Unit 3
Unit 3
Unit 3
Potentiometers
A potentiometer is an instrument designed to measure an unknown voltage by comparing it
with a known voltage. The known voltage may be supplied by a standard cell or any known
voltage. At null condition, no current flows, so no power consumed. So the measurement is
independent of source resistance.
It can also measure current by measuring voltage drop across a standard resistor.
It is used extensively for calibration of voltmeters & ammeters.
Measurements using comparison methods are capable of a high degree of accuracy because the
result obtained does not depend upon the actual deflection of a pointer, as is the case in
deflection methods, but only upon the accuracy with which the voltage of the reference source
is known.
CONSTRUCTION:-
Modern Lab Potentiometers use calibrated dial resistors and a small circular wire of one or
more turns (instead of previously used long slide wire), thus reducing the size of instrument.
In the figure, there is one dial resistor with 15 steps, each having a precision resistor of 10 Ω.
Total 150 Ω & 1.5 volt.
Slide-Wire:- is of single turn having resistance of 10 Ω & 0.1 Volt. The working current is 10
mA.
So each step of dial-resistor correspond to 10*10* 10-3 =0.1 volt
The slide wire is provided with 200 scale divisions with a total voltage range of 0.1 volt.
So each division=0.1/200=0.005 volt
The Potentiometer is provided with a double throw switch to make connection to either the
standard cell or un-known emf. To operate the Galvanometer at its
maximum sensitivity, provision is made to short the protective resistance near balance
condition.
STEPS TO FOLLOW TO MAKE MEASUREMENT:-
1. The combination of dial-resistor & Slide-wire is set to standard cell voltage (1.0186 volt).
Dial-resistor set at 1 volt, slide- wire set at 0.0186 V.
2. Galvanometer is calibrated with switch S, connected to standard cell. Rheostat is adjusted
foe zero Galvanometer deflection.
3. As the null point is approached, protective resistance is shorted to increase Galvanometer
sensitivity. This completes the process of ‘Standardization’ of Galvanometer.
4. Now switch S is thrown to operate position to find out un-known emf. Now the potentiometer
is balanced using dial- switch & slide-wire.
5. At null, the value of emf is read directly from setting of dial adjust & slide-wire.
6. Standardization is checked again.
VERNIER POTENTIOMETER: -
CONSTRUCTION:-
There are 3 measuring dials.
1 st Dial Measures upto 1.5 v in step of 0.1 v
2 nd Dial has 102 studs & read upto 0.1 V in steps of 0.001 V.
3 rd Dial has 102 studs & reads from -0.0001 v to + 0.0001 v in steps of 0.00001 v (i.e. 10 µv).
There is no Slide-wire.
The 2nd Dial shunts two of the coils of 1st Dial. The moving arm of 2nd -dial carries two arms
spaced two-studs apart.
In practice, the resistance of 2nd -dial is greater than that between two studs in the main dial,
so that voltage drop across 2nd -dial is greater than 0.1 v. If this is not done, voltage drop in
contact resistances & leads would cause 2nd -dial voltage less than 0.1 v.
3 rd -dial is obtained from a shunt ckt which permits a true zero & a small –ve setting is
obtained.
OPERATION:-
The limitations imposed on performance of ordinary potentiometers by slide-wire are
eliminated in a vernier potentiometer. This instrument has two ranges.
1. Normal range of 1.6 v down to 10 µv
2. Lower range of 0.16 v to 1 µv.
The Vernier potentiometer reads to increment of 0.00001 v (10 µv) & has a readability of 1 µv
on 0.1 range. If a 3rd range of * 0.01 is provided, readability becomes 0.1 µv
AC Potentiometer: A potentiometer is an instrument which measures unknown voltage by
balancing it with a known voltage. The known source may be DC or AC. The working
phenomenon of DC potentiometer and AC potentiometer is same. But there is one major
difference between their measurements, DC potentiometer only measures the magnitude of the
unknown voltage. Whereas an AC potentiometer measures both the magnitude and phase of
unknown voltage by comparing it with a known reference.
There are two types of AC potentiometers:
1. Drysdale-Tinsley Potentiometer/ Polar type potentiometer
2. Gall-Tinsley Potentiometer / Coordinate type potentiometer.
Polar type Potentiometer : In such type of instruments, two separate scales are used to
measure magnitude and phase angle on some reference of the unknown e.m.f. There is a
provision on the scale that it could read phase angle up to 3600. It has electrodynamometer
type ammeter along with DC potentiometer and phase-shifting transformer which is operated
by single phase supply.
In a phase-shifting transformer, there is a combination of two ring-shaped laminated steel
stators connected perpendicularly to each other as shown in the figure. One is directly
connected to power supply and the other one is connected in series with variable resistance and
capacitor. The function of the series components is to maintain constant AC supply in the
potentiometer by doing small adjustments in it.
Between the stators, there is laminated rotor having slots and winding which supplies voltage
to the slide-wire circuit of the potentiometer. When current start flowing from stators, the
rotating field is developed around the rotor which induces an e.m.f. in the rotor winding.
Therefore, resultant induced emf in the rotor winding due to two stator winding