Elements of Electrical Engineering (20EE101P)

Date:

Experiment 1

AIM:
Introduction to elements of electrical engineering laboratory and to study different electrical
measuring instruments.

APPARATUS REQUIRED:
Ammeters, Voltmeter, Wattmeter, Energy meter, tachometer, rheostat, loading devices,
various supply system, multimeter, transformer, bread board, Printed circuit board, etc.

THEORY:
AMMETER:
Ammeter is employed for measuring of current in a circuit and connected in series in the
circuit. As ammeter is connected in series, the voltage drop across ammeter terminals is very
low. This requires that the resistance of the ammeter should be as low as possible. The current
coil of ammeter has low current carrying capacity whereas the current to be measured may be
quite high. So, for protecting the equipment a low resistance is connected in parallel to the
current coil and it is known as shunt resistance. The layout/symbol of ammeter is as shown in
fig. 1.

Fig. 1 (a) Analog Ammeter (b) Cross sectional view or PMMC ammeter.

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Fig. 2 PMMC instruments.

VOLTMETER:
Voltmeter is employed to measure the potential difference across any two points of a
circuit. It is connected in the parallel across any element in the circuit. The resistance of
voltmeter is kept very high by connecting a high resistance in series of the voltmeter with the
current coil of the instrument. The actual voltage drop across the current coil of the voltmeter
is only a fraction of the total voltage applied across the voltmeter which is to be measured.
The analog voltmeter is as shown in fig. 3.

Fig. 3 Analog Voltmeter.

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WATTMETER:
The measurement of real power in AC circuits is done by using an instrument using
Wattmeter. The real power in AC circuits is given by expression below.

P= VI cos Φ; where, cosΦ is power factor.

A wattmeter has two coils, namely, current coil and pressure coil. The current coil (CC) is
connected in series with the load and the pressure coil (PC) is connected across the load. Watt
meters are available in dual range for voltages as well as for current. The PCB is as shown in
fig. 4 and the connection diagram of wattmeter is as shown in fig. 5.

Fig. 4 Analog Wattmeter.

CC: Current Coil

PC: Potential Coil
M – Mains L - Line/Load C – Common V - Voltage
Fig. 5 Connection diagram of wattmeter.

ENERGY METER:
Energy meter is an instrument which is used to measure the consumption of electric energy
in a circuit (DC or AC). It measures energy in kWh. The essential difference between a energy

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meter and a wattmeter is that the former is fitted with some type of registration mechanism
where by all the instantaneous readings of power are summed over a definite period of time
whereas the latter indicates the value at particular instant when it is read. The energy meter
and it,s connection diagram are as shown in fig. 6 and fig. 7 respectively.

Fig. 6 Energy Meter.

Fig. 7 Complete constructional diagram of energy meter

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 Elements of Electrical Engineering (20EE101P)

MULTIMETER:

Multimeter is a measuring instrument used to measure the current, voltage and resistance.
These can be used to troubleshoot many electrical equipment’s such as domestic appliances,
power supplies etc. The multimeter and it’s general-purpose block diagram are as shown in
fig. 8 and fig. 9 respectively.

Fig. 8 General purpose Multimeter.

Fig. 9 Operational block diagram of multimeter.

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TACHOMETER:
Tachometer is an instrument to measure the speed in (revolutions per minute
(R.P.M.)).The speed of a rotating shaft is measured by inserting the tapered projected part of
the tachometer into the tapered hole in the rotating shaft speed of which is to be measured.
The tachometer is as shown in fig. 10.

Fig. 10 Analog Tachometer.

RHEOSTAT:
Rheostats are made up of high resistivity material, like, nickel-chromium iron alloy closely
wound over a circular tube. These are available both in single tube and double tube. Inter-turn
insulation is provided to avoid short circuiting of turns. The tube of rheostat is made of
insulating material, like asbestos. These are employed at places where resistance of a circuit
is to be varied without breaking the circuit. The rheostat is as shown in fig. 11.

Fig. 11 Rheostat.

LOADING DEVICES

The most commonly used loading devices are:

(1) Loading Rheostat (fig. 9).
(2) Lamp Bank (fig. 10).

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Lamp Bank load consists of number of lamps connected to form a load. These are suitably
connected and controlled by a no. of switches. The switches are provided in a manner so that
it should be possible to switch on any required number of lamps at a time. Tachometer
Rheostat. A loading rheostat type of load consists of no. of identical resistive elements. These
elements are connected in series or parallel. The rheostat is made up of high resistivity
material such as like nickel chromium. The elements of the load can be designed to take a
current (Eg. 1A, 2A, 3A etc.). The lamp load is as shown in fig. 12.

Fig. 12 Lamp bank & load.

VAROIUS SUPPLY SYSTEM:

(a) A.C supply systems: There are two types of supply.

(i) Single phase-230V: In this system we have two wires, one is known as phase/line
and the other is neutral. Voltage between them is 230 V.
(ii) Three phase - 400 V (line to line): In his system we have three wires, one for each
phase or line. In case the fourth wire is there it is neutral.

While voltage between two phases/lines is 400 V, between any phase/line and neutral it is
230 V.

(b) DC Supply System There are two type of D.C supply system:
(i) From battery: We use rectifiers for 6V or 12V D.C supply current.
(ii) From DC generator.

The AC/DC power supply is as shown in fig. 13.

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Fig. 13 AC/DC power supply

TRANSFORMER:
A transformer is a static device which consists of two or more stationary electric
circuits interlinked by a common magnetic circuit for the purpose of transferring electrical
energy between them. The transfer of electric energy takes place from one circuit to another
circuit without change in frequency. Transformer may be for stepping up voltage from low to
high or stepping down voltage from high to low. The various types of transformers are as
shown in fig. 14, fig. 15 & fig. 16 respectively.

Fig. 14 Transformer.

Fig. 15 Power transformer in switch yard & laboratory scale transformer.

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BREADBOARD:
A breadboard is a solderless device for temporary prototype with electronics and test
circuit designs. Most electronic components in electronic circuits can be interconnected by
inserting their leads or terminals into the holes and then making connections through wires
where appropriate. The connection diagram of breadboard is as shown in fig. 17.

Fig. 17 Breadboard.

PRINTED CIRCUIT BOARD:

A printed circuit board (PCB) mechanically supports and electrically connects
electrical or electronic components using conductive tracks, pads and other features etched
from one or more sheet layers of copper laminated onto and/or between sheet layers of a non-
conductive substrate. Components are generally soldered onto the PCB to both electrically
connect and mechanically fasten them to it. The PCB is as shown in fig. 18.

Fig. 18 PCB.

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OBSERVATION TABLE:

Sr. No. Name of the instrument Specifications

1 Ammeter

2 Voltmeter

3 Multimeter

4 Wattmeter

5 Energy meter

CONCLUSION:
Write down the function of each element.

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