MAXWELL BRIDGE: PAST AND PRESENT

Utkarsh Maurya
Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering
National Institute of Technology Raipur

Abstract

during this research paper, we report the main points about the Maxwell Bridge including the history
of the identical, which contains the discoverer, when discovered, initial structure, amendments
(modification within the Maxwell Bridge), from where the thought came and mathematical relations
for the Maxwell Bridge

Introduction

Maxwell Bridge is an AC bridge used for the measurement of induction of the bridge and used
for the development of the various bridges further as for the analysis for the bridge of the
identical kind. it's the modified model of Wheat Stone Bridge, used for the calculation of unknown
induction in terms of calibrated induction and resistance in parallel or calibrated capacitance and
resistance in parallel. this can be used for the coil having quality factor ‘Q’. Quality factor or Q
factor is that the dimensionless quantity which supplies the knowledge about how the undamped
the resistor is, and is defined because the ratio of centre frequency to the bandwidth of a resistor
when the resistor comes by a oscillating drive. In other words, we are able to say that quality
factor is that the sum of maximum energy stored within the each active and passive element of the
circuit or the network.

Description

Maxwell Bridge is configured from Wheat Stone bridge, it is named after the scientist who described
it in the year 1873, James Clerk Maxwell, who was a great mathematician and physicist. It consists of
four arms as shown in figure given below.
In balanced condition the potential at A and B is same; so , the current through the galvanometer
will be zero hence the current through R1 and C2+R2 is same and in case of calculation of unknown
inductance , the R1 and R4 is fixed and R2 and C2 is known variable entities to balance the bridge .
So unknown resistance R3 and unknown inductance L3 and be calculated by given relation:

formula to calculate the unknown resistance and inductance

The phasor diagram of the Maxwell Bridge is as shown

As discussed earlier that Maxwell Bridge is employed for inferiority factor of the coil so
, it's important to calculate the quality factor or Q factor. equation 2- formula to calculate the quality
factor of the inductor. Principal used is that the positive point in time of inductive impedance is
cancelled by the negative capacitive impedance once they are in resonance. Using the
superposition principal, the Maxwell Bridge is modified to the Maxwell Wien Bridge, Anderson
Bridge and Wien Bridge. One by one all three are discussed because the topic goes well.

Maxwell-Wien Bridge – it is also called the Maxwell inductance capacitance bridge and by using this
bridge, we can calculate resistance and inductance of the third branch using the capacitance in
parallel with resistance with known value of both element. As a result, it is used for a wide range of
audio frequency in inductor. It is quite useful to calculate inductance when frequency is not given
because in both the equation there is no frequency component.

Both equation mean when the bridge is in balanced condition, we get two equations, one which
have imaginary and other which have real part and for an AC bridge both the equation must satisfy
(one for magnitude and other for phase). It is one of the useful results for using the Maxwell Wien
Bridge. There are few disadvantages in Maxwell Wien Bridge. For that reason, other bridges were
developed. Those disadvantages are as follows. 1.

The variable capacitance used is the circuit is expensive so it increases the expense of the
measurement. 2. The main disadvantage is that it can not measure the inductance of the coil which
have high quality factor or Q-factor of that coil in the range of 1 to 10 and it can not measure
inductance for low quality factor in the range below 1 like 0.1.

formula to calculate the unknown parameter of Maxwell Wien Bridge

formula to quality factor of bridge

The phasor diagram of Maxwell Wien bridge is shown below

Anderson Bridge – It is the modified version of the Maxwell Wien bridge and it measures the
inductance accurately and for wider range, and in this bridge the balance point is easy to obtain as
compared to the Maxwell Wien Bridge. One advantage of this bridge is that it uses fixed value of
capacitor which plays a huge role in giving the good accuracy. As a result, it measures the more
accurate capacitance in terms of inductance. There are few disadvantages of using the Anderson
Bridge such as
 1. As shown below the circuit of this Bridge, we can find out that it has more arms as
compared to the Maxwell Wien Bridge that makes it more complex circuit thus the equation of the
circuit also be complex.

2. The bridge have one additional function as shown in the figure and that increase the
difficulty in shielding the Bridge , that’s why the Maxwell Bridge is used more as compared to the
Anderson Bridge .

It is the modified version of the Hay and Maxwell and used to calculate the quality factor of the
bridge .it is well known foe the accuracy in measuring the inductance of the inductor from few Henry
to several Henry. It is use the same principal but in deferent manner, it compare the known value of
electrical resistance and capacitance. The unknown value can be calculated by using the formula
given below

And the phasor diagram for the bridge is shown in the given figure . From the graph, we can analyse
that the current I (1) and E(3) both are in the same phase which is shown on the absisa of the graph.
Voltage across the branch bc and ec are equal when the bridge is in balanced condition.
The total current is divided into two part on is I(1) and other is I(2) . On further moving, the I(1)
current enters in the branch ab and then some amount of voltage gets dropped which is equal to the
I(1){R(1)+R} as both the current are in phase , then this is also in phase with the I(1).

Wien Bridge –it is lastly modified bridge and more efficient among the all above discussed. This
bridge is used to measure the capacitance and it is the most sensitive among the above all bridges,
its accuracy is quite normal in range with 0.1 to 0.6.

The circuit diagram of Wien Bridge is as follows

Bridge is sensitive to the frequency for that reason it is difficult to handle or we can say that in Wien
bridge, it is difficult to find the balance point . this happens because we can not make a ideal source
so that the sinusoidal source used in the bridge is not truly pure some noise were add to the source
and that noise changes the frequency of the system so that the balance point is difficult to calculate .
To over to this issue we use filter in series with the null point which reduces the quantity of the noise
in the source signal.

The process to find the balance point is same as above one. So, at the balance condition
where all symbols have their usual meaning. On further solving the equation and equating the real
and imaginary part, we get real part as

And imaginary part as

And the frequency of the N/W is as follows

Conclusion

Maxwell bridge is used in communication systems, as communication technology reaching to peak

from audio call than video call than virtual reality than mixed reality after that augmented reality. In
future their might be some technology that make communication more smoother so Maxwell Bridge
will defiantly use in that. It is being used in the many electronic circuit for different purpose and with
advancing in technology the use and scope will also increase to make the advancement more
compact and futuristic. And it is used in calculating the unknown inductance, compare inductance ,
used in audio and power frequency circuit , it also used in measuring medium quality factor of the
coil . It is used in power conversion circuit and in filter circuit, instrumentation , linear and non-linear
circuit .and many more use of Maxwell Bridge in future and in present as well. The main aim was to
develop a AC bridge that can be used to measure unknow inductance value and compare it with
standard value and develop a bridge of high quality where error can be minimized.

References

1. Jones, Larry D “Electrical instrument and measurements”

2. L.M. Oginio, AQL Sousa “Development and application of Non Traditional Maxwell Wien Bridge”