Electro-dynamic Wattmeter

 DYNAMOMETER TYPE INSTRUMENTS are similar to

the permanent magnet type instruments, except that the

permanent magnet is replaced by a fixed coil.

 The coil is divided into two halves, connected in series with

the

moving coil.

 The two halves of the coil are placed close together and

parallel to each other to provide uniform field with in the

range of the movement of moving coil.

Electro dynamic (or Dynamometer) type Instruments:

Fixed coil: The magnetic field is produced by the fixed coil which

is divided into two sections.

Moving coil: The moving coil is wound either as a self-sustaining

coil or else on a non-magnetic former. A metallic former cannot be

used, as eddy currents would be induced in it by alternating field.

Light but rigid construction is used for the moving coil. It should

be noted that both fixed and moving coils are air cored.

Springs: The controlling torque is provided by two control springs.

These hairsprings also act as leads of current to the moving coil.

Dampers: Air friction damping is employed for these instruments

and is provided by a pair of Aluminum-vanes attached to the

spindle at the bottom. These vanes move in a sector shaped

chamber.

Shielding: The magnetic field is produced by the fixed coils are

weaker than that of p.m.m.c. instruments, so the meter needs a

special magnetic shielding. Electro-dynamic instruments are

effectively shielded from the effects of external magnetic fields by

enclosing the mechanism in a laminated iron hollow cylinder with

closed ends.

Electro dynamic Wattmeter

If an electro dynamic instrument has its fixed coils F connected in

series with a load and its moving coil M connected, in series with a

high resistance, across the supply, the instrument may be

calibrated to read the power in the circuit (Fig.), this is the main

use of electro dynamic instruments. In such an arrangement, V is

the supply voltage, I the load current, and R, the total resistance of

the moving coil circuit. Then the fixed-coil current I1 (Fig.) is the

load current I, and the moving coil current I2 has the value V/R.

Wattmeter

F F
I1

I
I2
M
Supply High
RS series Load
V
resistor

Electro dynamic Wattmeter

 Symbol of Wattmeter
Between M and L current coil (consists of few turns of thick wire)

and between C and V voltage coil (consists of large number of turns

of thin wire).

Now from the expression of deflecting torque in electro dynamic

instruments

dM
T  I1 I 2
d
dM
Assuming d = constant = K

then T  KI1 I 2
V K
 T  KI  VI
R R

For a d.c. circuit the torque is thus proportional to the power.

In a.c. circuit the power at any instant is given by

 p = vi

where p = instantaneous power.

v = instantaneous supply voltage.

i = instantaneous current flowing through the load.

If both current and voltage waves are sinusoidal, the current

lagging in phase by an angle  then

v  Vm sin t
i  I m sin t   

The instantaneous power

 p  vi
 Vm I m sin t  sin t   
writing t  
p  Vm I m sin  sin    

2
Vm I m
The mean power  P 
2  sin  sin     d
0

V I
2
 cos   cos  2    
 m m
2 0  2
d

 2
V I  sin  2    
 m m  cos   
4  2 0

Vm I m
 cos 
2
 VI cos 
Wattmeter reading = voltage applied to the voltage coil x current
flowing through the current coil x cosine of
the
angle of the angle between applied voltage
and
current.
Thus, an electro dynamic instrument, connected as shown in the

Fig. becomes a wattmeter which will give a direct indication of the

power in either d.c. or a.c. circuit. The moving coil is then usually

called the voltage coil (or pressure coil) and carries a small current

proportional to the circuit p.d., the fixed coils are called the current

coils and will carry a fairly heavy current. This enables reasonably

high torque-weight ratio to be obtained, due to the difficulties

associated with obtaining high enough values for this ratio result

in a high cost for the instrument.

Wattmeter Errors:

Error due to Pressure coil inductance:

The mean torque of an electro dynamic instrument is proportional

to I1 I 2 cos  where I1 and I 2 are r.m.s values and  is the phase

angle between two currents. In the theory of electro dynamic

I2  V
wattmeter, it has been assumed that R , where R is the
resistance of a non-inductive voltage-coil circuit.

I2
O V O V

  I2
 -  =


I1=I I1=I

(a) Voltage coil is resistive (b) Voltage coil is inductive

Phasor diagram of the electrodynamic wattmeter

IV
 The deflecting torque  cos 
R
In practice the voltage-coil must possess some inductance, at a

given frequency let the resulting reactance be X.

 V
Here I 2 
R 2  X 2 lagging V at an angle 
where
l p R
  tan 1 X R  tan 1 R
 cos 1
R 2   2l p2
lp = pressure coil inductance
R = total resistance of the pressure (voltage) coil circuit
= r p + RS
rp = pressure coil resistance
RS = non-inductive resistance

I 2  V cos 
i.e., R

The deflecting torque

 I1 I 2 cos 

V cos  cos 
 I1 cos      VI cos    
R R

If the inductance of the pressure coil circuit were zero, then

VI
deflection  R
cos  and the wattmeter would read correctly at

all frequency and power factors.

The ratio of the true reading of the wattmeter to the actual reading

is therefore

VI
cos 
R
VI
cos  cos    
R
cos 

cos  .cos    
cos 
 True reading   Actual reading
cos  cos    

The wattmeter will read high (Fig.) on lagging power factors of the

load, since the effect of the inductance of the pressure coil circuit is

to bring the current in it more nearly into phase with the load

current than would be the case when the inductance is made zero.
 I1=I

  
O V O V
 

I2
 I2

I1=I

(a) (b)
lagging p.f. leading p.f.
deflection deflection
V cos  V cos 
 I1 cos      I1 cos    
R R

 instrument reading high. instrument will read low.

The wattmeter will read low (Figure above) when the load power

factor is leading as in that case the effect of pressure coil inductance

is to increase the phase angle between the load current and

pressure coil current.

Error due to Pressure Coil Capacitance:

The pressure coil circuit may have capacitance as well as

inductance. This capacitance is mainly due to the inter turn

capacitance of the series resistance. Due to capacitive effect the

wattmeter will read low on lagging power factors of the load by

increasing the angle between the load current and pressure coil
current and wattmeter will read high on leading power factor of

load. In wattmeter a small capacitor is connected in parallel with

the series resistor to obtain a practically non-reactive voltage coil

circuit. This is shown in Figure below

If the capacitive reactance of the pressure coil circuit will be equal

to its inductive reactance, there will be no error due to these effects

since the two individual errors will neutralize each other.

C.C
Wattmeter

P.C
Supply

High
C series Load
resistor

Fig. Compensated wattmeter

Error due to Connections:

The normal connections to a wattmeter are shown conventionally

in Fig., in which M and L are the terminals of the current coil and

V+ and V the terminals of the voltage coil circuit. The V+ and V

terminals are sometimes marked  and V respectively.

A wattmeter is normally required to indicate the power in the load.

Its actual reading will be a value slightly higher, owing to the power

losses in the instrument circuits, the error due to this depending on

connections. With an alternating current supply and the

connections of Fig., a the power in the load will be VI cos  , where

cos  is the load power factor. The p.d. V1 across the voltage coil

is the phasor sum of V and V where V is the volt-drop across the

current coil (i.e., V   Ir , where r is the current-coil resistance).

Thus the wattmeter reading is V1 I cos  (Fig., θ being the angle

between V1 and I. From the diagram, V1 cos   V cos   V 

V'
Wattmeter
C.C
M L I V
O
V'
V 
V

Supply

V+ P.C V1
Load

V1

I
(a) (b)

Fig.: Wattmeter voltage coil connected on the ‘supply’ side and its
phasor diagram.

Hence,

Wattmeter reading  V cos   V   I

  VI cos   IV   VI cos   I 2 r
 power in load + power loss in current coil
(fixed coil)

In connections of Fig. the total current I1 through the current coil

will be the phasor sum of the load current I and the voltage coil

V
current I. I   where R is the resistance of the voltage coil
R

circuit.

The wattmeter reading  VI1 cos   V  I cos   I  

 VI cos   VI 
2
 VI cos   V
R
 power in load + power loss in voltage coil
(moving coil)

Wattmeter
C.C
I1 = I + I' L I V
O

M
V 
V
Supply

V+ P.C I'
Load

I1
I
I'
(a) (b)

Fig.: Wattmeter voltage coil connected to ‘load’ side and its phasor diagram.
The errors due to instrument circuit losses (i.e. due to fixed and

moving coils) are small, but it may be desirable to use whichever of

the connections Fig. or Fig. is likely to give more correct reading.

If a load current is small compared with the current rating of the

wattmeter coils, the power taken by current coils is small and

connection Fig. is used. If the current approaches the rating of the

wattmeter the power taken by the current coils increases and

connection Fig. is preferable. If the desired accuracy requires that

the power loss in the instrument circuit may be taken into account

connection Fig. is preferable since for a constant voltage, it

introduces a constant error which is easily applied as a correction.

Compensation for power loss in the Pressure Coil:

In some wattmeter’s a compensating coil is used to eliminate the

error due to the current coil carrying the pressure coil current in

addition to the load current when the connections are as in Figure

below. This compensating coil is as nearly as possible identical and

co-incident with the current coil, so that if it were connected in

series with the latter, and a current passed through the two coils –

connected so that their magnetic effects are in opposition – the

resultant magnetic field would be zero. Actually, the compensating

coil is connected in series with the pressure coil, then its magnetic

effect opposes the current coil and neutralizes the pressure coil

component of the current in the current coil. The resultant field is

due to current I only. Thus, any extra torque due to the voltage coil

current in the current coil itself is neutralized by the torque due to

the voltage coil current in the compensating coil. If no-load current

flows in the instrument, the deflection should be zero since the

resultant current coil field should be zero. Hence the error caused

by the pressure coil current in the current coil is eliminated.

Resultant m.m.f due to fixed coil combination

  I  IV  NC  IV NC  INC   I  I   NC  I NC
 IN C

Connections of Compensating Coil

Example – 1

An electrodynamic wattmeter has a voltage coil circuit of

resistance of 8000 and inductance of 63.6mH which is connected
directly across a load carrying 8A at 50 Hz, voltage of 240V and
p.f. 0.1 lagging. Estimate the percentage error in the wattmeter
reading caused by the loading and inductance of voltage coil
circuit.

Solution: The wattmeter is connected as that shown in Fig.4.6(a)

Load power  VI cos   240  8  0.1  192 watt

  cos 1 0.1  84o

V 2  240 
2

Power loss in the voltage coil circuit    7.2 watt

R 8000

Neglecting the inductance of the voltage coil circuit reading of the

wattmeter due to connections be 192 + 7.2 = 199.2 watt.

Resistance of the voltage coil circuit  8000  R

Reactance of the voltage coil circuit

 2  50  63.6  10 3

 19.97  X
 X 19.97
  tan 1  tan 1
R 8000

cos  cos    
Wattmeter reading  199.2  cos 

= 201.8709 watt.
 201.8709  192 
% error =    100  5.14%
 192 

Example – 2

A 200V, 8A dynamometer type wattmeter has resistances of

current and pressure coils as 0.8 and 10,000 respectively.
Determine the % errors due to resistance for (i) voltage coil
connected to supply side and (ii) voltage coil connected to load side.
The power factor of load is 0.75 lagging. Neglect error due to
inductance of the pressure coil circuit.

Solution:

Load voltage V = 200V, Load current I = 8A

Load power factor, cos  0.75

Resistance of current coil, Rc  0.8

 Resistance of pressure coil, R p  10, 000

Power taken by load

 Vicos  200  8  0.75  1200 watt

(i) When voltage coil connected by supply side

Actual reading of wattmeter  VIcos  I Rc

2

 1200   8   0.8
2

 1200  51.2  1251.2 watt

1251.2  1200
% error  100  4.267%
1200

(ii) When voltage coil connected load side

2
V
Actual reading of wattmeter  VIcos  Rp

2002
 1200 
10, 000

 1200  4  1204 watt

1204  1200
% error  1200
 100  0.333%
Example – 3:

A dynamometer type wattmeter with its voltage coil connected

across the load side of the instrument reads 250 watts. If the load
voltage be 200V, what is the power taken by load? The voltage coil
has a resistance of 2000.

Solution:

When the voltage coil connected to load side the wattmeter

reading is given by

Actual wattmeter reading = Power taken / supplied to the load

+ Power loss in voltage coil circuit

Here Actual wattmeter reading = 250 watt

 200 2
Power loss in voltage coil circuit   20 watt.
2000

Power taken by the load  2 5 0  2 0  2 3 0 watt