testinstruments.docVIP

Test Instruments Purpose In this experiment, you will learn how to use some common test instruments, which you will encounter in a research laboratory. These instruments include oscilloscope, digital multimeter, frequency counter, function generator, LCR meter, and power supplies. Equipment HP 54603B oscilloscope, Ebclo LCR meter, HP 3311A function generator, Fluke 29 multimeter, HP 34401A multimeter, Tektronix DC504 counter/timer, and various power supplies. Background Oscilloscope The oscilloscope is one of the most used test and measurement tools in laboratory. It is really a type of analog voltmeter with an arbitrary zero. It can read DC voltages as an offset voltage as well as AC voltages by displaying the true waveform. Most modern oscilloscopes are capable of measuring AC signals over a wide range of frequencies and you should check your oscilloscope for its frequency response. The key component of the oscilloscope is a cathode ray tube shown in Fig. 1. Here a beam of electrons is ejected from the electron gun and is directed to the center of the screen. The screen is covered with a luminescent material emitting light where the electron beam strikes it. The light emission lasts a fraction of a second after the impact (an effect known as afterglow). The oscilloscope is equipped with a vertical pair of plates for deflecting the electron beam in the horizontal direction, and with a horizontal pair for deflecting in the vertical direction. When an input signal to be measured is applied to the horizontal plates, the vertical distance that the actual beam spot moves from the center of the screen becomes proportional to the applied voltage V. The vertical plates are often connected to a known time varying voltage. An example is the ‘’saw-tooth” signal, which linearly increases with time up to a set limit and then very quickly drops back to zero. In this way, one can display the waveform of the input signal as a function of time. Function G