Lecture 4

EE305 Instrumentation and Measurement

Teaching Assistant Šejla Džakmić
Chapter 7 (7.1 – 7.2)
Variable conversion element
 Sensor gives an output that is a function
of the measurand (ex. Liquid mercury,
thermocouple, strain gauge...)
 Needed when the output variable of
primary sensor is in inconvenient form
and has to be converted into more
convenient form (form of voltage) .
 Ex. Translational displacement, change in
R, L, C, or I
 Displacement- measuring strain gauge has
an output in form of varying resistance
 Cannot be easily measured, so converted
into change in voltage by a bridge circuit
 Sometimes in form of variations in phase
or frequency of ac signal
Resistance measurement

 Devices that convert measured

quantity into a change in resistance
include resistance thermometer, the
thermistor, wire-coil pressure gauge
and strain gauge.
 Resistance is the opposition to the
passage of an el. current through
that element.
 The unit of resistance is Ohm (Ω)
 Four-band coding system
Resistance measurement
 Potentiometer - 3 terminal variable resistor in
which the resistance is manually varied to
control the flow of electric current.
 A potentiometer acts as an adjustable voltage
divider.
Resistance measurement
 Measurement by digital voltmeter or Ohmmeter
 Measure resistances up to 50MΩ
 Measurement inaccuracy if ±2%
 Battery applies a known voltage across unknown
resistance and known resistance in series (See
figure)
 Unknown resistance 𝑅𝑢 is calculated by

 Voltmeter-ammeter method
 Measuring dc voltage across the unknown
resistance and measuring the current flowing
 Method a) is best for small R and b) for large R
 Resistance is then calculated by Ohm‘s law
Measuring the voltage and current

 Place voltmeter always in parallel  Place ammeter always in series

to the element we measure the with the element we measure the
voltage across current through
Signal conditioning
 As mentioned before, sensor output does not take the form of an electrical
voltage in many cases.
 We therefore need to have a means of converting sensor outputs that are
initially in some non-voltage form into a more convenient form.
 This can be achieved by putting various types of variable conversion
elements into the measurement system.
 A group of circuits that play an important role in this matter are the bridge
circuits
 After converting the measured variable to a voltage signal, in many cases
this voltage signal is either very small, or noisy or has an off-set … or needs
to be shifted to certain standard range.
 All these actions and more are done within what is called Signal
conditioning stage.
 Signal conditioning
 Signal conditioning, with respect to process
monitoring and control engineering
applications, is the practice of preparing a
raw input signal for use with
instrumentation in a data acquisition and/or
control system.
 Typically involves one or more of the
following steps:
 Isolating
 Filtering

 Sometimes a signal conditioner can  Amplifying

perform computation functions such as  converting a sensor input signal to a
totalization, integration, pulse-width proportional output signal that is transmitted
modulation, linearization, and other math to another control device or system.
operations on a signal.
Variable conversion element
DC Bridge circuit
 Most commonly used metod for
measuring medium resistance
values
 Commonly used as a variable
conversion element
 Best measurement accuracy by
null-type Wheatstone bridge
 Inaccuracy less than ±0.02%
 Mainly employed for calibration
purposes
 Deflection type bridges are used
within closed loop automatic
control schemes
Variable conversion element
DC Bridge circuit
 One of the most common applications
is in strain measurement, where the
mechanical strain of an object is
converted into an electrical signal.
 The sensor = strain gauge: a folded
wire designed to stretch and compress
with the object under test, altering its
electrical resistance accordingly.
 Strain gauges are typically quite small,
as shown
 Strain gauges are useful when bonded
to metal specimens, providing a means
of electrically sensing the strain
(“stretching” or “compressing” of that
specimen).
 The following bridge circuit is a typical
application for a strain gauge:
Wheatstone bridge (Null type)
 The circuit known as a Wheatstone bridge is
most commonly used to determine the
value of an unknown resistance to an
electrical current.
 In a typical Wheatstone bridge, four arms
consist of two known resistances, one
variable resistor (potentiometer) and
unknown resistor
 DC voltage is applied across the points AC
and resistance Rv is varied until the voltage
measured across points BD is zero
 This condition is known as null or balanced
condition
Wheatstone bridge

Example...
Deflection type dc bridge

 Variable resistance Rv is replaced

by a fixed resistance R1
 R1 has the same value as nominal
value of unknown Ru
 As the resistance Ru changes, Vo
varies, so their relationship has to
be calculated
 If high impedance voltmeter is
used, then 𝐼𝑚~0
 Then, analysis is the same as for
the Wheatstone bridge, just Rv is
replaced by R1.

Example...
Case when current drawn by measuring
isntrument is not negligible
 Not always possible to meet
condition of having impedance of
instrument mesuring Vout
sufficiently large so the current is
negligible
 Alternative relationship between
bridge in and out must be derived
 Thevenin theorem
Error analysis
 Max measurement error
 Firstly determine the value of Ru
with each parameter in the equation
that limit of its tolerance which
produces max value of Ru
 Then, similarly calculate minimum
possible value of Ru
 Example...
 Apex balancing
 Placing additional variable resistor
 For calibration urposes, Ru=Rv
(accurately known resistances)
 R5 is varied until Vo is zero

 Example...