Measurement and

Instrumentation
Lect 3
BSME 19-23 5th semester
Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences Nilore Islamabad
Lecture outline
• Introduction
• Dynamic measurements
• Measurement system model
• Special cases of the general system model
• Zero order system
• First order system
Introduction
• All input and output signals can be broadly classified as being static,
dynamic or some combination of the two
• For a static signal, only the signal magnitude is needed to reconstruct
the input signal based on the indicated output signal
• Consider measuring the length of a board using a ruler
• Vibration signals vary in amplitude and time and thus are a dynamic
input signal to the measuring instrument
• We need an instrument that can follow the input time signal faithfully
Dynamic Measurements
• Because dynamic signals vary with time, the measurement system
must be able to respond fast enough to keep up with the input signal
• Consider the time response of a common bulb thermometer for
measuring body temperature
• Even after several seconds, the thermometer does not indicate the
expected value of body temperature
• In this example, body temperature itself is constant but the input
signal to the thermometer is suddenly changed from room
temperature to body temperature that is mathematically a step
change i.e dynamic event for measurement system
Dynamic Measurements
• Consider the task of assessing the
ride quality of an automobile
suspension system
• As a tire moves along the road, the
road surface provides the time
dependent input signal, F(t), to the
suspension
• The motion sensed by the
passengers, y(t), is a basis for the
ride quality and depends on the
input from the road and the
behavior of the suspension
Dynamic Measurements
• In many situations, the goal of the measurement is to deduce the input
signal based on the output signal
• We see that it is important to understand how a measurement system
responds to different forms of input signals
• We can reason that a measurement system performs some
mathematical operation on a sensed input
• In fact, a general measurement system can
be represented by a differential equation
• We must use y(t) to infer F(t)
Measurement System Model

• where

• F(t) = forcing function

• y(t) = system output and x(t) = system input
• a’s and b’s = physical system parameters
Example 3.1
• Basically, as the small
accelerometer mass reacts to
motion, it places the
piezoelectric crystal into
compression or tension,
causing a surface charge to
develop on the crystal
Zero Order Systems
• The simplest model of a measurement systems used is the zero order
system model
• This is represented by the zero order differential equation

• is called static sensitivity or steady gain of the system

• In a zero order model the system output is considered to respond to
the input signal instantaneously
• If an input signal of magnitude F(t) = A were applied, the instrument
would indicate KA using above equation
Zero Order Systems
• For real systems, the zero order system concept is used to model the
non time dependent measurement system response to static inputs
• In fact, the zero order concept appropriately models any system during
a static calibration
• When dynamic input signals are involved, a zero order model is valid
only at static equilibrium
• The static sensitivity is found from the static calibration of the
measurement system
• It is the slope of the calibration curve, K = dy/dx
Example 3.2
• A pencil type pressure gauge commonly
used to measure tire pressure can be
modeled at static equilibrium by
considering the force balance on the gauge
sensor. Consider force balance on piston

• This provides the zero order response

equation between output displacement
and input pressure
First Order Systems
• Measurement systems that contain storage elements do not respond
instantaneously to changes in input e.g bulb thermometer
• The bulb exchanges energy with its environment until the two are at
the same temperature, storing energy during the exchange
• In general, systems with a storage or dissipative capability but
negligible inertial forces may be modeled using a first order DE

• Where = Time constant and = Static sensitivity

• The time constant provides a measure of speed of system response
First Order Systems: Step Function Input
• The step function, AU(t) is defined as

• Physically, this function describes a

sudden change in the input signal from
a constant value of one magnitude to a
constant value of some other magnitude
such as a sudden change in loading,
displacement
First Order Systems: Step Function Input
• with an arbitrary initial condition denoted by, . Solving for yields

• This means that y(t) is in fact the output indicated by the display stage
of the system
• The steady response is that portion of the output signal that remains
after the transient response has decayed to zero as
• Over time, the indicated output value rises from its initial value, at the
instant the change in input is applied, to an eventual constant value,
First Order Systems: Step Function Input
• Suppose we rewrite the response equation in terms of error fraction
of the output signal
First Order Systems: Step Function Input
• We see that the error fraction decreases from a value of 1 and
approaches a value of 0 with increasing t/Ꞇ
• The percent response of the system to a step change be given as
(1-Ꞅ)*100
• Then by t = Ꞇ, where Ꞅ = 0.368, the system will have responded to 63.2%
of the step change
• The time required for a system to respond to a value that is 90% of the
step input is important and is called the rise time of the system
• Time constant is in fact a measure of how quickly a first order
measurement system will respond to a change in input value
First Order Systems:
Determination of Time Constant
• The time constant can be
experimentally determined by
recording the system’s response to a
step function input of a known
magnitude
• In practice, it is best to record that
response from t = 0 until steady
response is achieved
• The data can then be plotted as error
fraction versus time on a semilog
plot
First Order Systems:
Determination of Time Constant
• This method offers advantages over attempting to compute t directly
from the time required to achieve 63.2% of the step change magnitude
• First real systems will deviate somewhat from perfect first order
behavior that is readily apparent on a semilog plot
• Second, acquiring data during the step function experiment is prone to
some random error in each data point
• The use of a data curve fit to determine t utilizes all of the data over
time so as to minimize the influence of an error in any one data point
• Third, it eliminates the need to determine the Ꞅ =1 and 0.368 points
Example 3.4
• For the thermometer in Example 3.3 subjected to a step change in
input, calculate the 90% rise time in terms of t/Ꞇ
First Order Systems:
Simple Periodic Function Input
• Periodic signals are commonly encountered in engineering processes
e.g vibrating structures, vehicle suspension dynamics
• The input signal frequency has an important influence on measuring
system time response and affects the output signal
• Consider the first order measuring system to which an input of the
form is applied for

• The general solution to this differential equation yields

First Order Systems:
Simple Periodic Function Input

• where = amplitude and = phase shift

of steady response
• The steady response of any system to
which a periodic input of frequency, ,
is applied is known as the frequency
response of the system
First Order Systems:
Simple Periodic Function Input
• For a phase shift given in radians, the
time delay in units of time
• For a first order system subjected to a
simple periodic input, the magnitude
ratio is
• Dynamic error
• is measure of the inability of a system
to adequately reconstruct the
amplitude of the input signal
First Order Systems:
Determination of Frequency Response
• The frequency response of a measurement system is found by a
dynamic calibration
• It is done by applying a simple periodic waveform of known amplitude
and frequency to the system sensor stage and measuring the
corresponding output stage amplitude and phase shift
• In many situations an engineer elects to rely on modeling to infer
system frequency response behavior
• We can predict the dynamic behavior if the time constant and static
sensitivity of the system and the range of input frequencies are all
known