I am modeling the fine behavior of interacting oscillatory circuits. I have looked up a couple of methods for measuring inductance. I believe I am following the procedure faithfully, but the values I obtain aren't as precise as I expect. This is, in principle, an elementary question, but ideally I'd like precision of 1% or less and I don't believe I am attaining it with the methods I can find. I have a Tektronix 1001B oscilloscope and a pretty standard signal generator.
First: Is a precision of 1% with this equipment unrealistic?
If not, I have followed the procedure for measuring inductance with a sinewave here: https://meettechniek.info/passive/inductance.html (I also tried the method where you tune the frequency until the inductor voltage is half the total voltage).
I measure across two inductors in series; as a sanity check I also did both inductors separately. L1 is the kind of inductor that looks like a resistor (see the green thing in the photo below); Lcoil is a coiled inductor (see below). The nominal values are L1=220 uH and Lcoil=100 uH, so I expect a total of roughly Ltot=320 uH. All measurements are with f=95kHz because that is the frequency of operation.
- R_s=100 Ohm gives Ltot=290, L1=174, and Lcoil=122 (L1+Lcoil=296)
- R_s=56 Ohm gives Ltot=259, L1=174, and Lcoil=98 (L1+Lcoil=272)
Are these the best numbers that I can expect? The coil value changes by over 20%, and the total value varies by ~10%. I do not have an electronics background, so if there are some basic intuitive principles I am overlooking, please let me know!
Edit: I add a screencap of one of the calculations, which provides the values of the inductance and the inductor resistance.
Best Answer
The method you use is very error sensitive, ESR can be an issue but also determining the exact voltage ratios isn't easy.
I would use LC-parallel resonance:
\$F_c=\frac 1 {2\pi\sqrt{LC}}\$
Get a 1% (or better) accurate capacitor. If you do not have such a capacitor then just forget about the whole thing, you will not get the 1% accuracy.
Use a circuit like this:
simulate this circuit – Schematic created using CircuitLab
If you have a rough value for Lx then use the formula above to determine the resonance frequency in combination with the accurate capacitor C_1%.
You should aim for a frequency that the signal generator can easily generate, for example 1 MHz. Set the generator output voltage a couple of volts, the exact value does not matter because we want to determine the resonance frequency.
Vary the frequency of the generator and on the oscilloscope keep an eye on the signal amplitude. The frequency where the amplitude is the largest, that is the resonance frequency. Then use that frequency and the value of C_1% to determine the value of Lx? using the formula above.
If the signal generator is not very accurate (if it is an analog signal generator) then measure the frequency using your oscilloscope. You need a better than 0.01% accurate value for the frequency otherwise you cannot get the 1% overall accuracy. Your oscilloscope is a digital one so it can measure frequencies with more enough accuracy.