Practice Problems

for the Mechanical Engineering PE Exam

A Companion to the Mechanical Engineering Reference Manual
Thirteenth Edition

Michael R. Lindeburg, PE

Professional Publications, Inc. Belmont, California

64

Instrumentation
and Measurements

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Indicator Diagrams
1. Diesel engines in a waste-to-energy plant are powered by a gaseous mixture of methane and other digestion gases. The combustion conditions in each cylinder
are continuously monitored by pressure and temperature transducers. A particular cylinders indicator diagram is shown. The scale selected in the monitoring
software is set to 111 kPa/mm. Most nearly, what is
the mean effective pressure in the cylinder?
64 mm

(A) The LVDT is a variable reluctance transducer,

and its output voltage is directly proportional to
its core movement.
(B) The LVDT is a variable reluctance transducer,
and its output current is directly proportional to
its core movement.
(C) The LVDT is a variable capacitance transducer,
and its output current is directly proportional to
core movement.
(D) The LVDT is a variable inductance transducer,
and its output voltage is directly proportional to
core movement.

p (kPa)

Resistance Temperature Detectors

A = 490 mm2

TDC

BDC

3. A resistance temperature detector (RTD) measures

temperature in a bridge circuit. The resistances of resistors 1, 2, and 3 are 100 , 200 , and 50 , respectively.
The power supply voltage is 10 V. The reference resistance of the RTD is 100  at 0
C. The alpha value for
the RTD is 0.00392 1/
C. The variation of RTD resistance with temperature is linear. What is most nearly
the temperature of the RTD when the voltmeter reads
4.167 V?
R1

RTD

(A) 7.7 kPa

Vb

(B) 15 kPa

+
V

(C) 360 kPa

R3

(D) 850 kPa

Variable Inductance Transformers

(A) 130
F

2. Which of the statements regarding the linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) shown is true?

(B) 210
F

output

R2

(C) 260
F
(D) 330
F

movable core
input

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Plant
Engineering

PRACTICE
PROBLEMS
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64-2

P R A C T I C E

P R O B L E M S

F O R

T H E

4. The temperature of a steel girder during a fire test is

measured with a type 404 platinum RTD and a simple
two-wire bridge, as shown. The characteristics of the
RTD are: resistance, R, 100  at 0
C; temperature
coefficient,
, 0.00385 1/
C. The values of the bridge
resistances are R1 1000 , and R3 1000 . When
the meter is nulled out during a test, R2 376 . The
lead resistances are each 100 . Most nearly, what is the
temperature of the beam during the test?

M E C H A N I C A L

E N G I N E E R I N G

P E

E X A M

6. A piezoelectric transducer is connected to a charge

amplifier as shown. What is the purpose of capacitor Ct?
Ct

Ca

piezoelectric
transducer
Vin
Vout

voltage source

(A) Ct biases the transducer output.

R1

(B) Ct isolates the transducer from inadvertent

amplifier transients.

R3

(C) Ct rectifies the transducer output.

lead
resistance

(D) Ct prevents DC voltages from being passed to the

amplifier.

meter
RTD

R2

Photosensitive Conductors

Plant
Engineering

lead
resistance

(A) 130
C
(B) 175
C
(C) 200
C
(D) 450
C
Piezoelectric Transducers

7. A velocity indicating system attached to a machine

consists of a light source, a light sensor, a disk that
rotates with the machines rotation, and a counting
circuit. There are 12 reflective strips around the periphery of the disk. As a machine starts up, the disk spins,
and the sensor detects the pulses reflected back by the
reflective strips. Given the numbers of counts per minute recorded by the sensor, what is most nearly the
average angular acceleration of the disk between 2 sec
and 4 sec?
reflective
strip

light source

5. A compression-style crystal piezoelectric accelerometer has a sensitivity of 2.0 mV/g. It falls to the floor
from a height of 3 ft and comes to rest 0.02 sec after
contact with the floor. What is most nearly the average
voltage output of the accelerometer during impact?

sensor

mass
disk detail
startup counts
time (sec)
0
1
2
4

crystal

base

(A) 21 mV

(A) 3.5 rad/sec2

(B) 32 mV

(B) 21 rad/sec2

(C) 43 mV

(C) 42 rad/sec2

(D) 57 mV

(D) 84 rad/sec2

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counts (min)
0
150
1200
10,800

64-6

P R A C T I C E

P R O B L E M S

F O R

T H E

21. Two iron-constantan thermocouples are wired in

series to monitor the cylinder head temperature in an
aircraft engine. The voltage across the thermocouples is
read in the cockpit as 16.52 mV. The cockpit temperature is 70
F. What is most nearly the average temperature of the cylinder head?

cylinder head

M E C H A N I C A L

E N G I N E E R I N G

P E

E X A M

SOLUTIONS

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1. The average height of the pressure plot is

h

A 490 mm2
7:656 mm

64 mm
w

The average pressure is


kPa
7:656 mm
p kh 111
mm
849:8 kPa 850 kPa

cockpit
Vout

The answer is (D).

(A) 290
F
(B) 330
F
(C) 350
F
(D) 380
F
Plant
Engineering

22. A copper-constantan thermocouple is used with an

ice bath to measure the temperature of waste sludge
during digestion. The voltage is proportional to the
difference in temperature between the junctions. When
the thermocouple is calibrated, it generates a voltage of
5:07  103 V when the temperature of the hot junction
is 108.9
C and the reference temperature is at 0
C. Most
nearly, what is the temperature of waste sludge when
the voltage is 1:83  103 V?
(A) 40
C
(B) 45
C

2. A coil of wire, particularly a coil with an iron core,

behaves as an inductor in an AC circuit. In an LVDT,
the movable transformer core changes the inductance
between the primary and secondary windings. The
transformer is constructed so that the output voltage
of the LVDT is directly proportional to the movable
core position. A linear variable differential transformer
(LVDT) is a variable inductance transducer.
The answer is (D).

3. Since the voltage is not zero, the bridge is not

balanced. Rearrange Eq. 64.16 to find the RTD
resistance.
RRTD

(C) 50
C

V b R1 R3 V R1 R3 R2 R3
V b R2  V R1 R2
10 V100 50 

(D) 55 C

4:167 V

100 50 

200 50 
10 V200   4:167 V
 100  200 

150:0 
Rearrange Eq. 64.3 to find the temperature. Since temperature varies linearly with resistance, only the alphavalue,
, is required.
Rref
T ref  1 RRTD
Rref






1
100  0:00392
0
C  1 150:0 

C

1
100  0:00392

C
127:6
C

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I N S T R U M E N T A T I O N

M E A S U R E M E N T S

64-7

The average acceleration is

Convert to the Fahrenheit scale.

T
F 32
95T
C 32
F

A N D

9 
5

127:6
C

261:7
F 260
F

a
Dt

ft
13:9
sec

0:02 sec 32:2

The answer is (C).

 21:58 g
ft
sec2 -g

The average voltage output is



4. When the meter is nulled out, the resistance of the

leg containing the RTD is
R4 RRTD 2Rlead

V ka

R2 R3 376 1000 

R1
1000 

376 


mV
21:58 g
g

2:0

43:16 mV

43 mV

The answer is (C).

RRTD R4  2Rlead 376   2100  176 

The relationship between temperature and resistance for
an RTD is
RT R0 1 AT BT 2
For a platinum RTD with
= 0.00385 1/
C, the resistance is
!
1 3:9083  103 T
RT R0
5:775  107 T 2



 R0 1 3:9083  103 T



176   100  1 3:9083  103 T
T  194:5
C 200
C
(If the squared term is kept, the temperature is 200.3
C.)
The answer is (C).

5. The displacement of the falling accelerometer is

x x 0 v0 t  12gt 2
The initial displacement and the initial velocity are both
zero. The time required to fall a distance of x is
r
2x
x
g
The impact velocity is
r
2x p
v gt g
2xg
g
r



ft
23 ft 32:2
sec2
13:9 ft=sec

6. The transducer capacitance, Ct, prevents DC voltages from being passed to the amplifier. The value of Ct
does not influence the amplifier gain.
The answer is (D).

7. Each revolution produces 12 counts.

Eq. 57.18, the average angular acceleration is
!2  !1
t2  t1




rad
counts
10;800
 1200
2p
rev

min


counts
4 sec  2 sec 12
60
rev

Using

ave

41:89 rad=sec2

counts
min
sec
min

42 rad=sec2

The answer is (C).

8. The weight of the object is equal to the force on the

scale.


p
D  2t2
F pA p
4



2





lbf p
in
2 ft 12
 22 in
50 2
in
4
ft
15;708 lbf 16;000 lbf
The answer is (B).

9. From Eq. 64.11, the strain is



DRg
100:1   100 
1:67  104

GFRg
6:0100 

From Eq. 64.24, the stress is


lbf
 E 30  106 2 1:67  104
in
5:0  103 lbf=in2

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Plant
Engineering

The resistance of the RTD is