DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRONICS AND

COMMUNICATION ENGINEERING
I.T.S ENGINEERING COLLEGE

UNIT-I: PMMC Instruments, Galvanometers, DC Ammeter &

Voltmeter, Series Ohmmeter
ELECTRONIC MEASUREMENTS AND INSTRUMENTATION
(REC-403)
ECE-IV SEM

Dr. ASHISH GUPTA

Associate Professor
 TOPICS TO BE COVERED

❖PMMC Instruments

❖ Galvanometers

❖ DC Ammeters

❖ DC Voltmeters

❖ Series Ohmmeters

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 Permanent Magnet Moving Coil (PMMC)
Instruments

Fig. 1: The deflecting force in a PMMC instrument is provided by a

current-carrying coil pivoted in a magnetic field.
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 Permanent Magnet Moving Coil (PMMC)
Instruments

Fig. 2: The controlling force from the springs balances the deflecting
force.
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 Permanent Magnet Moving Coil (PMMC)
Instruments

Fig. 3: Lack of damping causes

the pointer to oscillate.

Fig. 4: The damping force in a

PMMC instrument is provided by
eddy currents induced in the
aluminum coil former as it moves
through the magnetic field.

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 Permanent Magnet Moving Coil (PMMC)
Instruments

Fig. 5: A typical PMMC

instrument is constructed
using a horse-shoe magnet,
soft-iron pole shoes, a soft-
iron core and a suspended coil
that moves in the air gap
between the core and the pole
shoes.

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 GALVANOMETERS

Fig. 6: A galvanometer is simply an

extremely sensitive PMMC
instrument with a center-zero scale

Fig. 7: An adjustable shunt resistor is

employed to protect the coil of a
galvanometer from destructively
excessive current levels. The shunt
resistance is initially set to zero and then
gradually increased to divert current
through galvanometers.
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 DC AMMETERS

Fig. 9: Circuit diagram of DC

Ammeter. The meter current is
directly proportional to the shunt
current, so that the meter scale
can be calibrated to indicate the
Fig. 8: A DC ammeter consists of a total current.
PMMC instrument and a low resistance
shunt.
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 DC AMMETERS
Fig. 10: A swamping resistance made of a
material with a near-zero temperature
coefficient can be connected in series with
the coil of a PMMC instrument to minimize
temperature errors.

Fig. 11: Multirange ammeter using

switched shunts
A Multirange ammeter consists of a
PMMC instrument, several shunts
and a rotary switch that makes
contact with the next shunt before
loosing contact with the previous
one when switching between
different ranges.
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 DC AMMETERS

(a) (R1 + R2 + R3) in parallel

with Rm

(b) (R1 + R2) in parallel

with (Rm + R3)

Fig. 12: An Ayrton shunt used with an ammeter consists of several series-
connected resistors all connected in parallel with the PMMC instrument.
Range change is effected by switching between the resistor junctions
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 DC VOLTMETERS

(a) Construction of DC Voltmeter (b) DC Voltmeter Circuit

Fig. 13: A DC Voltmeter is made up of a PMMC instrument and a series

multiplier resistor. The meter current is directly proportional to the applied
voltage, so that the meter scale can be calibrated to indicate the voltage.

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 DC VOLTMETERS

(a) Multirange voltmeter using (b) Multirange voltmeter using

switched multiplier resistors series-connected multiplier resistors

Fig. 14: A Multirange DC Voltmeter consists of a PMMC instrument, several

multiplier resistors and a switch for range selection. Individual or series-
connected resistors may be used.

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 SERIES OHMMETERS

Fig. 15: Basic series ohmmeter

(a) Basic circuit of series ohmmeter
circuit consists of a PMMC
instrument and a series-
connected standard resistor
(R1). When the ohmmeter
terminals are shorted (RX = 0)
meter full-scale deflection
occurs. At half-scale deflection
RX = R1 and at zero deflection
the terminals are open-
circuited.

(b) Ohmmeter Scale

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 SERIES OHMMETERS
Ohmmeter with Zero Adjust

Fig. 16: An adjustable resistor (R2) connected in parallel with the meter
provides an ohmmeter zero control. The ohmmeter terminals are
initially short-circuited and the zero control is adjusted to give zero-
ohms reading. This eliminates errors due to variations in the battery
voltage.
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