ANALOG AND DIGITAL

TRANSDUCERS
Industrial Electronics II
 Transducers

Industrial applications of transducers

include devices that change one form
of energy, such as temperature or
pressure, to an analog or digital
electronic signal.
Thermocouples
A thermocouple is a transducer which converts temperature to
voltage.
Thermocouples operate on the principle that a temperature
differential if maintained across metal, the vibration of atoms
and motion of electrons will cause a potential difference
across the metal.
As the temperature of the metal varies, so does the voltage
produced by the metal.
A thermocouple is a differential measuring device. In order to be useful,
one temperature, called the reference temperature, must be known.

Hot junction voltage - VH

Cold Junction voltage - Vc
The net voltage - VNET
VNET = VH - Vc

Because of the small value of e.m.f. generated by a thermocouple, they are often
used conjunction with instrumentation amplifiers to increase signal strength.

A thermocouple used with an amplifier is often called a temperature-measuring

transmitter. Device produce an output signal between 4 and 20 mA.

zero setting ?

span setting ?
The sensitivity of thermocouple temperature-measuring systems can be
increased by connecting several thermocouples in series.
When a group of thermocouples are combined in a series-aiding
configuration, they form what is known as a thermopile.

Devices such as thermopiles are commonly used in a radiation

pyrometer for measuring very high temperatures.
One of the advantages of pyrometers is measurement is independent of
the distance from the object to be measured without physical contact.
Thermistors & Resistance Temperature
Detectors (RTDs)

R2  R1 1  T 
 Displacement Transducers
The most common type of displacement transducer is the linear variable
differential transformer (LVDT).

The LVDT is a specially designed

transformer with one primary winding
and two secondary windings.
When an AC voltage applied to the
primary winding, voltages are induced
in the two secondary windings.
The secondary windings are
connected in series opposition so that
the two voltages in the secondary
circuit are opposite in phase.
 PRESSURE TRANSDUCERS
Pressure transducers are used to measure and control fluids
such as liquid and gas.
Pressure transducers utilise resistance, inductance, and
capacitance to measure displacement and employ devices
such as diaphragms or bellows.
 Flow Transducers
Many industrial processes require a
means for measuring fluid flow. Fluid flow
can be measured either as flow volume or
flow rate.

Q = A·v
v = flow velocity
Q = volume flow rate
A = cross-sectional area of flow carrier
Flow transducers convert either solid flow or liquid flow into
a proportional electrical output signal.
For solid flow conveyors, flow rate can calculated using
the following equation:
Q = flow in kg/mm.
W N
W s weight of material on section of length L.
N = conveyor speed, in rn/mm.
Q
L = length of weighing platform, in m L
One method of measuring liquid flow involves
using Bernoulli's principle.
This principle states that as the velocity of a fluid
increases, its pressure decreases.
Strain Gages

A strain gage is a versatile detector that is used for

measurements of torque, weight, pressure, and l
displacement. In electronic applications, strain is defined as
R
A
the change in length of an object per unit of length of the
object.

Strain gages are manufactured using copper-nickel alloy wire

and metallic foil.

The measure of the sensitivity of a gage to the strain is

called the gage factor. R / R
Gage _ factor 
The gage factor is usually between 2 and 5. L / L
 Strain Gages – cont.
Another popular type of strain gage is the semiconductor type.
Semiconductor strain gages are characterised by having higher levels of
sensitivity compared to wire- and foil type devices.
The gage factor for a semiconductor strain gage can be more than 65
times greater than its bonded-wire counterpart.
The main disadvantage of semiconductor strain gages is the fact that
they are very sensitive to temperature fluctuations and require
some sort of temperature compensation to function effectively.
 PHOTOELECTRIC DEVICES
Photoelectric devices are used to count, measure, warn, and control in a wide
variety of industrial applications.
Two basic types of photoelectric devices: those that emit light and those that
absorb light.
A photovoltaic transducer generates a voltage which is proportional to light
intensity.

A photoconductive transducer converts a change in light intensity to a change in

conductivity.
 PHOTOELECTRIC DEVICES
A photoconductive transducer converts a change in light
intensity to a change in conductivity.
LDR
Photo-diode
Photo-transistor (Darlington)
Light activated SCR (LASCR)
Opto-coupler
Triac driver
Fiber optic cable
 OPTICAL SHAFT ENCODERS
An optical shaft encoder is a digital
transducer that converts angular shaft
position it binary coded signal.
This type of sensor uses an encoder
disk to provide rotary displacement
measurement.

Types – Incremental and absolute

tachometer encoder - single-track
incremental encoder.
 HALL-EFFECT DEVICES
The Hall-effect sensor is a device that
produces an output voltage In the
presence of a magnetic field.
Hall-effect sensors and optical shaft
encoders are both used extensively in
rotor position detection.
 CAPACITIVE, ULTRASONIC AND
THICKNESS SENSORS
The capacitance of any capacitor can be altered
by changing the distance between plates, type
of dielectric, or the size of the shared plate area.
A capacitive transducer is a variable capacitor
whose capacitance is changed by some physical
condition such as the chemical composition,
pressure, thickness, or vibration.
 ULTRASONIC SENSORS
Ultrasonic transducers use high-frequency oscillators
to generate frequencies about 20 kHz. Because these
frequencies are above the audible range for most
people, they called ultrasonic frequencies.
The piezoelectric effect is based on the fact when a
voltage is applied across a crystal, the polarity causes
the crystal to expand and, other polarity causes it to
contract.
 X-ray THICKNESS SENSORS

Thickness is determined by measuring the

amount of X-ray energy that a material
absorbs as the material passes between
an X-ray emitter and a receiver.
 HUMIDITY TRANSDUCERS
The moisture content of air or any gas is a
measurement of its relative humidity and is defined
as the percentage of water vapor present in the air
compared to the maximum amount that could be
present at any given time.
A hygrometer is a transducer that produces an
output signal based on relative humidity.