MEASUREMENTS:

• Measurement refers to the comparison of an unknown quantity with

a known quantity. The result of the measurement is a numeric value
with certain units.
• The measurement of a given quantity is essentially an act or the
result of a comparison between the quantity (whose magnitude is
unknown) & a predefined standard. Since two quantities are
compared, the result is expressed in numerical values.
BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF MEASUREMENT
1)The standard used for comparison purposes must be accurately
defined & should be commonly accepted
2) The apparatus used & the method adopted must be provable
 Significance of Measurements
• Two major functions of all branches of engineering
• Design of equipment and processes
• Proper Operation and maintenance of equipment and processes.
• Both these functions require Measurement.
• Measurements play a significant role in achieving goals and objectives
of engineering because of the feedback information supplied by
them.

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 Methods of Measurement
• Direct Methods

• Indirect Methods

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• DIRECT METHODS: In these methods, the unknown quantity
(called the measurand ) is directly compared against a standard.

• Measurement of Length of cloth with Scale

• Measurement of Resistance by Ohms Meter
• Measurement of Length using Vernier Caliper
• Measurement of Voltage using Voltmeter

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• INDIRECT METHOD: Measurements by direct methods are not always
possible, feasible, and practicable. In engineering applications
measurement systems are used which require the need of an indirect
method for measurement purposes.
• Indirect measurement is measuring other quantities and the required
value is determined by a mathematical relationship.
• Measurement of Volume by measuring Mass and Density
(Volume=Mass/Density)
• Measurement of Speed by measuring Distance and Time
(Speed=Distance/Time)
• Measurement of Temperature by using RTD or Thermocouple
• Measurement of DC Current by using shunt(Resistance)
(Ohms Law V=IR i.e. I=V/R) I is current, V is Voltage, R is Resistance
 Instruments and Measurement Systems.

• Measurement involve the use of instruments as a physical means of

determining quantities or variables.

• Because of modular nature of the elements within it, it is common to

refer the measuring instrument as a MEASUREMENT SYSTEM.

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 Evolution of Instruments
• The first instruments used by mankind were mechanical in nature and
the principles on which these instruments worked are even in vogue
today.
• The earliest scientific instruments used the same three essential
elements as our modern instruments
• 1) a detector
• 2) an intermediate transfer device
• 3)an indicator, recorder, or storage device.
 Evolution of Instruments.
a) Mechanical
b) Electrical
c) Electronic Instruments.

MECHANICAL: These instruments are very reliable for static and stable
conditions. But their disadvantage is that they are unable to respond
rapidly to measurements of dynamic and transient conditions.

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 disadvantage
• They are unable to respond quickly to measurements of dynamic and
transient nature.
• These instruments have several moving parts which are rigid, heavy,
and bulky and thus they have a large mass.
• The mass presents inertia problems
• Instruments cannot follow the rapid changes which are involved in
dynamic measurements.
• mechanical instruments that most of them are a potential source of
noise and cause sound pollution
 advantage
• Mechanical instruments are simple in design and application.
• They are normally durable and relatively cheaper.
• No external power source is needed for their operation.
• They are normally quite reliable and accurate for measurements
under stable conditions.
 ELECTRICAL Instruments:
• Electrical methods of indicating and transmitting the output are faster when
compared with the respective mechanical methods. However, an electrical
system normally depends upon a mechanical pointer movement as an
indicating device.
• It is faster than mechanical, indicating the output are rapid than mechanical
methods. But it depends on the mechanical movement of the meters. The
response is 0.5 to 24 seconds.

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• Electrical instruments are light and compact.
• Amplification produced is higher than what is produced by
mechanical methods.
• These instruments provide greater flexibility and are lighter in
construction.
• Also, they consume less power and thus cause a lesser load on
the system.
 Electronic Instruments
• Majority of the modern instruments used for scientific and
industrial measurement applications require very rapid
responses.
• The mechanical and electrical instruments and systems cannot
meet these requirements.
• These instruments involved vacuum tubes or semi-conductor
devices.
• The present-day practice is to use semi-conductor devices
owing to their having many advantages over their vacuum tube
counterparts.
 Advantages of Electronic Instruments
• Higher sensitivity
• A faster response
• Greater flexibility
• Lower weight
• Lower power consumption
• A higher degree of reliability than their mechanical or purely electrical
counterparts.
Functional Elements of an Instruments
• Primary sensing Element: The quantity under measurement
makes its first contact with the primary sensing element of a
measurement system.
• i.e., the measurand- (the unknown quantity which is to be measured)
is first detected by primary sensor which gives the output in a
different analogous form This output is then converted into an e
electrical signal by a transducer - (which converts energy from one
form to another).
• The first stage of a measurement system is known as a detector
transducer stage.
• Variable conversion Element:
• The output of the primary sensing element may be electrical signal of
any form it may be voltage, a frequency or some other electrical
parameter.
• For the instrument to perform the desired function, it may be
necessary to convert this output to some other suitable form.
Variable Manipulation Element:
• The function of this element is to manipulate the signal presented to
it preserving the original nature of the signal.
• It is not necessary that a variable manipulation element should follow
the variable conversion element.
• Some non -linear processes like modulation, detection, sampling,
filtering, chopping etc, are performed on the signal to bring it to the
desired form to be accepted by the next stage of measurement
system
• This process of conversion is called signal Conditioning
• Data Transmission Element:
It becomes necessary to transmit data from one to another.

• Data presentation Element:

The display or readout devices which display the required
information about the measurement.
These devices may be analog or digital indicating instruments like
ammeters, voltmeters etc.
In case data is to be recorded, recorders like magnetic tapes, high
speed camera & TV equipment, CRT, printers may be used.
For control & analysis purpose microprocessor or computers may
be used. The final stage in a measurement system is known as
terminating stage.
 Classification of Instruments
• Absolute Instruments.
• Secondary Instruments.
ABSOLUTE: These instruments give the magnitude if the quantity
under measurement in terms of the physical constants of the
instrument.
SECONDARY: These instruments are calibrated by comparison with
absolute instruments which have already been calibrated.

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• Secondary instruments are classified as:
Indicating instrument: Most of the time this variable information
is obtained as a indicating of a pointer of measuring instrument.
Those instruments that measure and indicates the
magnitude. The indications are given by a pointer moving over a
calibrated scale. Ordinary ammeters, voltmeters, wattmeters,
frequency meters, power factor meters, etc.,

Integrating instrument: Ex. energy meters

Recording instrument: These instruments record continuously the

variation of the magnitude of the variables. Strip chart recorder.
Potentiometric type of recorder to monitoring temperature.
• Analog and Digital instrument
• Mechanical, Electrical and Electronics Instruments
• Deflection and Null Output Instruments
• mechanical displacement in the moving system of the
instrument.
• Permanent Magnet Moving Coil (PMMC), Moving Iron (MI), etc.,
type instruments
• A dc potentiometer is a null- type instrument.
• Functions of instrument and measuring system can be classified into
three. They are:
i) Indicating function.
ii) Recording function.
iii) Controlling function.
• Application of measurement systems are:
i) Monitoring of process and operation.
ii) Control of processes and operation.
iii) Experimental engineering analysis.

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 STATIC & DYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS
• The performance characteristics of an instrument are mainly divided
into two categories:
• i) Static characteristics
• ii) Dynamic characteristics
 Static characteristics
• The set of criteria defined for the instruments, which are used to
measure the quantities which are slowly varying with time or mostly
constant, i.e., do not vary with time, is called ‘static characteristics’.
• The various static characteristics are:
• i) Accuracy
• ii) Precision
• iii) Sensitivity
• iv) Linearity
• v) Reproducibility
• vi) Repeatability
• vii) Resolution
• viii)Threshold
• ix) Drift
• x) Stability
• xi) Tolerance
• xii) Range or span
Accurate
Accurate
& Precise

Precise Neither
Accurate
Nor Precise
 Accuracy:
• It is the degree of closeness with which the reading approaches the true value of
the quantity to be measured.
• The accuracy can be expressed in following ways:
• a) Point accuracy: Such an accuracy is specified at only one particular point of
scale. It does not give any information about the accuracy at any other point on
the scale.
• b) Accuracy as percentage of scale span: When an instrument as uniform scale, its
accuracy may be expressed in terms of scale range.
• Consider a thermometer having the scale range up to 500ºC. The thermometer
has an accuracy of ±0.5 percent of scale range i.e. 0.005 x 500 = ± 2.5 ºC.
Therefore, the reading will have a maximum error of ± 2.5 ºC.
• c) Accuracy as percentage of true value: The best way to conceive the idea of
accuracy is to specify it in terms of the true value of the quantity being measured.
The accuracy of the instruments is neglected up to ±0.5 percent from the true
value
 Precision:
• It is the measure of reproducibility i.e., given a fixed value of a
quantity, precision is a measure of the degree of agreement within a
group of measurements. The precision is composed of two
characteristics:
• a) Conformity: Consider a resistor having true value as 2385692 ,
which is being measured by an ohmmeter. But the reader can read
consistently, a value as 2.4 M due to the nonavailability of proper
scale. The error created due to the limitation of the scale reading is a
precision error.
• b) Number of significant figures: The precision of the measurement is
obtained from the number of significant figures, in which the reading
is expressed.
• The significant figures convey the actual information about the
magnitude & the measurement precision of the quantity. The
precision can be mathematically expressed as:
Example
• The closeness of two or more measurements to each other is
known as the precision of a substance.

• If you weigh a given substance five times and get 3.2 kg each
time, then your measurement is very precise but not necessarily
accurate.

• Precision is independent of accuracy.

 Conclusion
• Accuracy is the degree of closeness between a measurement
and its true value.

• Precision is the degree to which repeated measurements under

the same conditions show the same results.
 Sensitivity:
• The sensitivity denotes the smallest change in
the measured variable to which the instrument
responds.
• It is defined as the ratio of the changes in the
output of an instrument to a change in the value
of the quantity to be measured
 Linearity:
• The linearity is defined as the ability to reproduce the
input characteristics symmetrically & linearly. The
curve shows the actual calibration curve & idealized
straight line.
 Reproducibility & Repeatability
Reproducibility
•It is the degree of closeness with which a
given value may be repeatedly measured. It
is specified in terms of scale readings over a
given period of time.
Repeatability
•It is defined as the variation of scale reading
& random in nature
 Resolution & Threshold
• The smallest change in a measured variable to which an instrument
will respond.

• If the instrument input is increased very gradually from zero there will
be some minimum value below which no output change can be
detected. This minimum value defines the threshold of the
instrument
• Stability: It is the ability of an instrument to retain its performance
throughout is specified operating life.

• Tolerance: The maximum allowable error in the measurement is

specified in terms of some value which is called tolerance.

• Range or span: The minimum & maximum values of a quantity for

which an instrument is designed to measure is called its range or span
 Dynamic characteristics:
• The set of criteria defined for the instruments,
which changes rapidly with time, is called
dynamic characteristics.
The various dynamic characteristics are:
i) Speed of response
ii) Measuring lag
iii) Fidelity
iv) Dynamic error
• Speed of response: It is defined as the rapidity
with which a measurement system responds to
changes in the measured quantity.
• Measuring lag: It is the retardation or delay in
the response of a measurement system to
changes in the measured quantity.
• Fidelity: It is defined as the degree to which a measurement system
indicates changes in the measurand quantity without dynamic error.

• Dynamic error: It is the difference between the true value of the

quantity changing with time & the value indicated by the
measurement system if no static error is assumed. It is also called
measurement error