1 Operation
Diagram of D'Arsonval/Weston type galvanometer. As the current ows from + through the coil (the orange part) to , a magnetic eld is generated in the coil. This eld is counteracted by
the permanent magnet and forces the coil to twist, moving the
pointer, in relation to the elds strength caused by the ow of
current.
Sensitive galvanometers have been essential for the development of science and technology in many elds. For
example they enabled long range communication through
submarine cables, such as the earliest Transatlantic telegraph cables, and were essential to discovering the electrical activity of the heart and brain, by their ne measurements of current.
The basic sensitivity of a meter might be, for instance,
Galvanometers also had widespread use as the visualising 100 microamperes full scale (with a voltage drop of, say,
part in other kinds of analog meters, for example in light 50 millivolts at full current). Such meters are often calimeters, VU meters, etc., where they were used to mea- brated to read some other quantity that can be converted
sure and display the output of other sensors. Today the to a current of that magnitude. The use of current dimain type of galvanometer mechanism, still in use, is the viders, often called shunts, allows a meter to be calibrated
1
USES
2.1
Modern uses
Mirror galvanometer systems are used as beam positioning or beam steering elements in laser scanning systems. A major early use for galvanometers was for nding faults
For example, for material processing with high-power in telecommunications cables. They were superseded in
lasers, closed loop mirror galvanometer mechanisms are this application late in the 20th century by time-domain
3
signs increased the eect of the magnetic eld generated
by the current by using multiple turns of wire. The instruments were at rst called multipliers due to this common design feature. The term galvanometer, in common use by 1836, was derived from the surname of Italian
electricity researcher Luigi Galvani, who in 1791 discovered that electric current would make a dead frogs leg
jerk.
A galvanometer mechanism (center part), used in an automatic exposure unit of an 8 mm lm camera, together with a
photoresistor (seen in the hole on top of the leftpart).
reectometers.
Galvanometer mechanisms were also used to get readings
from photoresistors in the metering mechanisms of lm
cameras (as seen in the image to the right).
History
TYPES
D'Arsonval/Weston galvanometer (ca. 1900). Part of the magnets left pole piece is broken out to show the coil.
Types
4.1
Tangent galvanometer
4.2
Astatic galvanometer
5
One problem with the tangent galvanometer is that its resolution degrades at both high currents and low currents.
The maximum resolution is obtained when the value of
is 45. When the value of is close to 0 or 90, a
large percentage change in the current will only move the
needle a few degrees.
4.1.2 Geomagnetic eld measurement
A tangent galvanometer can also be used to measure the magnitude of the horizontal component of the
geomagnetic eld. When used in this way, a low-voltage
power source, such as a battery, is connected in series
with a rheostat, the galvanometer, and an ammeter. The
galvanometer is rst aligned so that the coil is parallel to
the geomagnetic eld, whose direction is indicated by the
compass when there is no current through the coils. The
battery is then connected and the rheostat is adjusted until
Top view of a tangent galvanometer made about 1950. The indi- the compass needle deects 45 degrees from the geomagcator needle of the compass is perpendicular to the shorter, black netic eld, indicating that the magnitude of the magnetic
magnetic needle.
eld at the center of the coil is the same as that of the
horizontal component of the geomagnetic eld. This eld
component BH of the Earths magnetic eld (i.e. parallel strength can be calculated from the current as measured
to the local magnetic meridian). When an electric cur- by the ammeter, the number of turns of the coil, and the
rent ows through the galvanometer coil, a second mag- radius of the coils.
netic eld B is created. At the center of the coil, where
the compass needle is located, the coils eld is perpen4.2 Astatic galvanometer
dicular to the plane of the coil. The magnitude of the
coils eld is:
B=
0 nI
2r
= tan1
B
BH
0 nI
= BH tan
2r
or
Astatic galvanometer.
Unlike a compass-needle galvanometer, the astatic galvanometer has two magnetic needles parallel to each
other, but with the magnetic poles reversed. The neeor I = K tan , where K is called the Reduction Factor of dle assembly is suspended by a silk thread, and has no
the tangent galvanometer.
net magnetic dipole moment. It is not aected by the
I=
2rBH
0 n
tan
earths magnetic eld. The lower needle is inside the current sensing coils and is deected by the magnetic eld
created by the passing current.
The astatic galvanometer was developed by Leopoldo Nobili in 1825.[3]
4.3
Mirror galvanometer
4.4
Ballistic galvanometer
See also
Vibration galvanometer
Thermo galvanometer
References
EXTERNAL LINKS
7 External links
Galvanometer - Interactive Java Tutorial National
High Magnetic Field Laboratory
Selection of historic galvanometer in the Virtual
Laboratory of the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
8.1
Text
8.2
Images
8.3
Content license