Lab 8 Report

Author(s): Mikolaj Pal, Reo Tang

Course: EE2112
Lab Section: L05
Date of Lab Completion: April 10, 2019
Date Submitted: April 17, 2019
Teaching Assistant: Zachary Jeffries
Table of Contents

1. Table of Figures ....................................................................................................................... 3

2. Table of Tables ........................................................................................................................ 3
3. Table of Listings ...................................................................................................................... 3
4. Objective .................................................................................................................................. 4
5. Procedure ................................................................................................................................. 5
6. Discussion ................................................................................................................................ 6
7. Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 9
8. Appendix A: Voltage Measurements across Connectors ...................................................... 10
9. Appendix B: Record of Results ............................................................................................. 12
10. References .......................................................................................................................... 13

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 1. Table of Figures

Figure 3.1: Voltage Correction and its time.................................................................................... 7

Figure 3.2: Circuit configuration of the black box. ........................................................................ 8
Figure 5.1: Voltage measurement across connectors 1 and 3. ...................................................... 10
Figure 5.2: Voltage measurement across connectors 1 and 2. ...................................................... 10
Figure 5.3: Measurement of voltage across connector 3 and 4..................................................... 11
Figure 5.4: Measurement of voltage across connectors 2 and 4. .................................................. 11

2. Table of Tables

Table 6.1: Detailed Record of Results. ......................................................................................... 12

3. Table of Listings

Listing 3.1: Parallel Resistor and Capacitor equation. .................................................................... 7

Listing 3.2: Calculations for the capacitor value. ........................................................................... 7

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 4. Objective
In industry, it is commonplace for companies to “reverse engineer” their competitors’
products to be up-to-date with innovation and improve their own products. In the electronics
industries, this type of testing is known as black box testing, where it is known what a product or
piece of software does but not how it completes its intended tasks [1]. The objective of this lab is
to find the circuit configuration (one resistor and one inductor or capacitor) of a given black box
using prior circuits knowledge. The black box has the given properties of being open from
connectors 2 to 4, having only two components, meaning there is at least one connection that has
nothing, and no diagonal connections. Along with finding the what the components are,
identification of the components being in parallel or series is necessary.

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 5. Procedure
After the black box with the unknown components was acquired, a series of tests were
completed to determine where exactly the components were located. A circuit hooked up to the
function generator with a 100 ohm resistor in series with the box was set up and an oscilloscope
hooked up to the 100 ohm resistor to measure the voltage across it. The function generator was
configured with the values of 7 volts RMS for the amplitude and a frequency of 10 kilohertz
(sine wave?). Each side of the black box was measured for differences in voltage. On the sides
where there is a higher voltage measured within the resistor, there was no component. However,
where a lower voltage was recorded there existed a component. The sides where there was a
component were found to be 1-2 and 3-4.
Within the black box, there was guaranteed to be one resistor and at least one other
component that is not a resistor. To find the resistor value, the current was calculated using the
voltage measured at the externally attached resistor and that resistor’s value, 100 ohms. Then, the
difference in voltage from the lower value to the higher value was found and used along with the
current to find the internal resistor’s value. The other component is either an inductor or a
capacitor. In the other area where there was a lower voltage measured, the difference in voltage
was used to calculate the resistance of that component. If it was at the same resistance as the
resistor found, there was a capacitor at that location. If there was a significantly larger resistance,
there was an inductor at that location. A capacitor was determined to be located there in this
case, due to its resistance equaling that of the resistor.
The function generator was reconfigured to generate square waves instead of sine waves.
The trigger value on the oscilloscope was set to a value near the voltage value found for that side
and the oscilloscope configured for a single capture. An image of the oscilloscope was captured
and analyzed for the time of correction required to reach a stable voltage value. This is shown in
Figure X below. This time (tau in the parallel capacitor and resistor equation shown in Figure X)
was found to be 5.8 microseconds. The resistor value was found earlier and used in this equation
to find the capacitor value, which was calculated to be 265 nanofarads.

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 6. Discussion
The steps in the procedure were created based on previous circuit knowledge. The first
test to find the circuit configuration was to find where the components are. This is beneficial
because more time can be focused on the components instead of wasting measurement time on a
location where a component does not exist. So, the first test was a voltage test. When measuring
the voltage between connectors, (2-1, 1-3, and 3-4), it was crucial to use the differential voltage
probe. The differential voltage probe hooked up to the oscilloscope will give readings of voltage
between two connectors. With this, the voltage between 2-1, and 3-4 were the same and between
2-4 and 1-3 were the same, which is shown in Figure 8.2 and Figure 8.3 in Appendix A
respectfully. This is where the conclusion 1-3 is open because it has the same voltage as the
provided open circuit. This also shows there is a voltage drop across 2-1 and 3-4. Now that the
component locations are found, the next part is finding what exactly they are.
The next test was be finding out where their resistor is since that is a guaranteed
component. Since the other is either an inductor or a capacitor, it is more efficient to find the
resistor first to minimize the time used for testing. In order to find the resistor, the multimeter is
necessary. This machine measured the resistance across the resistor which determined the
location of the resistor. This however, caused a bit of confusion since both measurements came
back the same. This gave the potential that one component was charged and so two wires were
used to discharge the charged component (both to be safe). Now, without any power supply, the
capacitor acted as a short circuit. Only one component will show a resistive value which was 1-2.
This means there is a resistor between 1-2 and that the other component is an inductor or
capacitor.
The last test is to check whether the last part is an inductor or capacitor. This is where the
concepts of a capacitor versus inductor comes in handy. An inductor and capacitor that is
discharged will both act as an open circuit. When an inductor is fully charged, it will act as a
short circuit because it has reached the final level of current. “When the Current becomes stable,
the Inductor creates no more opposition and vL becomes zero, the Storage Phase is over.” [2]
When a capacitor is fully charged, it will charge up to match the resistance of a resistor. In this
case, that is precisely what happened. The two measurements taken while measuring for the
location of the resistor gave two of the same resistance values. This is because the capacitor had
charged up to the resistor’s value as soon as the voltage was supplied. This concludes that the
last component is a capacitor. Now that all the components are found, calculations need to be
made.

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 Figure 6.1: Voltage Correction and its time.
For the resistor, there is no calculation needed as the multimeter measured its exact
resistance. For the capacitor, there need the use of a formula. From the rise time of the charging
capacitor, tau(τ) can be found. For the oscilloscopes in this lab, it is at a default measuring for 3
tau, but it can be manually done by dragging the x1 and x2 around. According to Voltage and
Current Calculations, “the time it takes for voltage or current values to change approximately 63
percent from their starting value to their final value sin a transient situation is the time constant”
[3]. Configuring the settings of the oscilloscope to measurement the correction time, a time of
5.8 microseconds seconds was found in Figure 6.1 above. The formula is shown in Listing 6.1
below where τ is the time constant, R is the resistance across the resistor, and C is the
capacitance across the capacitor. The time constant was found to be 5.8 microseconds while the
resistance was 21.87 ohms. Using the formula, tau divided resistance will result in the
capacitance of the capacitor, which was found to be 265 nanofarads, which is shown in Listing
6.2 below. Also shown on the following page in Figure 6.2 is the final configuration of the black
box.

𝜏 = 𝑅𝐶

Listing 6.1: Parallel Resistor and Capacitor equation.

5.8 ∗ 106 𝑠
= 265 ∗ 10−9 𝐹
21.87 Ω

Listing 6.2: Calculations for the capacitor value.

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 Figure 6.2: Circuit configuration of the black box.

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 7. Conclusion
The circuit configuration was successfully identified using previous circuit knowledge
and behavior. The location of components were found by measuring where there were voltage
drops. Then the resistor was found because using the multimeter to measure for resistivity
directly, with the help of discharging a potential capacitor or inductor. Lastly, it was concluded
there was a capacitor because of the last component’s behavior when provided a voltage source.
All of the procedural steps were thought of using previous knowledge and all were confirmed
through the many black box testing. The theories learned in class were tested using multiple
equipment with a specific setup. The learning process of this lab and what to take away from it
was being able to adapt. The black box was a complete mystery as to where the components
were and what type of components they were. It was crucial to stay patient and make sure the
measurements were being taken in an efficient manner while being able to move forward. The
steps created were sequential and order mattered. It was necessary to eliminate certain circuit
configurations or else being swamped in useless measurements would have cause a huge delay in
completion. The takeaway of this lab is to be sure of what trues and testing that theory to move
forward.

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 8. Appendix A: Voltage Measurements across Connectors

Figure 8.1: Voltage measurement across connectors 1 and 3.

Figure 8.2: Voltage measurement across connectors 1 and 2.

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 Figure 8.3: Measurement of voltage across connector 3 and 4.

Figure 8.4: Measurement of voltage across connectors 2 and 4.

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 9. Appendix B: Record of Results

Table 9.1: Detailed Record of Results.

Test Terminals Results

Test 1 1-2 1.21 Volts

Test 1 1-3 1.37 Volts

Test 1 3-4 1.21 Volts

Test 1 2-4 1.37 Volts

Test 2 1-2 21.87 ohms

Test 2 1-3 0 ohms

Test 2 3-4 21.87 ohms (charged) 0 ohms

(discharged)

Test 2 2-4 0 ohms

Test 3 3-4 21.87 ohms (charged) 0 ohms

(discharged)

Test 4 3-4 5.8 us

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10. References

[1] Michigan Technological University, "Experiment 8: Blackbox Testing," Michigan

Technological University, Houghton, 2017.
[2] "Museu das comunicacoes," 21 11 2018. [Online]. Available:
http://macao.communications.museum/eng/exhibition/secondfloor/MoreInfo/2_3_6_Resistan
ceInductance.html. [Accessed 17 4 2019].
[3] "Voltage and Current Calculations," AllAboutCiruits, [Online]. Available:
https://www.allaboutcircuits.com/textbook/direct-current/chpt-16/voltage-current-
calculations/. [Accessed 17 4 2019].

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