Cathode Ray Oscilloscope

Cathode Ray Oscilloscope or simply CRO is an electronic instrument which provides visual representation or graph of any waveform applied to its input terminals. It is commonly used for measuring voltage and time. CRO is widely used in fields like engineering, medicine etc. In this article I am going to explain the working and the parts of Cathode Ray Oscilloscope.
Cathode Ray Oscilloscope is an extremely useful and versatile laboratory instrument used for studying wave shape of alternating current and voltage as well as for the measurement of voltage, power and frequency. CRO is basically a very fast X-Y plotter. It displays an input signal. The main components of CRO are: 1. Cathode Ray Tube. 2. Low and high voltage power source. 3. Linear time base generator and synchronizing circuits. 4. Vertical and horizontal amplifiers.

Cathode Ray Tube

Cathode Ray Tube or CRT is the main part or heart of a CRO. It is used to bombard electrons towards the fluorescent screen. CRT is an evacuated tube where an electron gun is fitted, which emits electrons towards the fluorescent screen. Major components of CRT is given below: 1. Electron gun 2. Accelerating anodes 3. Deflection system 4. Fluorescent Screen 5. Evacuated glass envelop

Electron gun
Electron gun is a source of electrons. It is an electronic component that emits electrons. It is widely used in CRT. It consists of a heated cathode, control grid, pre-accelerating anode, focusing anode and an accelerating anode. The electrons are emitted from a hot cathode due to thermionic emission. Control grid determines the amount of electron flow. The electrons emitted from cathode are then passed through a hole in control grid and get accelerated by pre-accelerating and accelerating anodes. The electron beam is then focused by focusing anode and passed towards the fluorescent screen.

Deflection system
Deflection system is a combination of both the pairs of horizontal and vertical deflection

plates. Both the horizontal and vertical plates are kept right angle to each other. When a positive voltage is applied to the horizontal plate, it will deflect the beam towards right(+X axis), while a negative voltage applied to horizontal plate will be deflected towards left(-X axis). Like the same way when positive voltage is applied to vertical plate, it will be deflected on +y axis and negative voltage will be deflected towards -Y axis.

Fluorescent Screen
It is a screen in which the accelerated electron beams are allowed to fall. The screen is coated with thin layer of Zinc Oxide. When the electron beam is allowed to strike the phosphor, a spot of light is produced. It is because phosphor absorbs kinetic energy from electrons that strike it and emits the same energy absorbed from electrons is emitted in the form of light. This property of phosphor emitting light is called fluorescence.

Glass envelop
The glass envelop is coated with a conducting graphite substance called Aquadag. Aquadag is coated for mainly two purposes: 1. To accelerate the electron beam towards the screen. 2. The coating collects the secondary electrons and returns them to the cathode. In general CRO is used to view the shape of a wave front of an electric signal. We can be able to differentiate the type of current using(DC or AC) by viewing its X-Y plot. Thus CRO has a great influence to the modern world in many ways.

CRO-Cathode Ray Oscilloscope

jojo September - 24 - 2009 9 Comments

Introduction to CRO Cathode Ray Oscilloscope

The cathode ray oscilloscope is an extremely useful and versatile laboratory instrument used for studying wave shapes of alternating currents and voltages as well as for measurement of voltage, current, power and frequency, in fact, almost any quantity that involves amplitude and waveform. It allows the user to see the amplitude of electrical signals as a function of time on the screen. It is widely used for trouble shooting radio and TV receivers as well as laboratory work involving research and design. It can also be employed for studying the wave shape of a signal with respect to amplitude distortion and deviation from the normal. In true sense the cathode ray oscilloscope has been one of the most important tools in the design and development of modern electronic circuits.

Block Diagram of a CRO

CRO Block Diagram The instrument employs a cathode ray tube (CRT), which is the heart of the oscilloscope. It generates the electron beam, accelerates the beam to a high velocity, deflects the beam to create the image, and contains a phosphor screen where the electron beam eventually becomes visible. For accomplishing these tasks various electrical signals and voltages are required, which are provided by the power supply circuit of the oscilloscope. Low voltage supply is required for the heater of the electron gun for generation of electron beam and high voltage, of the order of few thousand volts, is required for cathode ray tube to accelerate the beam. Normal voltage supply, say a few hundred volts, is required for other control circuits of the oscilloscope. Horizontal and vertical deflection plates are fitted between electron gun and screen to deflect the beam according to input signal. Electron beam strikes the screen and creates a visible spot. This spot is deflected on the screen in horizontal direction (X-axis) with constant time dependent rate. This is accomplished by a time base circuit provided in the oscilloscope. The signal to be viewed is supplied to the vertical deflection plates through the vertical amplifier, which raises the potential of the input signal to a level that will provide usable deflection of the electron beam. Now electron beam deflects in two directions, horizontal on X-axis and vertical on Y-axis. A triggering circuit is provided for synchronizing two types of deflections so that horizontal deflection starts at the same point of the input vertical signal each time it sweeps. A basic block diagram of a general purpose oscilloscope is shown in figure. Cathode ray tube and its various components will be discussed in the following Arts.