Sensors & Transducers

Volume 136, Issue 1 www.sensorsportal.com ISSN 1726-5479

January 2012
Editors-in-Chief: Sergey Y. Yurish, tel.: +34 93 413 7941, e-mail: [email protected]
Editors for Western Europe Editor South America
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Editor for Africa
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Editor for Asia
Editors for North America Ohyama, Shinji, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan
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Editorial Advisory Board

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and Technology, Japan Donato, Patricio, Universidad de Mar del Plata, Argentina
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Dickert, Franz L., Vienna University, Austria Ke, Cathy, Tyndall National Institute, Ireland
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Kung, Chih-Hsien, Chang-Jung Christian University, Taiwan Silva Girao, Pedro, Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal
Lacnjevac, Caslav, University of Belgrade, Serbia Singh, V. R., National Physical Laboratory, India
Lay-Ekuakille, Aime, University of Lecce, Italy Slomovitz, Daniel, UTE, Uruguay
Lee, Jang Myung, Pusan National University, Korea South Smith, Martin, Open University, UK
Lee, Jun Su, Amkor Technology, Inc. South Korea Soleymanpour, Ahmad, Damghan Basic Science University, Iran
Lei, Hua, National Starch and Chemical Company, USA Somani, Prakash R., Centre for Materials for Electronics Technol., India
Li, Fengyuan (Thomas), Purdue University, USA Sridharan, M., Sastra University, India
Li, Genxi, Nanjing University, China Srinivas, Talabattula, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
Li, Hui, Shanghai Jiaotong University, China Srivastava, Arvind K., NanoSonix Inc., USA
Li, Xian-Fang, Central South University, China Stefan-van Staden, Raluca-Ioana, University of Pretoria, South Africa
Li, Yuefa, Wayne State University, USA Stefanescu, Dan Mihai, Romanian Measurement Society, Romania
Liang, Yuanchang, University of Washington, USA Sumriddetchka, Sarun, National Electronics and Computer Technology Center,
Liawruangrath, Saisunee, Chiang Mai University, Thailand Thailand
Liew, Kim Meow, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Sun, Chengliang, Polytechnic University, Hong-Kong
Lin, Hermann, National Kaohsiung University, Taiwan Sun, Dongming, Jilin University, China
Lin, Paul, Cleveland State University, USA Sun, Junhua, Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China
Linderholm, Pontus, EPFL - Microsystems Laboratory, Switzerland Sun, Zhiqiang, Central South University, China
Liu, Aihua, University of Oklahoma, USA Suri, C. Raman, Institute of Microbial Technology, India
Liu Changgeng, Louisiana State University, USA Sysoev, Victor, Saratov State Technical University, Russia
Liu, Cheng-Hsien, National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan Szewczyk, Roman, Industrial Research Inst. for Automation and Measurement,
Liu, Songqin, Southeast University, China Poland
Lodeiro, Carlos, University of Vigo, Spain Tan, Ooi Kiang, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore,
Lorenzo, Maria Encarnacio, Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain Tang, Dianping, Southwest University, China
Lukaszewicz, Jerzy Pawel, Nicholas Copernicus University, Poland Tang, Jaw-Luen, National Chung Cheng University, Taiwan
Ma, Zhanfang, Northeast Normal University, China Teker, Kasif, Frostburg State University, USA
Majstorovic, Vidosav, University of Belgrade, Serbia Thirunavukkarasu, I., Manipal University Karnataka, India
Malyshev, V.V., National Research Centre ‘Kurchatov Institute’, Russia Thumbavanam Pad, Kartik, Carnegie Mellon University, USA
Marquez, Alfredo, Centro de Investigacion en Materiales Avanzados, Mexico Tian, Gui Yun, University of Newcastle, UK
Matay, Ladislav, Slovak Academy of Sciences, Slovakia Tsiantos, Vassilios, Technological Educational Institute of Kaval, Greece
Mathur, Prafull, National Physical Laboratory, India Tsigara, Anna, National Hellenic Research Foundation, Greece
Maurya, D.K., Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, Singapore Twomey, Karen, University College Cork, Ireland
Mekid, Samir, University of Manchester, UK Valente, Antonio, University, Vila Real, - U.T.A.D., Portugal
Melnyk, Ivan, Photon Control Inc., Canada Vanga, Raghav Rao, Summit Technology Services, Inc., USA
Mendes, Paulo, University of Minho, Portugal Vaseashta, Ashok, Marshall University, USA
Mennell, Julie, Northumbria University, UK Vazquez, Carmen, Carlos III University in Madrid, Spain
Mi, Bin, Boston Scientific Corporation, USA Vieira, Manuela, Instituto Superior de Engenharia de Lisboa, Portugal
Minas, Graca, University of Minho, Portugal Vigna, Benedetto, STMicroelectronics, Italy
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Mohammadi, Mohammad-Reza, University of Cambridge, UK Wandelt, Barbara, Technical University of Lodz, Poland
Molina Flores, Esteban, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Wang, Jiangping, Xi'an Shiyou University, China
Mexico Wang, Kedong, Beihang University, China
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Nabok, Aleksey, Sheffield Hallam University, UK Watson, Steven, Center for NanoSpace Technologies Inc., USA
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Pamidighanta, Sayanu, Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL), India Wu, DerHo, National Pingtung Univ. of Science and Technology, Taiwan
Pan, Jisheng, Institute of Materials Research & Engineering, Singapore Wu, Zhaoyang, Hunan University, China
Park, Joon-Shik, Korea Electronics Technology Institute, Korea South Xiu Tao, Ge, Chuzhou University, China
Penza, Michele, ENEA C.R., Italy Xu, Lisheng, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Pereira, Jose Miguel, Instituto Politecnico de Setebal, Portugal Xu, Sen, Drexel University, USA
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Prateepasen, Asa, Kingmoungut's University of Technology, Thailand Yaping Dan, Harvard University, USA
Pullini, Daniele, Centro Ricerche FIAT, Italy Ymeti, Aurel, University of Twente, Netherland
Pumera, Martin, National Institute for Materials Science, Japan Yong Zhao, Northeastern University, China
Radhakrishnan, S. National Chemical Laboratory, Pune, India Yu, Haihu, Wuhan University of Technology, China
Rajanna, K., Indian Institute of Science, India Yuan, Yong, Massey University, New Zealand
Ramadan, Qasem, Institute of Microelectronics, Singapore Yufera Garcia, Alberto, Seville University, Spain
Rao, Basuthkar, Tata Inst. of Fundamental Research, India Zakaria, Zulkarnay, University Malaysia Perlis, Malaysia
Raoof, Kosai, Joseph Fourier University of Grenoble, France Zagnoni, Michele, University of Southampton, UK
Rastogi Shiva, K. University of Idaho, USA Zamani, Cyrus, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain
Reig, Candid, University of Valencia, Spain Zeni, Luigi, Second University of Naples, Italy
Restivo, Maria Teresa, University of Porto, Portugal Zhang, Minglong, Shanghai University, China
Robert, Michel, University Henri Poincare, France Zhang, Qintao, University of California at Berkeley, USA
Rezazadeh, Ghader, Urmia University, Iran Zhang, Weiping, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Royo, Santiago, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Spain Zhang, Wenming, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China
Rodriguez, Angel, Universidad Politecnica de Cataluna, Spain Zhang, Xueji, World Precision Instruments, Inc., USA
Rothberg, Steve, Loughborough University, UK Zhong, Haoxiang, Henan Normal University, China
Sadana, Ajit, University of Mississippi, USA Zhu, Qing, Fujifilm Dimatix, Inc., USA
Sadeghian Marnani, Hamed, TU Delft, The Netherlands Zorzano, Luis, Universidad de La Rioja, Spain
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Sensors & Transducers Journal (ISSN 1726-5479) is a peer review international journal published monthly online by International Frequency Sensor Association (IFSA).
Available in electronic and on CD. Copyright © 2012 by International Frequency Sensor Association. All rights reserved.
 Sensors & Transducers Journal

Contents
Volume 136 www.sensorsportal.com ISSN 1726-5479
Issue 1
January 2012

Research Articles

Digital Sensors and Sensor Systems: Practical Design

Book Review………………………………………………………………………………………………….. I

Fast and Simple Measurement of Position Changes

White Paper, iC-Haus GmbH……………………………………………………………………………….. IV

A Novel Method of Linearizing Thermistor Characteristic Using Voltage Controlled

Oscillator
Narayana K. V. L and Bhujanga Rao A.............................................................................................. 1

A Data Acquisition System Based on DSP for Mechanical Nanoscale Displacement Sensor
Yong Yu, Qian Wu, Hanyu Sun, Zhengwei Li and Yunjian Ge .......................................................... 12

Modified AC Wheatstone Bridge Network for Accurate Measurement of Pressure Using

Strain Gauge Type Pressure Sensor
Subrata Chattopadhyay, Mahuya Banerjee and Sagarika Pal........................................................... 25

Fingerprint Sensors: Liveness Detection Issue and Hardware based Solutions

Shahzad Memon, Nadarajah Manivannan, Azad Noor, Wamadeva Balachadran,
Nikolaos V. Boulgouris ....................................................................................................................... 35

Fiber Optic Vibration Sensor Using Pmma Fiber for Real Time Monitoring
P. Kishore, D. Dinakar , D. Sen Gupta, P. Saidi Reddy, M. Sai Shankar, K. Srimannarayana ......... 50

ARM Processor Based Multisensor System Design for the Measurement

of Environmental Parameters
NarasimhaMurthy Yayavaram, Soundara Rajan, Vishnu Vardhan .................................................... 59

A Decoupling Algorithm Based on Homotopy Theory for 3-D Tactile Sensor Arrays
Junxiang Ding, Yunjian Ge, Yuan Wang, Zhaohui Wang .................................................................. 72

Digital Imaging and Piezo-dispenser Actuator in Automatic Flocculation Control

Jani Tomperi, Markus Honkanen, Pasi Kallio, Kauko Leiviskä, Pentti Saarenrinne, Iiris Joensuu,
Marjatta Piironen ................................................................................................................................ 83

An Embedded Web based Real Time Application for Remote Monitoring & Controlling of
MST RADAR Transmitters
Nagabhushan Raju Konduru, Lakshmi Narayana Roshanna, Rajendra Prasad Thommundru,
Chandrasekhar Reddy Devanna ........................................................................................................ 96

Advanced Oscilloscope Triggering Based on Signal Frequency

Shakeb A. Khan, Alka Nigam, A. K. Agarwala, Mini S. Thomas, T. Islam 105

Pyramidal Traceability Hierarchy for Pressure Measurements and Calibrations

at NIS- Egypt
A. A. Eltawil......................................................................................................................................... 118
 Fuzzy Logic Based Autonomous Traffic Control System
Muhammad Abbas, M. Saleem Khan, Nasir Ali and Syed Fazil ........................................................ 132

Potential of Piezoelectric Sensors in Bio-signal Acquisition

Dipali Bansal....................................................................................................................................... 147

Measurement and Analysis of Sodium in Vegetables Using ATmega16 Microcontroller

Based Spectrophotometer
K. Murugananthan and P. Neelamegam.. .......................................................................................... 158

Authors are encouraged to submit article in MS Word (doc) and Acrobat (pdf) formats by e-mail: [email protected]
Please visit journal’s webpage with preparation instructions: http://www.sensorsportal.com/HTML/DIGEST/Submition.htm

International Frequency Sensor Association (IFSA).

 Sensors & Transducers Journal, Vol. 136, Issue 1, January 2012, pp. 25-34

Sensors & Transducers

ISSN 1726-5479
© 2012 by IFSA
http://www.sensorsportal.com

Modified AC Wheatstone Bridge Network for Accurate

Measurement of Pressure Using Strain Gauge Type
Pressure Sensor
Subrata CHATTOPADHYAY, Mahuya BANERJEE and Sagarika PAL
Department of Electrical Engineering, National Institute of Technical Teachers’ Training and
Research, Kolkata [Under MHRD, Govt. of India],
Block-FC, Sector-III, Salt Lake City, Kolkata-700 106, India
E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected]

Received: 1 November 2011 /Accepted: 24 January 2012 /Published: 30 January 2012

Abstract: In order to achieve high quality of products at lesser cost, accurate measurement of different
process variables is of vital importance in any industry. There are different well-established techniques
of measurement and control instrumentations of these variables. In the resistive transducer like strain
gauge, the small resistance generally changes linearly with a process variable like pressure but their
measurement by usual AC Wheatstone bridge circuit may suffer from errors due to the effect of stray
capacitance between bridge nodal points and ground and stray inductance on the strain gauge grid
respectively. Though the conventional Wagner-Earth technique may be used to reduced the error but
not suitable for continuous measurement. In the present paper, a modified operational amplifier based
AC Wheatstone bridge measurement technique has been proposed in which the effect of stray
capacitance and inductance is minimized. This bridge performance has been studied experimentally
with the strain gauge type pressure transducer. The linear characteristics over a wide range of pressure
with good repeatability, linearity and variable sensitivity have been described. Copyright © 2012
IFSA.

Keywords: Diaphragm, Strain gauge, AC Wheatstone Bridge, Pressure sensor.

1. Introduction
Pressure is one of the important variables, which is required to measure and control in any process
industry. The pressure is measured by the different types of pressure measuring transducers [16, 17],
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 Sensors & Transducers Journal, Vol. 136, Issue 1, January 2012, pp. 25-34

[18] such as Pirani Gauge, Thermocouple Gauge, Ionization Gauge, Potentiometer type, Piezoelectric
type, Optical Pressure Transducer etc. These types of pressure transducer have longer life period but
they comparatively require various environmental and experimental precaution during the
measurement. Mechanical Pressure Elements, several simple pressure sensing elements [1, 2, 4] are
used as the interface between the source of pressure and the instrument. Actual values of pressure are
inferred by their effects on the pressure sensors [1, 2, 3] such as force [15] or position, so that pressure
values may be transduced and expressed in terms of electric [7, 9], pneumatic [3], or hydraulic signal
that can be transmitted and served as the basis for indicating, recording and controlling pressure [7],
[11, 13].

In industry, a number of process variables like level, pressure, and force related variable etc. are
measured by using the resistive transducers. The resistances of these transducers are generally very
small and the stray capacitance and inductance between the ground and the bridge nodal points and on
strain grid may produce measurement error since they become sometimes comparable with the
impedance of the transducer being measured. In order to minimize this error, different types of
balancing techniques and precautions along with some special techniques like Wagner earth technique
have been proposed by various investigators. A modified approach of the balancing techniques of ac
Whetstone’s bridge network have been reported by E. Takagishi [23] where as D. Moriali et al [24]
and P. Holmberg [25] have proposed self balancing techniques to achieve high accuracy in
measurement.

In the present paper a low cost modified operational amplifier based AC Wheatstone bridge technique
has been proposed for the minimization of the effect of stray capacitance without the use of Wagner-
earth technique. In this method the bridge nodal points of the bridge output lead wires are both kept at
virtual ground potential so that the effect of stray capacitance between the bridge output lead wires and
also between any outputs lead wire and ground may always be assumed to be negligible. The bridge
balance equations of this modified AC Wheatstone bridge network are also identical with that of the
conventional AC Wheatstone bridge network. Thus the continuous measurement may be possible by
this modified AC Wheatstone bridge network. Moreover this technique also provides an additional
bridge sensitivity factor adjustment by a linear potentiometer.

In the present investigation, the experimental work has been conducted by developing resistive strain
gauge type pressure transducers and the observed calibration curve and % error curve in terms of the
bridge components for the different values of the bridge sensitivity factor potentiometer have been
obtained and are reported in the present paper.

2. Method of Approach
The pressure measurement system contains the blocks as shown in Fig. 1, which are described below.

2.1. Process Tank

Process tank is cylindrical type Pressure container, which is nine inch long & ten inch diameter.
Output from the control valve acts as input line at the left hand side of the tank. A T- connector is
connected with input line for division input into two lines. One input line is connected to process tank
and other is connected to pressure sensor that is diaphragm. At the right hand sides an exhaust valve is
provided on process tank to adjust process load. Pressure gauge is provided on process tank to monitor
the pressure. A safety valve is mounted on the process tank.

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 Sensors & Transducers Journal, Vol. 136, Issue 1, January 2012, pp. 25-34

Fig. 1. Block diagram of pressure measurement.

2.2. Pressure Sensor

Pressure to displacement sensor is a diaphragm element. Diaphragm is popular because they require
less space, producing sufficient motion for operating electrical transducer. It is so designed that
deflection vs. pressure characteristic must be linear. Deflection depends on the following factors:

 Diameter;
 Metal thickness;
 Modulus of elasticity;
 Applied pressure.

The diaphragm element is connected right hand side of the process tank. A strain gauge is pasted at the
center of the diaphragm & another strain gauge is pasted near the end of the circular diaphragm. The
diaphragm is deflected when the pressure is increased.

2.3. Transducer

Strain gauge is used as a secondary element for pressure sensing through diaphragm and supported
directly by sensing diaphragm acting as restoring agents. Here a modified operational amplifier based
quarter AC Wheatstone Bridge measurement technique is proposed for the measurement in pressure
change. Here two fixed resistances are used as the two arms of the bridge and two strain gauges are
used as the rest two arms. This resistance may change only a fraction of a percent for the full force
range of the gauge, given the limitations imposed by the elastic limits of the gauge material and of the
test specimen. Forces which are great enough to induce greater resistance changes would permanently
deform the test specimen and/or the gauge conductors themselves, thus ruining the gauge as a
measurement device. Thus, in order to use the strain gauge as a practical instrument, small changes in
resistance have to be measured with high accuracy. One of the most common ways of producing such
a change is to use a strain gauge, which changes it’s resistance with the movement of the diaphragm.
The diaphragm is usually made of a highly carbon steel.

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 Sensors & Transducers Journal, Vol. 136, Issue 1, January 2012, pp. 25-34

3. Stress Analysis
The direction of principal stress of the circular diaphragm have been analyzed using the software
ANSYS as shown in Fig. 2. ANSYS helps designers and engineers around the world to really visualize
their ideas. With this software, developers and engineers can see a simulation of their design concept
on computer before a prototype is built. The diameter of the diaphragm used in this experiment is
86mm and thickness of the diaphragm is 0.42 mm. The computerized models are analyzed for their
response to combinations of such physical variables as stress, pressure, impact, temperature, and
velocity. This is very much useful for orientation and alignment of the strain gauge on the diaphragm.

Fig. 2. Result of stress analysis.

4. Principle of Operation
A general AC Wheatstone bridge network is modified as shown in the Fig. 3, where two very high
gain operational amplifiers A1 and A2 are connected with the bridge network and the non-inverting
terminal connected to the circuit common or ground.

This enables the bridge output nodal points B and D to be almost at the same potentials with respect to
the ground and hence the effect of stray capacitance that will exist between them and also between
them and ground and stray inductance of the inductive coil may be assumed to be minimized.

Since B and D are at virtual ground, so for the sinusoidal supply voltage V=Vm sin t, the currents
through the bridge impedances Z1, Z2, Z3 and Z4 are respectively given by,

V V V V
I1  I2  I3  1 I4  1 (1)
Z1 , Z2 , Z 3 and Z4

where V1 is the output voltage of the operational amplifier A1.

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 Sensors & Transducers Journal, Vol. 136, Issue 1, January 2012, pp. 25-34

A1
C'

C'

A2
C'

Fig. 3. Modified AC Wheatstone bridge network.

If V0 be the output voltage of the operational amplifier A2 then the current through its feedback
resistance is given by

V0
If  (2)
Rf
.

From the Kirchhoff’s current law,

I1  I 3  0 (3)

and

I2  I4  I f  0 (4)
.

From the equation nos. (1) and (3), we get,

V V1 Z 
 0 V1    3  V (5)
Z1 Z 3 or  Z1 

From the equation nos. (1), (2) and (4) we get,

V V V
 1  0 0 (6)
Z2 Z4 Rf

From the equation nos. (5) and (6) we get,

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 Sensors & Transducers Journal, Vol. 136, Issue 1, January 2012, pp. 25-34

Rf
V0  Z 2 Z 3  Z1 Z 4  V (7)
Z1 Z 2 Z 4

At balance condition of the bridge, V0=0

i.e.,

Z1 Z 3
 (8)
Z 2 Z 3  Z 1 Z 4 or Z 2 Z 4

This balance condition is identical with that of the conventional bridge network.

In the case of a strain gauge type resistive transducer, the change of resistance of the transducer is
generally measured by AC Wheatstone Bridge network. The measurement error due to the effect of
stray capacitance between the bridge nodal points and between the lead wires and stray inductance of
the strain grid may be minimized by using modified networks as shown in Fig. 4.

Fig. 4. Modified AC Wheatstone bridge network using two strain gauges.

For the modified AC Wheatstone Bridge network as shown in Fig. 4,

Z 1  R1 , Z 2  R2 , Z 3  R3  R3 , Z 4  R4 (9)

and R3 is the resistance of the resistive transducer for the minimum value of the process pressure
being measured and R3 is the change in resistance for a given change of the process pressure above
this minimum value.

Hence from the equation no. (7), the bridge output voltage is given as

V0  [ R2 ( R3  R3 )  R1 R4 ]V
Rf
R1R2 R4 (10)
or

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 Sensors & Transducers Journal, Vol. 136, Issue 1, January 2012, pp. 25-34

V0  [( R2 R3  R1 R4 )  R2 R3 ]V
Rf
R1R2 R4

If the bridge is balanced at the minimum value of the process variable for which the transducer
resistance is R3 (R3 = 0), then V0=0

At balance condition of the bridge, V0=0

So

R2 R3  R1 R4  0 and R2 R3  0 (11)

Hence from the equation nos. (10) and (11), the bridge output voltage for a change in resistance R3 by
the change in process variable above the minimum value is given by –

V0  .R3 .V
Rf
R1R4 (12)

Hence if r.m.s. value of output voltage be V0 then

V0  KR3 , (13)

where

K 
RfV
R1R4 constant (14)

Or

V0 R3 (15)

i.e., output voltage is linearly related to the change in process variable if the transducer is linear.

5. Signal Conditioning Circuit

The output voltage of AC Wheatstone Bridge is AC in nature and is mV range. This ac voltage is
proportional to change of inductance i.e. change in pressure. After passing through proper signal
conditioning circuit as shown in Fig. 4, we can get 0 volt for without pressure and 5 volts for
1 Kg /cm2 of pressure.

Rectifier & Span & Zero 0–5V

Bridge Filter
output adjustment DC

Fig. 5. Block diagram of signal conditioner.

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 Sensors & Transducers Journal, Vol. 136, Issue 1, January 2012, pp. 25-34

6. Experimental Results
Experiments have been performed by using the modified AC Wheatstone Bridge set up with a
stabilized sinusoidal excitation signal at 1000 Hz using the laboratory standard equipments to find the
calibration characteristics of the transducer, signal conditioner. The transducer characteristics have
been determined with the help of CRO and true RMS digital multimeter as a detector and measuring
unit. The initial minimum bridge balance condition is obtained in zero pressure for a selected value of
Rf by varying the resistance of potentiometer i.e. R1 and R2 at a constant excitation frequency of
1000 Hz. The performance of the bridge network for a resistive transducer has been studied by
gradually increasing the pressure and thus the change in resistance (R3).

The bridge output voltage is taken by changing pressure for both increasing and decreasing modes.
From this readings % error is calculated. Variations of Unbalance Bridge output voltage with the
change in pressure and thus change in (R3) for different values of bridge sensitivity factor resistance
Rf
and % error curves are shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7 respectively.

Rf = 5 kohm Rf = 10 kohm

Rf = 15 kohm Rf = 20 kohm
400
Bridge output in mV

350
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0,0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1,0 1,2 1,4

Change in pressure in kg per sq. cm

Fig. 6. Bridge output characteristics.

Rf=5 Kohm

0,5000 Rf=10 Kohm

0,4000 Rf=15 Kohm
0,3000
% of Deviation

Rf=20 Kohm
0,2000
0,1000
0,0000
-0,1000 0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4
-0,2000
-0,3000
-0,4000

Change in Pressure in kg per sq. cm

Fig. 7. Percentage of deviation from linearity.

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 Sensors & Transducers Journal, Vol. 136, Issue 1, January 2012, pp. 25-34

5. Discussion
There are different types of well aspect classical and modern technologies of measurement and control
instrumentation with very good accuracy. But most of the techniques are either costly or proprietary
product of manufacturers. So the basic aim of the present project is to develop low cost non-
conventional technique for accurate measurement of process variable like pressure. The maximum
excitation voltage of the strain gauge in the arm BC of the modified AC Wheatstone Bridge network in
Fig. 3 depends on the maximum output voltage (V1) of the op-amp A1. To obtain the optimum
sensitivity the bridge arms impedances should be selected to be nearly identical like all other bridge
networks. Before connecting the ground with the common terminal of the network, care is taken so
that the ground wire is nearly at zero potential and the high ground potential may not damage the ICs.
The bridge balance condition is not found to disturb on account of any change of orientation of the
lead wires. From the experimental study, a good linearity and repeatability has been observed in the
AC Wheatstone bridge network for resistive pressure transducer. The error curve in Fig. 6 is showing
the percentage of deviation from linearity. This deviation is occurring mainly for the non-uniform
deflection of the diaphragm. The technique may also be used for the inductance, capacitance,
conductance or admittance type transducers.

The sensitivity of the bridge network may be varied by varying the potentiometer Rf as explained in
equation (10). Hence quarter/half Wheatstone bridge network can be used for the measurement of
strain gauge resistance instead of full bridge technique.

The whole network gives an amplified bridge output. Hence the use of a bridge amplifier or an
instrumentation amplifier may be avoided. The bridge output may be directly rectified and filtered to
obtain a DC voltage signal to be used by a transmitter, microprocessors based, micro-controller based
or PC based instrumentation system.

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 Sensors & Transducers Journal

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