F.Y. B. Tech.

- Experimental Tools and Techniques Lab 2019

Experiment No. 06 A

Title: Cathode Ray Oscilloscope: Block Diagram, Operation and Working

Aim:
 To understand the cathode ray oscilloscope.
 To understand the operations and functioning of cathode ray oscilloscope.

Equipment:
 CRO
 Connecting cables
 Storage oscilloscope

Introduction:

The cathode ray oscilloscope is the most versatile measuring instrument available. We can measure
following parameters using the CRO:

1. AC or DC voltage.

2. Time (t=1/f).

3. Phase relationship

4. Waveform calculation: Rise time; fall time; on time; off-timeDistortion, etc.

We can also measure non-electrical physical quantities like pressure, strain, temperature, acceleration, etc.,
by converting into electrical quantities using a transducer.

Major blocks of CRO :

1. Cathode ray tube (CRT)

2. Vertical amplifier

3. Horizontal amplifier

4. Sweep generator

5. Trigger circuit

6. Associated power supply.

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1. The cathode ray tube is the heart of CRO. The CRT is enclosed in an evacuated glass envelope to
permit the electron beam to traverse in the tube easily. The main functional units of CRO are as follows.

 Electron gun assembly

2. Vertical Amplifier is the main factor in determining the bandwidth and sensitivity of an oscilloscope.
Vertical sensitivity is a measure of how much the electron beam will be deflected for a specified input
signal. On the front panel of the oscilloscope, one can see a knob attached to a rotary switch labeled
volts/division. The rotary switch is electrically connected to the input attenuation network. The setting of
the rotary switch indicates what amplitude signal is required to deflect the beam vertically by one division.

3. Horizontal amplifier Under normal mode of operation, the horizontal amplifier will amplify the sweep
generator input. When the CRO is being used in the X-Y mode, the horizontal amplifier will amplify the
signal applied to the horizontal input terminal. Although the vertical amplifier mush is able to faithfully
reproduce low-amplitude and high frequency signal with fast rise time, the horizontal amplifier is only
required to provide a faithful reproduction of the sweep signal which has a relatively high amplitude and
slow rise time.

4. Sweep generator and Trigger circuit These two units form the Signal Synchronization unit of the
CRO.

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5. Associated Power Supply: The input signal may come from an external source when the trigger selector
switch is set to EXT or from low amplitude AC voltage at line frequency when the switch is set to LINE or
from the vertical amplifier when the switch is set to INT. When set for INT (internal triggering), the trigger
circuit receives its inputs from the vertical amplifier.

Major Blocks in a Practical CRO

A CRO consists of a cathode ray tube (CRT) and additional control knobs. The main parts of a CRT are:

1. Electron gun assembly.

2. Deflection plate assembly.

3. Fluorescent screen.

Electron Gun Assembly: The electron gun assembly produces a sharp beam of electrons, which are
accelerated to high velocity. This focused beam of electrons strike the fluorescent screen with sufficient
energy to cause a luminous spot on the screen.

Deflection plate assembly: This part consists of two plates in which one pair of plates is placed
horizontally and other of plates is placed vertically. The signal under test is applied to vertical deflecting
plates. The horizontal deflection plates are connected to a built-in ramp generator, which moves the
luminous spot periodically in a horizontal direction from left to right over the screen. These two deflection
plates give stationary appearance to the waveform on the screen. CRO operates on voltage. Since the
deflection of the electron beam is directly proportional to the deflecting voltage, the CRT may be used as a
linear measuring device. The voltage being measured is applied to the vertical plates through an iterative
network, whose propagation time corresponds to the velocity of electrons, thereby synchronizing the
voltage applied to the vertical plate with the velocity of the beam.

Synchronization of input signal: The sweep generator produces a saw tooth waveform, which is used to
synchronize the applied voltage to obtain a stationary-applied signal. This requires that the time base be
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 F.Y. B. Tech.- Experimental Tools and Techniques Lab 2019

operated at a submultiples frequency of the signal under measurement. If synchronization is not done, the
pattern is not stationary, but appears to drift across the screen in a random fashion.

Internal synchronization this trigger is obtained from the time base generator to synchronize the signal.

External synchronization an external trigger source can also be used to synchronize the signal being
measured.

Auto Triggering Mode The time base used in this case in a self-oscillating condition, i.e., it gives an
output even in the absence of any Y-input. The advantage of this mode is that the beam is visible on the
screen under all conditions, including the zero input. When the input exceeds a certain magnitude then the
internal free running oscillator locks on to the frequency.

Questions:
[1] What is the use of C.R.O.?
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[2] What is the highest frequency that can be measured by C.R.O. available in your laboratory?
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[3] What is highest voltage that can be measured by C.R.O. available in your laboratory?
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Conclusion:

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