Capacitance measurement with integrated instruments

Capacitance measurement with integrated instruments (function generator & Digital multimeter) has been designed and developed. The unknown capacitance is measured by measuring the voltage across capacitor in RC network. The Digital Synthesis Arbitrary Function Generator/Counter (Protek 9305), and Dual Display Multimeter (Escort 3146A) are used as part of instrumentation. The function generator and digital multimeter instruments are available in all the labs, by integrating these devices a powerful yet cost effective instrumentation can be evolved. This paper describes such an instrument for capacitance measurement. MATLAB program interfaces the instruments through serial port and collects data, the applied and measured voltage at particular frequency, the results are analyzed to get corresponding Capacitance of the any capacitor under test. The present system will be of great use in industrial environments as well as for engineers in the industries and researchers in organizations.