EG1108/E1/1

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF SINGAPORE Faculty of Engineering

EG1108 Electrical Engineering

Laboratory Manual
Experiment E1

AC Circuits

Academic Year 2010/2011

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Important Instructions:
You are not allowed to come to the lab with slippers and sandals. You MUST put on covered shoes. Bring along logbook. You are not allowed to submit your reports in papers. Read the experiment manual before you come for the experiment. Enter the lab on time in order to finish the experiment on time. Note down all the experimental data directly in your logbook in order to save time. Plot any waveforms/graphs directly in your logbook. Label all waveforms with corresponding name, time scale, voltage scale, etc. Try to finish the experiment in 2.5 hours. You must submit the logbook (within 3-3.5 hours) with the complete set of experiment readings, answers and discussions before leaving the lab. Submit the logbook at the end of the lab session. Place your logbook to the correct submission box corresponding to your lab session.

1. Objectives 1. To gain familiarity with Digital Storage Oscilloscope (DSO) and function generator. 2. To measure the phase of inductor and capacitor. 3. To study the transient response of a series RC circuit. 2. Equipment 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Breadboard (Patch board) Digital Multimeter (DMM) 2-Channel Colour Digital Storage Oscilloscope (RIGOL model DS1102CA) Function Generator Resistors Capacitors Inductors

3. Introduction The oscilloscope is one of the most used test and measurement tools in an electrical engineering laboratory. It is really a type of voltmeter with an arbitrary zero reference point. It can read DC voltages as an offset voltage as well as AC voltages by displaying the true waveform. Oscilloscopes are capable of measuring AC signals over a wide range of frequencies. The front panel view of a Digital Storage Oscilloscope and Function Generator are shown in Fig. 2a and Fig. 2b respectively. A function generator is used to produce sine, square and triangle waves plus a few others that you will not be using for this experiment. The function generator is capable of generating waves with a frequency range of less than 1 Hz to many MHz. You will use this function generator to provide an AC signal to your circuits and the oscilloscope. This will enable you to study different waveforms and to get an understanding of some basic AC signals. There are several function generators available in the laboratory. Some of them have a synchronous pulse or square wave output useful for triggering purpose. A Voltage-Controlled Oscillator (VCO) allows

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one to vary the frequency by applying a controlled-voltage to a connector on the instrument. A digital multimeter is a versatile instrument used for measuring voltage, current and resistance as well as circuit continuity. The instrument has very high input impedance so it is virtually not seen by the circuit under test. This means that the multimeter does not impose any significant load on the circuit. There are several digital multimeters available in the laboratory. They differ in the sensitivity and accuracy for the voltage, current and resistance measurements. In this experiment, you will use multimeter to measure the components value. Theory: In an AC circuit, the following relationships exist between the magnitude of the current through an element of the circuit and the voltage across that element: Resistor: VR = I R (Ohms Law) Capacitor: VC = I XC where the capacitive reactance is given by XC = 1/ 2fC Inductor: VL = I XL where the inductive reactance is given by XL = 2fL (5) (3) (4) (1) (2)

Note that f is the frequency of AC in Hz (cycles per second), C is the capacitance in Farad and L is the inductance in Henry. The values of many practical capacitors are in the microfarad (F) range, and many inductors are in the millihenry (mH) range, where 1 F = 10-6 F, 1 mH = 10-3 H. In the equations (1) to (5), I, VR, VC and VL can be either the effective value of these currents and voltages, or their peak (maximum) values. In what follows, we will always be dealing with the peak values. Since the effective current is times the maximum current, and the RMS voltage is 0.707 times the maximum voltage, Eqs. (1), (2) and (4) are true for both the effective values and the maximum values. However, it is easier to measure maximum (peak) values from the oscilloscope. The phase angle of a waveform is the fraction of a complete cycle corresponding to an offset in the displacement from a specified reference point at time t = 0. In this experiment, we will be observing voltage waveforms across resistor, capacitor and inductor connected in a circuit and will note the phase shift between two waveforms. The phase difference of two waveforms is the time interval or phase angle by which one wave leads or lags another as shown in Fig. 1. The phase difference is given by the minimum distance by which one waveform needs to be shifted to coincide with the other (as shown in Fig.1).

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Voltage (V)
3600
0

V1

V2

Vmax

A B C

Time (Sec)

Phase angle 0 = AB/AD x 3600

Time period (T)

Or Phase angle 0 = AB/AC x 1800

Frequency f = 1/T

Fig 1: Measurement of phase angle and other parameters

Fig. 2(a): Front Panel View of Digital Storage Oscilloscope (RIGOL model DS1102CA)

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Fig. 2(b): Front Panel View of Function Generator

4. Experiment 4.1 The behavior of RC circuit 1. Use the digital multimeter to measure the value of the resistor; note down the value. 2. Construct the circuit as shown in Fig. 3(a) on a breadboard (you can use the description of breadboard given in the appendix). Use capacitor of about C = 0.1 F and a resistor of R = 270. Now connect the DSO CH1 and CH2 according to Fig. 3(b) and 3(c). Set the amplitude of the function generator close to the maximum level. Set the frequency of the function generator to 1 KHz. 3. Play around with the controls on the DSO. Adjust the vertical and horizontal controls. Before proceeding, make sure that both channel 1 and 2 are in AC coupling and that the Probe setting in the channel 1 and 2 menus are set to 1X. 4. For adjusting the vertical scale for channel 1, make sure to press the channel 1 button in the DSO so that the CH1 indicator on the DSO screen is highlighted. Thereby, ensuring you are adjusting the channel 1 scaling of the y-axis which corresponds to the volts per major division for the channel 1 waveform. To adjust channel 2 vertical scaling, press channel 2 button and follow the same procedures. Make sure the amplitude (Vmax) of channel 2 (VC) is closed to 10V by adjusting the amplitude knob of the function generator. 5. For adjusting horizontal scale, adjust the scale knob under horizontal controls. This controls the scaling of the x-axis and corresponds to the second per division of the graphical output of the DSO. Adjust the horizontal scale knob of the DSO until you have only a few complete cycles (around 1.5 to 2 cycles) across the DSO in the horizontal direction.

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Fig. 3(a): RC circuit

6. Observe and plot VR and VC from the DSO. From Fig. 3(b), VR is the voltage across the resistor and VC is the voltage across the capacitor. Please write down the observed frequency used in your graph title, and indicate the amplitudes of VR and VC, time period (T) and time delay between VR and VC on the graph. Note that it is not possible to directly measure VR and VC at the same time (because they have different zero reference points or different grounds). To perform such measurements, you must carefully use the MATH function of the DSO. Connect the black clip of the probe at channel 2 to point d and red clip to point c. Now connect the black clip of probe at channel 1 to point d and red clip to point a. Now, channel 1 is measuring the total input voltage or VT, and channel 2 is measuring VC. VR can be obtained by subtracting signal at channel 2 from the signal at channel 1 using the MATH function. Select MATH function at DSO and then select A-B (where source A = CH1, source B = CH2) in the DSO. It will be convenient if the ground levels and scales of CH2 and MATH are the same. Make sure to switch off the CH1 waveform as that is of no use anymore. (To adjust the scales of CH1/CH2/MATH, make sure you press the appropriate button and that the required label is highlighted in the DSO screen, thereby ensuring that the vertical scale of that particular waveform is changed when the vertical scale knob is changed)

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Fig. 3(b): RC circuit with channel probes of oscilloscope

Fig. 3(c): RC circuit connection for measurement of phase angle using the DSO

7. Increase the frequency output of the function generator and repeat step 6 for frequency of about 10 kHz. Measure VR to make sure it is the same value as in 1st frequency (1 KHz). If VR has changed, adjust the voltage output of the function generator until it returns to the value for 1st frequency. This

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is important to ensure that the same value of current is flowing in the circuit. You will notice that the amplitude of the function generator needs to decrease to ensure constant VR. Questions: 4.1.1 Are these two voltages in phase (i.e. do their traces fall right on top of one another or is one shifted relative to the other)? Calculate the phase difference between VR and VC for both frequencies. How does the phase difference between VR and VC vary with frequency? 4.1.2 What can you conclude about the relationship of the phase of the current to VR and VC in the RC AC circuit (use Fig. 1 to understand the phase shift between the two waveforms)? 4.1.3 For constant amplitude of VR, observe the amplitude variation of VC. Discuss on the amplitude variation of VC with frequency and the importance of keeping VR amplitude constant.

4.2 The behavior of RL circuit 1. Measure the resistance of the inductor using the digital multimeter. 2. Replace the capacitor by a 1 mH inductor as shown in Fig. 4 and repeat experiment 4.2 for the RL circuit. Note the two frequencies being used for the RL circuit are about 10 kHz and 100 kHz respectively. 3. Set the amplitude of the function generator to close to minimum level. Make sure the amplitude of channel 2 (VL) is closed to 0.5V for frequency = 10 kHz.

Fig. 4: RL circuit 4. Observe and sketch the waveforms of VR and VL for both frequencies = 10 kHz and 100 kHz, and observe the relationship of the phase of VR and VL in the RL AC circuit.

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Questions: 4.2.1 Are these two voltages in phase (i.e. do their traces fall right on top of one another or is one shifted relative to the other)? Calculate the phase difference between VR and VL for both frequencies. How does the phase difference between VR and VL vary with frequency? 4.2.2 What can you conclude about the relationship of the phase of the current to VR and VL in the RL AC circuit (use Fig. 1 to understand the phase shift between the two waveforms)? How is this relationship different from the phase relationship between VR and VC in the RC AC circuit? 4.2.3 For constant amplitude of VR, observe the amplitude variation of VL. Discuss on the amplitude variation of VL with frequency and the importance of keeping VR amplitude constant. 4.3 Response of a RC circuit to a square wave input In the RC circuit shown in Fig. 3, assuming that at time = 0, the capacitor begins to charge up and its voltage VC increases exponentially with time. VC will be given by: VC = V(1 e-t/) = RC (6) (7)

The quantity is called the time constant. It is the time in seconds required to charge a capacitor from 0 to 63.2% of the applied voltage. This period is referred to as one time constant. After two time constants, the capacitor will be charged to 86.5% of the applied voltage. The same time constant applies for discharging a capacitor through a resistor. After one time constant, a capacitor will have discharged to (100 - 63.2) 36.8% of the initial stored charge. Connect the same series RC circuit as shown in Fig. 3(a). 1. Set the function generator to SQUARE WAVE mode. Adjust to maximum amplitude and the frequency to approximately 250 Hz. This is not critical as any frequency, which gives a time period greater than about 10RC, will suffice. 2. Adjust the Horizontal scale of the DSO so that the measurement of the time constant can be taken easily and accurately. 3. Observe and sketch VC. Measure time constant from the sketch of VC and compare it with the value calculated using eq. (7). Remember to use the voltage and time scale settings to convert your readings into volts and seconds respectively. Use another combination of R (change R to about 1 k) and C. Observe and sketch the transient response of VC for this new RC combination.

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4. Using the same R and C combination as in step 3 (R about 1 k). Set the square wave frequencies (about 250Hz and 2.5 KHz) and observe the waveforms for both cases. Comment on the waveform shape changes. Does frequency affects the time constant? APPENDIX Structure of breadboard and patching up of a simple circuit The breadboard will be used as a base on which prototype circuits may be constructed. Fig. 5 shows the schematic diagram of a breadboard. Note how the different points on the breadboard are short-circuited or open-circuited to one another. Note the number of terminal strips, bus strips and binding posts on your breadboard. Each bus strip has two rows of contacts. Each of the two rows of contacts on the bus strips are a node. That is, every contact along a row on a bus strip is connected together inside the breadboard. Bus strips are used primarily for power supply connections but are also used for any node requiring a large number of connections.

Fig. 5: Schematic diagram of a breadboard

Front View

Internal Layout