R

LEP
Coil in the AC circuit
4.4.04

Related topics 3. Determination of the phase displacement between the ter-

Inductance, Kirchhoff’s laws, Maxwell’s equations, AC impe- minal voltage and total current, as a function of the frequen-
dance, phase displacement. cy in the circuit.
4. Determination of the total impedance of coils connected in
Principle and task parallel and in series.
The coil is connected in a circuit with a voltage source of vari-
able frequency. The impedance and phase displacements are Set-up and procedure
determined as functions of frequency. Parallel and series The experimental set up is as shown in Fig. 1. Since normal
impedances are measured. voltmeters and ammeters generally measure only rms (root
mean square) values and take no account of phase relation-
Equipment ships, it is prefereable to use an oscilloscope. The experiment
Coil, 300 turns 06513.01 1 will be carried out with sinusoidal voltages, so that to obtain
Coil, 600 turns 06514.01 1 rms values, the peak-to-peak values−measured on the oscillo-
Resistor in plug-in box 50 Ohms 06056.50 1 scope (Ur-r) are to be divided by 2√2.
Resistor in plug-in box 100 Ohms 06057.10 1
Resistor in plug-in box 200 Ohms 06057.20 1 In accordance with
Connection box 06030.23 1
Difference amplifier 11444.93 1 I = U/R,
Function generator 13652.93 1
Digital counter, 4 decades 13600.93 1 the current can be deduced by measurement of the voltage
Oscilloscope, 20 MHz, 2 channels 11454.93 1 across the resistor. The circuit shown in Fig. 2 permits the
Screened cable, BNC, l 750 mm 07542.11 2 simultaneous display of the total current and the coil voltage.
Connecting cord, 100 mm, red 07359.01 3 If, by means of the time-base switch of the oscilloscope, one
Connecting cord, 500 mm, red 07361.01 5 half-wave of the current (180 °) is brought to the full screen
Connecting cord, 500 mm, blue 07361.04 4 width (10 cm) – possibly with variable sweep rate – the phase
displacement of the voltage can be read off directly in cm
Problems (18 °/cm). The Y-positions of the two base-lines (GND) are
made to coincide. After switching to other gain settings, the
1. Determination of the impedance of a coil as a function of base-lines are readjusted. In order to achieve high reading
frequency. accuracy, high gain settings are selected. The inputs to the
2. Determination of the inductance of the coil. difference amplifier are non-grounded.

Fig.1: Experimental set up for investigating the a. c. impedance of the coil.

PHYWE series of publications • Laboratory Experiments • Physics • PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH • 37070 Göttingen, Germany 24404 1
 R

LEP
Coil in the AC circuit
4.4.04

Fig. 2: Circuit for display of current and voltage with the oscil- Fig. 3: Impedance of various coils as a function of the fre-
loscope. quency.

To determine the impedance of a coil as a function of the fre- with the phase displacement f given by
quency, the coil is connected in series with resistors of known
value. The frequency is varied until there is the same voltage than f =
vL (3)
R
drop across the coil as across the resistor. The resitance and
impedance values are then equal: and
UO
RΩ = vL = XL (1) IO = (4)
ER2 + (vL)2
The phase displacement between the terminal voltage and the
total current can be measured using a similar cicuit to Fig. 2, It is customary to threat complex impedances as operators Ri:
^
but with channel B measuring the total voltage and not the
^
voltage across the coil. Coil RL = ivL,
^
When coils are connected in parallel or in series, care should Ohmic resistance R = R.
be taken to ensure that they are sufficiently far apart, since
their magnetic fields influence one another. With parallel connection,
^ –1 ^
Rtot = Σι Rι–1
Theory and evaluation ^
The real impedance of a circuit is the absolute value of Rtot and
If a coil of inductance L and a resistor of resistance R are con- the phase relationship, analogous to (2), is the ratio of the
nected in a circuit (see Fig. 2), the sum of the voltage drops on ^
imaginary part to the real part of Rtot .
the individual elements is equal to the terminal voltage U
dI From the regression line to the measured value of Fig. 3 and
U = IR + L · , (2) the exponential statement
dt

where I is the current. Y = a · XB

The resistors R are selected so that the d. c. resistance of the there follows the exponent
coil, with a value of 0.2 Ω, can be disregarded. If the alternat-
ing voltage U has the frequency v = 2pƒ and the waveform B1 = 1.02 ± 0.01 (see (1) )
B2 = 1.01 ± 0.01
U = UO cos vt ,
With the regression line to the measured values of Fig. 3 and
then the solution of (2) is the linear statement

I = IO cos (vt – f) Y=A+B·X

2 24404 PHYWE series of publications • Laboratory Experiments • Physics • PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH • 37070 Göttingen, Germany
 R

LEP
Coil in the AC circuit
4.4.04

Fig. 4: Phase displacement (than f) between total current and Fig. 5: Phase displacement (f) between total current and total
total voltage as a function of frequency. voltage as a function of frequency.

the slope The frequency at which the total impedance of the coils was
equal to the reference of 200 Ω was determined with coils
B1 = 0.067 ± 0.001 (see (1) ) connected in parallel and in series.
B2 = 0.015 ± 0.001

is obtained.

From this, with Table: Total inductance of coils Lι connected in parallel (line 1)
and in series (line 2).
R = vL
Coil ƒ (200 Ω) Ltot
the inductances
L1 // L2 16.53 kHz 1.93 mH
L1 = 2.38 mH
L1 + L2 2.48 kHz 12.84 mH
L2 = 10.4 mH

are obtained.

From the regression line to the measured values of Fig. 4 and

the exponential statement

Y = A · XB

the exponent

B = 0.97 ± 0.01 follows (see (2) )

PHYWE series of publications • Laboratory Experiments • Physics • PHYWE SYSTEME GMBH • 37070 Göttingen, Germany 24404 3