30-Sep-21

Introduction

Signal Conditioning Circuits
• Sensing Element: coverts the non-electrical and electrical
signals ( Temp, Pressure etc) into electrical signal (voltage,
current, resistance, capacitance etc)
• Signal Conditioning Element: Converts the variation of
electrical signal into voltage level suitable for further processing
• Signal Processing Element: converts the output of prev stage
into a form more suitable for presentation and other use ( display,
recording), ADC, linearization ccts

Some Signal Conditioning Circuits Necessity!

• Wheatstone Bridges • The success of the design of any measurement system
depends heavily on the design and performance of the
signal conditioning circuits.
• DC • Even a costly and accurate transducer may fail to deliver
good performance if the signal conditioning circuit is not
• AC designed properly.
• The schematic arrangement and the selection of the
• Amplifiers passive and active elements in the circuit heavily influence
the overall performance of the system. Often these are
decided by the electrical output characteristics of the
• Filters sensing element.
• Nowadays, many commercial sensors often have in-built
signal conditioning circuit. This arrangement can overcome
the problem of incompatibility between the sensing
element and the signal conditioning circuit.

Unbalanced DC Bridge 2= +∆
Output: unbalanced bridge
• Unbalanced bridge has • eₒ vs X characteristics is
wider applications in • Type equation here. non-linear
• Max sensitivity of bridge
instrumentation can be achieved for the
• The output voltage is arm ratio p=1 ≪2

eₒ, which varies with • Nonlinearity of the bridge

the change of the decreases with increase in
resistance (x = ΔR/R) the arm ratio p, but the
sensitivity is also reduced.
• The arm ratio of the • For unity arm ratio (p=1)
bridge is p and E is the and for small x, an
excitation voltage. approximate linear
relationship can be derived
= 2− 1
eₒ=x/4 * E

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Push-Pull Configuration AC Bridge: PP Config

• The characteristics of an unbalanced wheatstone bridge with
single resistive element as one of the arms can greatly be • AC bridge with
improved with a push-pull arrangement of the bridge, inductive sensors with
comprising of two identical resistive elements in two adjacent push-pull config.
arms: while the resistance of one sensor decreasing, the • AC excitation
resistance of the other sensor is increasing by the same amount
• The output voltage is
eₒ, which varies with
the change of the
Inductance (x = ΔL/L)
• The arm ratio of the
bridge is p and E is the
excitation voltage.

Loading Error : Sensor Loading

1 in

0in −
% = × 100 = 2.4%

AMPLIFIERS

Inverting Amplifier Non-Inverting Amplifier

• Input impedance is • Input impedance is
finite and approx. ≈ R₁ Iin 0V
infinite
• Can load the sensor • Will perform better and
• Output inverted not load the sensor
10v

eₒ / e₁ = - R₂ / R₁ eₒ / e₁ = 1 + R₂ / R₁
-No input current as input resistance infinity
-Input terminals are virtually short circuited

Iin=10V/R1

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Differential Amplifier Performance of an Amplifier

• Input impedance is finite
• Contribution of each input
• It will load the sensor
• The performance of an operational amplifier is
judged by the gain- bandwidth product, which is
fixed by the manufacturer’s specification.
• In the open loop, the gain is very high (around
105) but the bandwidth is very low.
• In the closed loop operation, the gain is low, but
the achievable bandwidth is high.
• Normally, the gain of a single stage operational
amplifier circuit is kept limited around 10, thus
large bandwidth is achievable. For larger gains,
= several stages of amplifiers are connected in
cascade. × =

Performance of an Amplifier Instrumentation Amplifier

• Offset & drift CMRR = Ad / Ac , not in dBs The major properties are
• Input impedance (i) high differential gain
(adjustable up to 1000)
• Gain & Bandwidth Product (ii) infinite Zi
(iii) large CMRR (>80 dB)
• Common Mode Rejection Ratio (CMRR) (iv) moderate bandwidth.
– Vo = Ad VD + Ac VC
– CMRR = 20 Log₁₀ Ad / Ac (in dB) where, Ad is the • it is apparent that, no current will be drown by the input stage
differential mode gain and Ac is the common mode of the op amps ( Second property, Zi ~ infinite )
gain of the amplifier. • Looking at the input stage, the same current I will flow
through the resistances R1 and R2.
• CMRR is a very important parameter for instrumentation
circuit applications and it is desirable to use amplifiers of
high CMRR when connected to instrumentation circuits.

Vo=AdVd+AcVc CMRR=20log Ad/Ac

60db CMRR
Example
The unbalanced voltage of a resistance bridge is to be amplified , Ad=200 CMRR=20log Ad/Ac
200 times using a differential amplifier. The configuration is Error=? 60=20log 200/Ac
shown in figure below, with R= 1000Ω and x = 2 x 10-3. Two Vo=?
% error=? Log200/Ac=3
amplifiers are available: one with Ad =200 and CMRR= 80 dB and 200/Ac=10
the other with Ad =200 and CMRR= 60dB. Find the values of Vo 80db CMRR
Ac=0.2
for both the cases and compute errors. Vo=AdVd+AcVc Vo=200*5mV+0.2*5
Sol
Vo=200*5mV+0.02*5 Vo=1+1=2 V
Ac=? Vd=?
Vo=1+0.1=1.1 V Error=2-1=1v
Vc=5V
%Error=1/1*100=100%
Vd=x/4*E=2m/4*10=5mV Error=1.1-1=0.1
CMRR=20log Ad/Ac % error=error/ideal voltage*100=0.1/1*100=10%
80=20log 200/Ac
Log200/Ac=4
200/Ac=10
Ac=0.02

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In the second case, CMRR is 60 dB, all other values remaining same.
For this case,