Electrical and Electronic Measurements (EC2302)

Chapter 1: Introduction To Instrumentation and

Measurement
Lecture 1

By
Prof. Santos Kumar Das

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Outlines
 What is an Instrument?
 What is an Measurement?

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Definitions
 Measurement
 A method to obtain information regarding the physical values of the variable.
 Instrumentation
 Devices used in measurement system

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Terminologies
 Physical quantity: variable such as pressure, temperature, mass, length, etc.
 Data: Information obtained from the instrumentation/measurement system
as a result of the measurements made of the physical quantities
 Information: Data that has a calibrated numeric relationship to the physical
quantity.
 Parameter: Physical quantity within defined (numeric) limits.
 Measurand: Physical quantity being measured.
 Calibration: Implies that there is a numeric relationship throughout the whole
instrumentation system and that it is directly related to an approved national
or international standard.
 Test instrumentation: It is a branch of instrumentation and most closely
associated with the task of gathering data during various development
phases encountered in engineering, e.g. flight test instrumentation for
testing and approving aircraft.

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Terminologies
 Transducer: A device that converts one form of energy to another.
 Electronic transducer: It has an input or output that is electrical in nature
(e.g., voltage, current or resistance).
 Sensor: Electronic transducer that converts physical quantity into an
electrical signal.
 Actuator: Electronic transducer that converts electrical energy into
mechanical energy.

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Purpose of Measurements System

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Why Measurements?

 In the case of process industries and

industrial manufacturing…
 To improve the quality of the product
 To improve the efficiency of production
 To maintain the proper operation.

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Why Instrumentation?
 To acquire data or information (hence data acquisition) about parameters, in
terms of:
 putting the numerical values to the physical quantities
 making measurements otherwise inaccessible.
 producing data agreeable to analysis (mostly in electrical form)
 Data Acquisition Software (DAS) – data is acquired by the instrumentation
system.

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What is an Instrument?
 Instruments:
Devices that can be used to make a measurement and give quantitative (or
sometimes qualitative) results

 Biomedical Instruments:
Devices that can be used to make measurements of biological or medical
quantities and give quantitative (or sometimes qualitative) results

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Types of measurements
 Direct comparison
 Easy to do but… less accurate
 e.g. to measure a steel bar

 Indirect comparison
 Calibrated system; consists of several devices to convert,
process (amplification or filtering) and display the output
 e.g. to measure force from strain gages located in a

structure

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General Structure of Measuring
System
 Stage 1: A detection-transducer or sensor-transducer, stage;
e.g. Bourdon tube
 Stage 2: A signal conditioning stage; e.g. gearing, filters,
bridges
 Stage 3: A terminating or readout-recording stage; e.g.
printers, oscilloscope

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Types of instruments in
measurements
 Active Instruments
 the quantity being measured simply modulates (adapts to)
the magnitude of some external power source.
 e.g. Float-type petrol tank level indicator
 Passive Instruments
 the instrument output is entirely produced by the quantity
being measured
 e.g. Pressure-measuring device
 Difference between active & passive instruments is the level
of measurement resolution that can be obtained.

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Types of instruments in
measurements
 An analogue instrument gives an output that varies
continuously as the quantity being measured; e.g.
Deflection-type of pressure gauge.
 A digital instrument has an output that varies in
discrete steps and only have a finite number of
values; e.g. Revolution counter

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Classification of Instrument
Operating Modes
 1. Direct vs. Indirect Measurement Methods

Example #1. Direct (Mercury Thermometer) vs. Indirect (Infrared (IR)

Pyrometer) temperature measurement

Laser beam indicates middle of temperature

measurement “spot”. Radius of spot size is
given by S = D/10.
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Other Instrument Classification
Categories

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Other Instrument Classification
Categories
 Null-mode vs. Deflection Mode
Null-mode Instrument
The purpose of any null mode instrument is to act like a laboratory balance scale, indicating when the
two quantities are equal. The laboratory scale balance beam doesn't actually weight anything; rather,
it simply indicates equality between the unknown mass and a pile of standard (calibrated) known
masses.

Balance beam acts as a “null detector”, its scale need not be

accurately calibrated, but it must accurately indicate the “null” or
balance condition.
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Other Instrument Classification
Categories
 Null-Mode Voltmeter

The voltage across R2 is to be measured in the “high resistance” circuit consisting of the battery, R1
and R2. Adjust voltage source until no click is heard in headphones when switch is operated. At this
point the adjustable source voltage is equal to the voltage to be measured (the instrument is
“nulled”. The audio transformer increases the input impedance of the headphones, but note that
this audio transformer DOES NOT load down (alter the voltage in) the circuit being measured when
no click is heard, since at that point there is 0V across the transformer, and so NO CURRENT flows
through it, no matter how low its impedance!

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Other Instrument Classification
Categories

 Deflection Mode Instrument

 While a null-mode instrument is as accurate as its
known standard value that the unknown quantity is
balanced against, it is an iterative process that can
take time to complete.
 The deflection-mode instrument is faster but less
accurate. The best example of a deflection mode
instrument is a spring-loaded scale that measures
weight.

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Other Instrument Classification
Categories

 Deflection Mode Instrument example

Spring scale operation is based upon Hooke’s
Law for a spring:

Fspring = kx

Where k is the “spring constant” (N/m), and x

is the deflection of free end of the spring from
its 0-force (equilibrium) position.

Approximate deflection is read along analog

scale

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