Instrumentation & Measurement

Lecture 1

1
2
Recommended Books

 Measurement and Instrumentation Principles by Alan S Morris

 Measurement Systems Applications and Design, By E. Doeblin,
McGraw Hill
 Theory and Design for Mechanical Measurements, By R. Figliola,
And Beasley, John Wiley.
3 Rules :
 There will be no Remake for the Quiz and Assignment.
 Due date means Due date .
 There will be a viva for every Assignment.
4 Measurement Units

1) The very first measurement units were those used in barter trade
to quantify the amounts being exchanged and to establish clear
rules about the relative values of different commodities.

2) Problem with these measuring units:

 Imprecise
5 Measurement Units
6 Measurement Units

1) The First improved measurement unit was unit of length defined

as times the polar quadrant of earth.
2) Firstly in 1960 a standard meter was redefined in terms of
1.65076373 x wavelengths of the radiation from krypton -86 in
vacuum.
3) Most recently in 1983 ,the meter was redefined yet again as the
length of path travelled by light in an interval of 1/299792458
seconds.
7 Measurement Units
8 Measurement Units

Quantity Standard Unit Symbol

Length meter m
Mass Kilogram kg
Time second s
Electric Current ampere A
Temperature Kelvin K
Luminous Intensity candela cd
Matter mole mol

Table 2: Fundamental Units

 9 Measurement Units
Quantity Standard unit Symbol Derivation
formula
Area Square meter
𝑚2

Volume cubic meter 𝑚3

Velocity meter per second m/s
Acceleration meter per second square m/ 𝑠 2
Density kilogram per cubic meter kg/ 𝑚3
Force newton N kgm/
𝑠2
Pressure newton per square meter N/ 2
𝑚
Torque newton meter Nm
Work, energy joule J Nm
heat
Power watt W J/s

Table 3: Derived Units

10 Measurement System applications

Present-day applications of measuring instruments can be classified

into three major areas.
 Regulating trade
 Monitoring Functions
 As part of automatic feedback control system
11 Measurement System applications
12 Elements of a measurement System

 A measuring system exists to provide information about the

physical value of some variable being measured.
 The first element in any measuring system is called the primary
sensor. This gives an output that is function of the input applied
to it (measurand).
 Exhibits approximately linear behaviour.
 Examples liquid in glass thermometer, a thermocouple ,strain
gauge.
13 Elements of a measurement System

 Variable conversion elements are needed where the output

variable of a primary transducer is in an inconvenient form and
has to be converted to a more convenient form.
 For example….displacement measuring strain gauge.
 In some cases ,the primary sensor and variable conversion
element are combined ,and the combination is known as
transducer.
 Signal processing elements exist to improve quality of output
signal in some way. For example Amplification
 Other filter out noise
 14 Elements of a measurement System

Output
Measured variable Variable conversion Signal measurement
Sensor
(Measurand) element processing

Output Display Signal Use of measurement

Recording presentation at remote point Signal
transmission

Fig 2: Elements of a measuring Instruments

15 Choosing appropriate measuring
Instruments
Instruments are chosen on the basis of characteristics required.
 Accuracy
 Resolution
 Sensitivity
 Dynamic performance
 Environmental conditions
 Cost
 maintenance

Generally, the better the characteristics the higher the cost.