1

AC BRIDGE



Molla Shahadat Hossain Lipu
Assistant Professor
Department of EEE
University of Asia Pacific
Email: lipu.eee@uap-bd.edu



EEE 457: Measurement & Instrumentation
2


AC Bridges

AC Bridges consist of a source,
balance detector and four arms.
In AC bridges, all the four arms
consists of impedance.
The AC bridges are formed by
replacing the DC battery with an
AC source and galvanometer by
detector of Wheatstone bridge.
They are highly useful to find out
inductance, capacitance, quality
factor, dissipation factor etc.



Detector:
(i) Headphones (250 Hz -3~4 kHz) (most sensitive)




Four Arms Z
1
, Z
2
, Z
3
& Z
4











Detector














Source
(ii) Vibration Galvanometer (5-1000 Hz) (commonly used below 200 Hz)
(iii) Tuneable Amplifier (100 Hz-1000 Hz) (respond to narrow bandwidth)
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General Expression for an AC Bridge

Now let us derive general expression for
an AC bridge balance













Balance Condition
The potential difference between b and d
must be zero. Therefore, voltage drop from a
to d equals to drop from a to b both in
magnitude and phase.


Thus, we have from figure e
1
= e
2



From equation 1, 2 and 3 we have Z
1
.Z
4
= Z
2
.Z
3

When impedance are replaced by admittance, we have Y
1
.Y
4
= Y
2
.Y
3
.
4



General Form for an AC Bridge

Now consider the basic form of an AC bridge. Suppose we have bridge circuit
as shown below.
In this circuit R
3
and R
4
are pure electrical
resistances. Putting the value of Z
1
, Z
2
, Z
3
and
Z
4
in the equation that we have derived above
for AC bridge.

4
=
2

1
+
1

4
=
2
+
2

4
+
1

4
=
2

3
+
2

3

Now equating the real and imaginary parts

we get,
Real Part:
1

4
=
2

3

Imaginary Part:
1

4
=
2

1
=

2




and

1
=

2
5




Following are the important conclusions that can be drawn
from the above equations:


(i) We get two balanced equations that are obtained by
equating real and imaginary parts


(ii) Two balanced equations give two unknown quantities


(iii) Both the equations are said to be independent if and
only if both equation contain single variable element.
This variable can be inductor or resistor.


(iv) The above equations are independent of frequency that
means we do not require exact frequency of the source
voltage and also the applied source voltage waveform
need not to be perfectly sinusoidal.
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Maxwell's Inductance Bridge
In this bridge the arms bc and cd are
purely resistive while the phase balance
depends on the arms ab and ad.


Here, l
1
= unknown inductance of r
1
.

l
2
= variable inductance of resistance R
2
.

r
2
= variable electrical resistance.



According to balance condition, we have at
balance point,
Z
1
.Z
4
= Z
2
.Z
3

=>

1
+
1

4
= (
2
+
2
+
2
)
3

3
Real Part:
1

4
=
2

3
+
2

3

=>

1
=

4

(
2
+
2
)
Imaginary Part:
1

4
=
2

3

=>

1
=

2
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Maxwell's Inductance Capacitance
Bridge


In this Maxwell Bridge, the unknown inductance is measured by the
standard variable capacitor.

Here, l
1
is unknown inductance, C
4
is
standard capacitor.


Now under balance conditions we have from
ac bridge that Z
1
.Z
4
= Z
2
.Z
3




Let us separate the real and imaginary
parts, the we have,
Real Part: Imaginary Part:
Now the quality factor is given by,
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Advantages & Disadvantages of
Maxwell's Bridge



Advantages
(1) The frequency does not appear in the final expression of both
equations, hence it is independent of frequency.
(2) Independent equation if chosen r
4,
C
4
as variable elements.
(3) Simple expression for unknown inductor and resistor.
(4) Maxwell's inductance capacitance bridge is very useful for the wide
range of measurement of inductance at audio frequencies.

Disadvantages
(1) The variable standard capacitor is very expensive.
(2) The bridge is limited to measurement of low quality coils (1 <
Q < 10) and it is also unsuitable for low value of Q (i.e. Q < 1) from
this we conclude that a Maxwell bridge is used suitable only for
medium Q coils.
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Hays Bridge
Hay's bridge is modified Maxwell bridge, now question arises here in our mind
that where we need to do modification. In order to understand this, let us
consider the connection diagram given below:

In this bridge the electrical resistance, r
4
is
connected in series with the standard
capacitor, c
4



Here l
1
is unknown inductance connected in
series with resistance r
1
. c
4
is standard
capacitor and r
2
, r
3
, r
4
are pure electrical
resistance forming other arms of the bridge.

From the theory of ac bridge, we can write
at balance point,

10
4



Substituting the values of z
1
, z
2
, z
3
and z
4
in equation (1) we get,

1

1 4

4

+ +

1

1 4

4

=
2

3


1
Real Part:
1

4
+

=
2

3
..(2)

1
Imaginary Part:
1
=

4

(3)
On solving equation (2) and (3), we have













Now, Q factor of a coil is given by
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The equations (4) and (5) are dependent on the source
frequency hence, in order to find the accurate value of
l
1
and r
1
we should know the correct value of source
frequency.


Let us rewrite the expression for l
1
,




Now if we substitute Q >10 then 1/Q
2
= 1 / 100 and hence
we can neglect this value, thus neglecting 1/Q
2
we get
r
2
r
3
c
4
which is same as we have obtained in Maxwell
bridge hence Hay's bridge circuit is most suitable for high
inductance measurement.
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factor,

Advantages & Disadvantages of Hay's
Bridge
Advantages
The bridge gives very simple expression for the calculation of
unknown inductance of high value (Q>10).


The Hay's bridge require low value of r
4
while Maxwell
bridge requires high value of r
4
. Now let us analyze why should put

low value of r
4
in this bridge: Consider the expression of quality


As r
4
presents in the denominator hence for high quality
factor, r
4
must be small.

Disadvantages
Equation are not independent (c
4
r
4
are chosen as variable elements).
Complex expression for

and r
1
.

Frequency dependent.

Hay's bridge is not suitable for measurement of quality factor (Q<10).
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For Q<10 we should use Maxwell bridge.