Measurement and

Instrumentation
Lect 6
BSME 19-23 5th semester
Pakistan Institute of Engineering and Applied Sciences Nilore Islamabad
Lecture outline
• Secondary transducer
• Classification of first stage devices
• Variable resistance transducer devices
• Sliding contact devices
• Resistance strain gage
• Thermistor and thermocouple
• Variable inductance transducer
• Variable reluctance transducer
• Capacitive transducer
Introduction
• Medium handled is information
• The detector senses the information input, Iin
• It then transduces or converts it to a more convenient form, Iout

• This cannot be more than unity. Sensitivity may be expressed as

Loading of signal source
• The information source will always be changed by the act of
measurement
• The problem of loading occurs not only in the first stage, but
throughout the entire chain of elements
• In measuring systems made up primarily of electrical elements
loading is almost exclusively a function of detector
• A measure of the quality of the first stage is its ability to provide a
usable output without draining an undue amount of energy from the
signal
Secondary transducer
Bourdon tube pressure gage
• The tube serves as the primary detector
transducer e.g P to linear displacement
• The linkage gear arrangement acts as a
secondary transducer (linear to rotary motion)
and as an amplifier
• We can replace linkage gear arrangement with
following secondary transducers
• differential transformer
• voltage dividing potentiometer
Secondary transducer
Compression type force measuring load cell
• Consists of a short column or strut, with
electrical resistance type strain gages
• When an applied force deflects or strains
the block, the force effect is transduced to
deflection or strain
• The strain is transformed into an electrical
resistance change with the strain gages
serving as secondary transducers
Classification of first stage devices
• It appears that the stage one instrumentation may be of varying basic
complexity depending on the number or operations performed
• Class I: First stage element used as detector only
• Class II: First stage element used as detector and single transducer
• Class III: First stage element used as detector & two transducer stages
Classification of first stage devices
• Stage one instrumentation may be very simple like mechanical spindle or
it may consist of much more complex assembly of elements
• In any event the primary detector transducer is an integral assembly
whose function is
• To sense selectively the quantity of interest
• to process the sensed information into a form acceptable to stage two operations
• It does not present an output in immediately usable form
• More often than not the initial operation performed by the first stage
device is to transduce the input quantity into an analogous displacement
Classification of first stage devices
• From the tables it is clear that many of the mechanical sensors
transduce the input to displacement, many of the electrical sensors
change displacement to an electrical output
• Electrical elements have several important relative advantages
• Amplification or attenuation can be easily obtained
• Mass inertia effects are minimized
• The effects of friction are minimized
• An output power of almost any magnitude can be provided
• Remote indication or recording is feasible
• The transducers can often be miniaturized
Variable resistance transducer elements
• Resistance of an electrical conductor varies according to the following
relation
R = ρL/A
• Some examples include
• sliding contact devices and potentiometers, in which L changes
• resistance strain gages in which L, A and ρ change
• thermistors, photoconductive light detectors, piezoresistive strain
gages and resistance temperature detectors in which ρ changes
• Simplest mechanical to electrical transducer is ordinary switch
Sliding contact devices
• Sliding contact resistive transducers convert a mechanical
displacement input into an electrical output either voltage or current
• This is accomplished by changing the effective length of conductor
• In its simplest form the device may consist of a stretched resistance
wire and slider
Sliding contact devices
• More commonly, the resistance element is
formed by wrapping a resistance wire
around a form or card
• The turns are spaced to prevent shorting,
and the brush slides across the turns from
one turn to the next
• In actual practice, either the arrangement
may be wound for a rectilinear movement
or the resistance element may be formed
into an arc for angular movement
Sliding contact devices
• Sliding contact devices are also made using
conductive films such as carbon composition
films and ceramic metal composition films
• Less expensive and thin film is supported by a
ceramic or plastic backing
• These devices are commonly called
resistance potentiometers or pots
• Multiturn potentiometers are available with
various numbers of revolutions sometimes as
many as 40
Potentiometer resolution and linearity
• The smallest increment into which the whole may be divided
determines the resolution
• In the case of a wire wound resistor, the limiting resolution equals the
reciprocal of the number of turns e.g 1/1200 for 1200 turns
• For conductive film potentiometers, resolution is negligibly small
• When used as a measurement transducer, a linear potentiometer is
normally required
• Linearity is never completely achieved and deviation limits are usually
supplied by the manufacturer
Resistance strain gage and Thermistors
• Experiment has shown that the application of a strain to a resistance
element changes its resistance
• A resistance element such as a fine wire is cemented to the surface of a
member to be strained
• Every factor in R = ρL/A varies simultaneously
• Thermistors are thermally sensitive variable resistors made of ceramic like
semiconducting materials
• Oxides of manganese, nickel and cobalt are used in formulations having
resistances of 100 to 450,000 Ω cm
• Used as temperature detecting and electric power sensing devices
Thermocouple
• While two dissimilar metals are in contact, an electromotive force
exists whose magnitude is a function of several factors, including
temperature
• Junctions of this sort, when used to measure temperature are called
thermocouples
• Often the junction is formed by twisting and welding together two
wires
• Because of its small size, its reliability and its relatively large range of
usefulness, the thermocouple is a very important primary sensing
element
Variable inductance transducers
• Inductive transducers are based on the voltage output of an inductor
whose inductance changes in response to changes in the measurand
• Classification is as below
• Variable self inductance
• Single coil (simple variable reluctance)
• Two coil (or single coil with center tap)
• Variable mutual inductance
• Simple two coil
• Three coil (using series opposition)
• Variable reluctance with permanent magnet
• Moving iron, moving coil, moving magnet
Variable inductance transducers
• The inductance of a coil, L is influenced by a number of factors,
including the number of turns in the coil, the coil size and especially
the permeability of the magnetic flux path that passes through the
center of the coil
• Often, a magnetic material such as iron will be used in the flux
path commonly in conjunction with one or more air gaps
• Because the air gaps have a much lower magnetic permeability than
the iron, they control the inductance of the coil
• The variation in the thickness of an air gap is often the primary
measurand sensed by a variable inductance device
Variable inductance transducers
• An expression that may be used to estimate the
inductance of straight, cylindrical air core coil is as
follows

• When the flux path includes both a magnetic material

and an air gap the inductance may be estimated as
follows

• In many instances, the permeability of the magnetic

material is sufficiently high then only the air gaps need
to be considered
Variable inductance (Self Inductance)
• When a simple single coil is used as a
transducer element, the mechanical input
usually changes the reluctance of the flux path
generated by the coil thereby changing its
inductance
• The change in inductance is then measured by
suitable circuitry indicating the value of the
input
Variable inductance (Mutual Inductance)
• The magnetic flux from a power coil is coupled to a pickup coil, which
supplies the output
• Input information, in the form of armature displacement change the
coupling between the coils
Differential transformer
• It provides an ac voltage output
proportional to the displacement
of a core
• It is a mutual inductance device
making use of three coils
• The center coil is energized from
an ac power source and the two
end coils connected in phase
opposition are used as pickup coils
• This device is often called LVDT
Variable reluctance transducer
• The term variable reluctance implies some form of inductance device
incorporating a permanent magnet
• In most cases these devices are limited to dynamic application either
periodic or transient where the flux lines supplied by the magnet are
cut by the turns of the coil
• In its simplest form the variable reluctance device consists of a coil
wound on a permanent magnet core
• Any variation of the reluctance of the magnetic flux path causes a
change in the flux
Variable reluctance transducer
• As the flux field varies a voltage is induced
in the coil, according to Faraday's law

• The rate of change of flux depends directly

on the speed at which the teeth move past
the magnet
• The variable reluctance transducer is
sensitive to velocity rather than
displacement
Capacitive transducers
• When a capacitor is formed from a pair of parallel flat plates, its
capacitance is given by the following equation

• Greater sensitivity can be obtained by using several capacitors in

parallel
• This may be accomplished with a stack of n equally spaced plates in
which alternate plates are connected to one another
• The capacitance of such a stack is
Capacitive transducers
• Figure shows a device for the measurement
of level in a container of liquid hydrogen
• The capacitance between the central rod
and the surrounding tube varies with
changing dielectric constant brought about
by changing liquid level
• The device readily detects liquid level even
though the difference in dielectric constant
between the liquid and vapor states
Capacitive transducers
• Capacitance change depending on changing
effective area has been used for the secondary
transducing element of a torque meter
• The device uses a sleeve with teeth or serrations
cut axially and a matching internal member or
shaft with similar axially cut teeth
• Torque carried by an elastic member causes a
shift in the relative positions of the teeth,
thereby changing the effective area. Capacitance
change is calibrated in terms of torque
Capacitive transducers
• Varying the distance between the places of a
capacitor is undoubtedly the most common
method for using capacitance in a pickup
• Consider a capacitive type pressure
transducer shown
• The capacitance between the diaphragm to
which the pressure is applied and the
electrode foot is used as a measure of the
diaphragm's relative position