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    History Ammeters Voltmeters

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    Richard Mortimer
    History of measurement meters - Ammeters and Voltmeters. Used in teaching an intermediate electronics course in the UK.

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    History Ammeters Voltmeters

    Uploaded by

    Richard Mortimer
    351 views10 pages
    History of measurement meters - Ammeters and Voltmeters. Used in teaching an intermediate electronics course in the UK.

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    © © All Rights Reserved

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    PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

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    History of measurement meters - Ammeters and Voltmeters. Used in teaching an intermediate electronics course in the UK.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    351 views10 pages

    History Ammeters Voltmeters

    Uploaded by

    Richard Mortimer
    History of measurement meters - Ammeters and Voltmeters. Used in teaching an intermediate electronics course in the UK.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 10

    Ammeters

    Johann Salomo Christoph Schweigger (8


    April 1779 6 September 1857) was a
    German chemist, physicist, and professor
    of mathematics.

    In 1820 he built the first sensitive galvanometer, naming it after


    Luigi Galvani. He created this instrument, acceptable for actual
    measurement as well as detection of small amounts of electric
    current, by wrapping a coil of wire around a graduated compass.

    Ammeters

    Ammeters
    But what is an 'Amp?'
    The ampere is that constant current which, if
    maintained in two straight parallel conductors of
    infinite length, of negligible circular cross section,
    and placed 1 meter apart in vacuum, would
    produce between these conductors a force equal
    to 2 x 10-7 newton per meter of length.

    Ammeters
    The ampere is difficult to realise in practise with
    sufficient accuracy, so it is realised via the watt (SI
    unit for power). The electrical power generated in
    a controlled experiment is compared to
    mechanical power, and using an accurate
    measurement of resistance the ampere can be
    calculated (as Power = (Current)2 x Resistance).

    Ammeters

    At the National Physics Laboratory (UK), the volt is determined from the AC Josephson
    effect.
    This gives the volt to an accuracy of 1 hundred millionth of a volt (0.000 000 01 V).

    Ammeters

    Voltmeters
    A moving coil galvanometer can be used as a voltmeter by inserting a resistor in series with
    the instrument.
    The sensitivity of such a meter can be expressed as "ohms per volt", the number of ohms
    resistance in the meter circuit divided by the full scale measured value.
    Moving-coil instruments with a permanent-magnet field respond only to direct current.
    Measurement of AC voltage requires a rectifier in the circuit so that the coil deflects in only
    one direction. Moving-coil instruments are also made with the zero position in the middle of
    the scale instead of at one end; these are useful if the voltage reverses its polarity.
    (but there are moving formers too!)

    Voltmeters
    The sensitivity and input resistance of a voltmeter can be increased if the current required
    to deflect the meter pointer is supplied by an amplifier and power supply instead of by the
    circuit under test.
    The electronic amplifier between input and meter gives two benefits; a rugged moving coil
    instrument can be used, since its sensitivity need not be high, and the input resistance can
    be made high, reducing the current drawn from the circuit under test.
    Amplified voltmeters often have an input resistance of 1, 10, or 20 megohms which is
    independent of the range selected.

    Voltmeters
    DVM measurement accuracy is
    affected
    by
    many
    factors,
    including
    temperature,
    input
    impedance, and DVM power
    supply voltage variations.
    Less expensive DVMs often have
    input resistance on the order of
    10 M, and the resistance may
    be different for each input voltage
    range.
    Precision DVMs can have input
    resistances of 1 G or higher. To
    ensure that a DVM's accuracy is
    within
    the
    manufacturer's
    specified tolerances, it must be
    periodically calibrated against a
    voltage standard such as the
    Weston cell.

    Voltmeters

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