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Fig. 2. Block diagram of the linearizing digitizer for single resistive sensor R x , connected in a Wheatstone bridge.
half-bridge and full-bridge sensors [14]–[16]. A linear a linear digital output directly proportional to the quantity
resistance to frequency converter, based on a relaxation oscilla- being sensed, for the full range of the measurand. In the new
tor has been developed and reported for single element in [17]. scheme presented the Wheatstone bridge is driven by a con-
A similar, but low power converter reported in [18] does not stant current and the inputs to the integrator of the dual-slope
take care of the inherent non-linearity of the bridge. Most of arrangement during the integration and de-integration of the
the present day instrumentation systems are of digital type conversion process are wisely selected by suitable switching
and hence it would be advantageous to obtain a linear direct arrangements in such a way that the final output obtained is
digital output from the resistive sensor element(s) connected linearly proportional to the measurand. The method possesses
in the bridge form. Some of the methods proposed earlier for all the advantages of the dual slope conversion technique
quarter-bridge configurations use an internal comparator and such as accuracy, resolution and immunity to power frequency
counter of a microcontroller and requires three charging and interference. Apart from these desirable characteristics, the
discharging periods [19], [20]. A direct digital converter has proposed scheme also provides the advantage of a bridge
been presented in [21], but it is suitable only for resistive based measurement, namely, the output can be temperature
sensors connected in full-bridge configuration. A linearizing compensated. Additionally the output of the proposed digitizer
digitizer has been reported in [22], for obtaining a linear digital is insensitive to lead wire resistances that connect the bridge
output from two sensing elements that follow a polynomial and the digitizer.
characteristic. The output of the sensors needs to be push-pull
in nature to apply the scheme in [22]. This approach [22] is II. T HE P ROPOSED L INEARIZING D IGITIZER
not useful in the case of quarter-bridge as these criteria are The block schematic shown in Fig. 2 represents the
not satisfied. proposed linearizing digitizer suitable for Wheatstone bridge
In applications such as measurement of temperature, the with single resistive sensor. The sensor Rx is connected
sensor may be located far from the measurement unit and the between the nodes s and q of the Wheatstone bridge. The
lead resistance of the wires will introduce appreciable errors in resistance values of R1, R2 and R3 in the other three arms
the measurement [3]. The associated error will be large when of the bridge are selected to be equal to R0 . If temperature
long lead wires are used especially with low valued resistive compensation is required, then resistors R1, R2 and R3 must
sensors such as RTD-Pt100. Some of the existing three wire have the same temperature coefficient of Rx and mounted
and four wire connection methods allow compensation for the such that they are exposed to the same temperature as Rx .
lead resistances, but require additional leads and are effective In the proposed linearizing digitizer, the bridge is introduced
only when the additional supply and return leads have equal in the feedback path of opamp OA1 by connecting node p of
resistance values [23]. Lead wire compensation methods pre- the bridge to the inverting input terminal and node q to the
sented earlier require additional diodes connected in parallel output terminal of OA1 . Since the inverting input terminal of
to the sensor and hence the overall accuracy achievable is OA1 is at virtual ground, the voltage Vp at node p will be
limited [24], [25]. Moreover, these methods provide only an at ground potential. The current I flowing through the bridge
analog output voltage. To interface such a sensor to a digital will be I = V R /Rin , where VR is a dc reference voltage. I ,
instrumentation unit, an analog to digital converter is essential. splits into branch currents i 1 and i 2 as indicated in Fig. 2.
We now propose a new, simple, dual-slope technique based As shown in Fig. 2, the linearizing digitizer consists of an
linearizing digitizer that accepts resistive sensor element(s) integrator formed by the opamp OA2 , resistor R I and capaci-
connected in a quarter-bridge or half-bridge form and provides tor C I , a comparator OC and a Control and Logic Unit (CLU).
1698 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 17, NO. 6, MARCH 15, 2017
The conversion phase consists of a preset integration into capacitor C I . The capacitor C I gets charged and hence
period T1 followed by a measured de-integration period T2 . the output v oi of the integrator will rise as shown in Fig. 3.
NAGARAJAN et al.: LINEARIZING DIGITIZER FOR WHEATSTONE BRIDGE BASED SIGNAL CONDITIONING OF RESISTIVE SENSORS 1699
The output v oi of the integrator at the end of the preset The flowchart shown in Fig. 4, illustrates the conversion logic
integration time T1 will be: of the proposed linearizing digitizer. It is easily seen that at the
1 I R0 kx end of a conversion, the output of the integrator is zero and
v oi |T1 = G T1 (9) hence the next conversion can be initiated without invoking
R I C I (4 + kx)
the ‘auto-zero phase’. Thus when continuous conversion is
At the end of T1 , the CLU resets the timer. If kx is positive, performed, the auto-zero phase is invoked only once at the
v oi will be positive at the end of the first period of integration start.
and the output of the comparator v c will be ‘high’. Sensing v c
to be ‘high’, the CLU sets all the switches in position ‘1’ and C. Half-Bridge With Two Sensing Elements
starts the timer, for measuring the de-integration period T2 . Another widely used bridge configuration that possesses
For this condition the output v o of INA will be: significant non-linearity is the half-bridge with both sensors
2I R0 having same polarity (i. e., not differential). This is clearly
vo = G v p − vs = G . (10)
(4 + kx) seen from (1). In the converter shown in Fig. 2, by keeping
2I R0 the existing sensor, if R2 is replaced by another sensor element
A current i c = −G (4+kx)R I
will flow into the capacitor CI and Rx = R0 (1 ± kx) as shown in Fig. 1(b) and other resistors
gradually discharge it. The integrator output will ramp-down are set as R1 = R3 = R0 , it gives a half-bridge as mentioned
and reach zero after a time period T2 as shown in Fig. 3. above. Now, if the converter presented is operated as explained
Once the integrator output reaches zero, the output v c of the earlier, it will provide a linear digital output proportional to
comparator will flip from ‘high’ to ‘low’ signalling the end of the measurand x, directly. Unlike the quarter-bridge, in this
the second ‘de-integration’. The CLU stops the timer and takes half-bridge configuration, the currents i 1 = i 2 = I /2. The
the timer value as T2 and sends it as the final digital output. switches S1 , S2 and S3 are kept in the same positions during
Since the charge acquired during T1 is discharged during T2 integration and de-integration periods as mentioned in the
we have: single active sensor case. The equations (6), (7) and (8) get
1 I R0 kx 1 2I R0 modified as i 1 = i 2 = I /2 and the integrator output voltage v oi
G T1 = G T2 . (11)
R I C I (4 + kx) R I C I (4 + kx) at the end of T1 can be as expressed as in (15). The change
in integrator voltage during T2 follows (16).
Rearranging (11), we get:
1 I R0 kx
kT1 v oi |T1 = G T1 (15)
T2 = x. (12) RI C I 2
2 1 I R0
Generally T1 is set in terms of N1 cycles of the clock given v oi |T2 = G T2 (16)
RI C I 2
to the counter with a period Tc as N1 Tc and the de-integration
By applying the charge balancing, as in the case of the
period is measured as N2 Tc . In such a case, (12) gets modified
quarter-bridge, the new duration T2 and the corresponding
as
count N2 for the half-bridge configuration can be obtained as
k N1 Tc in (17) and (18), respectively.
N2 Tc = x. (13)
2
T2 = kx T1 (17)
Resulting in:
N2 = kx N1 (18)
k N1
N2 = x. (14) On comparing equations (14) and (18) with (1), it is clear
2
that the output obtained is linearly varying with respect to the
If we make kN1 /2 a constant, then the count N2 will directly input/measurand. Also, as expected it has double the sensitivity
indicate x. compared to the single element scheme. The operation of the
If x is negative, then v oi will be negative at the end of the DSADC is explained assuming that all the components used
first period of integration and the output of the comparator v c are ideal. However, in a practical implementation, errors will
will be ‘low’. Sensing v c to be ‘low’, the CLU sets all the three be introduced in the output due to the nonideal characteristics
switches to position ‘0’, during the de-integration. For this of practical circuit components. Various sources of errors and
condition, the output v o of INA will be v o = G v s − v p = their effect in the final output that may arise due to the non-
2I R0 2I R0
−G (4+kx) and a current i c = G (4+kx)R I
will flow into ideal charatceristics of practical components are discussed
the capacitor CI and gradually discharge it. The integrator next.
output will now ramp-up and reach zero. Once the integrator
output reaches zero, the output v c of the comparator will flip III. S OURCES OF E RRORS AND T HEIR E FFECTS
from ‘low’ to ‘high’, once again signalling the end of the This section lists and analyses the parameters of the
‘de-integration’. Equations (11) to (14) are still valid and the measurement circuit and the bridge that would affect the per-
count N2 will indicate
the input x with a constant of propor- formance of the linearizing digitizer. The parameters include:
tionality k N1 2 . The polarity of x is easily determined from offset voltages and bias currents of the opamps, INA and
the state of v c at the end of the first integration period T1 . comparator, ON resistance of the switches, delay of the
If v c is ‘high’ at the end of T1 then x is positive and if comparator and switches, uncertainty in reference voltage and
v c is ‘low’ at the end of T1 then polarity of x is negative. mismatch in the values of the resistors in the bridge.
1700 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 17, NO. 6, MARCH 15, 2017
A. Effect of the Offset Voltages of Opamps, for I B2− , respectively, the resulting worst-case full-scale error
INA and Comparator calculated is 0.6 %.
⎡ ⎤
Let us consider that VO S1, VO S A , VO S2 are the input offset kx 1 + 3 IG B2− R I
+ I B A+
N1 ⎢ ⎥
I Ro 2I
⎢ k 2 x 2 I B A−
voltages of OA1 , INA and OA2 , respectively. In the presence of
⎥
VOS1 , the current I flowing into N2 ≈ ⎢+ 2 + I B2− R I
⎥ (23)
the bridge will get modified 2 ⎣ I G I Ro ⎦
from V R Rin to (V R ± VO S1 ) Rin . Since I is present in both I B2− R I
+4 G I Ro
sides of (11), the effect will get cancelled, as long as VO S1
does not change within a conversion cycle. The input offset
voltage VO S A of the INA affects its output v o . Hence v o during C. Effect Due to the on Resistance of the Switches
T1 and T2 will get modified as in (19) and (20), in order.
While deriving (11) it was assumed that the switches are
v o = G (Vr − Vs ± VO S A ) (19) ideal. However, these switches will possess finite ON and
leakage resistances. Since these switches feed into the input
v o = G V p − Vs ± VO S A (20)
terminals of an instrumentation amplifier the effect of these
Due to this change in v o and presence of VO S2, the integra- parameters on the output will be negligible.
tor output v oi during integration and de-integration will get
changed, which will modify the ideal output count N2 from
D. Effect of the Switch and Comparator Delays
N2 = (N1 /2) kx to as stated in (21).
While deriving (11) we assumed that the comparator flips
∼ N1 VO S2 − GVO S A k2x 2
N2 = kx + 4 + 3kx + instantaneously when its input reaches zero and the switches
2 G I Ro 2 will also instantaneously change its state as soon as its
(21) control (v S1 or v S2 or v S3 ) flips. However, a practical com-
parator and a switch will have ‘propagation delay’ in changing
Thus the input offset voltage of INA and offset voltage of
OA2 introduces an offset and a gain error in the output the states. By properly selecting the comparator and the
switches, these delays can be made insignificant compared to
count. This error also has a non-linear term. When VO SA and
period Tc of the clock. For example, the comparator used in the
VO S2 are considered as 25 μV and 150 μV (typical values
of offset voltages of INA IC AD 624 and OP07), along with prototype has a delay time of 200 ns, similarly, the switch has
a delay of about 190 ns, negligible compared to the period Tc
G = 3, I = 2.5 mA and R0 = 100 , a worst-case full-scale
error of 0.05 % results in the calculated output. This can be of the clock which is 4 μs.
further reduced by increasing G or I . When an input offset
voltage VOSC is present in the comparator, the comparator E. Effect of Varitaion in DC Reference Voltage
will change its state when v oi crosses VOSC , instead of zero
voltage. This will not introduce any error in the measured The proposed linearizing digitizer uses a dc reference
time period T2 as all the zero crossing detections will occur at voltage VR to generate the current, I = V R Rin . This current
VOSC instead of zero, either in the auto-zero phase or in the flows through the bridge, during T1 and T2 . As can be seen
conversion phase. in (11), the current I appears on both sides of the equal sign
and hence gets cancelled. This is valid as long as VR is stable
during one conversion cycle (T1 + T2 ). The worst case error
B. Effect of the Bias Current of Opamps and INA occurs when the reference voltage is V R ± V R during T1 and
Let I B1+ , I BA+ and I B2+ , be the input bias currents of the V R ∓ V R during T2 . Then the current I changes to I ± I
non-inverting inputs and I B1− , I B A− and I B2− be the input during T1 and I ∓I during T2 . With this, (11) becomes (24).
bias currents of the inverting inputs of the OA1 , INA and OA2 (I ± I ) R0 Gkx 2 (I ∓ I ) R0 G
respectively. I B1− will slightly modify the current I , but similar T1 = T2 . (24)
(4 + kx) R I C I (4 + kx) R I C I
to VO S1, I B1− will not affect the output of the linearizing
digitizer. Due to the presence of bias currents I BA+ and I B A− , Rearranging (24), we get T2 = II ±I
∓I 2 T1 . and hence:
kx
the output v o of INA will not be affected during T1 if
I B A+ = I B A− . During T2 , due to the bias currents I B A+
kx 2V R
and I B A− , the voltage v o gets modified as in (22). N2 = N1 1 ± . (25)
2 VR
G R0
Fig. 6. (a) Experimental results obtained from the emulation study. (b) Error
characteristic obtained from the emulation study, for the conventional and
proposed schemes.
TABLE I
A C OMPARISON S TUDY
Sparkfun Electronics, having a range of 0 mm to 150 mm and 0 to 1 in steps of 0.1. The equivalent variation in sensor
a resolution of 0.01 mm was employed. The sliding contact of resistance was 0 to 1000 in steps of 100 . For each
the potentiometer was firmly attached to the depth measuring position of the sliding contact, the output count provided by
blade of the Vernier caliper. Thus, by adjusting the thumb the digitizer was noted. The results obtained are plotted as a
screw of the caliper, the sliding contact of the potentiometer function of kx as shown in Fig. 9a. Here too, linear regression
can be set for different values of displacement. A photograph analysis was applied to the data and the best-fit line was
of the prototype digitizer integrated with the displacement obtained and plotted in Fig. 9a. Once again the nonlinearity
sensor described above is shown in Fig. 8. The nominal value error was computed from the deviations of the measured
of the sensor R0 is selected as 1 k. Hence R1, R2 and R3 data from the best fit line and plotted in Fig. 9b. The worst
are also selected as 1 k resistances. In the sensor arm of the case nonlinearity error of measuring the displacement of the
bridge, a series combination of a 1 k potentiometer and a potentiometer sliding contact is found to be 0.09 %. It is seen
fixed 1 k resistor is used. The series combination realizes that the error obtained with a practical displacement sensor
a sensor whose resistance is Rx = 1000 (1 + kx) , with kx is lower than that obtained for an emulated sensor shown
varying from 0 to 1 as the potentiometer resistance varies from in Fig. 6b. The reason is while the nominal value of the
0 to 1000 . sensor resistance was selected as 100 in emulation study,
Since the potentiometer had a full scale travel of 44 mm, here the nominal value of the sensor resistance is 1000 ,
using the vernier calliper, the sliding contact of the poten- an order of magnitude higher. As can be seen in the error
tiometer was moved in steps of 4.4 mm from 0 mm to analysis [vide equations (17) and (19)], the error is inversely
44 mm. This movement corresponds to a kx variation from proportional to R0 . Thus increasing R0 for the displacement
1704 IEEE SENSORS JOURNAL, VOL. 17, NO. 6, MARCH 15, 2017
sensors to 10 times that of the sensor used for the emulation of blocks required is much lower compared to the conventional
study resulted in reduced errors. The test results show that method involving individual units for signal conditioning,
the non-linearity in the output of the conventional Wheatstone digitization and linearization in a sequence. These features
bridge is automatically reduced by a significant amount (more make the linearizing digitizer as one of the best interfacing
than a factor of 50 for the prototype) by using the proposed scheme for remotely located sensors such as RTDs. The update
linearizing digitizer. rate for the prototype linearizing digitizer developed is about
There are plenty of resistive sensors available in the market 3 conversions per second, for a system clock frequency of
that undergoes wide change in their value of resistance as a 250 kHz and the effective number of bits obtained from the
function of the measurand. Some examples are (a) Resistance digitizer is 14.9.
Temperature Detector (RTD) whose resistance change from
18.5 to 390.5 for a temperature change of −200 °C VII. C ONCLUSION
to + 850 °C [28]. (b) Typical GMR sensors have 10 % to Even though the bridge-based signal conditioning of resis-
20 % change in their sensing resistance depending on the tive sensors is in use for several decades, there exists no
value of the magnetic field being sensed [29]. (c) Potentiome- simple and effective linearization scheme that can provide a
ter type displacement sensor, Novotechnik TR100 is another digital output, directly, from a bridge configuration that has
example [30]. (d) Some of the resistance based air quality a non-linear output characteristic. A linearizing direct digital
sensors have one or more decades of change in resistance as converter suitable for resistive sensors, when connected in a
a function of the measurand [31], [32]. For such sensors, the quarter-bridge or half-bridge configuration is proposed in this
quarter-bridge is not recommended as its output is linear only paper. As the title indicates, the scheme presented here not
for very small change in the resistance value (kx << 1). The only digitizes the measurand, but also linearize the output of
proposed digitizer is an ideal choice as it can be interfaced with the Wheatstone bridge which otherwise possesses a significant
a quarter-bridge and a linear digital output can be obtained inherent nonlinearity. The output of the digitizer is independent
even for a wide range of change in the resistance of the sensor. of the bridge lead resistance, thus, it is well suited for resistive
sensors that are remotely located from the converter. As the
VI. D ISCUSSION analog-to-digital conversion employed is based on dual-slope
The performance of the proposed linearizing digitizer is technique, the proposed scheme will have all the advantages
compared on various parameters like % non- linearity error, and limitations of a dual-slope ADC. A prototype of the
range of resistance variation, effect of lead resistance, cir- proposed system has been built and tested. All the possible
cuit complexity, type of the output, etc. with other reported sources of errors have been identified and the resulting error
works attempting to provide linear output from single element from each source has been analysed and quantified. The results
sensors connected in non-linear bridge configurations. The from the error analysis, simulation and experimental studies
details are given in Table I. In most of the methods reported established practicality of the scheme.
either analog or quasi-digital outputs are obtained, which
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[28] RTD. Pt-100 Datasheet, accessed on Jan. 25, 2017. [Online]. Available: Madras, in 1980 and 1986, respectively. He was
http://www.micropik.com/PDF/pt100.pdf with the King’s College London in 1988, the Asian
[29] GMR. Sensors, accessed on Jan. 25, 2017. [Online]. Available: Institute of Technology, Bangkok, in 1996, the Uni-
http://www.gmrsensors.com/gmr-operation.htm versity of Braunschweig in 1998, and the University
[30] Novotechnik. TR100 Datasheet, accessed on Jan. 25, 2017. [Online]. of Aachen in 1999, 2007, 2011, and 2013. He is
Available: http://www.novotechnik.com/pdfs/TRTRS.pdf currently a Professor of Electrical Engineering with
[31] FIGARO. TGS2600 Datasheet, accessed on Jan. 25, 2017. [Online]. IIT Madras, where he heads the Central Electronics Center and serves as the
Available: http://www.figarosensor.com/products/2600pdf.pdf Dean Academic. He has guided seven Ph.D. scholars and 11 M.S. (Research)
[32] A. D. Marcellis, G. Ferri, and P. Mantenuto, “Analog Wheatstone bridge- scholars and has published over 50 journal articles (mostly in IEEE Journals)
based automatic interface for grounded and floating wide-range resistive and presented over 90 papers at International Conferences. He holds six
sensors,” Sens. Actuators B, Chem., vol. 187, pp. 371–378, Oct. 2013. patents. His areas of interests are measurements, instrumentation, biomedical
[33] F. O. Silva, L. H. C. Ferreira, L. B. Zoccal, and F. H. D. Guaracy, engineering, and signal processing. He received the Young Scientist Award
“An alternative linear topology for conditioning resistive sensors,” in from the Department of Science and Technology in 1988 and the DAAD
Proc. IEEE INDIN, Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jul. 2014, pp. 320–325. Fellowship Award in 1997.