Potentiometer
Potentiometer:
potentiometer is a instrument which measure unknown voltage by
using known value( known value means standard cell or battery).
•It is used to measures the low voltage i.e less than 2V .
potentiometer can classified into two types
1. DC potentiometer
2. AC potentiometer
DC potentiometer 1. Basic slide wire potentiometer
2. Crompton type dc potentiometer
AC potentiometer 1. Polar type or drysdale Tinsley AC potentiometer
2. Co-ordinate or gall Tinsley AC potentiometer
Basic slide wire potentiometer:
Basic slide wire potentiometer: you can choose previous diagram or this one
Operation :
whenever supply is given to the sliding wire then current is
passing through sliding wire from the battery. Now to vary slide contact on the slide
wire up to the galvanometer shows null deflection. Null deflection means there is no
current passing through galvanometer. i.e the voltage drop across the sliding wire is
equal to the standard cell voltage. Then find out working current
Working current (I) = standard cell voltage / slide wire resistance
by using this current to find out voltage at any point on slide wire.
for example The slide wire present in above figure has a total
length of 200 cm and a resistance of 200 Ω. The e.m.f of the standard cell is 1.0186
V.Switch 'S' is thrown to "calibrate" position and the sliding contact is placed at 101.86
cm mark on the slide wire scale. The rheostat Rh is now adjusted so as to vary the
working current. This adjustment is carried on till the galvanometer shows no
deflection when key 'K' is pressed.
Under these conditions, the voltage drop, along the 101.86 cm portion
of the slide wire is equal to standard cell voltage of 101.86V. Since the 101.86 cm portion
of the slide wire has a resistance of 101.86 Ω, the working current, in fact, has been
adjusted to a value
(1.0186/101.86) =10 mA
The voltage at any point along the slide wire is proportional to the length of slide
wire. This voltage is obtained by converting the calibrated length into the
corresponding voltage, simply by placing the decimal point in the proper position
e.g.153.6 cm =1.536V. If the potentiometer has been calibrated once, its working current
is never changed.
Crompton type dc potentiometer:
Operation:
The circuit of a simple DC Crompton's potentiometer theory is
shown in the previous slide. There is one dial switch with fifteen steps, each having a
precision resistor. There is also a single turn circular slide wire.
For the case shown, the resistance of slide wire is 10 Ω and the dial resistors have a
value of 10 Ω each. Thus the dial has a total resistance of 150 Ω and in addition, the slide
wire has a resistance of 10 Ω. The working current of the potentiometer is 10 mA and
therefore each step of dial switch corresponds to 0.1 V.
The slide wire is provided with 200 scale divisions and since the total resistance of slide
wire corresponds to a voltage drop of 0.1 V, each division of slide wire corresponds to
0.1/200 = 0.0005 V. It is quite comfortable to interpolate readings upto 1/5 of a scale
division and therefore with this potentiometer it is possible to estimate the readings upto
0.0001 V.
Working:
The following steps are used when making measurements with
the above potentiometer
1. The combination of dial resistors and the slide wire is set to the standard cell voltage.
Supposing the value of emf of the standard cell is 1.0186 V and the slide wire is put at
0.0186 setting.
2. The switch S is thrown to the calibrate position and the galvanometer key is tapped
while the rheostat is adjusted for zero deflection on the galvanometer. The protective
resistance is kept in the circuit in the initial stages so as to protect the galvanometer
from being getting damaged.
3. As the balance or null point is approached, the protective resistance is shorted so as
to increase the sensitivity of the galvanometer. Final adjustments are made for zero
deflection with the help of the rheostat. This completes the standardization process
for the potentiometer.
4. After completion of standardization, the switch 'S' is thrown to operate position
thereby connecting the unknown emf into the potentiometer circuit. With the
protective resistance in the circuit, the potentiometer is balanced by means of the
main dial and the slide wire.
5. As the balance is approached, the protective resistance is shorted, and final
adjustments are made to obtain true balance.
6. The value of unknown emf is read off directly from the settings of the dial adjust slide
wire.
7. The standardization of the potentiometer is checked again by returning the switch S to
the calibrate position. The dial settings are kept exactly the same as in the original
standardization process. If the new reading does not agree with the old one, the second
measurement of unknown emf must be made. The standardization should be again
checked after the completion of the measurement. This potentiometer is a form
of DC Crompton's Potentiometer.
Volt-Ratio box:
The volt-ratio box measures the high voltage. The construction of the volt-ratio
box is very simple. It consists the simple resistive potential divider which has
many tapping on the input side. The whole arrangement of the volt-ratio box is
placed inside the wooden box. The volt-ratio box gives the accurate result of
measure voltage.
Consider the voltage to be measured is applied to the terminal of the voltage
ratio box. The potentiometer reads the value of 0.825. The value of the
unknown voltage is measured through the formula.
by using voltage division rule V = 0.825 X (300/1.5) = 165 volts.
Application of dc potentiometer:
1. Calibration of voltmeter
2. Calibration of ammeter
3. Measurement of resistance
4. Measurement of current
5. Measurement of voltage
6. Measurement of power
Calibration:
Calibration is a comparison between a known measurement (the standard) and
the measurement using your instrument.
Calibration in measurement technology and metrology is the comparison of
measurement values delivered by a device under test with those of a calibration
standard of known accuracy. ... Strictly speaking, the term calibration means just the act
of comparison, and does not include any subsequent adjustment.
Calibration of voltmeter:
The calibration is the process of checking the accuracy of the result by comparing it
with the standard value. In other words, calibration checks the correctness of the
instrument by comparing it with the reference standard. It helps us in determining
the error occur in the reading and adjusts the voltages for getting the ideal reading.
The circuit requires two rheostats, one for controlling the voltage and another for
adjustment. The voltage ratio box is used to step-down the voltage to a suitable
value. The accurate value of the voltmeter is determined by measuring the value of
the voltage to the maximum possible range of the potentiometer.
The potentiometer measures the maximum possible value of voltages. The negative
and positive error occurs in the readings of the voltmeter if the readings of the
potentiometer and the voltmeter are not equal.
Calibration of ammeter:
The standard resistance is connected in series with the ammeter which is to be
calibrated. The potentiometer is used for measuring the voltage across the standard
resistor. The below mention formula determines the current through the standard
resistance.
Where,
Vs – voltage across the standard resistor as indicated by the potentiometer.
S – resistance of standard resistor
This method of calibration of the ammeter is very accurate because in this method the
value of standard resistance and the voltage across the potentiometer is exactly known
by the instrument.
Measurement of resistance:
Measurement of resistance:
The DC potentiometer method of measurement of resistance is used for measuring the
unknown resistance of low value. This can be done by comparing the unknown resistance
with the standard resistance. The voltage drop across the known and
unknown resistance is measured and by comparison the value of known resistance is
determined.
The double pole double throw switch is used in the circuit. The switch, when moves to
position 1, 1 the unknown resistance connects to the circuit, and when it moves to
position 2, 2 the standard resistance connects to the circuit.
Consider that when the switch is in position 1,1 the voltage drop across the unknown
resistance is Vr
and when it is in 2, 2 the voltage drop across the resistance is Vs
Measurement of power:
AC potentiometer:
The 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. Where as,
AC potentiometer measures both the magnitude and phase of unknown voltage
by comparing it with known reference. There are two types of AC
potentiometers:
1. Polar type or drysdale AC potentiometer
2. Co-ordinate type or Gall-tinsley AC potentiometer
Polar type AC potentiometer: (Drysdale potentiometer)
Idea purpose don’t write in exam
Operation: a polar type, drysdale –Tinsley A.C. potentiometer measures
unknown e.m.f interms of its magnitude and phase angle. it consists of ring shaped
laminated steel stator. This sector is wound three phase winding. Inside it there is a
laminated rotor keeping some air gap between it and stator. The rotor consists of a winding
provided in the slot which supplies voltage to slide wire circuit of potentiometer.
when current flows through stator winding, a rotating field
is produced induced e.m.f in the rotor. The phase of rotor current can be changed through
any angle relative to stator supply voltage by rotating rotor. The variable capacitor and
resistor shown in the circuit diagram are so adjusted that exact quadrature component
between the two stator winding currents is obtained.
Obtained unknown e.m.f:
An e.m.f to be measured is connected across terminals T1
and T2 The sliding contacts S1 and S2 and the position of rotor in phase shifter are adjusted
simultaneously till the balance is obtained as indicate the null deflection by the null
deflection of vibration galvanometer.
at balance, the magnitude of the unknown e.m.f is
obtained from S1 and S2. and the phase angle is obtained from the scale reading which is
mounted on the top of the instrument. Thus the unknown e.m.f can be expressed in polar
form.
Co-ordinate potentiometer:
Phase shift circuit:
Idea purpose don’t write in exam
Operation:
In coordinate AC potentiometer, two separate
potentiometers are caged in one circuit as shown in the figure. The first one is named
as the in-phase potentiometer which is used to measure the in-phase factor of an
unknown e.m.f. and the other one is named as quadrature potentiometer which
measures quadrature part of the unknown e.m.f. the sliding contact AA’ in the in-
phase potentiometer and BB’ in quadrature potentiometer are used for obtaining the
desired current in the circuit. By adjusting rheostat R and R’ and sliding contacts, the
current in the quadrature potentiometer becomes equal to the current in the in-
phase potentiometer and a variable galvanometer shows the null value. S1 and S2 are
signs changing switches which are used to change the polarity of the test voltage if it
is required for balancing the Potentiometer. There are two step-down transformers T1
and T2 which isolate potentiometer from the line and give an earthed screens
protection between the winding. It also supplies 6 volts to potentiometers.
Now to measure unknown e.m.f. its
terminals are connected across sliding contacts AA’ using selector switch S3. By doing
some adjustments in sliding contacts and rheostat, the whole circuit gets balanced
and galvanometer reads zero at the balanced condition. Now the in-phase
component VA of the unknown e.m.f. is obtained from the in-phase potentiometer
and quadrature component VB is obtained from quadrature potentiometer.
Thus, the resultant voltage of the coordinate AC potentiometer is
And the phase angle is given by
Applications of AC Potentiometer
1. Measurement of reactance.
2. Calibration of voltmeter.
3. Calibration of Ammeter.
4. Calibration of watt meter.
Working Similar to DC Potentiometer
