1

Sources of Error
The source of error is defined as a source that is of the same nature as signal. To identify the sources of error in an instrument, the signal flow diagram in terms of basic functional elements should be drawn for the instrument. The signal flow diagram indicates the different signals present in the instrument. For a displacement signal as per the definition, the error source should be of the same nature as displacement. Thus, the error source for displacement signal can be in the form of play in joints, deformation in elements, or backlash in gears, since play, deformation, and backlash are essentially distances. Similarly, for a force signal another force like friction is the error source. Play cannot be an error source for a force signal, and friction cannot be an error source for a displacement signal. At the design stage itself the sources of error in any instrument are identified and steps are taken to reduce the effect of error source or eliminate the error source in order to obtain required accuracy of measurement. Elements within Instruments Figure below shows the physical elements inside a dial gauge. The plunger (1) moves up and down as per the input displacement signal, d1. The plunger is guided by a transverse guide (8). There is a rack at the top of the plunger. The rack engages the pinion (2). Pinion (2) and gear (3) form a compound gear. The compound gear is supported by journal bearings at (6). The gear (3) engages with pinion (4), which is supported by journal bearings at (7). To the axis of pinion (4) a pointer (5) is rigidly fixed and the pointer moves over the scale. As per the signal flow diagram, the displacement input signal is first transduced into a rotary displacement (1) by the rack and pinion (2). Angular motion (1) is increased to another angular motion (2) by gear (3) and pinion (4) and finally (2) is transduced by the pointer into output linear motion d2 over the scale. Thus, all the

(b) Figure 1 signals in the instrument are either rotary or linear displacements only. Since the error sources in the instrument should be of the same nature as of displacement, backlash in gear meshings constitutes the main error source. The friction in gear meshings, guide and bearings cannot be an error source, since there is no force signal in the instrument. Class Notes Instrumentation & Sensors M. Sc. Mechatronics, Prof. Dr. Salim Abid Tabassum Deptt. of Mechatronics & Control Engg., U. E.T. Lahore

2 Nevertheless, better bearings and guides are used for the smooth functioning of the instrument. The backlash which is the error source is normally eliminated by connecting a hair spring at the pinion (4). The mechanism by which the backlash enters as error and how the spring connected at the pinion eliminates the error due to backlash is explained below.

(a)

(b) Figure 2 The figure 2 above shows a developed view of the gear (3) and pinion (4) meshing of the dial gauge shown above. Due to the presence of backlash, there is a gap between the profiles of the meshing gears as shown in the figure 2(a). When the plunger moves, the gear rotates. Until the plunger motion is greater than the backlash, the gear tooth profile does not touch the corresponding profile of the tooth in pinion. This means a certain input signal in the form of displacement in the plunger is lost in its passage from gear to pinion. Even though there is an input signal, there is no corresponding output signal, thus giving rise to error in measurement. By connecting a hair spring under tension at the pinion shaft, the gear meshing is confined to one side of the tooth as shown in the figure 2(b). If the gear moves from right to left, there is already contact between the teeth of the gear and pinion, and no motion is lost. The motion of the gear is transmitted truthfully to the pinion. Since the spring tension is effective at the meshing of the rack (1) and pinion (2), the error due to backlash is eliminated in this gear meshing also. The dial gauge is an instrument in which there are only displacement signals. The piston and cylinder type of pressure gauge as shown below in figure 3 is an instrument in which there are force and displacement signals as per the signal flow diagram. Hence, both friction and play in the elements of the instrument constitute error sources. For example, friction between piston and cylinder, friction in the guide for the piston rod, and play in the joint between piston rod and pointer are the error sources. Such identification of error sources at the design stage helps in the selection of proper elements to achieve higher precision in measurements.

Class Notes Instrumentation & Sensors M. Sc. Mechatronics, Prof. Dr. Salim Abid Tabassum Deptt. of Mechatronics & Control Engg., U. E.T. Lahore

3 Figure 3 Atmospheric Conditions Atmospheric conditions like temperature and humidity may introduce errors in the instrument As per the definition of source of error, temperature cannot form an error source except for a temperature signal. But it still gives rise to error source for both displacement and force signals. For example, due to temperature variations the length of the levers in the Bourdon tube pressure gauge, and the length of the piston rod in the piston and cylinder pressure gauge are changed; the pointer moves from its zero position giving rise to zero drift. Similarly, humidity may reduce the clearance between a plastic bearing bush and the rotating Journal. This reduction in clearance normally increases the friction torque in the bearing, thus forming an error source if there is torque signal in the instrument. As explained earlier, sensitivity drift is caused in some instruments by temperature change in atmosphere. Nearby AC power lines also produce an alternating magnetic field which induces voltage in the signal carrying wires of the instrument. If there are voltage signals in the instrument, the induced voltage causes error in the instrument. Loading Effect While selecting an instrument for any application, loading effect of the instrument is to be considered. For example, if a hand-held mechanical tachometer is used to find out the speed of an electric motor with low capacity, the speed of the shaft drastically reduces while the tachometer is pressed against the rotating shaft. Thus, it is impossible to find the undisturbed rpm of that motor with the mechanical tachometer. This is because the process of measurement itself disturbs the parameter being measured. Similarly, when a piston and cylinder type of pressure gauge is connected to a pressure chamber, the pressure gauge draws some quantity of fluid from the chamber as the piston moves inside the cylinder. This withdrawal of fluid reduces the pressure of the fluid itself; the pressure gauge measures only the reduced pressure. The required energy for functioning of the instrument is drawn from the measured medium in the form of pressure fluid, resulting in the reduction of pressure. This phenomenon is called the loading effect of the instrument. Consider voltmeter connected to a voltage source for measuring the voltage as shown in figure 4 below. By applying Kirchoffs law to the circuit the following relation is obtained by assuming a current, i, through the circuit ' e0 iz0 izi = 0 1

Figure 4
' where e0 is the undisturbed value of the voltage, zi is the input impedance of the instrument, and z0 is the output impedance of the voltage source. From, equation (1) it can be written that :

' e0 = i ( z 0 + zi )

Class Notes Instrumentation & Sensors M. Sc. Mechatronics, Prof. Dr. Salim Abid Tabassum Deptt. of Mechatronics & Control Engg., U. E.T. Lahore

4 Also, e0 = i zi , where e0 is the measured value of the voltage. That is,

i= e0 zi

Substituting for i in equation (2),

' e0 =

e0 ( z0 + zi ) zi

Equation (3) is rewritten as

z0 4 zi Equation (4) indicates that the measured value, e0 approaches the undisturbed value of the voltage, 1+
z0 ; tends to zero, i.e. the value of zi should be very large as compared with zo. In .other zi words, the larger the impedance of the measuring instrument, the smaller is the loading effect.
' e0 , as

eo = ' e0

Figure 5 Similarly, to find out the loading effect in current measurement, consider the circuit shown in figure 5 above. When an ammeter with an input impedance of zi is connected to the circuit, a current i0 flows through the circuit.
i0 = E z 0 + zi

' If the meter is not connected, the undisturbed current i0 through the closed circuit is given by the equation
' i0 =

E z0

From these two equations the following equation is obtained: i0 1 = ' z i0 1+ i z0

' This equation indicates that i0 will approach the value of i0 as zi/z0 tends to zero. This means that zi should be very small compared to the value of z0, which is just opposite to the condition for smaller loading effect in voltage measurement. In most of the measurement systems for mechanical quantities, however, voltage measurement is normally adopted.

Class Notes Instrumentation & Sensors M. Sc. Mechatronics, Prof. Dr. Salim Abid Tabassum Deptt. of Mechatronics & Control Engg., U. E.T. Lahore

5 Methods of Minimizing or Eliminating the Effects of Error Sources Various methods adopted for minimizing or eliminating the effects of different error sources are explained here. After identifying the error sources based on the signals in the signal flow diagram of any given instrument, methods meant for those error sources alone should be adopted in that instrument. FRICTION

Friction occurs when there is contact between relatively moving elements. Transverse guides, radial and axial bearings, and piston and cylinder assemblies are some elements with which friction occurs. In a sliding journal bearing, the friction moment (M) is given by the equation M == Wr where W is the load on the bearing, is the coefficient of friction in the bearing, and r is the radius of the journal. Any reduction in any one of the three parameters r, , and W will result in reduced friction moment. These techniques are already used in instruments. For example, in mechanical timepieces the ends of the vertical shafts are reduced in diameter. These ends are held in cylindrical bearing bushes. Since the radius is small at the ends, the resulting friction moment, which is a product of friction force and radius, is also small. Again, in wristwatches and moving coil instruments the pivots have radii of 5 to 50 m. Such small radii give rise to the same effect of a hydrodynamic or hydrostatic bearing. For the purpose of reducing the value of coefficient of friction in the bearings the following methods are adopted. First, rolling friction is nearly half of the sliding friction for any given pair of materials; hence, rolling element bearings are preferred to sliding bearings. Second, lubricants with lesser viscosity give rise to smaller coefficient of friction. For example, in aerostatic or aerodynamic bearings, air has the least viscosity among the available lubricants. Lastly, in order to reduce the load on the bearing, the whole bearing is sometimes immersed in oil. Proportional to the volume of the immersed shaft and the density of the lubricant, the buoyancy force acts upwards, and thus reduces the load on the bearing. Again the load on the bearing is partly or wholly supported by magnetic suspensions. One such suspension is shown in figure 6(a) below where the repulsive force from two suitably mounted magnets equals the weight of the suspended system. There are also friction-free spring supports in the form of torsional suspension figure 6(b) below or crossed leaf spring hinge figure 6(c) below, which are used in precision instruments.

(a)

(b) Figure 6

(c)

Class Notes Instrumentation & Sensors M. Sc. Mechatronics, Prof. Dr. Salim Abid Tabassum Deptt. of Mechatronics & Control Engg., U. E.T. Lahore

PLAY

Play exists as clearance in pivots and hinges of linkage mechanisms, and as backlash in gears. The effect of play in the joint between the slider and output link of the sine mechanism is removed by connecting a suitable leaf spring to the slider as shown in figure 7. The spring keeps the contact between the slider and the grove of the output link only at one of the faces of the groove, and thereby the effect of play is eliminated. For small angular rotations crossed leaf spring hinges (Fig. 6(c)) are used. These hinges represent not only as bearings without friction but also as bearings without play.

Figure 7

Figure 8

For eliminating the effect of backlash in gears there are many methods suggested in the literature, of which two are explained here. If there is only one gear meshing, then one of the two meshing gears is a spring-loaded scissor gear, the construction of which is shown in figure 8. If the ordinary gear has a thickness of t, then the spring-loaded scissor gear is made up of two gears of thickness t/2 each. One of the two gears is fixed to the shaft while the other gear is free on the shaft and both the gears are held together by two springs as shown in the figure. Because of the initial spring tension, gear profiles in one gear will be slightly displaced from the gear profiles of the other gear. Thus, the width of the space between two consecutive teeth is reduced. But when this spring-loaded scissor gear is assembled in meshing with an ordinary gear, the free gear rotates slightly with reference to the fixed gear so that the gap between the teeth in the spring-loaded scissor matches the thickness of the tooth of the meshing gear. Thus, there is no backlash in this gear meshing. In a gear train, however, where there are two or more gear meshings, the bulk of the error comes through either the last gear meshing or the first gear meshing. Consider the gear train with two gear meshings as shown in figure 9. The input rotational motion is xi and x0 is the output rotational motion of the gear train. This gear train is a speed-reducing unit. Due to backlash in the first gear meshing the input shaft has an angular play of x1. If NI; is the speed ratio of the first gear meshing (NI = T1/T2 where T1 and T2 represent number of teeth in the gears 1 and 2 respectively), then the corresponding angular rotation in the intermediate shaft is x1NI and at the output shaft it is, x1NINII, where NII is the speed ratio of the gear meshing II. Similarly, if x2 is the angular play in the intermediate shaft due to backlash in gear meshing II, its corresponding angular rotation in

Class Notes Instrumentation & Sensors M. Sc. Mechatronics, Prof. Dr. Salim Abid Tabassum Deptt. of Mechatronics & Control Engg., U. E.T. Lahore

Figure 9 the output shaft is x2NII. If NI = NII = 1/10, then the error at the output shaft due to the backlash x1 is x1/100, and the error due to the backlash x2 is x2/10. If it is assumed that x1 and x2 are equal, then a larger portion of the error in the output shaft comes from the second or, in other words from the last gear meshing in the speed-reduction gear unit. Similar analysis for a speed-increasing gear unit will show that a major portion of error comes from the backlash in the first gear meshing. Thus, after identifying the gear meshing with the major error source, one of the gears in that gear meshing is made up of spring-loaded scissor gear in order to reduce the error. Alternately, if a hairspring is connected to the last gear of the gear train, the error due to backlash is eliminated. Temperature

To off-set the effect of temperature the principle of opposing input is often used. For example, consider the moving coil voltmeter shown in figure 10. Due to temperature change the resistance of the coil, Rcoil, made up of metallic wires, changes as shown in figure 11. Due to resistance change the current through the coil changes. This affects the torque in the coil and the error is introduced. When a series resistor (say, a semiconductor resistance) is connected as a compensating resistance, Rcomp, which experiences a resistance change just opposite to that of metallic wire, the total resistance of the meter does not change with the temperature (Fig. 11). Thus, no error is introduced due to variation in atmospheric temperature.

Figure 10 AC POWER LINES

Figure 11

The voltage produced in signal-carrying wires by the magnetic field of nearby AC power lines can be minimized by using proper filters. There are mainly three types of filters; low pass filter, high pass filter, and band pass filter. The low pass filter passes only low frequency signals; the high pass filter passes only high frequency signals, and the band pass filter passes signals within a particular frequency range. When the desired signal has low frequency and the disturbing source is of high frequency, then low pass filter is used. The other filters are similarly used.

Class Notes Instrumentation & Sensors M. Sc. Mechatronics, Prof. Dr. Salim Abid Tabassum Deptt. of Mechatronics & Control Engg., U. E.T. Lahore

8 To understand the error produced by nearby power lines, consider the temperature measurement by a thermocouple. The changing magnetic field of 50 Hz cuts the wires connected to the thermocouple and an interfering voltage of 50 Hz is superimposed over the e.m.f., ei, produced by the thermocouple. When this voltage is taken through a low pass filter the high frequency variations of the voltage are removed and the resulting voltage is the e.m.f., ei. LOADING EFFECT

There are four methods for reducing the loading effect: (a) In a non-contact method of measurement the loading effect is avoided. (b) Considering equation (4) for loading effect, the obvious method is to select a measuring instrument such that its impedance, zi, is much larger than the output impedance of the existing circuit. But too large a value for zi produces other bad effects. For example, if a voltage measurement with a moving coil voltmeter is considered, increase in the coil resistance reduces the current flow through the coil and thus there is less deflection for the pointer for a given applied voltage. This results in less sensitivity for the instrument. To bring the sensitivity back to its original value, the springs connected to the axis of the coil can be replaced by softer springs. Now the ratio of deflecting torque to friction torque in the pivot bearings decreases indicating more inaccuracy. This would demand selecting bearings with smaller coefficient of friction so that the original ratio can be brought back. All of these changes for the sake of increasing the input resistance have resulted in a less rugged and more delicate instrument which demands very careful handling. Due to such limitations the input impedance of an instrument cannot be increased to any level. Normally the input impedance of the instrument is around 10 times the output impedance of the circuit, (c) The third method is based on the principle of auxiliary energy source. The loading effect is essentially due to the withdrawal of energy from the measured medium for the purpose of actuating the elements inside the instrument. If this energy is obtained from somewhere other than the measured medium, then there will not be any loading effect in the measured medium. This principle is implemented in the vacuum tube voltmeters (VTVM). The voltage to be measured is applied across the grid and cathode of the vacuum tube. Since there is no physical contact between the grid and cathode, there is nearly infinite input resistance; it is also to be noted that the grid current is extremely small and it is of the order of a few microamperes. Thus, practically there is no loading effect for the measured source of voltage. (d)The fourth method is based on the principle of null balance. Consider the voltage measurement by using a potentiometer as shown in figure 12. The voltage to be measured is connected at the terminals A and B as ei. The slider on the potentiometer wire is adjusted so that the galvanometer reads zero. This position of the slider, say at D, is read as voltage. At this position of the slider the voltage drop between the points C and D due to current flow from the standard battery is just equal and opposite to the applied voltage ei, thus making the current flow through the galvanometer zero. The current through the galvanometer represents the energy withdrawal from the measured voltage source. Since it is zero, an infinite input impedance and thereby zero loading effect is realized in this method of measurement. But in practice, the galvanometer due to its threshold does not indicate the current flow below threshold value. Thus, to the extent of this threshold value (which is usually very small) there is loading effect in the measurement.

Class Notes Instrumentation & Sensors M. Sc. Mechatronics, Prof. Dr. Salim Abid Tabassum Deptt. of Mechatronics & Control Engg., U. E.T. Lahore

Figure 12 To illustrate the meaning of static characteristics, consider the significance of the terms in the following specification of a strain gauge pressure transducer. Ranges: 70 to 1,000 kPa, 2,000 to 70,000 kPa Supply voltage: 10 V d.c. or a.c. r.m.s. Full range output: 40 mV Non-linearity and hysteresis: 0.5% full range output Temperature range: -54C to +120C when operating Thermal zero shift: 0.030% full range output/C Thermal sensitivity: 0.030% full range output/C The range indicates that the transducer can be used to measure pressures between 70 and 1,000 kPa or 2,000 and 70,000 kPa. It requires a supply of 10 V d.c. or a c. r.m.s. for its operation and will give an output of 40 mV when the pressure on the lower range is 1000 kPa and on the upper range 70,000 kPa. Non-linearity and hysteresis will lead to errors of 0.5% of 1000, i.e. 5 kPa on the lower range and 0.5% of 70 000, i.e. 350 kPa on the upper range. The transducer can be used between the temperatures of -54 and 120C. When the temperature changes by 1C the output of the transducer for zero input will change by 0.030% of 1000 = 0.3 kPa on the lower range and 0.030% of 70 000 = 21 kPa on the upper range. When the temperature changes by 1C, the sensitivity of the transducer will change by 0.3 kPa on the lower range and 21 kPa on the upper range. This means that readings will change by these amounts when such a temperature change occurs.

Class Notes Instrumentation & Sensors M. Sc. Mechatronics, Prof. Dr. Salim Abid Tabassum Deptt. of Mechatronics & Control Engg., U. E.T. Lahore