Impedance Measurement Handbook

[Joe Gwinn]

Agilent publishes a very good handbook on impedance measurement. This is the fourth edition, copyright 2013. The first edition was 2009. While the target audience is electrical engineers, the writing is quite clear, the handbook being intended as a tutorial.

LCR meters are included, and their principles of operation discussed. LCR meters in fact measure complex impedance, and compute the inductance/capacitance and resistance required to yield that complex impedance at the chosen test frequency.

One can find resonant frequency by measuring complex impedance as a function of frequency.

Nomenclature: What we have been calling the I-V Method on the forum is called the auto-balancing bridge method in section 2.1 of this handbook. I must say that the term perplexes me, because there are no bridges there, but jargon is jargon.

http://cp.literature.agilent.com/lit.../5950-3000.pdf

[Mike Sulzer]

Relevant quote:

When both series and parallel resistances have a considerable amount of influence on the impedance of a reactive device, neither the series nor parallel equivalent circuit models may serve to accurately represent the real C, L, or R value of the device.

This is the case with a pickup, where both the series coil resistance and parallel eddy current loss matter. And the latter cannot be represented by a single component, and not with perfect accuracy by a small number of components.

Agilent publishes a very good handbook on impedance measurement. This is the fourth edition, copyright 2013. The first edition was 2009. While the target audience is electrical engineers, the writing is quite clear, the handbook being intended as a tutorial.

LCR meters are included, and their principles of operation discussed. LCR meters in fact measure complex impedance, and compute the inductance/capacitance and resistance required to yield that complex impedance at the chosen test frequency.

One can find resonant frequency by measuring complex impedance as a function of frequency.

Nomenclature: What we have been calling the I-V Method on the forum is called the auto-balancing bridge method in section 2.1 of this handbook. I must say that the term perplexes me, because there is no bridges there, but jargon is jargon.

http://cp.literature.agilent.com/lit.../5950-3000.pdf

[David King]

There's *math* in the first paragraph.

[ScottA]

Great reference, thanks!

[Joe Gwinn]

There's *math* in the first paragraph.

It's the native language in the land orthogonal to real.