DIGITAL INSTRUMENTS

This is a device that can be used to measure and display the result in a simple numerical readout
format. The measurements are made and automatically displayed without any need of manual
intervention on the part the operator other than to initiate the measurement. The digital instrument
carries out the whole operation extremely quickly and it also provides information in digitally
coded form for the direct operation of paper tape, punches, oscilloscope, printers and computers.
Three stages are involved in producing a digital display which are: Sampling, Encoding, and
Representation of the Information (Display).

The information can be presented through a large variety of displays ranging from neon tubes to
LED display, Nixie [seven segment] display. A number of display digit is usually between 4 and
8 and a decimal point will be included which moves with the range selector. The maximum
indication for a 4-digit display will be 9999 with display 8888 but for a 312 digit display, it is 1999.
The first display in the 312 display (i.e. the half display) only displays numeral 1. The advantage of
digital instruments are that
1. Errors due to reading and to the meter movement are eliminated, and
2. The errors that can arise are due to the accuracy of the component and the standard at which
measurement is to be compared.

DIGITAL FREQUENCY METER

Is internal

Assuming that the time interval of 1 second is used as shown in the figure above, then, the number
of cycles in this interval will be frequency directly in Hertz.

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 FREQUENCY COUNTERS

In this instrument frequency counter, a crystal oscillator is used as frequency standard and this is
divided successfully to give various standard time interval, any of these could be used to control
the gate. Then as long as the gate is opened, the input signal suitably shaped are passed through
the counting decades each of which has its own display. During this time, a jungle display is
presented or seen as the counter proceeds. When the gate closes, stopping further pulses from
reaching the counting circuit, the display now steadies for a short period given the required
frequency and is then reset to zero as the count is recycled by the control circuit.

The disadvantage of this method of frequency measurement occurs at low frequency because the
digital display has an inherent error at ±1 count. This is because there is no direct relationship
between the measured and the internal standard frequency. The frequency of 100Hz could be
displayed as 99, 100, or 101 if 1sec interval was used i.e. ±1 error.

A way of improving the result is when a 10sec interval is used, the count will indicate 999, 1000
or 1001 i.e. ±0.1% error. To overcome this problem, frequency meter features or uses a period
count to reach the process drawn below.

Instead of the standard oscillator or a division of its frequency controlling the gate, the input signal
in shape are used for this purpose and the oscillator pulses are passed through the gate to the
counting circuit.

Diagram

2
 Input Signal

Time interval

That gate is open

Oscillator

frequency

Assuming now, that the oscillator is operating at 1000Hz, then the 1sec gating time derived from
a 1Hz signal will allow 1million pulses through the counter and the ±1 counter is insignificant.
The basic accuracy of this kind of instrument also depends on the stability of the internal oscillator.

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 DIGITAL SPECIFICATION

To understand the overall performance of the system and some of the choices that are made in the
system design, it is important to know the relationship between analogue signal and their digital
equivalent. There are many factors that determine the relationship analogue signal and its
corresponding digital value such as accuracy, resolution, dynamic range etc.

Accuracy: It describes how perfect and correct the digital equivalent of the original analogue value
is, when this equivalent is compared to some “better” standard of absolute correctness.

Resolution: This is an indication of how many divisions the analogue to digital conversion process
uses. It shows how fine the graduations of the digital values are. It is equivalent to the fractional
markings on the rulers. The final markings mean that the items being measured (analogue signal)
can be described to a final degree. The resolution of an ADC is represented by the number of its
bits used to represent the number. e.g. 10 bits=210 and 210=1024. The higher the number of bitsthe
higher is the resolution. Another way of expressing resolution is as a percentage of the full scale
span (lower to highest range). 10 bits means that the overall span is divided into 1024 paths.
Therefore, a single bit equals 1/1024 of the span which is approximately 0.1% while using 12bits,
divide the span into 4096 paths. That is approximately 0.25%.

Dynamic Range:this represents the ratio of the largest signal value that can be expressed
compared to the smallest value. It is related to the number of bits used to represent the analogue
signal.

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 DIGITAL VOLTMETERS

A digital voltmeter carries out an automatic balance and comparison between the unknown input
and an internally generated standard and converts the result in analogue to digital converter, so
that it is suitable for numerical display.

The most usual standard is a temperature compensated zener diode available in ranges up to 20V
because of its ruggedness and portability. The input may need to either be amplified or attenuated
depending on its proportion to the reference/standard.

A ramp voltage starting below zero opens a gate as it passes through zero using a zero crossing
detector circuit. When the inputs to the instrument are equal, the gate is closed. Since the clock
pulses are being produced at a fixed frequency, the number reaching the counter will depend on
the time for which the gate is opened i.e. on the magnitude of the input signal.

The disadvantage of this method is in the stability and the linearity of the integrator producing the
ramp voltage. This limitation is therefore taken care of in the dual slope integration method.

Diagram

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 Input level

Voltage Reference voltage

Gate opens Gate closes

DUAL SLOPE INTEGRATOR

The input to be measured is applied at to an integrator and a capacitor is charged for a fixed time
at a rate proportional to the magnitude of the input signal. At the end of the charging period, the
input is removed and the capacitor discharges towards the reference voltage with a polarity which
is reversed to that of the input signal. The measurement of the signal quantity is then obtained by
comparison of the discharge and charge times of the capacitor both of which are timed by the
counters.

𝑉𝑖𝑛 𝑥𝑇1 = 𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑓 𝑥𝑇2

𝑉𝑖𝑛 = 𝑖𝑛𝑝𝑢𝑡 𝑠𝑖𝑔𝑛𝑎𝑙

𝑇1 = 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑡𝑜 𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑟

𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑓 = 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑡𝑎𝑔𝑒

𝑇2 = 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑔𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑎𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑜𝑟

Since 𝑇1 and 𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑓 are constant,

.: 𝑉𝑖𝑛 𝛼 𝑇2

Diagram

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 Counter reset
T1 T2
Integrator
0
Time
output

Charging slope
Discharging slope
α Vin
αVref

Immediately the measurement is initiated, Vin is connected to the integrator causing its output to
ramp down as shown in the diagram. At the same time, the zero-set comparator opens the gate,
allows pulses through the counter; this continues until the counter is full i.e. 9999 for a for decade
counter. The next pulse recycles the decades to 0000 and at the same time the last decade passes a
signal to the switch control which changes the input to the integrator from Vin to –Vref. The
counters continue to accept pulses until the capacitor is completely discharged when the zero-set
comparator closes the gate.

The counter now reads input quantity as a proportion of the reference. For a multi-range
instrument, the decimal point will be placed by a range selector and the input signal amplified or
attenuated depending on its level before application to the integrator.

The advantage of the dual slope system is that; provided the pulse generator and integrator
component remain constant during the measurement time of tens of milliseconds, they will have
no effect of the conversion accuracy.