation
Quiz.