Components of Measurement Systems

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 1

 Electrical Signal Measurement Systems
• Measuring systems that use electrical signals to transmit information
between components have substantial advantages over completely
mechanical systems.
• Almost all modern engineering measurements can be made using sensing
devices that have an electrical output.
• In such devices, the measurand causes a change in an electrical property of
the device (e.g. resistance, capacitance or voltage), either directly or
indirectly.
• 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
• However, completely mechanical devices are sometimes still the most
appropriate measuring systems.
Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 2
 Signal Conditioning
There are many possible functions in the signal-conditioning
stage. Some of the common functions are:
• Amplification
• Attenuation
• Filtering
• 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
• Converting a voltage signal to a current signal
• Converting a frequency signal to a voltage signal
Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 3
 Why Need Signal Conditioning?

• Large amplification for

small signals
• Good transient
response (i.e. small time
constants)
These are difficult to do
with purely mechanical
elements - due to friction
and inertia!

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 4

 General Characteristics of Signal Amplification
• Signals in the millivolt range are common, and in some cases,
signals are in microvolt range.
• It is difficult to transmit such signals over wires of great length,
and many processing systems require input voltage on the order of
1 to 10 V.
• The amplification of such signals can be increased using a device
called an amplifier.
• The low-voltage signal, Vi, is amplified to a higher voltage, Vo.
• The degree of amplification is specified by a parameter called the
gain, G.

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 5

 General Characteristics of Signal Amplification
• Common instrumentation amplifiers usually have values of gain in the
range 1 to 1000; however, higher gains can readily be achieved.
• 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.

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 6

 General Characteristics of Signal Amplification
• Although increase in signal amplitude is the primary purpose of an
amplifier, an amplifier can affect the signal. For example, frequency
distortion, phase distortion, etc.
• Typically a signal contains a range of frequencies. However, most
amplifiers do not have the same value of gain for all frequencies.
• For example, an amplifier might have a gain of 20 dB at 10 kHz and a
gain of only 5 dB at 100 kHz.
• Frequency response of a typical amplifier is shown in the following
figure. In the figure, the decibel (dB) gain is plotted versus the logarithm
of the frequency.
(Filter , 6dB per octave
– next lecture)

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 7

 General Characteristics of Signal Amplification
• Typically, the gain has a relatively constant value over a wide range of
frequencies.
• However, at extreme frequencies, the gain is reduced (attenuated).
• The range of frequencies over which the gain is almost constant is
called the bandwidth.
• The upper and lower frequencies defining the bandwidth are called
corner or cutoff frequencies. The cutoff frequencies are defined as
frequencies where the gain is reduced by 3 dB. - Filter
An amplifier with a narrow bandwidth changes the shape of an input
time-varying signal by an effect known as the frequency distortion.

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 8

 General Characteristics of Signal Amplification
•Gain of an amplifier is relatively constant over the bandwidth, another
characteristic of the output signal called the phase angle may change
significantly.
• If the voltage input signal to the amplifier is in the form of a sine wave
and expressed as Vi(t)= Vmi sin (2πft)
where, f is the frequency and Vmi is the amplitude of the input sine
wave.
• The output signal will be
Vo(t) = GVmi( 2πft +φ )
where, φ is called the phase angle.

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 9

 General Characteristics of Signal Amplification
• Figures of amplitude response and phase response
together called Bode diagram or Bode plot.
• Pure sinusoidal waveforms, the phase shift is usually not a
problem. Complicated periodic waveforms, it may result in a
problem called phase distortion.
• Phase angle varies linearly with frequency, waveform
shape will not be distorted and it will only be delayed or
advanced in time.
• Phase angle varies nonlinearly with frequency, the shape
of the waveform gets distorted.

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 10

 General Characteristics of Signal Amplification

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 11

 Input Loading and Output Loading
• Input loading and output loading are potential
problems.
• Occur when using an amplifier.
• Using many other signal-conditioning
devices.
• Input voltage to an amplifier generated:
• Input or source device such as a sensor or
another signal conditioning device.

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 12

 Input Loading and Output Loading
• Output voltage of the source device is altered:

• When it is connected to the amplifier - a

loading problem.
• Amplifier output has similar problem, when it is
connected to another device, i.e. the amplifier
output voltage is changed.

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 13

 Input Loading and Output Loading
• Consider a source and an amplifier separately without being connected

Rs = Sensor R
Ri = Amplifier input R.
Ro = Amplifier output R.

• Now consider the combined system where the input source,

amplifier and the output load are connected together

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 14

 Input Loading and Output Loading
• Source not connected to amplifier:

• Voltage at the source output terminals will be Vs.

• No current flowing through Rs.
• Hence no voltage drop across Rs.
• Source connected to amplifier:
• Voltage at source output terminals will no longer be Vs.
• Figure 3.9, Vs, Rs and Ri form a complete circuit.
• Current flowing through Rs.
• Resulting voltage drop across Rs.
• Amplifier has placed a load on the source device.
Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 15
 Input Loading and Output Loading
• Similar
behavior is observed when the output of
the amplifier is connected to a device.
• To minimize the loading effects at the input and
output:
• Ideal amplifier (or other signal conditioner)
should have a very high value of input
resistance (Ri).
• Very low value of the output resistance (Ro).
This can be seen from next slide.

Lecture 4 Lecture Notes on MECH 373 – Instrumentation and Measurements 16

 Input Loading and Output Loading
• To analyze this circuit, we will first solve the amplifier input voltage Vi in
terms of the source voltage VS . The current through the input loop is
Vs /( Rs  Ri ) Vi
and hence, is given by:
RiVs
Vi 
Rs  Ri
VL
• Similarly, the voltage of the output loop, is given by:
R GV
VL  L i
Ro  RL

• Substituting first equation into the second equation, we get

RL Ri
VL  G Vs
Ro  RL Ri  RS
RL  Ro and Ri  RS
• If , the above equation will be approximated as
VL  GVs

• This is the equation

Lecture 4 ofNotes
Lecture anonideal amplifier,
MECH 373 – Instrumentation that is, no loading effects.
and Measurements 17