Instrumentation

Engineering
Enrique Iborra
Jesus Sangrador
Marta Clement
Jimena Olivares
Topic 3
Signal conditioning-2
Outline (II)
Specific analog circuits used in instrumentation
1. Amplifiers for Electronic Instrumentation

a) Definitions and types of amplifiers for electronic

instrumentation

b) Operational Amplifier (Opamp)

c) Logarithmic amplifiers

d) The instrumentation amplifier (IA)

e) Transimpedance amplifiers

f) Transconductance amplifiers

g) Charge amplifiers
Amplifiers for EISs
Definition
An amplifier is an electronic circuit that gives an output signal equal to
the input signal multiplied by the gain

OUTPUT = G  Input

The purpose of using amplifiers is to obtain an output signal of greater

amplitude than the input signal

Types of amplifiers
Type Output Input Gain units
Voltage V V dimensionless
Current I I dimensionless
Transimpedance V I V/A
Transconductance I V A/V
Amplifiers for EISs
Characteristics of amplifiers for instrumentation
 Gain (transfer function):
 Bandwidth:
 Input impedance:
 Output impedance:
 Bias current:
 Output offset voltage:
 Output range:
 Slew rate:
 Supply circuit:
 Common mode rejection:
accurate and stable
sufficient but finite (noise)
adapted to the input signal
adapted to the input signal
minimum
minimum
rail to rail
high (low parasitic capacitance)
low (symmetric or monopolar)
very high
Amplifiers for EISs
 The basic element of amplifiers for instrumentation is the Opamp
(Operational Amplifier), although integrated instrumentation amplifiers
are also frequently found.

 In general, four to five circuits are sufficient for an input stage, although
some applications require more complex modules.

 Passive components must be chosen so that the overall performance of

the circuits display low tolerance and are little dependence on
environmental quantities (especially, temperature).

 Metal-film resistors with tolerance equal or below 1% are

preferred.

 Ceramic capacitors (low dielectric losses) are preferred for low

capacitance applications

 Tantalum capacitors are used for high capacitances applications

Classification of amplifiers
According to their function
Linear. The display stable and constant GAIN
Logarithmic. Their output is “companded”; they amplify more small signals
that large signals, increasing the dynamic output range and improving the
signal to noise ratio of the signal (Dolby) to be transmitted. They can also
correct exponential variation laws or feed displays in dB.
Coupling amplifiers. They modify some property of the input stage at the
output. For example, impedance coupling with gain unity (follower)
High voltage. They are capable of handling high voltages (up to 60 V), either
at the input or output stage
Comparators. High gain amplifiers, that produce a sharp variation in the
output when the input reaches a threshold.
Multipliers: Their output is the product of two signals.
Classification of amplifiers
According to their most relevant characteristics
Bipolar. Very used owing to their wide design possibilities. Their display well
balanced characteristics and are cheap.
FET-input. The input stage is made of FET transistors, which gives them
extremely high input impedances (tens of TΩ). Stability and accuracy
undermined.
CAZ: Bipolar devices that dynamically correct their offset voltage (auto-zero
amplifiers). Especially good for handling very low signals
Bi-FET: They combine bipolar y FET technology to improve their features. They
are currently displacing bipolar amplifiers.
Super-beta. They use bipolar technology with impedances similar to FET
amplifiers but better accuracy and stability
Micro-power. Very low power levels for portable or miniaturised applications
Isolation. They contain a coupling element (optical, transformer, RF transmitter)
to electrically isolate the input and output stages (biomedical or high power
applications)
Ideal OP-AMP
OPamps are the main building blocks of amplifiers
The real OP-AMP
Real OP-AMPs deviate from ideal behaviour on account of the input bias
currents and lacks of symmetry that cause output offset voltages. In addition,
their capacitive effects reduce both their maximum operation frequency and
slew-rate.
The real OP-AMP
Influence of the bias currents in the output offset voltage

V0 is the offset voltage arising when the input currents in the AO are not
actually zero. Note that the offset voltage depends on the particular design,
which allows us to compensate it.
Architecture of the OPamp
Logarithmic amp. with OP
Their output is proportional to the logarithm of the input
𝑣𝑖
𝑣0 = 𝐾𝑣 ∙ 𝑙𝑜𝑔
𝑉𝑟

Their operating principle is based on dependence of the collector

current with the base-emitter voltage (Its advisable that Ic>>Is)
𝑣𝑏𝑒
𝑖𝐶 = 𝐼𝑆 ∙ 𝑒 𝑣𝑇 −1
Logarithmic amp. with OP
Better results are achieved using more complex topologies
Differential amplifiers
Output proportional to the difference between two input
signals

𝑉0

𝑉2 + 𝑉1
𝑽𝟎 = 𝑮𝒅 𝑽𝟐 − 𝑽𝟏 + 𝐺𝑐
2

They are used with floating sensors, as sensors mounted in impedance bridges.
Their main drawback is that they also amplify the common mode, which
reduces their accuracy.

𝐺𝑑
The figure of merit is 𝐶𝑀𝑅(𝑑𝐵) = 20𝑙𝑜𝑔
𝐺𝑐
𝐺𝑑
Example: CMR = 100 dB means = 105
𝐺𝑐
Instrumentation amp. (INAs)
Instrumentation Amplifiers (INA) are differential amplifiers
specifically designed for instrumentation applications
 Very high Gain, stable and accurate
 Very large value of CMMR
 Ideal for amplifying very small differential signals with a large common mode,
such as the signal arising from impedance bridges.
 Low input currents and offset, high input impedance, high S/N ratio

IA

𝑉𝐴 +𝑉𝐵
𝑉𝑑 = 𝑉𝐴 − 𝑉𝐵 tenths of mV 𝑉𝐶 = some mV
2
Instrumentation amp. (INAs)
One-OPAMP Instrumentation Amplifier

𝑅2 𝑅4 𝑅2
= ⇒ 𝑉0 = 𝑉 − 𝑉𝑖−
𝑅1 𝑅3 𝑅1 𝑖+

Main drawbacks of this differential amplifier (not technically not an INA)

 Moderate input impedance (depends on the R1 value)
 CMR low (< 66dB) dependent on resistor mismatch and input impedance
(sensor), temperature dependent (any variation in TCF increase the CMR)
 Poor precision, dependent on the OPAMP gain
 Gain not easy to adjust
Instrumentation amp. (INAs)
Two-OPamp Instrumentation Amplifier

Main drawbacks of this instrumentation amplifier

 Do not support unity gain

 Input limited common mode range
 The different input signal paths causes delays and poor CMR across
frequency
 Matching of resistor ratios limits CMR
Instrumentation amp. (INAs)
Three OPamp Instrumentation Amplifier (Classic)

2𝑅1 𝑅2
𝑉𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 𝑉𝑖+ − 𝑉𝑖− 1+
𝑅𝑔 𝑅1

• The addition of two OPamp buffers on the front end provides a high, well-
matched impedance source, alleviating one of the main concerns with the
simple differential circuit. The differential amplifier at the end provides the
rejection of the common mode component.
• RG sets actual signal gain, but common mode signals are only passed
through the first two amplifiers at unity gain.
• The difference amplifier will then remove any common mode components.
Instrumentation amp. (INAs)
 A large variety of INAs are available in the market.
 Their features vary significantly according to the price
 INAs integrated in a single circuit with various topologies are available

Exercise:
Compare the main characteristics of the three following commercial
instrumentation amplifiers:

 INA122 (5 €)
 AD524 (30 €)
 AD8229 (200 €)
Data Sheets are available in “Recommended readings” in Topic 3 (Moodle)
Transimpedance amps.
Transimpedance (TIA) amplifiers are current to voltage
converters
TIA are used to amplify the output current of photomultiplier tubes,
accelerometers, photo detectors and other types of sensors to a usable
voltage. They are used with sensors that have a current response that is more
linear than the voltage response. This is the case with photodiodes, where it
is not uncommon for the current response to have better than 1% linearity
over a wide range of light input.

𝑉0 = 𝐼𝑆 · 𝑅𝑆

Drawbacks: sensor output resistance R0

hat if the output resistance of the
sensor is not large (which is frequent),
the relationship is not straightforward
nor linear
Transimpedance amps.
TIA are current to voltage converters most often
implemented using an OA amp.
TIAs present a low impedance to the photodiode and isolates it from the
output voltage of the operational amplifier. In its simplest form a TIA has just a
large-valued feedback resistor, Rf. The gain of the amplifier is set by this resistor
and has a value of −Rf (because the amplifier is in an inverting configuration).
 TIA main characteristic is the
requirement to convert the low-level
current of a sensor to a voltage.
 The gain, bandwidth, as well as
current and voltage offsets, change
with different types of sensors,
requiring different configurations of
transimpedance amplifiers. Offset
currents have to be minimised to 𝑉0 = −𝐼𝑝 · 𝑅𝐹
achieve the best performance.
Transconductance amps.
Operational transconductance amplifiers (OTA) are voltage
to current converters
The operational transconductance amplifier (OTA) is an amplifier whose
differential input voltage produces an output current. Thus, it is a voltage
controlled current source (VCCS). There is usually an additional input for a
current to control the amplifier's transconductance.
They are mainly used in implementing electronically controlled applications
such as variable frequency oscillators (VCOs) and filters and variable gain
amplifier stages which are more difficult to implement with standard OP-amps.

𝑖0 = 𝑔𝑚 𝑣+ − 𝑣− = 𝐾𝐼𝑐 𝑣+ − 𝑣−
Charge amplifiers
A charge amplifier is an electronic current integrator that
produces a voltage output proportional to the integrated
value of the input current.
They are used to measure the charge in a piezo-sensor, for instance

1
𝐶𝐴 ≫ 𝐶𝐵 ⇒ ∆𝑉𝑜 = − ∆𝑄
𝐶𝐹

1
𝑓𝑐𝑢𝑡𝑜𝑓𝑓 =
2𝜋𝑅1 𝐶𝐹