RAYA UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

PROJECT FOR INSTROMENTATION AND MEASURMENT

TITLE: MEASURMENT OF RESISTANCE

PREPARED BY: ABDUSHUKUR WABELA

ID: 04791/12

SUBMITTED TO SUBMISSION DATE

MR. GEBAYA

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Table of Contents
Acknowledgment.....................................................................................................................................................3
1 MEASUREMENTS OF RESISTANCE.........................................................................................................................4
1.1 Measurement of Resistance...........................................................................................................................4
1.1.1Measurement of Low Resistance (<1Ω)....................................................................................................4
1.1.2Measurement of Medium Resistance (1Ω – 100kΩ)................................................................................7
1.1.3 Measurement of High Resistance (>100kΩ............................................................................................10

Acknowledgment
I would like to acknowledge and give my warmest thanks to Mr.Gebaya who made this work possible.
His/her guidance and advice carried me through all the stages of writing my project. I would also like to

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thank my my advisor for letting this work to be an enjoyable project, and for him brilliant comments and
suggestions,

Finally, I would like to thank God, for letting me through all the difficulties. I have experienced your guidance
day by day. You are the one who let me finish my project in a week . I will trust you for future

1 MEASUREMENTS OF RESISTANCE
1.1 Measurement of Resistance
Resistance is an opposition to current flow. The value of resistance in engineering varies from very
small value like, resistance of a transformer winding, to very high values like, insulation resistance of
that same transformer winding.
Classification of resistance
1. Low resistance is the range of very low (~0 Ω) to 1 Ω.
2. Medium resistance is the range of 1 Ω to low mega ohm (100 K Ω).
3. High resistance is 0.1M Ω to higher range.

1.1.1Measurement of Low Resistance (<1Ω)

The major problem in measurement of low resistance values is the contact resistance or lead resistance
of the measuring instruments, though being small in value is comparable to the resistance being
measured and hence causes serious error. Thus to eliminate this issue small valued resistance are

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constructed with four terminals. Two terminals are current terminals and other two are potential
terminals. Figure below shows the construction of low resistance:
The current is flown through current terminals C1 and C2 while the potential drop is measured across
potential terminals V1 and V2.
The methods employed for measurement of low resistances are:-

a) Kelvin’s Double Bridge Method

b) Ducter Ohmmeter.

Kelvin’s Double Bridge:- Kelvin’s double bridge is a modification of simple Wheatstone bridge. Figure
below shows the circuit diagram of Kelvin’s double bridge.

As we can see in the above figure there are two sets of arms, one with resistances P and Q and other
with resistances p and q. R is the unknown low resistance and S is a standard resistance. Here r
represents the contact resistance between the unknown resistance and the standard resistance, whose
P p
effect we need to eliminate. For measurement we make the ratio equal to and hence a balanced
Q q
Wheatstone bridge is formed leading to null deflection in the galvanometer. Under balance conditions
there is no current through the Galvanometer, which means that the voltage drop between a and d, E ad is
equal to the voltage drop E amc between a and c. Hence for a balanced bridge we can write:

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For zero galvanometer deflection,
E ad=Eamc … … … … … … … … … … … … … … .. … 2.1
P
E ad= x E ab … … … … … … … … … … … … .2 .2
P+ Q
Ipr Iqr
E ab=IR+ IS + +
p+ q+r p+ q+r
I ( p+q ) r
¿ IR+ IS +
p +q+ r

{
¿ I R+S +
( p+ q ) r
p+ q+r }
… … … … … … … … … 2.3

Substitute Eq (2.3) into Eq (2.2)

E ad=
P
P+ Q {
x I R+ S+
( p+ q ) r
p+q+ r }
… … … .2 .4

E amc=E am+ E mc
Ir
¿ IR+ I mc xp , And I mc =
p+ q+r
Irp
¿ IR+ … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … … ..2.5
p+q +r
Substitute Eq (2.4) and Eq (2.5) into Eq (2.1)
P
x I ¿, cancel like terms and we will get:
P+ Q
P
x ¿,
P+ Q
P+ Q
Multiply both sides by the simplified form of the equation becomes:
P

R+ S+
( p+ q ) r
p+q+ r
=
P[ ]{
P+Q
x R+ }
rp
p+q+ r
,

R+ S+
( p+ q ) r
p+q+ r
Q
[ ]{
= 1+ x R+
P p+q+ r }
rp
,

rp qr rp Q Q rp
R+ S+ + =R+ + xR+ x ,
p+q+ r p+q +r p +q+ r P P p+ q+r
By cancelling like terms we will get:

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 qr Q Q rp
S+ = xR+ x ,
p +q+ r P P p +q+ r
Q Q rp qr
S= xR + x −
P P p +q+ r p+q +r

S=
Q
P
xR +
rp
| |
Q q
− ,
p+ q+r P p
P p P+ Q p+ q
From Kalvin double bridge we know that = and = , so the equation becomes:
Q q Q q
Q P
S= xR And R= xS ………………2.6
P Q
Hence, r has no effect on the measurement, we see that by using balanced double arms we can eliminate
the contact resistance completely & hence error due to it. To eliminate another error caused due to
thermo-electric emf, we take another reading with battery connection reversed and finally take average
of the two readings. This bridge is useful for resistances in range of 0.1μΩ to 1.0 Ω.
Ducter Ohmmeter:
•It is an electromechanical instrument used for measurement of low resistances. It comprises of a
permanent magnet similar to that of a PMMC (permanent magnet moving coil) instrument and
two coils in between the magnetic field created by the poles of the magnet.
•The two coils are at right angles to each other and are free to rotate about the common axis.
Figure below shows a Ducter Ohmmeter and the connections required to measure an
unknown resistance R.

One of the coil called current coil, is connected to current terminals C 1 and C2, while the other coil
called, voltage coil is connected to potential terminals V 1 and V2. The current flowing through the

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voltage coil is proportional to drop between terminals P. Voltage coil carries current proportional of the
voltage drop across R and so is its torque produced. Current coil carries current proportional to the
current flowing through R and so is its torque too. Both the torque acts in opposite direction and the
indicator come to halt when the two are equal. This instrument is useful for resistance in range 100µΩ to
5Ω.

1.1.2Measurement of Medium Resistance (1Ω – 100kΩ)

Following are the methods employed for measuring a resistance whose value is in the range 1Ω – 100kΩ
 Ammeter-Voltmeter Method
 Wheatstone Bridge Method
 Substitution Method
Ammeter-Voltmeter Method
This is the most crude and simplest method of measuring resistance. It uses one ammeter to measure
current, I and one voltmeter to measure voltage, V and we get the value of resistance as:
V
R=
I
Now we can have two possible connections of ammeter and voltmeter, shown in the figure below.

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It can be observed that the relative error is zero for Ra = 0 in first case and R v = ∞ in second case. Now
the questions stand that which connection to be used in which case. To find out this we equate both the
errors:
Ra R
= or R =√ Ra Rv
R Rv
Hence for resistances greater than that given by above equation we use the first method and for less than
that we use second method.

2. Wheatstone Bridge Method

 This is the simplest and the most basic bridge circuit used in measurement studies.
 It mainly consists of four arms of resistance P, Q; R and S. R is the unknown resistance under
experiment, while S is standard resistance.
 P and Q are known as the ratio arms. An EMF source is connected between points a and b while
a galvanometer is connected between points c and d.
 A bridge circuit always works on the principle of null detection, i.e. we vary a parameter until
the detector shows zero and then use a mathematical relation to determine the unknown in terms
of varying parameter and other constants.

Here also the standard resistance, S is varied in order to obtain null deflection in the galvanometer. This
null deflection implies no current from point c to d, which implies that potential of point c and d is same.
Hence
I 1 P=I 2 R

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 E
I 1=I 3 =
( P+Q)
E
I 2=I 4=
( R+ S)
E
I 1=I 3 =
( P+Q)
Combining the above two equations we get the famous equation:
PS
R=
Q

3. Substitution Method
 The figure below shows the circuit diagram for resistance measurement of an unknown resistance
R. S is a standard variable resistance and r is a regulating resistance.
 First the switch is place at position 1 and the ammeter is made to read a certain amount of current
by varying r. The value of ammeter reading is noted. Now the switch is moved to position 2 and S
is varied in order to achieve the same ammeter reading as it read in the initial case. The value of S
for which ammeter reads same as in position 1, is the value of unknown resistance R, provided
the EMF source has constant value throughout the experiment.

1.1.3 Measurement of High Resistance (>100kΩ)

Following are few methods used for measurement of high resistance values-
Megger
Megohm bridge Method
Direct Deflection Method
Loss of Charge Method

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We normally utilize very small amount of current for such measurement, but still owing to high
resistance chances of production of high voltages is not surprising. Due to this we encounter several
other problems such as:
1. Electrostatic charges can get accumulated on measuring instruments
2. Leakage current becomes comparable and can cause error
3. Insulation resistance-true value of resistance is not obtained.
4. Protection of delicate instruments from high fields
• Hence to solve the problem of leakage currents or capacitive currents we use a guard circuit and
Loss of Charge Method. The concept of guard circuit is to bypass the leakage current from the
ammeter so as to measure the true resistive current.
• Figure below shows two connections on voltmeter and micro ammeter to measure R, one without
guard circuit and one with guard circuit.

Loss of Charge Method

• In this method we utilize the equation of voltage across a discharging capacitor to find the value
of unknown resistance R. Figure below shows the circuit diagram and the equations involved
are:

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However the above case assumes no leakage resistance of the capacitor. Hence to account for it we use
the circuit shown in the figure below. R1 is the leakage resistance of C and R is the unknown resistance.
We follow the same procedure but first with switch S1 closed and next with switch S1 open. For the first
case we get

For second case with switch open we get

Using R1 from above equation in equation for R’ we can find R.

Megohm Bridge Method

In this method we use the famous Wheatstone bridge philosophy but in a slightly modified way. A high

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resistance is represented as in the figure below.

G is the guard terminal. Now we can also represent the resistor as shown in the adjoining figure, where
RAG and RBG are the leakage resistances. The circuit for measurement is shown in the figure below.

It can be observed that we actually obtain the resistance which is parallel combination of R and R AG.
Although this causes very insignificant error.

Megger

Megger is one of the most important measuring device used by electrical engineers and is essentially
used for measuring insulation resistance only. It consists of a generator which can be hand driven or
nowadays we have electronic megger. Details of megger have been discussed in a separate article.
1. Surface.

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