CHAPTER 2

REVIEW LITERATURE
This chapter considers some of the related literature and studies gathered from
books, journals, unpublished bachelors and masters thesis and from internet that have
some relevance and significantly contributed in conducting this study. The review of
related literature and studies was made to create a better point of view of the study. The
set of data were found to be great value as it will serve as guide in bringing out the salient
points by identifying their relationship, similarities and differences.

Related Literature
Some of the designs of Digital LCF Meter are based upon the concept of
oscillators that can be constructed from CMOS NAND gates or inverters, and that their
oscillations frequency depends on the values of inductance, capacitance in their feedback
paths. This principle is primarily discussed by George Hylton in his two-part series Logic
Gate Inverter Oscillators of Sept/Oct 02. Using a suitable microcontroller, such as one
from the PIC16F62x and PIC16F87x families, software can read the frequency of an
oscillator and calculate the value of unknown components. This became the basis of John
Becker in Everyday Practical Electronics Magazine 2004 February. Two independent
oscillators are used; one based on inductance and capacitance (LC) values, the other on
capacitance and resistance (CR) values. Becker further used PIC16F628 in his design
and the results are displayed in Alphanumeric LCD.

Mr. Kerry D. Wong

Mr. Kerry D. Wong a software engineer and also an independent electrical
engineer states that a typical LCF meter is nothing but a wide range LC oscillator. When
measuring an inductor or capacitor, the added inductance or capacitance changes the
oscillators output frequency. And by calculating this frequency change, we can deduce
the inductance or capacitance depending on the measurement.

Edwin H. Colpitts
One of the most commonly used LC Oscillator is the Colpitts Oscillator, invented
in 1918 by American engineer Edwin H. Colpitts, which is also used in this study. As
with any oscillator, the amplification of the active component should be marginally larger
than the attenuation of the capacitive voltage divider, to obtain stable operation. Thus, a
Colpitts oscillator used as a variable frequency oscillator (VFO) performs best when a
variable inductance is used for tuning, as opposed to tuning one of the two capacitors.

Related Studies
Studies were already conducted regarding the use of Digital LCF meter as a
means of measuring the values of inductance (L), capacitance (C), and frequency (F).
Some of these are as follows:

Gabe A. Cohn (2008).

In his thesis, he aims to make a LCF meter that has a small packaging and
multiple power options allow it to be used as a small LCF meter which fit nicely on the
corner of the lab bench or as a portable meter to use out in the field. This meter
automatically determines the type of component (between capacitors and inductors) and
has no range selection so a wide of variety components can be tested without changing
the settings of the meter. In addition, the meter can be zeroed to any value. This makes
comparing different components very easy.
In either form, inductance is a ratio of voltage to current and is measured in a
unit called the henry, defined as 1 volt-second per ampere. On the other hand,
capacitance is the measure of how much electrical energy is stored in an object, such as a
capacitor used in an electronic circuit. The unit for measuring capacitance is the farad,
defined as 1 coulomb of electric charge per volt of potential difference. The inductance is
measured by three ways: (1) Voltage Current Slope; (2) Using a Resistor; (3) Using a
capacitor and resistor. Each ways can be perform using a signal generator and
oscilloscope.

The values can be found by doing calculations. While, to measure capacitance, it

also have three ways but in much simpler way: (1) Find out how much charge the
capacitor is carrying;
(2) Measure the voltage; (3) Divide the amount of charge by the voltage. It can be
perform by using standard Digital Multi-meters. The values, just like inductance, can be
found by doing calculations. Frequency is measured by an oscilloscope.

Aguilar (et al.) of class 2006

In the previous years, Electronics and Communications Engineering students of
this University also succeeded in making a LCF Meter. Aguilar(et al.) of class 2006
created a Digital LCF Meter that provides a cheap but reliable inductor (L), capacitance
(C), and frequency (F) meter that can be used by the ECE and EE students of the
University. It comes in one handy unit with an LCD display. Their device is based on
PIC16F628A that was preprogrammed with a hex code to perform LCF calculations, and
LM311 IC that functions as a frequency generator/ comparator. An LCD Module was
used to display the result of the calculations. It can measure inductances starting from
1mH up to 800mH. It measures capacitances starting from 100pF to 1uF. It can also
measure frequency of square wave signals up to 28.550 kHz, triangular wave signals up
to 35.350 kHz and analog signals up to 32.500 kHz. The said LCF Meter is in the EE
Laboratory Room of the university.