Chapter 3

Measurement Systems with Electrical

Signals

Dr. Ing. Wondwossen Bogale

EiT-M Ethiopian Institute of Technology- Mekelle

 4.1 INTRODUCTION
• Basic measuring devices depend upon
some basic electrical and electronic principles
for their operation, data gathering, analysis,
and transmission.
• Many measured parameters are indicated in
terms of electrical parameters such as
voltage, current, resistance, etc. This will
require some basic understanding of electric
circuits.
• So it is desirable to discuss some electrical
devices currently employed and to emphasize
their use in the measurement processes.
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 4.1 INTRODUCTION

• For example, the remote measurement and

recording of temperature is ordinarily
accomplished in the following way.
• A transducer is installed at the location of
interest, and this device converts the
temperature at any given time to an
equivalent electric voltage.
• This voltage is then transmitted to a receiving
station where it is displayed in an appropriate
fashion.
• Electrical devices are involved at every stage
of this process.
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 4.1 INTRODUCTION

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 The Electric Field
• Definition of the electric field. Whenever
charges are present and if I bring up another
charge, it will feel a net Coulomb force
from all the others. It is convenient to say
that there is field there equal to the force
per unit positive charge. E=F/q0. The
direction of the electric field is along r and
points in the direction a positive test charge
would move. This idea was proposed by
Michael Faraday in the 1830’s. The idea of
the field replaces the charges as defining
the situation. Consider two point charges:
r

q1 q0
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 The Electric Field
r

q1 + q0

The Coulomb force is F= kq1q0/r2

The force per unit charge is E = F/q0

and then the electric field at r is E = kq1/r2 due to the point charge q1 .

The units are Newton/Coulomb. The electric field has direction and is a vector.
How do we find the direction.? The direction is the direction a unit positive
test
charge would move.
r E
If q1 were positive
q1

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 The Electric Field
Electric Field Lines
Like charges (++) Opposite charges (+ -)

This is called an electric dipole.

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 Magnetic Flux

• The magnetic flux is a measure of the number

of field lines passing through a region.
• The unit of magnetic flux is the weber (Wb)
• It is a vector quantity

A In a uniform field
A uniform
the number of field
magnetic
lines passing through
field has a
the larger region B is
constant
greater than through
density of
the smaller region A.
field lines
Therefore we can
throughout
say that there is a
B greater flux through
B than A
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 Magnetic Flux

• Below the magnetic flux through region A

is greater than through B because the
density of the field lines is greater.

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 Magnetic flux density

• The magnetic flux density is represented by the

symbol B.
• It is measured in Tesla (T).
• It is a measure of the flux per square metre.
• This enables us to compare the field strength

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 Magnetic Flux
• Definition:
– Magnetic field lines are lines of magnetic flux.
– The product between the magnetic flux density and the area
when the field is at right angles to the area.
– The area can be thought of as the area swept out by a
conductor.
• Symbol: 
• Equation:  = BA
• Units: Wb (Weber) or Tm2
• Note:
• The magnetic field strength is also known as the Magnetic Flux
Density.
• Magnetic Flux Density = Magnetic Flux
Area
thus Magnetic Flux = Magnetic Flux Density x area
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 Force On A Moving Charge
Lorentz Force Law
Both the electric field and magnetic field can be defined from
the Lorentz force law:

The electric force is straightforward, being in the direction of the

electric field if the charge q is positive, but the direction of the
magnetic part of the force is given by the right hand rule.

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 Force On A Moving Charge

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 DC Motor - Illustration
Force And Torque On A Closed Circuit

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 4.2 FORCES OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ORIGIN

The presence of charges in space gives rise to

electric intensity field (E) and the motion of
these charges creates magnetic flux density (B).

When a point charge of q coulombs (C) moves

with a velocity v in a space in which other
charges exist, the resultant force F on the
charge is given by Lorentz’ law : F  q ( E  v x B)

Right-hand rule
(for a positive
charge q):

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 4.2 FORCES OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ORIGIN

Torque on a current loop

The elements of an electric motor.

The current-carrying loop is free to
rotate in the magnetic field.
Magnetic forces produce a torque
that rotates the loop. The direction
of the current is reversed every
half revolution so that the torque
always acts in the same direction.

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 4.2 FORCES OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ORIGIN

Flexible wire passing between pole

faces of a magnet.
(a) no current in wire
(b) upward current
(c) downward current

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 4.2 FORCES OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ORIGIN
E (volts/m), v (m/s), and B (webers/m2)
As an application consider a current carrying
conductor in a magnetic field
fig_chp4\fig4.1.pptx. From the definition of
current
i=dq/dt
Multiplying both sides by ds will give
i ds = (dq/dt) ds = (ds/dt)dq=v dq
ds is distance covered by the charge in time dt. This
will give the differential force for E=0
L
dF =dq(v x B) = i(ds x B) and F  i(ds x B)

0

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 4.2 FORCES OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ORIGIN

F=BiL (conductor axis perpendicular to B)

The above equation gives a relation between a basic
electrical quantity i and a mechanical property F.
Enables determining current by measuring force.
A very primitive ammeter can be built as shown in figure
below.
Equating the force to the spring force will give
Kx = BiL (K = spring constant)
Solving for x gives
x = (BL/K)i or i = (K/BL)x
By measuring the deflection x in the spring, the current i
in the conductor can be determined.
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 4.2 FORCES OF ELECTROMAGNETIC ORIGIN

Fig.4.2 A primitive ammeter

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 4.3 WAVEFORM MEASURES
• This identifies a quantity such as current which is
a function of time by a single number following
the method below.
• For current i(t) flowing through a resistor, the
power dissipated is given by
P(t) = R i2 (t) which gives the average power as
1 T 1 T 
Pav   P(t )dt  R  
2
i (t )dt 
T 0
T 0

• This can also be written as

Pav  RI 2
eff

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 4.3 WAVEFORM MEASURES
• If a scalar physical quantity of interest is constant
with respect to time, the specification of this
quantity involves only one number.
• Fig. below shows a constant current of 7 C/s; to
specify this current, one needs only to state that a
current of 7 A. is flowing through the conductor.
• There is no need in such a situation to display a
plot of current versus time. Engineers describe such
a physical situation by simply stating that a 7-A
direct current is flowing. The symbol dc is shorthand
for the two words direct current.

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 4.3 WAVEFORM MEASURES

• In the case of time-varying physical

quantities the situation is more complex.
• Consider the current shown in Fig. 4.6 and
given by the following equation:
i(t) = 7 sin(377t) A
• Is it possible to describe such a waveform
meaningfully by a single number? The
answer to this question is yes.

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 4.3 WAVEFORM MEASURES

Provided we define
1 T 2 
I 2
eff    i (t )dt 
T 0 
and which defines the root mean square value (rms),
that can be used to represent a time-varying curren
i(t) as. 1 T 
1/ 2

I rms    i ( t )dt 
2

T 0 
Then the average power is given by

Pav  RI 2
rms

This allows to identify i(t) by a single number Irms.

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 Wheatstone bridge
• A Wheatstone bridge is an electrical circuit
used to measure an unknown
electrical resistance by balancing two legs of a
bridge circuit, one leg of which includes the
unknown component. The primary benefit of a
Wheatstone bridge is its ability to provide
extremely accurate measurements.

R2
Rx  R3
R1
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 Your Lecture Based on your text starts from here

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 3 .1. ELECTRICAL SIGNAL MEASUREM ENT SYSTEMS
• Almost all modern engineering measurements can be made using
sensing devices that have an electrical output.
• This means that an electrical property of the device is caused to
change by the measurand, either directly or indirectly. Most
commonly, the measurand causes a change in a resistance,
capacitance, or voltage. In some cases, however, the output of
the sensor is a measurand-dependent current, frequency, or
electric charge.
• Electrical output sensing devices have several significant
advantages over mechanical devices:
1. Ease of transmitting the signal from measurement point to the data collection
point
2. Ease of amplifying, filtering, or otherwise modifying the signal
3. Ease of recording the signal

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3 .1. ELECTRICAL SIGNAL MEASUREM ENT SYSTEMS

• In electrical signal measuring systems, the

subsystems, shown in Fig below, are readily
identified and are frequently supplied as
separate components: the sensor/transducer
stage, the signal conditioning stage, and a
recording/display/processing stage.

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3 .1. ELECTRICAL SIGNAL MEASUREM ENT SYSTEMS

• Electrical output sensing devices are sometimes

called sensors (or sensing elements) and sometimes
called transducers. In formal terms, a transducer is
defined as a device that changes or converts
information in the measurement process .
• A sensor is a device that produces an output in
response to a measurand and is thus a transducer.
Many electrical output transducers include two
stages.
• In one stage, the measurand causes a physical but
nonelectrical change in a sensor.

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3 .1. ELECTRICAL SIGNAL MEASUREM ENT SYSTEMS

• The second stage then converts that physical

change into an electrical signal. The term
transducer may also refer to devices that include
certain signal conditioners. Not only are the
terms sensor and transducer often used
interchangeably, but there are other words used
to name transducers for particular applications -
the terms gage, cell, pickup, and transmitter
being common.
• Electrical output transducers are available for
almost any measurement.

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3 .1. ELECTRICAL SIGNAL MEASUREM ENT SYSTEMS

• A partial list includes transducers to measure

displacement, linear velocity, angular velocity,
acceleration, force, pressure, temperature,
heat flux, neutron flux, humidity, fluid flow
rate, light intensity, chemical characteristics,
and chemical composition. If there is a
commercial demand for a transducer, it is
likely that it is available.

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 3.2 SIGNAL CONDITIONERS
• There are many possible functions of the signal-
conditioning stage. The following are the most
common:
• Amplification
• Attenuation
• Filtering (high pass, lowpass, bandpass, or bandstop)
• Differentiation
• Integration
• Linearization
• Combining a measured signal with a reference signal
• Converting a resistance to a voltage signal
• Converting a current signal to a voltage signal
• Converting a voltage signal to a current signal
• Converting a frequency signal to a voltage signal

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• Amplification
– Increase the level of input signal to better suit the DAQ.
– Improve the sensitivity and resolution of the measurement.
• Filtering
– Reject useless noise within certain frequency range.
– Prevent signal aliasing and distortion.
• Attenuation
– Contrary to amplification.
• Isolation
– Solve improper grounding problem of the system.
• Multiplexing
– Sequentially transmit a number of signals into single digitiser.
• Simultaneous Sampling
– Issue of measuring more than one signals at the same time.

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 3.2 SIGNAL CONDITIONERS

• Signal conditioners are important components of

electrical signal measuring systems, and they must
be treated carefully since they are capable of
introducing major errors into the measuring process.
• They often must be calibrated, either alone or in
combination with a transducer.
• In the following sections we discuss signal
conditioners to amplify, attenuate, and filter
signals.
• Also included are descriptions of circuits to
integrate, differentiate, and compare signals.

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 3.2.1 General Characteristics of Signal Amplification
• Many transducers produce signals with low voltages - signals in the
millivolt range are common , and in some cases, signals are in the
microvolt range.
• It is difficult to transmit such signals over wires of great length, and
many processing systems require input voltages on the order of 1 to 10
V.
• The amplitude of such signals can be increased using a device called
an amplifier, shown as a block diagram in fig below.
• The low-voltage signal, Vi, appears as a differential voltage on the
input side of the amplifier. On the output side of the amplifier
appears a higher voltage, Vo'
• The degree of amplification is called the gain, G:
• Common instrumentation amplifiers usually have values of gain in the
range 1 to 1000.

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 3.2.1 General Characteristics of Signal Amplification

• The term gain is often used even for devices that

attenuate a voltage (i.e. Vo < Vi).
• Hence, values of gain can be less than unity.
• Gain is more commonly stated using a logarithmic scale,
and the result is expressed in decibels (dB). For voltage
gain, it is expressed as:
Vo
GdB  20 log10 G  20 log10
Vi
• For example, an amplifier with a gain (G) of 10 would
have a decibel gain (GdB) of 20 dB, and an amplifier with
a gain of 1000 would have a decibel gain of 60 dB.
• If a signal is attenuated, that is, Vo is less than Vi, the
decibel gain will have a negative value.

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 Attenuation

• Means loss of energy -> weaker signal

• When a signal travels through a medium
it loses energy overcoming the resistance
of the medium
• Amplifiers are used to compensate for
this loss of energy by amplifying the
signal.

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 Measurement of Attenuation

• To show the loss or gain of energy the

unit “decibel” is used.

dB = 10log10P2/P1
P1 - input signal
P2 - output signal

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 Example 1
Suppose a signal travels through a transmission medium and its
power is reduced to one-half. This means that P2 is (1/2)P1. In this
case, the attenuation (loss of power) can be calculated as

A loss of 3 dB (–3 dB) is equivalent to losing one-half the power.

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 Example 2
A signal travels through an amplifier, and its power is increased 10
times. This means that P2 = 10P1 . In this case, the amplification
(gain of power) can be calculated as

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 Example 3
One reason that engineers use the decibel to measure the changes in
the strength of a signal is that decibel numbers can be added (or
subtracted) when we are measuring several points (cascading)
instead of just two. In Figure 3.27 a signal travels from point 1 to
point 4. In this case, the decibel value can be calculated as

3.42
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 3.43
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 Example 4
Sometimes the decibel is used to measure signal power in milliwatts.
In this case, it is referred to as dBm and is calculated as dBm = 10
log10 Pm , where Pm is the power in milliwatts. Calculate the power
of a signal with dBm = −30.

Solution
We can calculate the power in the signal as

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 Example 5
The loss in a cable is usually defined in decibels per kilometer
(dB/km). If the signal at the beginning of a cable with −0.3 dB/km
has a power of 2 mW, what is the power of the signal at 5 km?
Solution
The loss in the cable in decibels is 5 × (−0.3) = −1.5 dB. We can
calculate the power as

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 Distortion
• Means that the signal changes its form or shape
• Distortion occurs in composite signals
• Each frequency component has its own propagation
speed traveling through a medium.
• The different components therefore arrive with
different delays at the receiver.
• That means that the signals have different phases at
the receiver than they did at the source.

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 Noise

• There are different types of noise

– Thermal - random noise of electrons in the wire creates an
extra signal
– Induced - from motors and appliances, devices act are
transmitter antenna and medium as receiving antenna.
– Crosstalk - same as above but between two wires.
– Impulse - Spikes that result from power lines, lighning, etc.

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 Signal to Noise Ratio (SNR)

• To measure the quality of a system the SNR is

often used. It indicates the strength of the
signal wrt the noise power in the system.
• It is the ratio between two powers.
• It is usually given in dB and referred to as SNR dB.

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 ATTENUATION

• Attenuation is a general term that refers to

any reduction in the strength of a signal.
occurs with any type of signal, whether digital
or analog.
• Voltage Divider
• Most data acquisition system inputs can
measure voltages only within a range of 5 to
10 V.
• Voltages higher than this must be attenuated

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 LINEARIZATION
• Most sensor outputs are non-linear with respect to the
applied stimulus. As a result, their outputs must often
be linearized in order to yield the correct
measurements. For example: Thermocouples, for
example, have a nonlinear relationship from input
temperature to output voltage
• Two methods of linearization (can be analog or digital)
i. Software linearization
ii. Hardware linearization

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 LINEARIZATION
• Basically, it is a process of mapping/linearizing the output from
the sensors with the stimulus in order to achieve the correct
measurements

By
taking
the
slope of
these
data

Plot of nominal Seebeck

Plot of voltage versus coefficient versus temperature
temperature for three types of for three types of thermocouple
thermocouple

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 LINEARIZATION
• An ideal linear thermocouple would have a constant
Seebeck coefficient
• selecting a thermocouple for a particular temperature
range, we should choose one whose Seebeck coefficient
varies as little as possible over that range

For range between

250C to 500 C
For range between
400C to 750 C

Type S has wider

range of useful
temperature

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 3.3 INDICATING AND RECORDING DEVICES

3.3.1 Digital Voltmeters and Multimeters

• In most cases the output of the signal conditioner is
an analog voltage.
• An important component of a digital voltmeter is an
analog-to-digital (AID) converter, which converts the
input analog voltage signal to a digital code that can
be used to operate the display.
• Digital multimeters can be used to display other
types of input signals, such as current or resistance
or frequency. Some can even input and display
signals that are already in digital form.
• It is common in the process control industry to
combine a digital voltmeter with a signal conditioner
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 3.3.2 Oscilloscopes

• If the output of a sensor is varying rapidly, a

digital voltmeter is not a suitable indicating
device and an oscilloscope (scope) is more
appropriate.

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 End of Chapter 3

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