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4 The Oscilloscope

The oscilloscope is a device that displays graphs of electrical signals over time. It shows voltage on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. An oscilloscope allows you to see the waveform of a signal, measure voltage and time, determine frequency, and identify issues with signals. Key controls include Time/Div which sets the horizontal scale and Volts/Div which sets the vertical scale, allowing adjustment of what is displayed on the screen. Oscilloscopes have many uses across fields such as electronics, engineering, science and medicine.

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47 views11 pages

4 The Oscilloscope

The oscilloscope is a device that displays graphs of electrical signals over time. It shows voltage on the vertical axis and time on the horizontal axis. An oscilloscope allows you to see the waveform of a signal, measure voltage and time, determine frequency, and identify issues with signals. Key controls include Time/Div which sets the horizontal scale and Volts/Div which sets the vertical scale, allowing adjustment of what is displayed on the screen. Oscilloscopes have many uses across fields such as electronics, engineering, science and medicine.

Uploaded by

farazdk
Copyright
© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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The Oscilloscope

- The oscilloscope is basically a graph-displaying


device - it draws a graph of an electrical signal.

- In most applications the graph shows how signals


change over time: the vertical (Y) axis represents
voltage and the horizontal (X) axis represents
time.

-The intensity or brightness of the display is


sometimes called the Z axis. (See Figure 1.)

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Figure 1: X, Y, and Z Components of a Displayed Waveform

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This simple graph can tell you many things about a
signal. Here are a few:
• You can determine the time and voltage values of a signal.

• You can calculate the frequency of an oscillating signal.

• You can see the "moving parts" of a circuit represented by the signal.

• You can tell if a malfunctioning component is distorting the signal.

• You can find out how much of a signal is direct current (DC) or
alternating current (AC).

• You can tell how much of the signal is noise and whether the noise is
changing with time.

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The function of an oscilloscope is extremely simple: it draws
a V/t graph, a graph of voltage against time, voltage on the
vertical or Y-axis, and time on the horizontal or X-axis.

-As you can see, the screen of this oscilloscope has 8 squares
or divisions on the vertical axis, and 10 squares or divisions
on the horizontal axis. Usually, these squares are 1 cm in
each direction:

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The diagram shows a Hameg HM 203-6 oscilloscope

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- Many of the controls of the oscilloscope allow you to
change the vertical or horizontal scales of the V /t
graph, so that you can display a clear picture of the
signal you want to investigate.

- 'Dual trace' oscilloscopes display two V/t graphs at


the same time, so that simultaneous signals from
different parts of an electronic system can be
compared.

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Important Setting up
1-The TIME/DIV control:
- determines the horizontal scale of the graph which appears
on the oscilloscope screen.
- With 10 squares across the screen and the spot moving at
0.2 s/DIV, how long does it take for the spot to cross the
screen? The answer is 0.2 x 10 = 2 s.

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• The "Time/Div." wheel determines, how long
the electronic beam which draws the curve
needs for moving from the left to the right
edge of a division. The wheel controls the
"time scale". A "division" is one square on the
screen of the oscilloscope.

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The VOLTS/DIV controls

-determine the vertical scale of the graph drawn on the


oscilloscope screen.

-Check that VOLTS/DIV 1 is set at 1 V/DIV and that the


adjacent controls are set correctly.

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What Can You Do With It?
Oscilloscopes are used by everyone from television
repair technicians to physicists. They are indispensable
for anyone designing or repairing electronic
equipment.
The usefulness of an oscilloscope is not limited to the
world of electronics. With the proper transducer, an
oscilloscope can measure all kinds of phenomena. A
transducer is a device that creates an electrical signal
in response to physical stimuli, such as sound,
mechanical stress, pressure, light, or heat. For
example, a microphone is a transducer.
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An automotive engineer uses an oscilloscope to measure
engine vibrations. A medical researcher uses an oscilloscope
to measure brain waves. The possibilities are endless.

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