1

INTRODUCTION

Introduction

The purpose of this assignment is to design a precise circuit (ohmmeter) that can measure resistances ranging
from 0.01 to 10k to high accuracy of 0.1%. Sometimes while measuring resistances using ohmmeter, it
will display useless reading even if the resistance is not measured using it. For e.g. the ohmmeter will display
0.18 - 0.2 though the resistance is lot less than that. This error displayed by ohmmeter mainly due to:
a) Resistance of ohmmeter cables are measured. Though wire resistance is very small, the length of the
ohmmeter cables that are long enough and if very small resistance is required to be measured, it will introduce
the measurement error as the ohmmeter measures the resistance of the cables in circulating loop as shown
in gure 1.

Figure 1: Interpretation of wire resistances and resistance of the device to be measure

b) Sometimes ohmmeters are not designed to be precise enough to measure very small resistance.
c) The contact resistance of the test probes.
There are several solutions that can be done in order to minimize these problems. One of the technique that
is simple and eective technique known as Kelvin (4 wire) Resistance measurement. Consider simple circuit
shown in gure 2.

Figure 2: Simple Kelvin Resistance measurement example

No matter what current will ow through the resistor, the current will always be 1A as it is supplied by a
constant current source. By ohms law,
1

DESIGN OF THE CIRCUIT

V = IR

(1)

V
I

(2)

R=

Since I = 1 A, V = R. For e.g. if 10mV is measured across the tested wire, it means resistance of the wire
is 10m . Since the current is same throughout the circular loop, the contact resistances of the alligator clip
and wires are no more a problem. Hence the measurement of voltage across the device under test gives value
of resistance directly without any further computation. The input impedance of the voltmeter is very high
(in Mohms), almost no current ows into the ohmmeter therefore it does not eect the circuit. Therefore
the contact resistance of the test probe which is likely to eect the resistance measurement is eliminated.
Measurement accuracy may be improved even further if the voltmeter's current is kept to a minimum, either
by using a high-quality (low full-scale current) movement and/or a potentiometric (null-balance) system.
By applying the principle of Kelvin resistance measurement technique, precise circuit that can measure
resistance with high accuracy will be designed and simulated in SPICE software.

2
2.1

Design of the circuit

Description of the circuit

The circuit arrangement shown in gure 3, used in order to cover the resistance range as per the required
accuracy that eliminates the error caused by the contact resistance.

2.1

Description of the circuit

Figure 3: Schematic of the circuitry

3

DESIGN OF THE CIRCUIT

2.1

Description of the circuit

DESIGN OF THE CIRCUIT

To understand this design properly, the circuitry is split into 3 parts:

1. Constant current source: Since sinusoidal test signal is to be applied, simple transconductance amplier
i.e. the oating constant current source has been used instead of signal controlled referenced current source
shown in gure. As the ac current ow through the transistors of the referenced current source, it causes
disintegration of them eventually the transistors to malfunction. When the signal is negetive at the base of
NPN transistor, it indicates that the base-emitter diode is reverse-biased. The amplier stops working as the
diode acts like an open circuit. As the negetive signal becomes too high, the base-emitter diode will blow up.
The same principal even applies to the PNP transistor. Hence oating current source for the resistance Rx
that is to be measured is used.
2. Input Stage: It comprises of two operational ampliers in conjunction with adjustable gain with resistor
Rg . It provides very high input impedance on both inverting and non-inverting terminals of the dierential
amplier since the input impedances of it have nite value i.e. R1 and (R3 + R4 ). The inverting and noninverting terminals of the instrument amplier are connected across the resistor Rx such that the potential
dierence is developed across it.
3.Output stage: It is basically a dierential amplier. All 4 of the resistors R1 , R2 , R3 and R4 are matched
accurately around the op amp in order to reject common mode voltage and noise. The voltage across the
resistor Rx is amplied at this stage to give an output voltage Vout and it is referred to the output ground.
Setting up a value for constant current source:
Assume test sinusoidal signal of amplitude 1 V is applied. Maximum voltage output of the circuit is also
required to be 1V. Since the resistances ranges from 0.01 to 10k is to be measured, choose input resistance
Rin of the voltage to current converter to 10k i.e. Rin = 10k. Equation for the current source is derived
followed by computation of supply current IS :
By golden rule:
V+V =0

V+ =V

IS =

VS
Rin

VS = 1V and Rin = 10k

IS =

1
= 0.0001A
10 103

Hence constant supply current IS is 0.0001A or 0.1mA.

Matching the resistor values of the instrumentation amplier:
The resistances for the instrumentation amp is given by
R1 = R3 , R2 = R4 and R5 = R6 .

(3)

SIMULATION AND ERROR ANALYSIS

The dierential gain is given by:

Ad =

2R5
R2
(1 +
)
R1
Rg

(4)

Voltage input and voltage output are required to be equal. Hence unity gain is required from the instrumentation amplifer. Therefore following parameters from equation 4 are equalized:
Take the ratios

R2
R1

1
2

and

2R5
Rg

21
2

R1 = 2 R2 and Rg = 2 R5

Substituting the parameters above in equation 4 to give dierential gain Ad :

1

1
2
 1
Ad = (1 +
1 )
2

2

Ad =

1
2
= 1
2

Hence R1 = 2R2 and Rg = 2R5 .

Operational amplier LTC1052 is chosen over UA741. In the table 1, it is reasoned out why LTC1052 model
is used:
Table 1: LTC1052 vs UA741
LTC1052
Slew rate: 0.5V /s
Maximum oset voltage: 15mV
Minimum CMRR: 70dB
Maximum input bias current: 30pA

UA741
Slew rate: 4V /s
Maximum oset voltage: 5V
Minimum CMRR: 120dB
Maximum input bias current: 1500nA

Many other features of LTC1052 can be found that excels UA741 features by referring to the datasheet.
At later stage, the AC output will be converted into DC such that it is interfaced with Analogue to Digital
converter.

Simulation and error Analysis

Initially there was oset voltage value for resistance 0.01.