7/24/2015

ScheringBridgeMeasurementofCapacitanceusingScheringBridge|Electrical4u

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ScheringBridgeTheory
Thisbridgeisusedtomeasuretothecapacitanceofthecapacitor,dissipationfactorand
measurementofrelativepermittivity.LetusconsiderthecircuitofScheringbridgeas
shownbelow:

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ScheringBridgeMeasurementofCapacitanceusingScheringBridge|Electrical4u

Here,c1istheunknowncapacitancewhosevalueistobedeterminedwithserieselectrical
resistancer1.
c2isastandardcapacitor.
c4isavariablecapacitor.
r3isapureresistor(i.e.noninductiveinnature).
Andr4isavariablenoninductiveresistorconnectedinparallelwithvariablecapacitorc4.
Nowthesupplyisgiventothebridgebetweenthepointsaandc.Thedetectoris
connectedbetweenbandd.Fromthetheoryofacbridgeswehaveatbalancecondition,
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ScheringBridgeMeasurementofCapacitanceusingScheringBridge|Electrical4u

Substitutingthevaluesofz1,z2,z3andz4intheaboveequation,weget

Equatingtherealandimaginarypartsandtheseparatingweget,

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ScheringBridgeMeasurementofCapacitanceusingScheringBridge|Electrical4u

LetusconsiderthephasordiagramoftheaboveSheringbridgecircuitandmarkthe
voltagedropsacrossab,bc,cdandadase1,e3,e4ande2respectively.Fromtheabove
Scheringbridgephasordiagram,wecancalculatethevalueoftanwhichisalsocalledthe
dissipationfactor.

Theequationthatwehavederivedaboveisquitesimpleandthedissipationfactorcanbe
calculatedeasily.NowwearegoingtodiscusshighvoltageScheringbrideindetail.Aswe
havediscussedthatsimplescheringbridge(whichuseslowvoltages)isusedformeasuring
dissipationfactor,capacitanceandmeasurementofotherpropertiesofinsulatingmaterials
likeinsulatingoiletc.Whatistheneedofhighvoltagescheringbridge?Theanswertothis
questionisverysimple,forthemeasurementofsmallcapacitanceweneedtoapplyhigh
voltageandhighfrequencyascomparetolowvoltagewhichsuffersmanydisadvantages.
LetusdiscussmorefeaturesofthishighvoltageScheringbridge:

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ScheringBridgeMeasurementofCapacitanceusingScheringBridge|Electrical4u

(a)Thebridgearmsabandadconsistsofonlycapacitorsasshownthebridgegivenbelow
andimpedancesofthesetwoarmsarequitelargeascomparedtotheimpedancesofbcand
cd.Thearmsbcandcdcontainsresistorr3andparallelcombinationofcapacitorc4and
resistorr4respectively.Asimpedancesofbcandcdarequitesmallthereforedropacross
bcandcdissmall.Thepointcisearthed,sothatthevoltageacrossbcanddcarefewvolts
abovethepointc.
(b)Thehighvoltagesupplyisobtainedfromatransformer50Hzandthedetectorinthis
bridgeisavibrationgalvanometer.
(c)Theimpedancesofarmsabandadveryarelargethereforethiscircuitdrawslow
currenthencepowerlossislowbutduetothislowcurrentweneedaverysensitive
detectortodetectthislowcurrent.
(d)Thefixedstandardcapacitorc2hascompressedgaswhichworksasdielectrictherefore
dissipationfactorcanbetakenaszeroforcompressedair.Earthedscreensareplaced
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ScheringBridgeMeasurementofCapacitanceusingScheringBridge|Electrical4u

betweenhighandlowarmsofthebridgetopreventerrorscausedduetointercapacitance.
LetusstudyhowScheringbridgemeasuresrelativepermittivity:Inordermeasurethe
relativepermittivity,weneedtofirstmeasurecapacitanceofasmallcapacitorwith
specimenasdielectric.Andfromthismeasuredvalueofcapacitancerelativepermittivity
cancalculatedeasilybyusingtheverysimplerelation:

Whererisrelativepermeability.
cisthecapacitancewithspecimenasdielectric.
disthespacingbetweentheelectrodes.
Aisthenetareaofelectrodes.
andispermittivityoffreespace.
Thereisanotherwaytocalculaterelativepermittivityofthespecimenbychanging
electrodespacing.Letusconsiderdiagramshownbelow

HereAistheareaofelectrode.
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ScheringBridgeMeasurementofCapacitanceusingScheringBridge|Electrical4u

disthethicknessofthespecimen.
tisthegapbetweentheelectrodeandspecimen(herethisgapisfilledbycompressedgas
orair).
csisthecapacitanceofspecimen.
coiscapacitanceduetospacingbetweenelectrodeandspecimen.
cistheeffectivecombinationofcsandco.

Fromfigureabove,astwocapacitorsareconnectedinseries,

oispermittivityoffreespace,risrelativepermittivity,whenweremovespecimenand
thespacingreadjustedtohavesamevalueofcapacitance,theexpressionforcapacitance
reducesto

Onequating(1)and(2),wewillgetthefinalexpressionforofras:

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