Table of conversion factors for various AC waveforms. Scheme, description

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RADIO ELECTRONICS AND ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING
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Table of conversion factors for various AC waveforms. Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering

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Encyclopedia of radio electronics and electrical engineering / Amateur radio calculations

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By using the conversion factor table below, you can expand the capabilities of any available AC voltmeter. This table makes it very easy to measure any parameter of a range of AC signals using any AC voltmeter.

Most AC voltmeters are designed to accurately measure a single signal parameter, such as peak-to-peak, peak-to-peak, RMS, or average. Such a limitation can cause certain inconveniences in cases where there is no appropriate instrument for measuring the required signal parameter or when measuring non-sinusoidal signals.

At the same time, using this table of conversion factors, almost any AC voltmeter can be used to accurately measure the peak-to-peak, peak-to-peak, RMS, and average value of a range of pulsed, sine, and triangular waveforms.

The conversion factors given in the table for instruments that measure the average value, but are calibrated in rms values, will probably be most useful, since in this case confusion and errors are most often observed when measuring non-sinusoidal signals.

The table is used as follows: the conversion factor for the type of voltmeter used and the signal value to be measured are found, and then the voltmeter reading is simply multiplied by this factor.

Suppose you want to determine the RMS value of a sawtooth signal, and you have an AC voltmeter that responds to the average value and is calibrated so that its reading is equal to the RMS value of a sinusoidal signal. It follows from the table that in this case the conversion factor will be equal to 1,038. The instrument reading must therefore be multiplied by this number.

To measure rectangular pulses with a duty cycle other than 50%, first find their actual duty cycle D and then change the voltmeter reading as shown in the table. The conversion factors given for white (Gaussian) noise are approximate values.

The accuracy of determining some of the conversion factors given in the table depends on how accurately the measured signals coincide in their form with the ideal ones. Distortion in the mains supply and imperfection of rectifiers can introduce significant errors in the measurement results of the rectified sinusoidal voltage. In addition, simple peak detectors (rectifiers) with capacitors in series will produce large errors when used to measure unbalanced waveforms such as rectified sine or symmetrical square wave and pulsed waveforms.

Voltmeter graduation

Waveform		full swing	True amplitude	Measures amplitude, graduated in eff. significant. for sinusoidal signal	Eff. meaning	Measures among the value, graduated in eff. significant. for sinusoidal signal	True mean
	pk-pk 0 pk eff. avg.	1.000 0.500 0.353 0.318	2.000 1.000 0.707 0.637	2.828 1.414 1.000 0.900	2.828 1.414 1.000 0.900	2.828 1.414 1.000 0.900	3.140 1.570 1.111 1.000
	pk-pk 0 pk eff. avg.	1.000 1.000 0.707 0.637	1.000 1.000 0.707 0.637	1.414 1.414 1.000 0.900	1.414 1.414 1.000 0.900	1.414 1.414 1 000 0.900	1.570 1.570 1.111 1.000
	pk-pk 0 pk eff. avg.	1.000 1.000 0.500 0.318	1.000 1.000 0.500 0.318	1.414 1.414 0.707 0.450	2.000 2.000 1.000 0.637	2.828 2.828 1.414 0.900	3.140 3.140 1.570 1.000
	pk-pk 0 pk eff. avg.	1.000 0.500 0.500 0.500	2.000 1.000 1.000 1.000	2.828 1.414 1.414 1.414	2.000 1.000 1.000 1.000	1.800 0.900 0.900 1.900	2.000 1.000 1.000 1.000
	pk-pk 0 pk eff. avg.	1.000 1.000 0.707 0.500	1.000 1.000 0.707 0.500	1.414 1.414 1.000 0.707	1.414 1.414 1.000 0.707	1.800 1.800 1.272 0.900	2.000 2.000 1.414 1.000
	pk-pk 0 pk eff. avg.	1.000 1.000 D^1/2 D	1.000 1.000 D^1/2 D	1.414 1.414 1.414D^1/2 1.414 D	1 / D^1/2 1 / D^1/2 1.000 D^1/2	0.9 / D 0.9 / D 0.9 / D^1/2 0.9D	1 / D 1 / D 1 / D^1/2 1.000
	pk-pk 0 pk eff. avg.	1.000 0.500 0.289 0.250	2.000 1.000 0.577 0.500	2.828 1.414 0.816 0.707	3.464 1.732 1.000 0.867	3.600 1.800 1.038 0.900	4.000 2.000 1.153 1.000
	pk-pk 0 pk eff. avg.	See notes see notes See notes see notes			- - 1.000 0.798	- - 1.127 0.900	- - 1.253 1.000

1. Apparent total noise swing (width of the screen area occupied by the waveform image) ~ 6 eff. values (with 99,5% probability of an instantaneous burst of noise exceeding this level)
2. Tangentially measured total noise amplitude ~ 2 eff. values
3. Apparent total noise amplitude ~ 3 tangentially measured noise amplitudes:

Table (graphical representation)

Author: M. J. Salvati; Publication: N. Bolshakov, rf.atnn.ru

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