Digital Voltmeters Can Be Classified in To The Following Broad Categories
Digital Voltmeters Can Be Classified in To The Following Broad Categories
Digital Voltmeters Can Be Classified in To The Following Broad Categories
DIGITAL
VOLTMETERS
THE SINGLE SLOPE
PRINCIPLE
Operation principle:
The measurement of the time it takes for a linear ramp voltage to rise from
O V to the level of the input voltage, or to decrease from the level of the
input voltage to zero. This time interval is measured with an electronic
time-interval counter.
t1
V0
t2
The
Advantages
1. It has excellent noise rejection because noise and superimposed ac are
arranged and in the process of integration.
2. The speed and accuracy are readily varied according to the specific
requirements.
3) Also accuracy of 0.05% in 100ms is available.
Count
T=1000 clock pulses. The
reference voltage is taken
as half the input voltage.
1. The system commences the measurement when the switch connects the Analog
signal input to the integrator which commences to ramp down. At this point, the
integration capacitor, C, falls linearly from the input, to a level decided by the
average input signal value over the counter time period (T).
2. At the same time the counter begins from zero, to count the clock pulses.
3. When a predetermined number of pulses,( 1000 with the 7106), appear in the
counter, the integrator is electronically switched over to the reference voltage.
As the switch changes to the reference, the counter is reset to zero and
commences counting again.
The reference, which is of opposite polarity to the input signal now causes the
charged integration capacitor (C) to ramp upward with a fixed slope.
4. When the output of the integrator reaches the zero threshold, the counter is
stopped and its contents displayed on the digital readout.
The count displayed is the ratio of the counts during the downward ramp (over time t)
to the counts during the upward ramp (Over timeT). Thus, for a limit of 1000 counts
during the downward ramp, a direct reading of input voltage is obtained if the reference
voltage is chosen appropriately.
Advantages:
1. The absolute value of the integration capacitor and the clock
frequency are of little
significance provided they are stable for the duration of the
conversion period.
2. The relatively long analogue to digital conversion period has
an inherent advantage in that it ignores noise. When noise is
integrated over an extended period, its amplitude tends to zero.
Thus, dual-slope integration results in excellent accuracy.
5
6
Dual Slope
Has excellent noise
rejection because noise
and superimposed ac are
averaged out in the process
of integration.
To Generate -5V
Current Measurement.
Currents up to 2A can be easily measured using the space on the board for a 5W
shunt resistor, R. The current is converted into a voltage by the shunt resistor.
If R = 0.1 ohms then 200mV will be developed when the current through it is 2A.
This voltage is applied to the meter which is set up for the 200mV range. (That is,
VREF is set to 100mV.) Power dissipation at the maximum reading is I2R which is
0.4W, well within the 5W rating of the resistor.
To measure a full scale of 200mA then R should be 1.0 ohms in order to generate
200mV input to the meter. For a 20 mA meter then R = 10 ohms. Note that because
of wide tolerances in the shunt resistors it may be necessary to adjust the reference
voltage in order to get the correct reading. So further adjustment of VREF using a
known current may be required.
Fig. 5.15
DVM