WACHEMO UNIVERSITY

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MENG 5271 – INTRODUCTION TO

MECHATRONICS

CHAPTER 3- SIGNAL CONDITIONING

Semere M. (Lecturer)
SIGNAL CONDITIONING DEVICES
 Signal conditioning devices convert the signals
from sensors to meaning full for convenient to be
interpreted by human assistance or by the next
stage of the system.
 The most commonly known signal conditioning
devices include Amplifiers and Filters.

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OPERATIONAL AMPLIFIERS
 Typical uses of the operational amplifier are to
provide voltage amplitude changes (amplitude
and polarity), filter circuits, and many types of
instrumentation circuits.
 An op-amp contains a number of differential
amplifier stages to achieve a very high voltage
gain.

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SINGLE-ENDED INPUT
 Single-ended input operation results when the
input signal is connected to one input with the
other input connected to ground.

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DOUBLE-ENDED (DIFFERENTIAL) INPUT
 In addition to using only one input, it is possible
to apply signals at each input, this being a
double-ended operation. Figure (a) below shows
an input, Vd, applied between the two input
terminals (recall that neither input is at ground),
with the resulting amplified output in phase with
that applied between the plus and minus inputs.
Figure (b) shows the same action resulting when
two separate signals are applied to the inputs,
the difference signal being Vi1 - Vi2.

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DOUBLE-ENDED OUTPUT
 While the operation discussed so far had a single
output, the op-amp can also be operated with
opposite outputs, as shown in the figure.
 An input applied to either input will result in
outputs from both output terminals, these
outputs always being opposite in polarity.

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COMMON-MODE OPERATION
 When the same input signals are applied to both
inputs, common-mode operation results, as
shown in figure. Ideally, the two inputs are
equally amplified, and since they result in
opposite polarity signals at the output, these
signals cancel, resulting in 0-V output.

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DIFFERENTIAL AND COMMONMODE
OPERATION
Differential Inputs
 When separate inputs are applied to the op-amp,
the resulting difference signal is the difference
between the two inputs.

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Common Inputs
 When both input signals are the same, a common
signal element due to the two inputs can be
defined as the average of the sum of the two
signals.

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Output Voltage
 Since any signals applied to an op-amp in general
have both in-phase and out-of phase components,
the resulting output can be expressed as

where
 Vd- difference voltage given by Eq. (14.1)
 Vc- common voltage given by Eq. (14.2)
 Ad- differential gain of the amplifier
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 Ac- common-mode gain of the amplifier
OPPOSITE POLARITY INPUTS
 If opposite polarity inputs applied to an op-amp
are ideally opposite signals, Vi1 = Vi2 = Vs, the
resulting difference voltage is

 while the resulting common voltage is

 so that the resulting output voltage is

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SAME POLARITY INPUTS
 If the same polarity inputs are applied to an op-
amp, Vi = Vi2 = Vs, the resulting difference
voltage is

 while the resulting common voltage is

 so that the resulting output voltage is

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 ASSIGNMENT I

Common Mode Rejection

and Common Mode
Rejection Ratio.

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OP-AMP BASICS
 An operational amplifier is a very high gain
amplifier having very high input impedance
(typically a few megaohms) and low output
impedance (less than 100 Ω).
 The basic circuit is made using a difference
amplifier having two inputs (plus and minus) and
at least one output.

Inverting Input

Output
Non-Inverting
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Input
 The basic circuit connection using an op-amp is
shown in below. The circuit shown provides
operation as a constant-gain multiplier.
 An input signal,V1, is applied through resistor
R1to the minus input. The output is then
connected back to the same minus input through
resistor Rf.

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 Figure below shows the op-amp replaced by its ac
equivalent circuit.

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 If we use the ideal op-amp equivalent circuit,
replacing Ri by an infinite resistance and Ro by
zero resistance, the ac equivalent circuit is that
shown in figure below.

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 The circuit is then redrawn, as shown in figure
below, from which circuit analysis is carried out.

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 Using superposition, we can solve for the voltage
V1 in terms of the components due to each of the
sources. For source V1 only (-AvVi set to zero)

 For source -AvVi only (V1 set to zero),

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 The total voltage Vi is then

 which can be solved for Vi as

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 If Av >> 1 and AvR1 >> Rf, as is usually true,
then

 Solving for Vo/Vi, we get

 Finally

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PRACTICAL OP-AMP CIRCUITS
Inverting Amplifier
 The most widely used constant-gain amplifier circuit is the
inverting amplifier, as shown in figure below. The output is
obtained by multiplying the input by a fixed or constant
gain, set by the input resistor (R1) and feedback resistor
(Rf) this output also being inverted from the input.

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Non-inverting Amplifier
 The connection of Fig. 14.16a shows an op-amp circuit that works
as a non-inverting amplifier or constan t-gain multiplier. To
determine the voltage gain of the circuit, we can use the
equivalent representation. Note that the voltage across R1 is V1
since Vi = 0V.
 This must be equal to the output voltage, through a voltage
divider of R1and Rf, so that

 which results in

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Summing Amplifier
 The circuit shows a three-input summing amplifier circuit,
which provides a means of algebraically summing (adding)
three voltages, each multiplied by a constant-gain factor.
Using the equivalent representation shown

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 The output voltage can be expressed in terms of
the inputs as

 In other words, each input adds a voltage to the

output multiplied by its separate constant-gain
multiplier.
 If more inputs are used, they each add an
additional component to the output.
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Integrator
 If the feedback component used is a capacitor, the
resulting connection is called an integrator.

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Differentiator
 While not as useful as the circuit forms covered
above, the differentiator does provide a useful
operation, the resulting relation for the circuit
being

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FILTERS
 A filter circuit can be constructed using passive
components: resistors and capacitors. An active
filter additionally uses an amplifier to provide
voltage amplification and signal isolation.
 A filter that provides a constant output from dc
up to a cutoff frequency fOH and then passes no
signal above that frequency is called an ideal low-
pass filter. The ideal response of a low-pass filter
is shown in figure a.
 A filter that provides or passes signals above a
cutoff frequency fOL is a high-pass filter, as
idealized in figure b. 32
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 When the filter circuit passes signals that are
above one ideal cutoff frequency and below a
second cutoff frequency, it is called a band-pass
filter, as idealized in figure below.

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LOW-PASS FILTER
 A first-order, low-pass filter using a single
resistor and capacitor

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HIGH-PASS ACTIVE FILTER
 First-order high-pass active filters

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BAND-PASS FILTER
 Figure below shows a band-pass filter using two
stages, the first a high-pass filter and the second
a low-pass filter, the combined operation being
the desired band-pass response.

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END