UNIT-5

1. What is a fuse and classify the different types of fuses?

2. Write the details of PMMC Type of Instruments with neat diagram?

3. Write the details of MI Type of Instruments with neat diagram?

4. Explain the construction and working of MCB and MCCB?

5. What is Earthing. Classify the different types of earthing.

6. What is a Battery. Classify the different types of batteries.

Please find the Questions with Answers below

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 1
 5. Electrical Instruments

1. What is a fuse and classify the different types of fuses?

 A fuse is an electric / electronic or mechanical device, which is used to

protect circuits from over current, overload and make sure the protection
of the circuit.
 Electric fuse was invented by Thomas Alva Edison in 1890.
 There are many types of fuses, but the function of all these fuses is the
same.

Types of Fuses
 There are different types of fuses available in the market and they can be
categories on the basis of Different aspects.
 Fuses are used in AC as well as DC circuits.
 Fuses can be divided into two main categories according to the type of
input supply voltage.
 AC fuses
 DC fuses

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 2
  There is a little difference between AC and DC fuses used in the AC and DC
Systems which has been discussed below.

DC Fuses
 In a DC system, when the metallic wire melts because of the heat
generated by the over current, then Arc is produced and it is very difficult
to extinguish this arc because of DC constant value.
 So in order to minimize the fuse arcing, DC fuse are little bigger than an AC
fuse which increases the distance between the electrodes to reduce the
arc in the Fuse.
AC Fuses
 On the other hand, i.e. in the AC system, voltage with 60Hz or 50Hz
frequency changes its amplitude from zero to 60 times every second,
 so arc can be extinct easily as compared to DC.
 Therefore, AC fuses are a little bit small in sizes as compared to DC fuses.

2. Write the details of PMMC Type of Instrument with neat diagram?

 MMC stands for Permanent Magnet Moving Coil.

 It is the most accurate measuring instrument used for measuring dc
quantities.
 Its working principle is similar to a motor i.e. when a movable coil is
placed in the magnetic field it experiences a torque and moves.

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 3
  Here, permanent magnets are used to produce the magnetic field, and
hence the instrument called Permanent Magnet Moving Coil
instrument.

Construction of PMMC Instrument:

The main components used in PMMC instruments are,

1. Moving coil
2. Magnet system
3. Control system
4. Damping system
5. Pointer and scale

1. Moving Coil :

 Moving coil consists of a number of turns which are made up of silk-covered

copper wire.
 Whenever current flows through the moving coil and is kept in the magnetic field,
a deflecting torque is produced and the coil moves due to which the pointer shows
deflection.
 The coil is wound on a rectangular aluminum former and the length to breadth
ratio of the aluminum former is maintained between 1.3 to 1.5 in order to have
high torque and high weight efficiency.

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 4
  The former is pivoted on jewel bearings so that the coil sides lie in the air gap
between the poles of the permanent magnet.
 Generally, coils in the voltmeter are wound on metallic frames whereas coils in the
ammeter are wound on non-magnetic formers.

2. Magnet System:

 The magnet system consists of permanent magnets.

 The function of the magnet system is to produce a magnetic field.
 Permanent magnets are available in different shapes and sizes. T
 he most commonly used is the U-shaped magnet.
 In recent PMMC instruments, magnets are made up of materials like Alcomax and
Alnico that have a high ability to withstand external magnetic fields without losing
their magnetism.

3. Control System :

 The function of the control system is to produce the necessary and sufficient
controlling torque.
 The control torque in PMMC instrument is provided by two phosphor bronze
hairsprings.
 These springs also allow the current to flow in and out of the coil.
 The control torque produced is equal in magnitude but opposite to that of
deflection torque, for the pointer to reach the steady-state position.
 Gravity control and ribbon suspension are also used for producing controlling
torque.

4. Damping System :

 The function of the damping system is to provide the damping torque for allowing
the pointer to reach the rest position within a short duration of time.
 The damping produced in the PMMC instrument is electromagnetic damping
which is obtained by the movement of the aluminum former in the magnetic field
on which the core is mounted.
 Eddy current damping system and bearing friction also provide the damping
torque.

5. Pointer and Scale :

 Whenever the coil moves in the magnetic field, the pointer shows deflection and
the deflection of the pointer is directly proportional to the coil current.
 The pointer is a thin device that is lightweight in construction.
 It is made up of aluminum and is flattened at one end in order to make it as an
edge of a knife.
 The pointer is mounted on a spindle that moves a graduated scale and it is
balanced by the balancing weight which is connected to it.
 A mirror is placed below the scale in order to avoid parallax error.

Working Principle of PMMC Instrument:

 Generally, the working of PMMC instrument is similar to a motor.

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 5
  The rotor of the motor experiences a torque in a stator magnetic field.
 Here the rotor refers to moving coil and the stator field refers to the field
produced by permanent magnets.
 The schematic of PMMC is shown in the following figure.

 When the current to be measured is applied to the moving coil terminals

placed in the magnetic field.
 The coil experience a torque and starts moving.
 This movement of the coil also moves the pointer attached to it i.e., causing
deflection of pointer over the scale.
 The torque produced is called deflecting torque and it is proportional to flux
density and dimensions of the coil.
 The deflection of the pointer or the deflecting torque produced is in such a
way that it is equal to the amount of current flowing through the coil.
 Therefore, the value indicated by the pointer over the scale will be equal to
the magnitude of the current being measured.
 It is the most accurate instrument for dc measurements.
 The accuracy of this instrument is in order of 2-5% of full-scale deflection.
 Since the deflection of the instrument is directly proportional to the current,
the scale can be linear and uniform.

3. Write the details of MI Type of Instruments with neat diagram?

 The moving iron type instruments are one of the types of measuring
instruments used for measuring voltage or current.
 These instruments use a movable piece of iron placed in the magnetic
field that deflects the pointer over the scale and hence named moving
iron instrument.

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 6
  There are two types of moving iron (MI) instruments. They are:

1. Attraction Type moving iron instruments and

2. Repulsion Type moving iron instruments.

1. Attraction Type Moving Iron Instrument:

 The working principle of attraction type moving iron instrument is
based on magnetic attraction, which attracts an iron piece when placed
near a magnet field.
 Here, the magnet field will be produced by an electromagnet.

Construction of Attraction Type Moving Iron Instrument:

 It consists of a fixed coil that is flat with a narrow opening in it.
 A moving iron that is made of soft iron is mounted on a spindle.
 The coils are wound with a number of turns that depend upon the
range of the instrument.
 The pointer is mounted on a spindle which consists of a graduated
scale for showing the deflection.
 The construction of attraction type moving iron is shown below.

 The controlling torque is provided by the springs or if the instrument is

vertically operated gravity control can also be employed.

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 7
  This instrument uses air friction damping to damp out oscillations which
consist of a movable piston made of aluminium placed in an air chamber.
 Since the operating magnetic field produced by the coil winding is not much
strong, the eddy current damping which uses permanent magnets can
distort the main field.
 Thus eddy current damping cannot be used and fluid friction damping is not
much preferred.
 The moving iron is made of sheet metal for obtaining a uniform scale.

Working of Attraction Type Moving Iron Instrument :

 Whenever coil winding is connected across the supply to be measured, it
setups a magnetic field.
 The intensity of the magnetic field is higher inside the coil compared to the
intensity of the outside, and hence low reluctance exists inside the coil.
 As the moving iron tries to occupy the low reluctance position, it is moved
and gets attracted to the fixed coil.
 As the iron piece moves, the pointer also moves to show the deflection.
 The instrument attains the equilibrium position when controlling torque
balances the deflecting torque.

2. Repulsion Type Moving Iron Instrument

 Repulsion type moving iron instruments are used both for ac and dc
measurements.
 In these instruments, when current flows through the coil, the two
vanes i.e., fixed vane and movable vane are magnetized and same
polarities are induced in it which results in a force of repulsion
between them.
Construction of Moving Iron Instrument:

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 8
  Basically, a repulsion type instrument consists of a fixed field coil and two
vanes present inside the coil, out of which one vane is fixed and the other
vane is movable.
 The fixed vane is attached to the coil whereas the movable vane is mounted
on the spindle of the instrument.
 The spindle carries the pointer which moves on a graduated scale.
 Depending on the design of construction, there are two types of repulsion
type MI instruments. They are,
 Radial vane type, and
 Co-axial or concentric vane type

Radial vane type:

 It consists of two iron strips (vanes) are placed radially, in which one is fixed
and the other is movable.
 In this type of instrument, the deflection torque is directly proportional to
the actual current in the coil, thus making the scale uniform and readings can
be obtained directly.
 These are the most sensitive type of instruments.

Co-axial or concentric vane type:

 In this, the two vanes are co-axially placed inside the coil.
 In which one vane is fixed to the coil frame that remains stationary, while the
other is movable which rotates at the central axis inside the stationary vane.

Working of Moving Iron Instrument:

 Initially, the current does not pass through the coil.

 Hence, the two vanes will touch each other and the pointer does not deflect
(i.e., it will be at zero position).
 Whenever current flows through the coil, a magnetic field is set up in it and
two vanes are magnetized with the same polarities i.e., north poles are
produced at one end in both the vanes and south poles are produced on their
other ends.

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 9
  Due to this, a repulsive force exists between two vanes and the movable vane
tries to move away from the fixed vane as shown in figure.
 Hence, the movable vane moves because of the repulsive force, and the
pointer which is mounted on a spindle show deflection.
 The pointer stops deflecting when the controlling torque is equal to the
deflecting torque.
 The amount of repulsion force depends upon the strength of the
magnetization field produced by the coil.
 The magnetic field produced will depend upon the current supplied.
 In these instruments, controlling torque is provided by the spiral springs and
damping torque is provided by air friction.

4. Explain the construction and working of MCB ?

MCB (Miniature circuit breaker):

 It is an electrical switch is used to interrupt the circuit under fault
conditions such as overload and short circuit.
 It was invented by Mr. Stotz-Kontakt in 1891.
 MCB does not interrupt the circuit under the earth fault condition.
 MCB can be used only for low voltage applications (less than 690
volts) since the short circuit current rating is less.
 So that, high short circuit current may damage your MCB.
 A single line diagram is used to represent the device in the circuit.

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 10
Construction:

 In the market, you might be seen, there are many types of

MCB such as a single-pole, two-pole, three-pole and four-pole.

Operating Handle (Actuator knob):

 It involves turning on and off operation of the MCB.
 This is the only mechanism used to indicate the status of the miniature
circuit breaker.
 If the knob is in the upward direction, you should consider as ON position,

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 11
 if it is in a downward position, the same to be considered as off position.

Solenoid/magnetic trip coil:

 It is a coil used to trip the circuit breaker under short circuit and
instantaneous fault condition.
 It is connected in series with the input line.

Bimetallic strip:
 A bimetallic strip is nothing but a small connecting metal that is associated
with the tripping mechanism.
 It is a combination of steel and copper or steel and brass.
 Mostly steel is used since the resistivity of the steel is high.
 The output of the coil is connected in series with the bimetallic strip

Arc chute:
 Arc chute or arc extinguisher is a bunch of steel plates with zinc-coated
material arranged as shown in the figure.
 The main purpose of the arc chute is, quenching the arc which developed
inside of the MCB while breaking the circuit.

Connection screw:
 An electrolytic copper or steel screw allows us to connect the MCB to the
power source.
 Mostly the bottom and top side screw indicate the output and input
terminal.

Copper braid:
 It is used to connect the moving element to the standstill element.

DIN rail connector:

 The DIN rail connection is used to mount an MCB in a rack.
 It would be the backside of the MCB and it is a standard size, irrespective
of its size or poles or tripping or manufacture.

Encloser:
 All the operations are performed inside of the encloser and which is
riveted to get better mechanical strength.
 The encloser is made up of high insulated fiberglass. Since they offer
excellent heat resistance up to 500 degrees.

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 12
Working Principle of MCB:
 MCB incoming terminal is connected through a solenoid coil followed by
the bimetallic strip.
 And the output of the bimetallic strip will be connected to the output
screw terminal.
 All the parts are connected in series with each other.
 Under Normal condition MCB act as a switch. By using actuator knob we
can turn on or turn off the MCB.

Under overload condition:

 Which means the current flows through the MCB is higher than the rated
current.
 Now I²*R loss is generated in the bimetallic strip and simultaneously heat
will be produced.
 The bimetallic strip starts bending.
 Due to this, the tripping mechanism will be operated.

Under the short circuit conditions:

 The high current flows through the solenoid coil which creates a strong
magnetic field.
 Due to this, the plunger inside of the tripping mechanism will be getting
attracted.
 The plunger pushes the tripping rod.
 The tripping rod trips the circuit breaker without time delay.

5. What is Earthing. Classify the different types of earthing.

Earthing or Grounding:

Earthing/Grounding Symbol of Ground

 The safety measures to be taken by connecting any equipment

conductive surfaces with Earth Potential is termed as Earthing or
Grounding.

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 13
  To ensure safety, earthing can be done by connecting the electrical
appliance to earthing systems or electrodes placed near the soil or
below the ground level.
 Electrical earthing is done to protect ourselves from shock during
fault conditions.
 When the overload current is passed through the Electrical
equipment or when the fault occurs in the system due to the
current, the fault current from the equipment flows through the
earthing system.
 In homes, there shall be three types of wires:
 Line,
 Neutral, and
 Earth or ground.
 Line and neutral carry electric current from the power station and
the earth is connected to the buried metal plate.
 Electric appliances like refrigerator, iron box, TV are connected to
the earth wire while operating.
 Hence, these devices are protected from the surge or faulty
electrical supply.
 Local earthing is done near the electrical meter of the house.

Types of Earthing
There are three types of earthing, they are:
1. Plate earthing
2. Pipe earthing
3. Strip earthing

1. Plate Earthing
 The plate material is of either copper or galvanized iron is used in the
plate earthing system.
 This plate selected should of certain specified dimensions, which is placed
inside the earth at a depth less than 3 meters from the bottom.
 This plate is connected to the electrical conductors to divert the electric
charge inside the earth.
 The diagram of Plate Earthing is given below.

Plate Earthing

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 14
 2. Pipe Earthing
 A galvanized iron pipe is selected should be such that it has holes pierced
at regular intervals and the pipe is narrow at the bottom end.
 A clamp is attached to the G.I pipe to which an earth wire is connected.
 This pipe diverts the electrical conductance inside the earth.
 Pipe Earthing is shown in the figure.

Pipe Earthing

 The pipe is placed in the earth pit at a depth not less than 3 meters.
 The space inside the G.I pipe is filled by the alternate layers of salt and
charcoal up to the clamp level.
 The top portion of the G.I pipe is left open for maintenance when required
by constructing a chamber with bricks.
 Water is poured into the G.I pipe to maintain earthing resistance within
the specified limits.
 A galvanized steel and a pipe that has holes at regular intervals are kept
inside the earth.
 Keeping in view its low-cost Pipe earthing is commonly used for all
domestic purposes.

3. Rod earthing
 This type of earthing is similar to pipe earthing, but a rod made of
galvanized steel is used in this case.
 The rod used for this purpose is buried inside the earth at a certain
depth.
 As it is of low resistive material, the short circuit current will be
diverted to the ground safely.

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 15
  The rod earthing diagram is given the following figure.

Rod Earthing

6. What is a Battery. Classify the different types of batteries.

Battery:
 A Battery is a device consisting of one or more electrical cells that convert
chemical energy into electrical energy.
 Every battery is basically a galvanic cell where redox reactions take place
between two electrodes which act as the source of the chemical energy.

Battery types:
Batteries can be broadly divided into two major types.
1. Primary battery/ Primary Cell
2. Secondary battery/ Secondary Cell

Based on the application of the battery, they can be classified again. They are:
Household Batteries
 These are the types of batteries which are more likely to be known to the
common man.
 They find uses in a wide range of household appliances (such as torches,
clocks, and cameras).
 These batteries can be further classified into two subcategories:
 Rechargeable batteries Nickel
Examples: Cadmium batteries, Lithium-Ion
 Non-rechargeable batteries
Examples: Silver oxide, Alkaline & carbon zinc
Industrial Batteries
 These batteries are built to serve heavy-duty requirements.
 Some of their applications include railroad, backup power and more for
big companies. Some examples are:
 Nickel Iron
Wet Nickel Cadmium (NiCd)

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 16
Vehicle Batteries
 These are more user-friendly and a less complicated version of the
industrial batteries.
 They are specifically designed to power cars, motorcycles, boats & other
vehicles.
 An important example of a vehicle battery is the Lead-acid battery.

1. Primary battery/ Primary Cell

Types of Battery- Primary battery

 These are batteries where the redox reactions proceed in only one
direction.
 The reactants in these batteries are consumed after a certain period of
time, rendering them dead.
 A primary battery cannot be used once the chemicals inside it are
exhausted.
 An example of a primary battery is the dry cell – the household battery
that commonly used to power TV remotes, clocks, and other devices.
 In such cells, a zinc container acts as the anode and a carbon rod acts as
the cathode.
 A powdered mixture of manganese dioxide and carbon is placed around
the cathode.
 The space left in between the container and the rod are filled with a moist
paste of ammonium chloride and zinc chloride.
 Another example of the primary cell is the mercury cell, where a zinc-
mercury amalgam is used as an anode and carbon is used as a cathode.
 A paste of HgO is used as an electrolyte.
 These cells are used only in devices that require a relatively low supply of
electric current (such as hearing aids and watches).

2. Secondary battery/ Secondary Cell

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 17
 Types of Battery – Secondary Cell

 These are batteries that can be recharged after use, by passing current
through the electrodes in the opposite direction, i.e. from the negative
terminal to the positive terminal.
 For example, a lead storage battery that is used in automobiles and
inverters can be recharged a limited number of times.
 The lead storage battery consists of a lead anode and the cathode is a lead
grid packed with lead dioxide.
 Sulphuric acid with a concentration of 38% is used as an electrolyte.
 The oxidation and reduction reactions involved in this process.
 In order to recharge these batteries, the charge is transferred in the
opposite direction and the reaction is reversed.
 Another example of the secondary cell is the nickel-cadmium cell.
 These cells have high storage capacities and their lifespan is relatively
long (compared to other secondary cells).
 However, they are difficult to manufacture and maintain.

Difference Between Primary Cell and Secondary Cell

Primary Cell Secondary Cell
Have high energy density and slow in They are smaller energy density
discharge and easy to use
There are no fluids in the cells hence it There are made up of wet cells (flooded and
is also called as dry cells liquid cells) and molten salt (liquid cells with
different composition)
It has high internal resistance It has a low internal resistance
It has an irreversible chemical reaction It has a reversible chemical reaction
Its design is smaller and lighter Its design is more complex and heavier
Its initial cost is cheap Its initial cost is high

BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 18
BEE-JBIET-ASRK Page 19