Unit 2

Lecture 2

UES302: Introduction to
Measurement Systems
July-December 2025
Debasmita Mondal, DEIE, TIET
Permanent magnet moving coil (PMMC)
 Damping torque
 This torque is used to damp out the oscillation of the pointer at the final steady
state position.
 The time response of the instrument depends on the damping torque.
 Under the action of deflecting and controlling torques, the pointer oscillates
at the mean position and delays coming to the final position.
 Damping torque in the instrument helps the moving system of the
instrument to reach the final steady position at the earliest by
reducing the oscillations.
 Damping torque is provided by:
 In PMMC instruments, eddy current damping is used.
 As the coil moves in the magnetic field, eddy currents are induced in the aluminum
former or frame.
 These eddy currents produce a damping torque that opposes the motion and
quickly stabilizes the pointer.
Permanent magnet moving coil (PMMC)
 Damping torque
 Damping torque is assumed to be proportional to the velocity of the moving
system.
𝑑𝜃
𝑇𝑑 = 𝐷
𝑑𝑡
 D: damping constant; N-m/rad s-1
 Current sensitivity is expressed as no. of scale divisions per unit current.
For e.g., mm/mA
 Voltage sensitivity is the deflection in scale divisions per unit voltage
impressed on the galvanometer.
For e.g., mm/mV
Range extension of PMMC galvanometer
 Range extension of PMMC galvanometer
 The range of electrical measuring instruments (whether
ammeter, voltmeter or any other type of meters) is limited by
the currents, which is carried by the coils of the instruments
safely.
 The moving coils can carry a very small amount of current
~100 mA.
 Construction of an accurate instrument with a moving coil to
carry currents greater than 100 mA is impractical owing to the
bulk and weight of the coil that would be required.
 When higher currents are to be measured, the major part of
the current is bypassed through a low resistance called a
"shunt".
Range extension of PMMC galvanometer
 Range extension of PMMC galvanometer
 Shunts
 Low resistance, called shunts, are connected in parallel with ammeter.
 The shunt bypasses the extra current and allows only safe current to
flow through the PMMC ammeter.
 Properties of Shunts:
 Temperature coefficient of the shunt and instrument should be low
and should be as nearly as possibly the same.
 Its resistance should not be vary with time.
 Should carry the current without excessive
temperature rise.
Range extension of PMMC galvanometer
 Shunts
 Manganin is normally used for DC shunt.
 𝑅𝑚 = Internal resistance of moving coil, Ω
 𝑅𝑠ℎ = Resistance of shunt, Ω
 𝐼𝑚 = 𝐼𝑓𝑠 = Full scale deflection current of movement, A
 𝐼𝑠ℎ = Shunt current, A
 𝐼 = Current to be measured, A
 Since the shunt resistance is in parallel with the meter movement, the
voltage drop across shunt and movement must be same.
Range extension of PMMC galvanometer
 Shunts
PMMC voltmeter
 A PMMC galvanometer can be converted to a voltmeter
by connecting a series resistance with it.
 This series resistance is known as a “multiplier”.
 The multiplier limits the current through the basic meter
so that it does not exceed the value of full scale
deflection and thus prevents the instrument from being
damaged.
PMMC voltmeter
 𝑅𝑚 = Internal resistance of moving coil, Ω
 𝑅𝑠 = Multiplier resistance, Ω
 𝐼𝑚 = 𝐼𝑓𝑠 = Full scale deflection current of movement, A
 𝑣 = Voltage across the meter for current 𝐼𝑚 ,V
 𝑉 = Full range voltage of the instrument,V

𝑣
PMMC voltmeter
 𝑣 = 𝐼𝑚 𝑅𝑚
 𝑉 = 𝐼𝑚 (𝑅𝑚 + 𝑅𝑠 )
𝑉−𝐼𝑚 𝑅𝑚 𝑉
 𝑅𝑠 = = − 𝑅𝑚
𝐼𝑚 𝐼𝑚
𝑉 𝐼𝑚 𝑅𝑚 +𝑅𝑠 𝑅𝑠
 Multiplying factor, 𝑚 = = =1+
𝑣 𝐼𝑚 𝑅𝑚 𝑅𝑚
 Resistance of the multiplier, 𝑅𝑠 = (𝑚 − 1)𝑅𝑚

𝑣
PMMC instruments: Errors
 The main sources of errors in moving coil
instruments are due to:
 Weakening of permanent magnets due to ageing at
temperature effects.
 Weakening of springs due to ageing and temperature
effects.
 Change of resistance of the moving coil with
temperature.
PMMC instruments
 Advantages
 The scale is uniformly divided.
 The power consumption is very low (25μW - 200 μW).
 The torque-weight ratio is high, which gives a high accuracy (~
2% of full-scale deflection).
 A single instrument may be used for many different current
and voltage ranges by using
 different values for shunts and multipliers.
 Disadvantages
 These instruments are useful only for DC measurements.
 The cost of these instruments is higher than that of moving
iron instruments.
Numerical
1. A PMMC instrument has a coil of dimensions of 15mm×12mm. The flux density
in the air gap is 1.88×10-3 Wb/m2 and the spring constant is 0.14×10-6 Nm/rad.
Determine the number of turns required to produce an angular deflection of
90° when a current of 5 mA is flowing through the coil. [N=136]
2. A moving coil voltmeter with a resistance of 20Ω gives a full scale deflection of
120° when a potential difference 100 mV is applied across it. The moving coil
has dimensions of 30mm×25mm and is wound with 100 turns. The control
spring constant is 0.375×10-6 Nm/deg. Find the flux density in the air gap.
[B=0.12Wb/m2]
3. The coil of a moving coil voltmeter is 40mm long and 30mm wide and has 100
turns on it. The control spring exerts a torque of 240×10-6 N-m when the
deflection is 100 divisions on full scale. If the flux density of the magnetic field in
the air gap is 1.0 Wb/m2, estimate the resistance that must be put in series with
the coil to give one volt per division. The resistance of the voltmeter coil may
be neglected. [Rs=50kΩ]
Numerical
4. A moving coil ammeter has a fixed shunt of 0.02 Ω. With a coil resistance of
R=1000 Ω and a potential difference of 500 m V across it, full scale deflection
is obtained. (a) To what shunted current does this correspond to? (b)
Calculate the value of R to give full scale deflection when shunted current I is
(i) 10 A, (ii) 75 A. [0.5 mA, 400 Ω, 3000 Ω]
5. A moving coil instrument gives a full scale deflection of 10 mA when the
potential difference across its terminals is100 mV. Calculate (a) the shunt
resistance for a full scale deflection corresponding to 100 A, (b) the series
resistance for full scale reading with 1000 V. Calculate the power dissipation in
each case. [0.001 Ω, 10 W, 100 kΩ, 10 W]
Numerical
6. It is desired to measure the voltage across a 50 kΩ resistor in the given
circuit. Two voltmeters are available for this purpose: Voltmeter A with a
sensitivity of 1000Ω/V and Voltmeter B with a sensitivity of 20,000 Ω/V. Both
meters have 0-50 V range. Calculate: (a) the reading of each voltmeter; (b) the
error in each reading expressed as a percentage of true value. [(a) 30V, 48.36
V, (b) -40%, -3.28%]