UNIT IV - MEASUREMENT SYSTEM (9 hours)

Measurements and its Significance,

Methods of Measurements,

Classification of Instruments and application,

Elements of a Generalized Measurement System,

Static and Dynamic Characteristics of an
Instruments,

Errors in Measurement

Systems - Units, System, Dimension and standards.
 Measurements

• Measurement of given quantity is essentially

an act or the result comparison between the
quantity and a predefined standard
• Measurement is the process of determining or
finding the size, quantity or degree of
something .
 Significance of measurement
1. To Design of equipment and process
2. To understand Proper operation and
maintenance of equipment
1. To estimate the size/amount of things
2. To understand systems, processes and phenomena
3. To monitor devices and industrial processes
4. To control process and systems
5. To verify laws of nature
6. To establish standards
7. To design and build systems
 Methods of Measurements
 Direct:  Indirect:
• the unknown quantity • Measurement is
is directly compared inferred based on
against standard known facts and
• The results is expressed observations
as a numerical number • Volume: the
and a unit. amount of space
• Length, mass and time occupied by an object.
• V = l x bx h
Elements of a Generalized
Measurement System
Example 1
Example 2
 Example 3
Control
And
feedback

Power
Sensor source
Perceptible
Primary Variable Signal output
Output
Measurand Sensing Conversion processing display
element element

Calibration Data Data

signal storage transmission

Radiation,
electric current,
or other applied
energy
 Measurand: Physical quantity
• Biopotential
• Pressure
• Flow
• Dimensions (imaging)
• Displacement (velocity, acceleration, force)
• Impedance
• Temperature
• Chemical Concentration
 Sensor and Transducer
• Transducer
– Converts one form of energy to another
• Sensor
– Converts a physical measurand to an electrical
output
– Interface with living system
– Minimize the energy extracted
– Minimally invasive
displacement electric voltage
pressure diaphragm Strain gage
 Signal Conditioning
• Amplification
• Filtering
• Impedance matching
• Analog/Digital for signal processing
• Signal form (time and frequency domains)
 Output Display
• Numerical
• Graphical
• Discrete or continuous
• Visual
• Hearing
 Auxiliary Element
• Calibration Signal
• Control and Feedback (auto or manual)
– Adjust sensor and signal conditioning
 Errors in measurement
• Error in the measurement of a physical
quantity is its deviation from actual value.
Error= Actual value-measured value
• Percent error measures the accuracy of a
measurement by the difference between a
measured or experimental value E and a
true or accepted value A.
• The percent error is calculated from the
following equation:

Fig: Standard and measured signal of an instrument

Types of Errors
Gross errors
• Caused due to human mistakes in reading, recording and
calculating measurement results.
• For example, due to over sight the temperature 21.5 C may be
read as 31.5 C
• These errors can be avoided by
 Taking great care in reading and recording the data.
 Many readings should me taken for same quantity
under measurement.
 Different readings must be taken by different
experimenters.
Systematic Errors
Instrumental Error:
• These errors occurs due to
a) Inherent short comings in the instrument.
 Inherent because of their mechanical structure.
 Due to construction, calibration or operation of the instruments.
 To avoid these types of errors , the instrument must be calibrated
frequently.
b) Misuse of instruments
 Errors occurs due to improper handling of the instrument.
 For example, Zero adjustment, poor initial adjustments.
c) Loading effects of instruments
 Committed by improper use of an instrument for measurement
 For example, Voltmeter when connected across a high resistance
may give misleading voltage reading.
 Environmental Errors:
• This error is caused due to environmental parameters
like temperature, pressure, dust, vibration, external
magnetic or electrostatic fields.
• These errors can be avoided by
 Keeping constant temperature.
 Using equipment immune to these effects
 Employing techniques which eliminates the effect of these
disturbances.
Observational Errors:
• Parallax errors arise when pointer and scale not being in
same point.
Random Errors

• Random error is always present in a measurement. It

is caused by inherently unpredictable fluctuations in
the readings of a measurement apparatus or in the
experimenter's interpretation of the instrumental
reading.
 Arithmetic mean
• The most probable value of measured variable is the
arithmetic mean of the number of readings taken.
• For a set of N measured values for some quantity x, the
mean of x is represented by the symbol <x> and is
calculated by the following formula:

where xi is the i-th measured value of x. The mean is simply

the sum of the measured values divided by the number of
measured values.
 Standard deviation and Variance
• The standard deviation is used in the analysis of random errors.
• It is also referred to as the root mean square deviation and measures
how widely spread the measured values are on either side of the
mean.
• The standard deviation of the measured values is represented by the
symbol σx and is given by the formula:

• Variance is mean square deviation and it is given as

Variance ,V= (standard deviation) 2
Problem
Find the mean, standard deviation, and variance
for the following sample data:
33, 55, 29, 40, 43, 8, 90, 61, 41, 17, 80, 56, 17,
59, 21, 78 .

Answers:
mean= 45.5
Standard deviation =23.5
Variance= 557.5
 Problem-2
1) The following 10 observations are recorded were
measuring a voltage :41.7 , 42.0 , 41.8 , 42.0 , 42.1 ,
41.9 , 42.0,41.9,42.5 and41.8 volt. Find
1) the mean
2) the standard deviation
3) the probable error one reading
4) the probable error of mean and
5) range.
1) mean
x d d
41.7
 Units
• The standard measure of each kind of quantity.
• The result of a measurement of physical quantity must be
defined both in kind and magnitude.
• Unit is classified as fundamental and derived units.
Fundamental Units:
 Units which are fundamental to other physical quantities.
 Example,
Length-meters,
Mass – Kilograms,
Time –seconds.
• Measure of physical quantities in thermal , electrical ,
illumination fields are called auxiliary fundamental units
• They are used only where this particular disciplines are
involved.

Characteristics of fundamental units:

• They are well defined.
• They are easily reproducible at all places.
• They do not vary with temperature, time, pressure etc. ie.,
Invariable.
 System
Types of system
• FPS(foot, pound, sec)
• CGS(cm, gram, sec)
• MKS(m, kg, sec)
• Rationalized MKSA(m, kg, sec, Amp)

International MKSA system of units was adopted in 1968 by

the 11th general conference of weights and measure under the
name of system international units (SI units)
Dimension
 Standards
• A standard of measurement is defined as the physical
representation of the unit of measurement. A unit of
measurement is generally chosen with reference to an arbitrary
material standard or to a natural phenomenon that includes
physical and atomic constants.
• Standards of measurements can be classified according to their
function and type of application as:
 International standards
 Primary standards
 Secondary standards
 Working standards
International standards:

• International standards are devices designed and constructed to

the specifications of an international forum.
• They represent the units of measurements of various physical
quantities to the highest possible accuracy that is attainable by
the use of advanced techniques of production and measurement
technology.
• These standards are maintained by the International Bureau of
Weights and Measures at Sevres, France.
• These standards are not easily available to an ordinary user of
instruments.
Primary standards:

• Primary standards are devices maintained by standards

organizations / national laboratories in different parts of the
world. These devices represent the fundamental and derived
quantities and are calibrated independently by absolute
measurements. One of the main functions of maintaining
primary standards is to calibrate / check and certify secondary
reference standards.
• Like international standards, these standards also are not easily
available to an ordinary user of instruments for verification /
calibration of working standards.
Secondary standards:
• Secondary standards are basic reference standards employed
by industrial measurement laboratories.
• These are maintained by the concerned laboratory.
• One of the important functions of an industrial laboratory is
the maintenance and periodic calibration of secondary
standards against primary standards of the national standards
laboratory / organization.
• Secondary standards are freely available to the ordinary user of
instruments for checking and calibration of working standards.
Working standards:
• These are high-accuracy devices that are commercially
available and are duly checked and certified against either the
primary or secondary standards.