EXPERIMENT #2 AC MEASUREMENTS
To understand the basics of AC (alternating current) circuits.
To use an oscilloscope to display and record a waveform.
To use an oscilloscope to measure frequency, period, voltage
(magnitude, peak-to-peak, maximum, minimum, and etc), DC
offset, etc, of the waveform.
To use a digital multimeter to measure AC voltage and current.
EQUIPMENT
Function generator
Oscilloscope
Digital multimeter (DMM)
PREPARATION
1. Calculate the RMS voltage of the following waveforms with 10 V
peak-to-peak:
1
2
a. Sine Wave
V rms =10
=3.5355V
2
1
=5.0 V
b. Square Wave V rms =100
2
1
2
c. Triangle Wave
V rms =10
=2.887 V
3
()
()
()
2. Calculate the period of a waveform with the frequency of:
1
=0.01 s
a. 100Hz f =
100 Hz
1
=0.001 s
b. 1kHz f =
1,000 Hz
1
=0.00001 s
c. 100kH f =
100,000 Hz
SIMULATION
The circuit is simulated in Multisim and consists of a function generator
and a resistor, with the frequency at 1 kHz and the amplitude at 5 V.
Figure 1
EXPERIMENT
Part A. Waveform Display and Measurement
The Oscilloscope and Function generator was set up to show four cycles of
the sine wave as seen in Figure 2. We were then able to display the triangle
(Figure 3) and square waves (Figure 4) that were to be implemented. During
this experiment we developed an understanding of the Oscilloscope and how
to measure various values on the oscilloscope, such as frequency, period,
amplitude, mean and RMS voltage. We then varied the frequency and
amplitude on the function generator in order to teach us how to change the
input waveform into the Oscilloscope and learn to change the scale knob. The
scale knob does not alter any values, only the scale in which they are viewed
(Figure 5). The level knob shifts the waveform left and right (Figure 6), but
does not change the waveform itself until it gets outside of the amplitude.
Once this happens, the behavior of the waveform becomes unstable as if the
waveform is searching for the level setting (Figure 7). The DC offset moves
the waveform by the amount that it is offset (Figure 8); for instance, when the
DC offset is set to 1 V, the waveform shown on the Oscilloscope moves up by
1 V. Switching to AC ignores the offset and translates the waveform back to 0
(Figure 9).
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Part B. Voltage Measurement
We were tasked to compare the DMM with the oscilloscope readings.
The DMM voltage corresponds to the RMS voltage reading on the
oscilloscope. The readings are very similar, as expected. Please refer to
Table 1; the magnitude of the Voltage was set to 5. This part is meant
to teach us to accurately read given values on a DMM and compare
that to the measured values found on the Oscilloscope for Sine,
Triangle, and Square waves.
Sine
Triangle
DMM
Oscilloscope
Table 1
Square
Part C. Frequency Measurement
We set the waveform back to sine with a frequency of 1 kHz and the
period of 1 ms. The 100 Hz frequency is set into the function
generator, the frequency is measured to be 100 Hz and the period is
10ms (Figure 10). The 100 kHz frequency in the function generator
yields a measured value of 100 kHz for the frequency and the period is
10 s (Figure 11). When these 2 values are measured on the
Oscilloscope the values are very similar to what was expected.
Figure 10
Figure 11
Conclusions
Based on this experiment, the values that we measured matched the
calculated values and the DMM values matched the Oscilloscope. The
main purpose of this lab is to understand how to read AC waves on the
Oscilloscope from a function generator. We learned how to accurately
measure these values using the DMM and verified them by observing
values on the Oscilloscope.