Chapter three

Objectives

The objectives of this chapter are that, after studying it, the reader should be able to:

3.1 Signal
conditioning The output signal from the sensor of a measurement system has generally
to be processed in some way to make it suitable for the next stage of the
operation. The signal may be, for example, too small and have to be amplified,
contain interference which has to be removed, be non-linear and require
linearisation, be analogue and have to be made digital, be digital and have to
be made analogue, be a resistance change and have to be made into a current
change, be a voltage change and have to be made into a suitable size current
change, etc. All these changes can be referred to as signal conditioning. For
example, the output from a thermocouple is a small voltage, a few millivolts. A
signal conditioning module might then be used to convert this into a suitable
size current signal, provide noise rejection, linearisation and cold junction
compensation (i.e. compensating for the cold junction not being at 0°C).
Chapter 4 continues with a discussion of signal conditioning involving
digital signals.

Some of the processes that can occur in conditioning a signal are outlined below.
1 Protection to prevent damage to the next element, e.g. a microprocessor,
as a result of high current or voltage. Thus there can be series current-
limiting resistors, fuses to break if the current is too high, polarity
protection and voltage limitation circuits (see Section 3.3).
2 Getting the signal into the right type of signal. This can mean making the
signal into a d.c. voltage or current. Thus, for example, the resistance change
70 CHAPTER 3 SIGNAL CONDITIONING

of a strain gauge has to be converted into a voltage change. This can be done
by the use of a Wheatstone bridge and using the out-of-balance voltage (see
Section 3.5). It can mean making the signal digital or analogue (see Section
4.3 for analogue-to-digital and analogue-to-digital converters).
3 Getting the level of the signal right. The signal from a thermocouple
might be just a few millivolts. If the signal is to be fed into an analogue-
to-digital converter for inputting to a microprocessor then it needs to be
made much larger, volts rather than millivolts. Operational amplifiers are
widely used for amplification (see Section 3.2).
4 Eliminating or reducing noise. For example, filters might be used to
eliminate mains noise from a signal (see Section 3.4).
5 Signal manipulation, e.g. making it a linear function of some variable. The
signals from some sensors, e.g. a flowmeter, are non-linear and thus a
signal conditioner might be used so that the signal fed on to the next element
is linear (see Section 3.2.6).
The following sections outline some of the elements that might be used in
signal conditioning.

3.2 The operational

amplifier An amplifier can be considered to be essentially a system which has an input
and an output (Figure 3.1), the voltage gain of the amplifier being the ratio
of the output and input voltages when each is measured relative to the earth.
The input impedance of an amplifier is defined as the input voltage
divided by the input current, the output impedance being the output
voltage divided by the output current.
The basis of many signal conditioning modules is the operational
amplifier. The operational amplifier is a high-gain d.c. amplifier, the gain
typically being of the order of 100 000 or more, that is supplied as an integrated
circuit on a silicon chip. It has two inputs, known as the inverting input (2) and
the non-inverting input (1). The output depends on the connections made
to these inputs. There are other inputs to the operational amplifier, namely
a negative voltage supply, a positive voltage supply and two inputs termed
offset null, these being to enable corrections to be made for the non-ideal
behaviour of the amplifier (see Section 3.2.8). Figure 3.2 shows the pin con-
nections for a 741-type operational amplifier.
An ideal model for an operational amplifier is as an amplifier with an
infinite gain, infinite input impedance and zero output impedance, i.e. the
output voltage is independent of the load.

Offset null 1 8

Inverting input 2 7 V+

Input current Output current

Non-inverting input 3 6 Output

Input Output
Amplifier
voltage voltage
V− 4 5 Offset null

Figure 3.1 Amplifier. Figure 3.2 Pin connections for a 741 operational amplifier.
 3.2 THE OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIER

Figure 3.3 Inverting amplifier. Feedback resistor

R2

I1 R1
X
−

+
Vin Vout

The following indicates the types of circuits that might be used with
operational amplifiers when used as signal conditioners.

Figure 3.3 shows the connections made to the amplifier when used as an
inverting amplifier. The input is taken to the inverting input through
a resistor R1 with the non-inverting input being connected to ground. A
feedback path is provided from the output, via the resistor R2 to the inverting
input. The operational amplifier has a voltage gain of about 100 000 and
the change in output voltage is typically limited to about 610 V. The input
voltage must then be between 10.0001 and 20.0001 V. This is virtually zero
and so point X is at virtually earth potential. For this reason it is called a
virtual earth. The potential difference across R1 is Vin 2 VX . Hence, for
an ideal operational amplifier with an infinite gain, and hence VX 5 0, the
input potential Vin can be considered to be across R1. Thus
Vin 5 I1R1
The operational amplifier has a very high impedance between its input
terminals; for a 741 about 2 MV. Thus virtually no current flows through
X into it. For an ideal operational amplifier the input impedance is taken to
be infinite and so there is no current flow through X. Hence the current I1
through R1 must be the current through R2. The potential difference across
R2 is VX 2 Vout and thus, since VX is zero for the ideal amplifier, the
potential difference across R2 is 2Vout. Thus
2Vout 5 I1R2
Dividing these two equations,
Vout R2
voltage gain of circuit 5 52
Vin R1
Thus the voltage gain of the circuit is determined solely by the relative values
of R2 and R1. The negative sign indicates that the output is inverted, i.e. 180°
out of phase, with respect to the input.
To illustrate the above, consider an inverting operational amplifier circuit
which has a resistance of 1 MV in the inverting input line and a feedback
resistance of 10 MV. What is the voltage gain of the circuit?
Vout R2 10
Voltage gain of circuit 5 5 2 5 2 5 2 10
Vin R1 1
 CHAPTER 3 SIGNAL CONDITIONING

As an example of the use of the inverting amplifier circuit, photodiodes are

widely used sensors (see Section 2.10) and give small currents on exposure to
light. The inverting amplifier circuit can be used with such a sensor to give a
current to voltage converter, the photodiode being reverse bias connected in place
of resistor R1, and so enable the output to be used as input to a microcontroller.

Figure 3.4(a) shows the operational amplifier connected as a non-inverting

amplifier. The output can be considered to be taken from across a potential
divider circuit consisting of R1 in series with R2. The voltage VX is then the
fraction R1 R1 1 R2 of the output voltage, i.e.
R1
VX 5 V
R1 1 R2 out
Since there is virtually no current through the operational amplifier between
the two inputs there can be virtually no potential difference between them.
Thus, with the ideal operational amplifier, we must have VX 5 Vin. Hence
Vout R1 1 R2 R2
voltage gain of circuit 5 5 511
Vin R1 R1
A particular form of this amplifier is when the feedback loop is a short circuit,
i.e. R2 5 0. Then the voltage gain is 1. The input to the circuit is into a large
resistance, the input resistance typically being 2 MV. The output resistance,
i.e. the resistance between the output terminal and the ground line, is, however,
much smaller, e.g. 75 V. Thus the resistance in the circuit that follows is a
relatively small one and is less likely to load that circuit. Such an amplifier is
referred to as a voltage follower; Figure 3.4(b) shows the basic circuit.

Figure 3.4 (a) Non-inverting Feedback resistor

amplifier, (b) voltage follower. R2

I
X −
−
+
+

Vin R1 Vout Vin Vout

(a) (b)

Figure 3.5 shows the circuit of a summing amplifier. As with the inverting
amplifier (Section 3.2.1), X is a virtual earth. Thus the sum of the currents
entering X must equal that leaving it. Hence
I 5 IA 1 IB 1 IC
 3.2 THE OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIER 73

Figure 3.5 Summing amplifier. Feedback resistor

RA IA R2

RB IB
X
−
RC IC
+

Vout

But IA 5 VA RA, IB 5 VB RB and IC 5 VC RC. Also we must have the

same current I passing through the feedback resistor. The potential differ-
ence across R2 is VX 2 Vout . Hence, since VX can be assumed to be zero, it
is 2Vout and so I 5 2Vout R2. Thus
Vout VA VB VC
2 5 1 1
R2 RA RB RC
The output is thus the scaled sum of the inputs, i.e.
R2 R2 R2
Vout 5 2 VA 1 VB 1 V
RA RB RC C
If RA 5 RB 5 RC 5 R1 then
R2
Vout 5 2 V 1 VB 1 VC
R1 A
To illustrate the above, consider the design of a circuit that can be used
C to produce an output voltage which is the average of the input voltages
from three sensors. Assuming that an inverted output is acceptable, a
R circuit of the form shown in Figure 3.5 can be used. Each of the three
X
− inputs must be scaled to 1 3 to give an output of the average. Thus a
+ voltage gain of the circuit of 1 3 for each of the input signals is required.
Vin Vout Hence, if the feedback resistance is 4 kV the resistors in each input arm
will be 12 kV.

(a)

Consider an inverting operational amplifier circuit with the feedback being

Iin Rin C
X via a capacitor, as illustrated in Figure 3.6(a).
−
The current is the rate of movement of charge q and since for a capacitor
+
the charge q 5 Cv, where v is the voltage across it, then the current through
Vin Vout
the capacitor i 5 dq dt 5 C dv dt. The potential difference across C
is v X 2 v out and since v X is effectively zero, being the virtual earth, it
(b) is 2v out. Thus the current through the capacitor is 2C dv out dt. But this is
also the current through the input resistance R. Hence
Figure 3.6 (a) Integrating
amplifier, (b) differentiator v in dv out
amplifier. 5 2C
R dt