Debre Markos Institute of Technology

School of Mechanical & Industrial Engineering

Chapter-4
Signal Conditioning

Prep. By: Mebratu A.

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 Introduction
 Signal conditioning circuits are used to process the output
signal from sensors or trnasducers to make it suitable for the
next stage of operation
 The function of the signal conditioning circuits includes:
 Signal amplification (Op-amp)
 Filtering (Op-amp),
 Protection (Zener & opto-isolator),
 Linearization, Current – voltage change circuits
 Resistance change circuits (Wheatstone Bridge)

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 Introduction
 Signal conditioning involves

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 Why need signal conditioning??
 Signal need to be processed to make it suitable for the
next stage operation. For example, a signal may be:
1. Too small – need to be amplified
2. Contain interference – has to be removed
3. Non-linear – require linearization
4. Analogue – have to be made digital
5. Digital – have to be made analogue
6. Resistance change – have to be made into a current
change
7. Voltage change-have to be made into a suitable size
current

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 Application Example

Measuring temperature with a thermocouple is

some what difficult because the thermocouple's
output is low
Thermocouple output is a small voltage which
required a signal conditioning module.
Signal conditioning module might be used to
convert this into a suitable size current signal,
provide noise rejection, linearization and cold
junction compensation

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6 Example of thermocouple signal conditioning circuit
 Signal conditioning Functions
1. Provide protection
 To prevent damage to the next element
 Ex: Microprocessor may need current limiting resistors, fuses,
polarity protection or voltage limitation circuits.
2. Getting the right type of signal
 To change the signal into dc voltage or current, and digital or
analogue.
 Ex: Resistance change of a strain gauge has to be converted
into a voltage change by using Wheatstone bridge.
3. Getting the right level of signal
 To adjust the signal to suitable level
 Ex: Thermocouple signal need to be amplified to in order for it
to be fed to the analogue to digital converter which require
higher level of voltage
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 Cont.…

4. Eliminating or reducing noises

 To filter any unwanted noise from a signal
 Ex: interference noise produce by a machine to a signal from a
sensors
5. Manipulating Signal
 To make it linear function of some variable
 Ex: The signals from some sensors like flowmeter are non
linear and thus a signal conditioner might be used to make it
linear.

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 Amplification
 Operational amplifiers have all the properties required for an
ideal DC amplification.
 The basic Op-amp construction is of a 3- terminal device, 2-inputs and1-output,
(excluding power connections).
 Op-amps sense the difference between the voltage signals applied to their two input
terminals and then multiply it by some pre-determined Gain, ( A ).

Non
inverting Inverting Deferentia
Amplifier Amplifier l Amplifier

Op-Amp
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 Inverting operational amplifier
 The input voltage signal (Vin)is applied to the inverting (-)
input terminal.
 Two important rules of inverting amplifiers
 No current flows into the input terminals
 The differential input voltage is zero as V1 = V2 = 0

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 Non-inverting operational amplifier
 The input voltage signal (Vin)is applied to the noninverting (+) input
terminal.
 Output gain is positive in value.
 Feedback control achieve by applying a small part of the output
voltage back to the inverting (-) input terminal via a Rf - R2 voltage
divider network.

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 Differential op-Amps

 By adding more input resistors to either the inverting or non inverting inputs
voltage adders or summers can be made.
 Voltage follower op-amps can be added to the inputs of differential amplifiers to
produce high impendence instrumentation amplifiers
 The differential amplifier produce an out put that is proportional to the difference
between the 2 input voltages
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 Filtering
 Process of removing a certain band of frequencies from a signal and
permitting others to be transmitted.
 The range of frequencies passed by a filter is known as the “Pass Band”.

Low pass filter

• An electrical filter is a circuit that
can be designed to modify, reshape
or reject all unwanted frequencies
of an electrical signal and accept or
or pass only those signals wanted
by the circuits designer.
• Has a pass which allows all
frequencies from 0 up to some
frequency to be transmitted.
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 Low pass filter
• An electrical filter is a circuit that can be designed to modify, reshape or reject
all unwanted frequencies of an electrical signal and accept or or pass only those
signals wanted by the circuits designer.
• Has a pass which allows all frequencies from 0 up to some frequency to be
transmitted.

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 High pass filter
 A high pass filter is the exact opposite to that of the previously seen
low pass filter circuit as the two components have been
interchanged with the filters output signal (Vout) being taken from
across the resistor.
 Has a pass which allows all frequencies from some value up to
infinity to be transmitted.

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 Band Pass filter
 Cascading together a single Low Pass Filter circuit with a High Pass Filter
circuit
 Allows all the frequencies within a specified band to be transmitted.

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 Protection

 Protection against current and voltage that could damage

electronic components.

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 Zener diode
 Operate in breakdown region.
 A “reverse biased” diode blocks current in the reverse direction, but
will suffer from premature breakdown or damage if the reverse voltage
applied across it is too high.
 Have a specified voltage drop. Used for voltage regulation in reverse
bias.
 Able to maintain near constant voltage under conditions of widely
varying current.

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 Optoisolator
 Operation similar to relays.
 Excellent noise isolation – electrically isolated
 Eliminates the need for a common ground.
 Ideal for applications require high isolation surge voltage, noise
isolation and small in size.
 Signal only travel in one direction
 Used to control motors, solenoids and etc.

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 Wheatstone bridge
 It is used to measure an unknown electrical resistance.
 It can be used to convert the change in resistance into voltage change
 It is a standard circuit used as part of sensor signal conditioners
 A Wheatstone bridge consists of four resistors that are connected in the
shape of a diamond
Wheatstone bridge principle
• When the output V0 is zero, then the
potential at B must equal that at D
Potential difference across R1=VAB
must equal to Potential difference
across
R3=VAD I1R1=I2R3, and I1R2=I2R4
• So when the bridge is balanced,

𝑹𝟏 𝑹𝟑
=
20 𝑹𝟐 𝑹𝟒
 Wheatstone Bridge Application:Strain Gauge
 Compensation for temperature effects:
 strain gauge changes resistance when strain is applied but it also changes if
temperature changes So, dummy strain gauge is used, positioned close to the
one under strain
 Active gauge mounted in one arm of a Wheatstone bridge and the dummy on
another arm
 So effects of the temperature-induced resistance change cancel out

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 linearization
 Linearization in digital circuits can be performed for nonlinear devices by
using equations or memory look-up tables.
 If the relationship between the values of a measured variable and the output
of a sensor can be expressed by an equation, the processor can be
programmed on the basis of the equation to linearize the data received from
the sensor. An example would be a transducer that outputs a current I
related to flow rate v by
𝐼 = 𝐾𝑣 2
• where K is a constant.
 The current numbers from the sensor are converted into binary, where the
relationship still holds. In this case, a linear relationship is required between
the current and flow rate.
 This can be obtained by multiplying the term I by itself, then the resulting
number is proportional to 𝑣 2 , or the generated number and flow now have
a linear relationship. Span and offsets may now require further adjustment.

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 End of the lecture!

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