Assignment#1

INSTRUMENTATION & MEASUREMENT

B. Tech Electronics Engineering 2nd year
1. Briefly define and explain all the static characteristics of measuring instruments.
2. How is the accuracy of an instrument usually defined? What is the difference between
accuracy and precision?
3. Explain the difference between systematic and random errors. What are the typical
sources of these two types of errors?
4. In the circuit shown in Figure 3.17, the resistor values are given by R 1=1000 ; R2 =1000
; V= 20 volts. The voltage across AB (i.e., across R2) is measured by a voltmeter whose
internal resistance is given by Rm = 9500 .
(a) What will be the reading on the voltmeter?
(b) What would the voltage across AB be if the voltmeter was not loading the circuit (i.e., if
Rm =infinity)?
(c) What is the measurement error due to the loading effect of the voltmeter?

5. Suppose that the components in the circuit shown in Figure 3.18 have the following values:
R1 = 330 ; R2 = 1000 ; R3 = 1200 ; R4 = 220 ;R5= 270 :
If the instrument measuring the output voltage across AB has a resistance of 5000 , what
is the measurement error caused by the loading effect of this instrument?

Figure 3.18
6. Explain what is meant by the term modifying inputs.
7. Explain briefly what measures can be taken to reduce or eliminate the effect of modifying
inputs.
8. In a survey of 15 owners of a certain model of car, the following values for average fuel
consumption were reported: 25.5 30.3 31.1 29.6 32.4 39.4 28.9 30.0 33.3 31.4 29.5 30.5
31.7 33.0 29.2. Calculate mean value, median value, and standard deviation of the data
set.

9. What steps can be taken to reduce the effect of environmental inputs in measurement
systems?
10.Explain why a voltmeter never reads exactly the correct value when it is applied to an
electrical circuit to measure the voltage between two points.
11. For the circuit shown in Figure 3.17, show that the voltage E m measured across points AB
by the voltmeter is related to the true voltage Eo by the following expression:

12.The following 25 measurements were taken of the thickness of steel emerging from a
rolling mill: 3.97 3.99 4.04 4.00 3.98 4.03 4.00 3.98 3.99 3.96 4.02 3.99 4.01 3.97 4.02
3.99 3.95 4.03 4.01 4.05 3.98 4.00 4.04 3.98 4.02. Find (a)median, (b)mean, (c) standard
deviation, and (d) variance of the measurements.
13.The following 10 measurements were made of output voltage from a high-gain amplifier
contaminated due to noise fluctuations: 1.53, 1.57, 1.54, 1.54 ,1.50, 1.51, 1.55, 1.54, 1.56,
1.53 Determine the mean value and standard deviation. Hence, estimate the accuracy to
which the mean value is determined from these 10measurements. If 1000measurements
were taken, instead of 10, but s remained the same, by how much would the accuracy of
the calculated mean value be improved?
14.The density (d) of a liquid is calculated by measuring its depth (c) in a calibrated
rectangular tank and then emptying it into a mass-measuring system. The length and
width of the tank are (a) and (b), respectively, and thus the density is given by
d = m/abc,
where m is the measured mass of the liquid emptied out. If the possible errors in the
measurements of a, b, c, and m are 1, 1, 2, and 0.5%, respectively, determine the likely
maximum possible error in the calculated value of the density (d).
15.The volume flow rate of a liquid is calculated by allowing the liquid to flow into a cylindrical
tank (stood on its flat end) and measuring the height of the liquid surface before and after
the liquid has flowed for 10 minutes. The volume collected after 10 minutes is given by
Volume = (h2h1 ) (d/2)2,
where h1 and h2 are the starting and finishing surface heights and d is the measured
diameter of the tank.
(a) If h1 = 2 m, h2 = 3 m, and d = 2 m, calculate the volume flow rate in m 3/min.

(b) If the possible error in each measurement h 1, h2, and d is1%, determine the likely
maximum possible error in the calculated value of volume flow rate (it is assumed that
there is negligible error in the time measurement).