RC time constant measurement using an INA219 sensor: creating an alternative, flexible, low-cost configuration that provides benefits for students and schools

Abstract

In this work, we have developed an alternative device composed by an Arduino board and an INA219 sensor to experimentally obtain the mathematical formulas describing the charge and discharge of the capacitor for educational proposes. We have obtained excellent agreement between theoretical prediction and experimental measurements. The INA219 DC sensor can measure direct current up to 26 V/3.2 A with a maximum error accuracy of 1%. The device makes it possible to follow the temporal evolution of the voltage and the current at a capacitor’s terminals. This platform can provide an alternative way for educational use compared to the expensive laboratory equipment (oscilloscope, voltmeter, generator). Indeed, we think that the presented device can play a dominant role in teaching and learning electricity courses in secondary schools due to its low cost, small size, reliability in measurements and good level of accuracy.

How to measure the current–voltage characteristics of Ohmic conductors and superconductors

“…Both techniques can be implemented in order to study the electrical response of linear or nonlinear devices of practical interest in many fields of scientific research. Teaching of physics is essential for cumulative improvement in physics instruction, as well as for the extension of the quantitative methods of physics to other scientific fields, like medicine and biology [12,[16][17][18][19]. Finally, future work will be dedicated to carry out statistical studies in the presence of the students.…”

Integration of Automatic Procedures for Acquisition, Processing, Storage, Analysis and Monitoring of Experimental Data in Physics Education

“…In a recent paper, (Mabrouki et al, 2021) have shown how the DHT22 sensor can be used together with the Arduino Uno board and the ESP8266 WiFi module, in an IoT system for monitoring atmospheric temperature and humidity. (El Hadi et al, 2021) presented how the mathematical formulas describing the charging and discharging of a capacitor can be obtained experimentally, using a device based on an Arduino board and the INA219 sensor. The created device made it possible to follow the temporal evolution of the voltage and current at the terminals of a capacitor.…”

A Low-Cost Hardware Architecture for EV Battery Cell Characterization Using an IoT-Based Platform

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