Experiment 8 Average and RMS Values

AVERAGE AND RMS VALUES

INTRODUCTION:
Waveforms of voltage and current that vary periodically with time may be characterized
by their average value or their root mean square (rms) value. The latter is used to
determine the power supplied, dissipated, or stored by a circuit element. Some of the
measuring instruments you will use respond to average values of voltage or current, while
others respond to rms values.

OBJECTIVES:
When you have completed this experiment, you should be able to:

 Learn how to determine the values of rms voltage for three types of waveforms: a sinusoid,
a square wave, and a triangular wave.
 Understand the difference between a true-rms and a conventional multimeter.
 Determine whether the voltage metering function of the Digital Multimeter(DMM)
measures true RMS voltage for three types of waveforms: a sinusoid, a square wave,and a
triangular wave.

EQUIPMENT & MATERIALS REQUIRED

Instruments: Oscilloscope.
Function Generator
Digital Multimeter (DMM)
Resistors: 1 kΩ
Miscellaneous: Breadboard.
1 Black Banana plug to Aligator Clip test lead.
1 Red Banana plug to Aligator Clip test lead.
2 Coaxial Probes

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Experiment 8 Average and RMS Values

BACKGROUND

Measurements of AC signal:

 Amplitude is a nonnegative scalar measure of a wave's maximum magnitude of oscillation.

In electrical engineering it may be thought of as the maximum absolute value reached by a
voltage or current waveform as measured from the center of the oscillation. An amplitude
measurement may be reported as peak, peak-to-peak, average, or RMS.

 Peak amplitude is the height of an AC waveform as measured from the center of the
oscillation to the highest positive or lowest negative point on a graph. Also known as the
crest amplitude of a wave.

 Peak-to-peak amplitude is the total height of an AC waveform as measured from maximum

positive to minimum negative peaks (the highest peak to the lowest valley) on a graph of
the waveform. Often abbreviated as “P-P”, e.g., Vp-p or Vpp.

 Average value is the arithmetic “mean” of a waveform’s values over one cycle. The average
value of any waveform with equal-area portions above and below the “zero” line on a graph
is zero. However, often as a practical measure of amplitude, a waveform may be
characterized by its average absolute value, calculated as the arithmetic mean of the
absolute values of the waveform

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Experiment 8 Average and RMS Values

 “RMS” stands for Root Mean Square, and is a way of expressing an AC quantity of voltage
or current in terms functionally equivalent to DC. For example, 10 volts AC RMS is the
amount of AC voltage that would produce the same amount of heat dissipation across a
resistor of given value as a 10 volt DC power supply. Also known as the “equivalent” or
“DC equivalent” value of an AC voltage or current.

In this experiment, we will work with periodic waveforms having period T and amplitude Vm.
Specifically, we will work with the following three types of waveforms:

1. A sinusoidal wave voltage:

𝑣(𝑡) = 𝑉𝑚 cos(2𝜋𝑡/𝑇)

2. A square-wave voltage:

𝑇 3𝑇
𝑣(𝑡) = 𝑉𝑚 𝑓𝑜𝑟 0 ≤ 𝑡 < ;𝑇 ≤ 𝑡 < ; 𝑒𝑡𝑐
2 2
𝑇 3𝑇
𝑣(𝑡) = −𝑉𝑚 𝑓𝑜𝑟 ≤𝑡<𝑇; ≤ 𝑡 < 2𝑇; 𝑒𝑡𝑐
2 2

3. A triangular-wave voltage:

𝑣(𝑡) = 4𝑉𝑚 [(𝑡 − 𝑛𝑇)/𝑇] 𝑓𝑜𝑟 (𝑛 − 1/4)𝑇 ≤ 𝑡 < (𝑛 + 1/4)𝑇

𝑣(𝑡) = 𝑉𝑚 [(𝑡 − (𝑛 + 1/4)𝑇)/𝑇] 𝑓𝑜𝑟 (𝑛 + 1/4)𝑇 ≤ 𝑡 < (𝑛 + 3/4)𝑇
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑛 = 0,1,2,3, …
AC voltage and current waveforms are further depicted in a number of ways. Two of the most
common and useful are the average and the root-mean-square (rms) values. The average value of
a time-varying waveform x(t) with period T is given by:
𝑇
1
𝑋𝑎𝑣𝑒 = ∫ 𝑥(𝑡)𝑑𝑡 (8.1)
𝑇
0

The root-mean-square value, useful for power calculations, is defined by:

𝑇
1
𝑋𝑟𝑚𝑠 = √ ∫ 𝑥 2 (𝑡)𝑑𝑡 (8.2)
𝑇
0

Since the sine, square, and triangular waveforms are symmetrical about the time axis, they all have
mathematical average voltages of zero. However, each waveform will have an rms value, and a
summary of the calculation steps for relating the voltage magnitude to the rms value for each
waveform is shown below:

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Experiment 8 Average and RMS Values

Sinusoidal Voltage:

𝑉𝑚
𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 = (8.3)
√2

Square-Wave Voltage:
𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 = 𝑉𝑚 (8.4)

Triangular-Wave Voltage:
𝑉𝑚
𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 = (8.5)
√3

If we use what is called a “true rms” voltage meter, then the relationship between the magnitude of
the waveform and the measured value would be given by the three equations given above.However,
many of the meters available are not “true rms” meters, and as a result are only designed for
measurements in circuits with either DC voltages or sinusoidal AC voltages. For obtaining the AC
voltage, most digital meters effectively perform a full-wave rectification of the waveform and
compute the average absolute value. A constant factor is then applied to compute an RMS value.
Often the constant factor is chosen to give a correct result for a sinusoidal waveform.

For a sinusoidal waveform, the average value for the rectified voltage is calculated as follows:
2𝑉𝑚
𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐 = (8.6)
𝜋

Since the rms value for a sinusoidal waveform should be related to the amplitude by 2,weneed to
apply a conversion factor to get the correct rms value on the meter readout. In this casethe
conversion factor would be:
1 𝜋
𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 = ( 𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐 )
√2 2

= 1.111 ∗ 𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐 (8.7)

This means that the multimeter will measure he value as average value, assume it as sinusoidal
waveform, and multiply it by a constant factor of 1.111 to compute an RMS value.

𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑑𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 = 𝑉𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 (8.8)

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Experiment 8 Average and RMS Values

Now what happens when we measure a square wave with 50% duty cycle? To find out, we
computethe average of the rectified square-wave waveform:

𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐 = 𝑉𝑚 (8.9)

The non-true-rms meter will apply the same conversion factor it applied to the sine wave.
Hence,what we will see on the meter readout for a square wave is:

𝑉𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 1.111 ∗ 𝑉𝑚 (8.10)

This meter will report a rms value that is 11.1% higher than the actual rms value we should havefor
a square wave, this means that we need to divide the meter reading by the factor 1.111 to obtain
actual rms value for a square wave.

𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 = 𝑉𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 /1.111(8.11)

Finally, for a triangular waveform, the average rectified voltage is:

𝑉𝑚
𝑉𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑟𝑒𝑐 = (8.12)
2

So for a triangular waveform the rms voltage indicated on the non-true-rms meter will be
𝑉𝑚
𝑉𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 = 1.111 ∗ = 0.555 ∗ 𝑉𝑚 (8.13)
2

While it should be registering 𝑉𝑚 ⁄√3 = 0.577 ∗ 𝑉𝑚 . This meter gives a reading only 96.2% of what
we should actually get, and so will under-report the rms voltage for a triangular wave, this means
that we need to divide the meter reading by the factor 0.962 to obtain actual rms value for a
triangular wave.

𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑚𝑠 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎 𝑠𝑞𝑢𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑣𝑒 = 𝑉𝑚𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑟 /0.962(8.14)

In practice you will not get the exact results predicted by the equations, due to a number of errors,
such as inability to set the peak voltage to the exact value, slight errors in the meter reading, and
inaccuracies in the shape of the waveform produced by the function generator. Also, we have
assumed that the duty cycle of the square wave is exactly 50% in these calculations, which might
not actually be the case for your waveform generator.

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Experiment 8 Average and RMS Values

PROCEDURE

1. Connect the output terminals of the Function Generator to a 1 kΩ Resistor .

2. Turn on the Function Generator and use the oscilloscope to observe the voltage
drop across the 1 kΩ resistance. Remember that the oscilloscope’s ground is the
same as the Function Generator’s ground.
3. Select the sine wave output option of the Function Generator.

a. Set the frequency of the function generator to 1 kHz.

b. Observe the waveform on the oscilloscope using the CH1 BNC connector.
c. Set the parameter of the oscilloscope to 1Volt/Div and 1m sec Time/Div.
d. Adjust the DC offset control of the Function Generator to obtain a zero DC level
in the output.
e. Use the Function Generator’s output level control to obtain a 8.0 Volt peak value
(4.0 Vpp) on the scope measurement.
f. Use the digital multimeter (DMM) AC Voltage [V~] function to measure the
Function Generator voltage by connecting the VΩ and COM banana jacks to
Function Generator and GND respectively. Make sure to include DC offset
values in the RMS calculation.
g. Calculate the true rms value use equation 8.3, and record in Table 8-1.
h. Sketch this waveform in the appropriate graph next page.

4. Repeat the steps from 3a to 3h using a triangular wave output fromthe Function
Generator.
5. Repeat the steps from 3a to 3h using a square wave (50% duty factor) output from
the Function Generator.

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Experiment 8 Average and RMS Values

6. Adjust the DC offset control to add a 2 Volt DC offset to the original 1 kHz sine
wave. Now the waveform should vary from 0 to 4 Volts. Sketch this waveform in
the appropriate graph next page. Use the DMM to measure the AC RMS voltage
and the DC voltage across the resistance. and record in Table 8-1.
7. Repeat step 6 for triangular wave.
8. Repeat step 6 for square wave.
9. Have a demonstrator check your results before disconnecting the circuit.
10. Disconnect your circuit and return all equipment to its proper place.

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Experiment 8 Average and RMS Values

RESULTS
STEP 3h
Time/Div: .
Volts/Div: .

STEP 4h
Time/Div: .
Volts/Div: .

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Experiment 8 Average and RMS Values

STEP 5h
Time/Div: .
Volts/Div: .

STEP 6
Time/Div: .
Volts/Div: .

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Experiment 8 Average and RMS Values

STEP 7
Time/Div: .
Volts/Div: .

STEP 8
Time/Div: .
Volts/Div: .

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Experiment 8 Average and RMS Values

Table 8-1
DMM DC DMM AC Vm Calculated 𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 Calculated 𝑉𝑟𝑚𝑠 Step
Reading Reading (eq 8.3 or 8.4 or (eq 8.8 or 8.11
8.5) or 8.14)
Step 3
Sinusoidal
waveform
Step 4
Triangle waveform
Step 5
Square waveform
Step 6
Sinusoidal
waveform
Step 7
Triangle waveform
Step 8
Square waveform

CONCLUSIONS:

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