Hello all,
I am a third year student studying mechanical engineering but my project involves quite a large amount of electrical circuits in the sense that to run my tests i need to vary certain aspects of the electrical flow running through the circuit.
Basically my study is on the effects of electrovibration, which consists of a simple circuit; power supply and capacitor (capacitor is a model used for the electrovibration effect between an insulated electrode and the finger).
I believe my power supply is DC (obviously), but my waveform needs to be AC. The voltage needs to be amplified up to like 240V but I have been given this shuddy old amplifier that doesnt even have a measurement system on it (although it may produce the required output).
My variables include;
Varying voltage,
Varying frequency,
Varying waveform.
I have concluded that i probably need a better amplifier that i can actually see what i am doing on, and a signal generator to track the frequency and waveform of the signal?
My question is are these the only parts that i require to build this circuit accurately (power supply, amp, sig generator)? Do i need an oscilloscope or an voltmeter to measure the parameters or can i just set them initially using the amplifier and signal generator?
I would appreciate any advice Thank you,
Marc

 

Voltmeter/multimeter is good for taking measurements. What it does not do is show you the behavior of the signal.

O-scope can take measurements and it shows the behavior. But I am not sure if the o-scope you have will accept 240 volt signal, it might be too much.

 

240V can KILL you. Are you intending to apply 240V AC to a finger?

 

.........................
......................... But I am not sure if the o-scope you have will accept 240 volt signal, it might be too much.

You should be able to measure that voltage with a 10:1 probe at the input of most scopes. But, as noted, 240V can be lethal so keep one hand in your pocket.