Electromechanical Indicating

Instruments
DC Ammeter
• The PMMC instrument is an ammeter.
• Pointer deflection is directly proportional to the current
flowing in the coil.
• An ammeter is always connected in series with a circuit in
which current is to be measured.
• A shunt resistance is connected in parallel with the
instrument coil. Because when large currents are to be
measured, it is necessary to bypass a major part of the current
through shunt resistance.
• The resistance of the shunt can be calculated using conventional circuit analysis.
Referring to figure 1,

Figure 1: Basic dc ammeter

• Since the shunt resistance is in parallel with the meter movement, the voltage drop
across the shunt and movement must be the same.
Therefore,
Vs= Vm
Is Rs = Im Rm
Rs = Im Rm / Is
But,
Is = I – Im
Hence,
Rs = Im Rm / (I – Im)
In figure 1,

Rm is the meter resistance (internal resistance of the movement)

Rsh is the resistance of the shunt (shunt resistance)

Im is full scale deflection current of the movement

I is total current (full scale current of the ammeter + shunt)

Suppose that the meter resistance is exactly 99 ohms and the shunt resistance is 1 ohm.
The shunt current will be 99 times the meter current. In this situation, if the meter gives
full scale deflection for a coil current of 0.1 mA, the scale should be calibrated to read
100 × 0.1 mA or 10 mA at full scale.

Is = 99Im

I= Im +99Im

I=100Im ----- 100 x 0.1mA=10mA

Ammeter Circuit
Example
An Ammeter as in figure has a PMMC instrument with a coil resistance
of RM=99 ohms and FSD current of 0.1 mA . Shunt resistance RS=1 ohm
. Determine the total current passing through the ammeter at
1. FSD
2. 0.5 FSD
3. 0.25 FSD

3.3 D
• The total ammeter current in the previous
example is 10mA when the moving coil
instrument indicates FSD. Therefore the meter
scale can be calibrated for FSD to indicate 10mA.
When the pointer indicates 0.5FSD and 0.25FSD,
the current levels are 5mA and 2.5mA,
respectively. Thus, the ammeter scale may be
calibrated to linearly represent all currents level
from zero to 10mA.
• So if a shunt having a smaller value is used, the
shunt current and total ammeter current will be
larger than the levels calculated. In fact shunt
resistance values can be determined to convert a
PMMC instrument into an ammeter for
measuring any desired values of current. (e.g. see
the next example)
Example
A PMMC instrument has FSD of 100 uA and coil resistance of 1 K ohm .
Calculate the required shunt resistance value to convert the instrument into
an ammeter with
a. FSD = 100 mA
b . FSD= 1 Ampere

3.4 D
Multirange ammeter using switched
shunts
 Example
Design a multirange ammeter with range of 0-1A, 5A and 10A employing
individual shunt in each A D’Arsonval movement with an internal resistance of
500 ohm and full scale deflection of 10 mA is available.

3.3 K
Multirange ammeter using ayrton
shunts or universal shunts

•Ayrton shunt eliminates the

possibility of having the meter in the
circuit without a shunt.
•Multirange ammeters are used
normally for ranges up to 50 A.
•When using the Multirange
ammeter, first use the highest current
range, then decrease the range until
good upscale reading is obtained.
Example (Dictate)

3.5 D
General requirements of a shunt resistance:

The general requirements of a shunt are as follows:

• The temperature coefficients of the shunt and instrument should be low and nearly
identical.

• The resistance of the shunt should not vary with time.

• It should carry the current without excessive temperature rise.

• It should have a low thermal emf.

Manganin is usually used as a shunt for dc instruments, since it gives a low value of
thermal emf with copper.
 DC Voltmeter
• The basic PMMC instrument can be converted into a dc voltmeter by adding a series
resistor known as multiplier, as shown in figure 3.

Figure 3: Basic DC Voltmeter

• The deflection of a PMMC instrument is proportional to the current flowing through
the moving coil. The coil current is directly proportional to the voltage across the coil.
Therefore the scale of the PMMC meter could be calibrated to indicate voltage.
• The voltmeter range can be increased by connecting a series resistance with the
instrument . A multiplier resistance that is 9 times the coil resistance will increase the
voltmeter range by a factor of 10. [V=Im(9Rm+Rm)=> V=10Vm]
• To use the basic PMMC meter as a dc voltmeter, it is necessary to know
the exact amount of current required to deflect the basic meter to full scale.
This current is known as full scale deflection current (Ifsd).
 Example 1 4.2a K

A basic PMMC instrument movement with a full scale deflection of 50 micro Amperes
and internal resistance of 500 ohms is used as a voltmeter. Determine the value of the
multiplier resistance needed to measure a voltage range of 0 -10 V. Also calculate the
applied voltage when instrument indicate 0.4 FSD (Use RS value found in previous step).

Example 2 4.2b K

Calculate the value of multiplier resistance on the 50 V range of a dc voltmeter that uses a
500 micro Ampere meter movement with an internal resistance of 1 kilo ohms.

Example 3 3.6D
 Voltmeter sensitivity

the sensitivity of voltmeter is measured in terms of its resistance. This resistance is the
required minimum resistance which allows to flow FSD current through PMMC.

Sensitivity= 1 / Ifsd (formula for calculating the sensitivity)

•As in example 2 the sensitivity can be calculated as

1 / 500x10-6 A = 2 KΩ / volt

•If the sensitivity is known, the total voltmeter resistance is easily calculated. i.e.

Total voltmeter resistance= S x voltageRange …….. (Equation 1)

2 KΩ x 50 V= 100 KΩ (same as in example 2)

From equation 1 :

Sensitivity=S= Total resistance/ voltage range

•The sensitivity of a voltmeter is always specified by the
manufacturer and is frequently printed on the scale of
the instrument.
Voltmeter loading effect
Ideally, a voltmeter should have an extremely high
resistance. A voltmeter is always connected across, or in
parallel with the points in a circuit at which the voltage is
to be measured. If its resistance is too low, it can alter the
circuit voltage. This is known as voltage loading effect.
 Example 4
Figure shows a series circuit of R1 and R2 connected to a 100V dc source. If the voltage
across R2 is to be measured by voltmeters having
i. A sensitivity of 1000 ohms/volt, and
ii. A sensitivity of 20,000 ohms/volt.
Find which voltmeter will read the accurate value of voltage across R2. Both the meters
are used on the 50V range.

4.11 K
 Multirange Voltmeter

A dc voltmeter can be converted into a multirange voltmeter by connecting a number of

resistors (multipliers) along with a range switch to provide a greater number of workable
ranges. Figure shows a multirange voltmeter using a three position switch and three
multipliers R1, R2, and R3 for voltage values V1, V2, V3 respectively.

In multirange voltmeter, the multipliers are connected in a series string, and the range
selector selects the appropriate amount of resistance required in series with the movement.
 Example 5
A PMMC instrument with FSD =50uA and RM=1700 ohm is to be employed as a
volt meter with ranges of 10 v, 50v, and 100v. Calculate the required multiplier
resistance for the circuits of figures in previous slide.

•In the previous example if you ponder upon the circuits you will realize that the circuit in figure
(b) is less expensive as compared to the circuit in figure (a) because all of the multiplier resistor in
(a) must be special (non-standard) resistors while in circuit (b) all are regular standard resistor
except R1.

3.7 D