A) ity 19 er = important features of some the clec See tise isp lectromagnetic transduc i TO} i er are i) tly they ave a Pertional vo the velo are as ii) Uquencies: ass, ence they dead ut motion ii) biah POMS outputs are available to have low natural ii) BEIgd Tow-frequency response Y response iv) fe uoted in manufa Bey = ranges are a! facturcrs’fiterature eo WHIZ tO 1kH: fi in 313 Thermoelectric transducers We cov metals or alloys are j form uple as sho bs joined toge: Pinperatures, an e.m.f, hown in fg. 3.20 and | Lopether at each end to wound the circuit. ‘The e: developed causing, wleuntent ta Bee temperature difference ve magnitude of the ©. ae Berent 16. fow tsed, THIS ie iccenc citer ee junction teeta ft i s known aterials, urdely used in temperature-measurement ae ee effect and is systems. i a,°c 03°C Fig. 3-20 Thermocouple circuit The main problems with thermocouples are corrosion, oxidation, oF f their location. These eneral contamination by the atmosphere of problems can be overcome by the selection of a protective sheath which ere or fluid. does not react with the atmosphi ‘Although they do give a direct ‘output voltage. this is generally small — in the order of millivolts —and often requires amplification. Advantages of thermocouples include a) temperature at Jocalised points can be small size of the thermocouples = 250°C to 2600°C- eee a b) they are robust, with @ ‘wide operating range from determined, because of the (self-generating) . photovoltaic cell m: use of the photov m.f. by radiant energy —" lly, als. The CO effect, which is the production of an e.m.f. byt * inci juncts materials. ‘on the junction of two lssimilay 1 als Hows 8 a transparent light — inci ee ( struction of a typical cell is illustrated in fig ei Nes sé ‘of met , semiconductor aterial, sony ee ing through the transparent layer generates a voltage 45 jayer. Light vel 3.14 Pho The photoelectric orResistive load toa vo) N ‘Metal baseplate ‘Semiconduetor slab Thin transparent material (b) Characteristic (a) Consrtion $Mumination ( Fig. 3.21 Photoelectric cell light intensity. The device is hi; which is a logarithmic function of Ii E sensitive; has a good frequency response, and, because of its logarithm, relationship of voltage against light, is very suitable for sensing over wide range of light intensities. The characteristic of the device is shown fig. 3.21(b) 3.15 Mechanical transducers and sensing elements Many transducing systems consist of two different types of transducer operating in series, or cascade. In the eleetrical-transducer section it was assumed that the input to the transducer was provided by the sensi cy The sensing element itself is often a mechanical transducc: which converts the measurand into a displacement ¢ MGs th. used to change some electrical parain(e:Aiaimmmmmammameenmich is then Some of the more common mechanical transducers are sh, ' nsducers are shown in the following examples 3.15.1 Force-to-displacement transducers a) Spring The spring shown in example 3.1 (fig. 3.2) ig mechanical transducer. For equilibrium, we have F=% where A = spring stiffness (N/m) F F a aes z=> OF : x But _ sensitivity Ki = F (see example 3.1) 46sitivity = sen! aaa i.e. the stiffer the spring, the smaller the sensitivity b) Cantilever When the cantilever shown in fi : n if. 3.22 is loaded, it experience: deflection y. The relationship between the force F an deetion a p between the force F and the deflection is deflection y = constant * force y = kF where the constant k depends on the material and dimensions of the cantilever. Fig. 3.22 Cantilever 3.15.2. Pressure-to-displacement transducers a) Diaphragms Pressure can be me: The displacement x of the diaphraj \" sured using a stecl diaphragm as shown in fig, 3.23. gm is proportional to the pressure Fig. 3.23 Diaphragmjacement is less than one thiry = jonship between pressure differ." tis thus given by ere ,) if the disp! Fess t. The relat phragm displacemen pressure differential difference Gi iehragm (hic cap and il @ deflection = constant * x= kp -P) Js on the material and dimensions of the diaphr where k depend r The diaphragm, usu with an electrical (ra sensitivity. 1 of spring steel, may ty ly a thin flat 4 small transducer having | sducer to produce b) Bourdon tubes This type of trans mercially available pres is their large deflection. ducer, illustrated in fig. 3.24, is used in m 3.24, any sure gauges, The main feature of Bourdon i wager © <= where 4 1 and 3453 | Atypic For ¢ {b) Tube cross-section oe narrow Fig. 3.24 Bourdon tube per useda the co et of ‘the cross-section is considerably larze pressure p and the tube-tip ee ao bo = constant x p 2 c) Bellows This is basically a i i ci pneumatic il i general use in pneumatic Mere illustrated in fig. 3.25, and is ° Equating the forces acting on the bellows, for equilibri jum Fig. pA=% 48p where A cross-sectional area of bellows (mm ) input pressure (N/m*) bellows stiffness (N/m) 4.15.3 Displacement-to-pressure transducers zaie system isshown in fig. 3.26(a). ‘A typical arrangement ofa flapper-no: movement of the flapper allows a For a constant supply pressure Ps. variable bleed-off of air which varies the control pressure P-- ‘The trans- ducer characteristic, illustrated in fig. 3.26(b), is non-linear but has a narrow linear region which is usually extended by employing feedback when the transducers are used in pneumatic instruments. The flow rates used are very small, anda pneumatic amplifier must be employed to boost the controlled pressure. ae o7: : (2) Construction (b) Characteristic with constant supply pressure Ps "326 Flapper-nozale system3 3 ises on chapter 4 Bxere output voltage ol fe envied by a recatuey Dining of Pe repens of Fees TM ica ae Pte COMO PE OP i secitcalon sad ee rest vgnificange of each item wwire-wound resistance displacement potentiometer TAPE inal resistance 10k0 Range 0-25mm 4.1 introduc Resolution 0.4% Power rating 0.25 W Phe transdu Maximum wipercurrent 15mA Thermal drift 0.05% per inay need t0 Life expectancy 10° cycles Bisplay. The 43 Inthe circuit shown in fig. 3.27, the relay RL I operates ai 6 eo a resistance of 1k. Using the type-2 thermistor characteristic fig 3.8, determine the thermistor temperature when the relay o; a) Amplif [25°C] : Tage and ele > hor eeal which t [nur Row, amplifi b) Signal | Thermistor circuit ey a The di clear. : “aa e : sense Fig. 3.27 Circuit diagram for exercise 3 a stage 4 A linear variable-differential transformer is excited with a 100} inpu peak-to-peak waveform. The input core motion is sinusoidal at 10112 gare has a displacement amplitude of +3mm. If the Ly.d.t. sensitivis higt 2V/mm, draw the waveforms of the excitation voltage, input dv placement, and output voltage 5 The specification for the L.v.d.t. in question 4 is as follows: Linearity 0.4% Resolution infinite 424 Residual voltage 0.5% Drift better than 0.1% per °C An 3 Output impedance 2.5kQ Response time 1 ms amp Explain the meaning and significance of the specification. show 6 (a) Describe the principle of operation and construction details 0! resul piezo-electric (quartz) transducer. (b) A quartz pressure transducer has a sensitivity of 80 pC/bar. If, whe the input pressure is 3bars, an output voltage of 1V is produce pt determine the capacitance of the device. [240 pF] if 7 Describe the principle of operation of photoconductive and pho" s voltaic transducers and, with the aid of simple sketches, describe a sim) ies engineering application for each one. a“any In, | tis. | Nip tes 4 Signal conditioning 4.1 Introduction The transduced signal is rarely in a form ready for display or recording ~ it may need to be increased in magnitude or modified in some way before display. The process of preparing the signal before display or recording is referred to as signal conditioning. * The signal conditioner may have one or all of the following functions: a) Amplification The small signal from the transducer is increased in magnitude by a device referred to as an amplifier, ¢.g. levers, gears, and electronic, pneumatic, and hydraulic amplifiers. The amount by which the signal is increased in magnitude is referred to as either gain, amplification, or magnification. b) Signal modification The form of the signal or amplified signal is changed, e.g. by rack-and-pinion gears, electronic modulators, bridge circuits, potentiometric circuits, and analogue-to-digital convertors. The distinction between transducers and signal modifiers is not always clear, and for our purposes it will be assumed that the transducer both senses and modifies the measurand. ©) Impedance matching The signal conditioner acts as a buffer stage between the transducing and recording elements, the input and output impedances of the matching device being arranged to prevent loading of the transducer and maintain a high signal level at the recorder. 4.2. Amplifiers ki An amplifier is a device which increases the magnitude of, or amplifies, its input signal. F Consider the block-diagram representation of an amplifier shown in fig. 4.1. The input signal @, is amplified by an amount G, resulting in an output 0, which is given by 0, = GO; Ge a, Since @, and @,are in the same units, less. i; 41 G, the gain or amplification the ratio Gis therefe ore dimension- 51 ND TECHNOLOGT (lore wenvarta coliécs oF aoRicurryRe 4fig 4.1 Av amplifier block dingeam A displacement magnifier has an amplification oy te 4.1 Examp! ment is dem, determine the correspondin, the output displ placement Using equation 4.1, ie. G ea ay = 2* 10m G 20000 4.2.1 Amplifiers in cascade If an amplifier having a gain G, is so arranged that its outp. becomes the input signal of another amplifier having a gain G.. in fig. 4.2, the two amplifiers are said to be in cascade and the « or amplification of the combined devices is e =G,G; i.e. the product of theit individual gains, assuming no loading occur ° 6 6 == — 4 : 8 Fig. 4.2. Amplifiers in cascade Example 4.2 Two amplifiers A and B are cascaded so that their co” seta isthe produet of their individual gains. Given that 2" lifier A = 100 and gain of amplifier B = 300, determine the | produced by an iiputot4 units. aoe Using equation 4.2, % ie. a =G,G, 0,=0,G,G, =4 units x 100 x 300 = 120000 units, Conside input isad an amount is given by which ca Note | ie. ifxt 43.21 The cor reverse The provid Now but henc4.3 Mechanical amplifiers 4.3.1 The simple lever Levers and gears are used as displace rs and Beats s ‘ment amplifiers in instr ‘ as dial-test indicators, extensometers, and pressure gauges ; i : F. if, ea eee Fig. 4.3 The simple lever Consider fig. 4.3(a), which shows a simple lever pivoted at A. If the input isa displacement x, the lever will cause the output end to displace by an amount y. By similar triangles, the displacement gain or amplification is given by yas ® it) L Le. orf 43 ck diagram shown in fig. 4.3(b). which can be represented by the blo ‘e of opposite phase, Note that the input and output displacements ar i.e. if-x is down’ then yis ‘up’. 4.3.2 The compound lever Pa The compound lever shown in fig. 4.4(a) overcomes the problem of phase reversal of the displacement signal as well as increasing the amplification, The two levers are linked together so that the ‘output of one lever provides the input to the other but y= a (from equation 4.3) F 7 hence the overall displacement gain oF amplification isFig. 4.4 The compound lever and the output is Bie, i (a) Arrangement ae (eae oe ls (b ) Block diagram, which can be represented by the block diagram shown in fig. 4.4(b) Example 4.3 A compound lever consists of two levers A and B. Ley has a length magnifying ratio of 2.8:1, and lever B has a lens magnifying ratio of 6:1. Determine the displacement gain of the device Using equation 4.4, i.e. the compound lever has a displacement gain of 16.8. 4.3.3 The Huggenberger extensometer The Huggenberger extensomete! measure the extension of a speci most popular and accurate mec! Construction as shown in fig. 4. of up to 2000. ‘The magnification factor can knife-edge move a distance Ax; t 5: 4 T uses the amplifying-lever principle t men used in a tensile test. It is one of the ‘hanical &auges in use today, with a typic®’ 5 producing displacement magnification be found as follows. Let the moveable hen Fig. 4.5 1 As = and the f ay ma The | the scre linkage pressuy The a arrang in pos 4.3.4 Simp! displ; Ce displFig. 4.5 Huggenberger extensometer ches 4 and the pointer movement is magnification = w= a be reset during a series of measurements by means of ot point P without disturbing the rest of the mounted by a clamp, springs, oF screw nife-edges on to the specimen. yy this clamping y unstable The device can the screw which adjusts the piv linkage system. The gauge is pressure applied to the frame F to set the ki The application of the device is severely limited b arrangement and by the height of the gauge. which makes it ver in position. 4.3.4 Simple gears ; , Simple gears may be use f either angular displacement or rotational speed. 7 Consider the two meshed gears displacement of the output gear an .d to provide magnification © he angular shown in fig: 4.6(2). 1f 0. i8" ‘ d @, the eagilar displacement of thete | —s ~ ! —|7L~, (0) Block diagram hi fa) Arrangement Fig. 46 ‘The simple gent T, are their respective number of teeth, y) snput gear, and T)and Ty a errata lacement amplification is given by radial-displ hi Fig. 4.77 =a XO hence = % or, if rotational speed Nis being considered, eee Ti The laws = XN, Nea = This system can be represented by the block diagram shown in 4.6(b). Note the change of direction between input and output 4.3.5 Compound gears A typical compound-gear arrangement using four gears is shown in *: typ! 4.7(a). If the gears have Tj, 72, Ts, and T; teeth respectively. th relationship between the input 6, and the output 9, is given by % 0,7 ; ote Ts with no change in direction, which can be represented by the blocs 8 diagram shown in fig. 4.7(b). Example 4.4 If, in the compound-gear arrangement shown in ! 4.7(a), T, = 60 teeth, T; = 12 teeth, 7; = 40 teeth, and T, = 25 tee determine the gain of the compound system. Using equation 4.6, Gane 2 Te Ts 60. 40 = 2 le fae i.e. the system gives a displacement amplification or gain of 8. 56.(a) Arrangement re hw Gg aie ee eat. (b) Boek diogram Fig. 4.7 The compound gear 4.3.6 Optical lever The laws of reflection are used in many electrical instruments such as the uv. galvanometer recorder which is examined in detail in chapter 5, The scale of the mechanical-pointer galvanometer,may be enlarged if the pointer is made correspondingly long. However, an increase in pointer length increases its inertia, which in turn may mechanically load the sensitive movement. A light source is therefore employed and, provided a long optical arm is used (i.e. a long ray distance from source to scale), large scales may be used. Consider the rotatable mirror and light source shown in fig. 4.8(a). There is an angle magnification of 2, since the total angle of deflection of the reflected beam is twice the angle of deflection of the rotatable mirror The device can be represented by the single block diagram shown in fig. 4.8(b), where Qy= 98, or) — x Mirror (a) Arrangement {(b) Block diagram Fig. 4.8 The optical lever 374.4 Electronic amplifiers jon ; Fee eam pllade electrical signals from many electrical tga, W directly to the d small to be applied th splay or re, ee Rage ct err electronic amplifiers are used 16 inci levice. 5 de of the signals. raat desirable characteristics of electronic amplifiers ax i) the frequency response should be at least as good as th, transducer; ii) to minimise the loading effect on the transducer, th have a high input impedance; iii) the amplifier should have a low output impedance, so 4) recording device does not load the amplifier. nplifier 4.4.2 Types of amplifier Two types of amplifier used extensively in instrumentation systems 4, i) a.c.-coupled amplifiers; ii) dic. or directly coupled amplifiers. ferences between a.c. and d.c. amplifiers may be explained an examination of their frequency responses, i.e. the graphs of o: amplification versus frequency. Figure 2.15 shows the frequency response ofan a.c. amplifier whi a constant gain over a range of frequencies between f, and f.. Since th is no response at zero and low frequencies, the amplifier is incapable handling steady-state (zero frequency) and very-low-frequency s The response of the d.c. amplifier, shown in fig. 2.16, indicates th .c. amplifier can respond to signals down to zero frequency therefore, unlike its a.c. counterpart, capable of handling steady-s and very low frequencies in addition to the higher frequencies. Although d.c. amplifiers can respond to signals down to zero quency, their use may be limited by ‘drift’ encountered at low si levels. ‘Drift’ is the name given to the slow variations in the d.c. voll: available at the amplifier’s output terminals and may be due to varitio® in power-supply voltage, circuit components, transistor characteris(s* or other devices used within the amplifier, Fortunately, due to rap! developments within the electronics industry, this problem is no! * serious as it used to be, and integrated-circuit technology has now mac’ available inexpensive d.c. amplifiers with very low drift characteristics a) Decibel notation applied to an : Tn appendix C itis shown that Pifer P; dB = 10k — oa S58 where P. Inan‘ ower in the same dB Exampl Express Usinge po Examp follow: 800Hz the ret Frequ Outpt (V (r. 5) B The | in H volta Thus Exar whowhere Po/P) is the ratio of wo powers, Inan electronii Pui the p tespinput in watts. IT we assure meoRowet OUPUT in Watts and Pi th Pesame value, then me the input and OULpUL resistances ane of 4B = 20logw t 48 Example 4.5 The power output fr Expressthis power increase in dB. PM Using equation 4.7, power increase = 10log,, ze 4 = 10logw 5 =6dB Example 4.6 A frequency-response test on an a.c. amplifier gave following results. Calculate the corresponding dB ey Rene 6 800H7, i.e. using the output voltage of 2.12V at a frequency of 800 Hz as the reference voltage V, in equation 4.8 Frequency (Hz) 50-100 2004008001600 3200 6400 Output voltage (V (rm.s.)) D5 2 21 242 22 202 1.47 Using equation 4.8and a reference of 2.12V, the corresponding values of [Bare =6.53, -3, 0,506, 0.08, 0, 0.32, -0.42, ~3.18 Note: i) —3dB corresponds to a 29.3% voltage-amplitude reduction; ii) a graph of dB against frequency in Hz would normally be plotted on linear-log paper. 5) Bandwidth The bandwidth of an amplifier is often expressed as the frequency rane®, in Hz, between the *3dB down points’, i.c. frequencies a which the voltage output amplitude falls by 29.3% t0 70.7% of the maximum value ‘Thus in fig. 2.15 the bandwidth is given by: bandwidth = (f: —f:)Hz 49 Example 4.7 Determine the approximate bandwidth of the amplifier whose frequency response was shown in example + 6. 3occursat 100 Hzand about 6400 Hz. Using the Telationsh, yun —3dB hi equation 4.9, i bandwidth = (f: fi) Hz = (6400-100) Hz = 6.3kHz ferential amplifier sea amplifier shown in fig. 4.9 amplifies the gj between two inputsignals and is thus described as having a ‘do, input’. If the input voltages are v1 and > and the differential yo\,,, is G, then the output voltage is given by output voltage Yo = G(vi — v2) vyyo-——_fr ~~ fe Fig. 4.9 The differential amplifier Example 4.8 A differential amplifier having a differential voltage y ‘of 1000 is used to amplify the output voltage from a pressure transduc: Determine the output voltage of the amplifier when (a) input v and input v» = +5¥V;(b) input v) = +5V and input » = +5.001\ a) Using equation 4.10, Mw = Givi —») = 1000(5 —5)V = 0V b) Again using equation 4.10, ¥ = 1000(5 — 5.001) V =-IV Note that no output voltage is produced if the input voltages are © same polarity and magnitude. 4.4.4 Operational amplifiers An operational amplifier is a d.c. differential amplifier and assoc!“ external components that together ‘operate’ upon a direct voltaz¢ ° current in some mathematical way. It is used in a number of applic! in instrumentation and control engineering, and its usefulness d¢?* upon the following properties which it possesses: ol) a) high gait th) phase re cc) high inp Two ver i) With b voltage Since t earth ( ii) Since | earth, tobe: Fig. 4.1 Con wo 1 neglig d inca) high gain, 200000 to 19°; b) phase reversal i.e. the output vottage j ¢) high input impedance BE SOF Opposite sign to the input ‘Two very important implications of if) WHE HIGH voltage Bain, tor any sensible o yoltage wi be so small that ima ble outat voltage the input Since the input point is virtually wero an to be virtually zero, earth (virtual because its not conneen y(n foleTted tO a a virtual ii) Since the input impedance is high mar eeetly toe earth, theamplifier takes negligible aReG Bee to be zero for a simplified analysis hese properties are Virtual earth Fig. 4.10 The operational amplifier Consider fig. 4.10, which shows an operational amplifier in circuit with two resistors R, and Ry. Since the input current to the amplifier is (the minus sign indicates reverse polarity) i.e. the output/input relationship is independent of the amplifier gain and depends only on the resistors Ri and Ry. 4.4.5 The summer amplifier . nia Figure 4.11 shows an operational amplifier connected to resistor" such im of the input voltages ¥\. ee er einer my el ‘asa comparison element and v;. Such a summer amplifier may bee aaa in control-engineering applications, as disci ol" _ 446 Nega ; Voltage ne er a improve ¢ feedback saber Views arth o ee ) increas d) inerea if e) reduct Fig, 4.11 The summer amplifier pe charac a) Effect Consider Since the input current to the amplifier is zero. of the ou je atitis poi fF ato M R R v y= — (e eR, ( and, if Ri = Was (at ena) Fig. 4.1 xan But Eee eee nee bros 8: = 2kO. 1sk = 10kKQ, w = 1.5V, v= 1 Re Us voltage vy. vs = 2V, and vy = 3V, determine the ou'p’ = enc Using equation 4.11, Vo= =Ry (z+ wy a r) Let = 100 (5 ESV aa : 2 2K “aaa! ) E = 10k *4.5V/kO = -45V 62eee fecdteus electronic amplifiers i is used beneficially i improve their overall perform; ‘neficially in electronic feedback include Performance, The effects of voluuce mene Fe, age negative 3) a reduction in gain, Wve b) improved frequency respon: 3 increased bandwidth, ey d) increased input impedance, e) reduction an output impedance, f) ensuting that the amplifier is less sensitive characteristic, and power-supply changes. to component, device- a) Effect of negative feedback on gain sider the amplifier shown in fig. 4.12, having a gain A with afra of the output vo fed back in anti-phase (i.e. 180° out of eae input signal. The input to the amplifier is now given by = amplifier input = vi ~ Bv =v, 6v,[ ~~ A ae 2 An electronic amplifier with negative feedback Fig. 4-1 But amplifier output = amplifier input * A = vy = A(v —B%) and yy(1+ AB) = 4% Hence, with negative feedback, J 1 ice. the gain A is reduced by —7 4g b) Effect of negative feedback on frequency response 1 If AB>1 then A= &solely on B. which does nor ant over a range of frequenci. in A depends ‘vill remain const 1 exists. since the frequ' . the eondition AB * Which shows a typical @.c. amplifier ¢ co R and without negative feedback. The : responses Wit AT yten negative feedback is applied by reduc resultant increase 1" bandwidth. a es. fewdack eT With feedback aph HL Relative response (d8) Frequency (Hz) Fig. 4.13 ffects of negative feedback on the frequency response of ann Fig- 4.14 ¢) Other effects of negative feedback When negative feedback is applied, the actual voltage ¢ into the ami is reduced. The corresponding reduction in input current, for a 4.5.2 Th input signal vi, can be explained by an apparent increase in the The cha impedance of the amplifier. This effect, along with effects (c) verted i above can be proved analytically, but it is beyond the scope of this boos “charge do so. that its Cons Example 4.10 An amplifier has a voltage gain without feedback of a If one tenth of the output signal is fed back in anti-phase to the inp tae signal, determine the voltage gain with negative feedback. Nt Using equation 4.12, A 10° 4 = Team T+ Alternatively, Chara : ener Aas - i 4.5 Signal modifiers or converters The transduced or amplified signal may requi stionint before recording or disp Sie y Fequire further condition!" = modifier display. This may be accomplished using @ ‘2 ia. ‘modifier or converter such as aod ine ft .