ELECTRONIC

INSTRUMENTATION
DMT 352/3

Introduction to
Instrumentation
Contents
 Function and Characteristics of Instruments
 Electrical Units
 Error in Measurement
 Statistical Analysis of Error in Measurement
 Limiting Errors
 Elements of Electronic Instruments
[1/6]
Function and
Characteristics of
Instruments
Function of Instrument

 Instrumentation is an application of
instrument that is used for physical quantity
measurement and control.

 Electronic Instrumentation – the use of

electronic instrument.
 Characteristics of Instruments

 Two basic characteristic

Static
Dynamic

 Static characteristic of an instrument are, in general,

considered for instruments which are used to measure an
unvarying process condition.
 Dynamic characteristic are concerned with the measurement
of the quantities that varies with time.
Characteristics of Instruments
 Several term of static characteristic that have discussed:

o Instrument - A device or mechanism used to determine

the present value of the quantity under measurement.

o Measurement - The process of determining the amount,

degree, or capacity by comparison (direct or indirect) with
the accepted standards of the system units being used.

o Accuracy - The degree of exactness (closeness) of a

measurement compared to the expected (desired)
value.
 Characteristics of Instruments

o Resolution - The smallest change in a measured variable to

which an instrument will respond.

o Precision - A measure of the consistency or repeatability of

measurements, i.e. successive reading do not differ or the
consistency of the instrument output for a given value of
input.
Xn  Xn
P  1
Xn

Xn = value of the nth measurement

X n = average set of measurement
Characteristics of Instruments

o Expected value - The design value, i.e. the most

probable value that calculations indicate one should expect
to measure.

o Error - The deviation of the true value from the desired

value.

o Sensitivity - The ratio of the change in output (response)

of the instrument to a change of input or measured
variable.
output
S
input
[2/6]
Electrical
Units
 Electrical Units

 The International System of Units (SI)

Quantity Unit Abbreviation

Length meter m
Mass kilogram kg
Time second s
Current ampere A
Temperature Kelvin K
Voltage volt V
Resistance ohm Ω
Capacitance farad F
Inductance henry H
Quantity Unit Abbreviation
Energy joule J
Power watt W
Frequency hertz Hz
Charge coulomb C
Force newton N
Magnetic flux weber Wb
Magnetic flux density weber/meter2 Wb/m2

Table 1.1: SI Electrical Units

[3/6]
Error in
Measurement
Error in Measurement

 Error is defined as the difference between the

true value (expected value) of the measurand
and the measured value indicated by the
instrument.

 Error may be expressed either as absolute

error or as a percentage of error.

 Absolute errors are defined as the

difference between the expected value of the
variable and the measured value of variable.
 Error in Measurement

Absolute error, e  Yn  X n

where Yn = expected value

X n = measured value

Absolute error
Percentage error, % Error  100 %
Expected value
e
  100 %
Yn
 Error in Measurement

Yn  X n
OR Percentage error, % Error   100 %
Yn

Yn  X n
Relative accuracy, A  1
Yn

Percentage accuracy, a  100 %  percentage error

a  A 100 %
 Error in Measurement
Types of Error
 Gross error - The error due to human mistakes in using
instruments and are due to such things as incorrect reading
of instrument, incorrect recording of experimental data or
incorrect use of instruments.

 Systematic error - The error due to problem with

instruments, environment effects, or observational errors.
Instrument Errors - due to mechanical structure problem.
E.g: friction in the bearings of the meter movement, stretching of the
spring, incorrect spring tension, improper calibration, or faulty
instrument.
 Error in Measurement

Environmental errors - due to conditions external to

the measuring device, including subjecting instruments
to harsh environments, such as the effects of change in
temperature, humidity, pressure, or strong
electrostatic or electromagnetic fields.

Observational Errors - Those errors that introduced by

observer. Two most common observational errors are
probably the parallax error introduced in reading a
meter scale and error of estimation when obtaining a
reading from a meter scale.
 Error in Measurement

 Random error - Occur when different results in

magnitude or sign obtained on repeated measurement
of one or the same quantity.

The effect can be minimised by taking the

measurement many times.

This error can be analyzed statistically.

[4/6]
Statistical Analysis
of Error
In Measurement
 Statistical Analysis of Error in
Measurement
 How to analyze an error?
- use statistic method

 Arithmetic mean - the sum of a set of numbers

divided by the total number of pieces of data.
n

x1  x2  x3  ...  xn x n
x  n 1
n n

where xn = nth reading taken

n = total number of reading
Statistical Analysis of Error in
Measurement
 Deviation from the mean - the difference each piece of
test data and the arithmetic mean.

The deviation from the mean can be expressed as

d1  x1  x, d2  x2  x ...

similarly
d n  xn  x

Note: the deviation may be +ve or –ve. The algebraic

sum of all the deviations must be zero.
 Statistical Analysis of Error in
Measurement
 Average deviation - the sum of the absolute values of
the deviation divided by the number of readings.
d1  d 2  d3  ...  d n
Dav 
n
n

d n
similarly Dav  n 1
n
where dn = Absolute value of nth deviation
n = total number of reading

Note: Dav indicate the precision of the instrument used in

measurement
 Statistical Analysis of Error in
Measurement
 Standard deviation - the square root of the sum of all the
individual deviations squared, divided by the number of readings.

d12  d 22  d32  ... d n2


n
*** for small readings (n<30), the denominator is (n-1)

Note: reduction in this quantity effectively means improvement

in measurement.
[5/6]
Limiting
Errors
 Limiting Error

 Most manufacturers of measuring instrument state

that an instrument is accurate within a certain
percentage of a full-scale reading.

 For example, the manufacturer of a certain voltmeter

may specify the instrument to be accurate within ± 2%
with full-scale deflection.
[6/6]
Elements of
Electronic
Instruments
 Elements of Electronic
Instrumentation
 Transducers
 Device that converts a change in physical quantity into a
change of an electric signal quantity.

 Power Supply
 Provide energy to drive the transducers.

 Signal Conditioning Circuits

 Electronic circuits that manipulate, convert the output
from transducers into more usable electrical signal.
 Elements of Electronic
Instrumentation
 Amplifiers
 Amplify low voltage signal from transducers or signal
conditioning circuit.

 Recorders
 Used to display the measurement for easy reading and
interpretation.

 Data Processors
 Can be a microprocessor or microcontroller.
 Elements of Electronic
Instrumentation

 Process Controllers
 Used to monitor and adjust any quantity at the
specified level or value.

 Command Generator
 Provide control voltage that represents the difference
of the parameter in a given process.
 Elements of Electronic
Instrumentation

Source: [Dally1993] pg. 2