AMBO University

Department of Electrical and Computer

Engineering

Course Title: Instrumentation Engineering

1
 Chapter One: Review of Basic Instrumentation
1.1: General Principles of Instrumentation
•A process is a system which generates information.
• Examples are a chemical reactor, a jet fighter, a gas platform,
a submarine(under water boat), a car, a human heart, and a
weather system.

Table 1.1 lists information variables which are commonly

generated by processes:
• Thus a car generates displacement, velocity and acceleration
variables,
•And a chemical reactor generates temperature, pressure and
composition variables.
•Weather system generates temperature. 2
 Cont…

Table 1.1: Common information/measured variables.

3
 Cont…
• observer as a person who needs this information from the
process.
( car driver, the plant operator or the nurse)
• The purpose of the measurement system is to link the
observer to the process, as shown in Figure 1.1.
• Here the observer is presented with a number which is the
current value of the information variable.
• The output of the measurement system is called measured
variable.
• The input to the measurement system is the true value of the
variable
• A perfectly accurate system is a theoretical ideal and the
accuracy of a real system is quantified using measurement
system error E, where
E = measured value − true value
E = system output − system input 4
 Cont…

Figure 1.1: An Instrumentation System

• The general measurement system consists of
several elements or blocks

Figure 1.2 General structure of measurement system.

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 Sensing element
• This is in contact with the process and gives an output
which depends in some way on the variable to be
measured.
• Thermocouple where millivolt e.m.f. depends on
temperature
• Strain gauge where resistance depends on mechanical
strain
Signal conditioning element
• This takes the output of the sensing element and converts
it into a form more suitable for further processing, usually a
d.c. voltage, d.c. current or frequency signal.
• Examples are:
• Deflection bridge which converts an impedance change
into a voltage change
• Amplifier which amplifies millivolts to volts. etc.
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 Signal processing element
• This takes the output of the conditioning element
and converts it into a form more suitable for
presentation.
Examples are:
• Analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) which converts a
voltage into a digital form for input to a computer
• Computer which calculates the measured value of the
variable from the incoming digital data.

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 Data presentation element
✓ This presents the measured value in a form which can be easily
recognized by the observer. Examples are:
✓ Simple pointer–scale indicator
✓ Chart recorders give a record, on paper, of the time variation of a
measured variable
✓ Alphanumeric display( are digital displays used to display the
numerals 0 to 9, the letters of the alphabet A to Z in either upper
or lower case format, and a few other symbols such as
punctuation marks.
✓ Visual display unit (VDU); is a combination of a CRT (referred to
as Monitors which are used in large scale displays) display and a
keyboard.

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 Sensors and Applications
• Sensing element is in contact with, and draws energy from, the
process or system being measured.
• The sensing elements can be classified according to whether the
output signal is Electrical or Mechanical.
• Sensing Elements with an electrical output are further divided into
passive and active.
• Passive sensing elements such as resistive, capacitive and inductive
elements require an external power supply in order to give a voltage
or current output signal that is proportional to the measured
variable.
• Active devices (e.g. thermoelectric elements) need no external
power supply.

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 Cont…
• Sensors with a mechanical variable output are commonly used
as the primary sensing element(followed by a secondary sensing
element with an electrical output signal)
➢ This sensors are used in measurement systems for
mechanical variables such as force, pressure or flow rate.
A: Resistive Sensing elements
a: Potentiometers for linear and angular displacement
measurement
• A pot is an electromechanical device containing an electrically
conductive wiper that slides against a fixed resistive element
according to the position or angle of an external shaft.

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 Cont…

Figure 1.3: Potentiometer displacement sensors

• This means that resistance between A and B is
proportional to the distance d travelled
• From Figure 1.3(a), the ratio of open circuit voltage
ETh to supply voltage VS is given by:
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 Cont…

i.e. voltage is proportional to displacement.

• From Figure 1.3(b), the open circuit voltage for an
angular displacement potentiometer is:

• where x = is the fractional angular displacement

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 Cont…
b. Resistance thermometers and Thermistors for
temperature measurement
• One common way to measure temperature is by using
Resistive Temperature Detectors (RTDs).
• The electric resistance of certain metals changes in a
known and predictable manner, depending on the rise or
fall in temperature.
• As temperature rise, the electric resistance of the metal
increases. As temperatures drop, electric resistance
decreases.
• RTDs use this characteristic as a basis for measuring
temperature.
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 Cont…
• The general relationship between the resistance RT
of a metal element and temperature T is a power
series of the form:

• Where Ro is the resistance at 00C and α, β, γ are

temperature coefficients of resistance.
• Thermistor – The change in resistance of a semi-
conductor that has a negative co-efficient of
resistance is known by its corresponding measure
of temperature.
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 Cont…
• The Thermistor resistance/temperature
characteristics can be described by the
relationship:

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 c. Metal and Semiconductor resistance Strain gauges
➢ Stress is defined by force/area

• A strain gauge is a metal or semiconductor element whose

resistance changes when under strain.
• The resistance of a strain gauge made of a circular wire of
length L, area A, diameter D and resistivity of material,  is
given by:
R=  L/A
• The relationship between the applied strain and the change in
resistance is given as follows:
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 Cont…
Inductive Displacement Sensors
a, Variable inductance (variable reluctance) displacement
sensors
➢ Inductive sensors are primarily based on the principles of
magnetic circuits

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 Cont…
• the total flux linking by the entire n number of the turns of
the coil is:

• FIGURE 1.4: A basic inductive sensor consists of a magnetic

circuit made from a ferromagnetic core with a coil wound on
it.7/25/2022 18
 Cont…
• The presence of the air gap causes a large increase in circuit
reluctance and a corresponding decrease in the flux.
• Hence, a small variation in the air gap results in a measurable
change in inductance.
• The self inductance L of the coil is given by:
• This indicates that the self inductance of an inductive element
can be calculated by magnetic circuit properties.
• Expressing ℜ in terms of dimensions as:

19
 Cont…
• The arrangement illustrated in Figure 1.4 becomes a
basic variable inductance sensor if the air gap is
allowed to vary.
b, Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT)
displacement sensor
• The LVDT is a transformer with a mechanically
actuated core.

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 Cont…

• Figure 1.5: LVDT

Sensor

• The two secondary's are connected in the opposed phase.

• When the core is positioned in the magnetic center of the
transformer, the secondary output signals cancel and there is
no output voltage.
• Moving the core away from the central position unbalances
the induced magnetic flux ratio between the secondaries,
developing
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an output. 21
 Cont…
C: Capacitive sensing elements
➢The simplest capacitor consists of two parallel metal
plates separated by a dielectric or insulating material
➢ The capacitance of this parallel plate capacitor is given
by:
➢

22
 Cont…
Variable dielectric displacement Sensor

Figure 1.6: Capacitive sensing elements.

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 1.3:Signal Conditioning and Conversion Circuits
Signal conditioning elements convert the output of sensing elements into a form
suitable for further processing.
➢ This form is usually a d.c. voltage, a d.c. current or a variable frequency a.c.
voltage. Examples:
➢ Amplification
➢ Attenuation
➢ Differentiation
➢ Integration
➢ Linearization
➢ Converting a resistance, Inductance, and Capacitance to a voltage signal
a, Deflection bridges
➢ Deflection bridges are used to convert the output of resistive, capacitive and
inductive sensors into a voltage signal.
Wheatstone bridge:
➢ is a bridge that Converts the output of resistive sensing elements (i.e. change in
resistance) to a d.c. voltage.

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 Cont…
➢ The output voltage is
proportional to the unknown
resistance (output resistance of
the sensing element)

Figure 1.7:Wheatstone Bridge

• The resistance R2, R3, and Rv are designed so that the bridge
will be balanced initially
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 Reactive Deflection Bridge:
• A reactive bridge has an a.c. supply voltage

Figure 1.8: Capacitive Sensor in a Deflection Bridge

The output voltage of the bridge is proportional to the

capacitance of the sensing element.

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 b. Amplifiers.
• Amplifiers are necessary in order to amplify
low-level signals.
• e.g. thermocouple or strain gauge bridge
output voltages.
• to a level which enables them to be further
processed.

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 Inverting amplifier
• Figure 1.9 shows a signal source VIN , RIN
connected to an inverting amplifier. Since
V+ = V− = 0:

Figure 1.9: Inverting amplifier

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 Non Inverting Amplifier

Since 𝑖 + = 0, 𝑉 + = 𝑉𝐼𝑁 ; also RF and R1 form a

potential divider so that:

Figure 1.10: Non-inverting amplifier.

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 Voltage follower
• A signal source VIN, RIN connected to a voltage
follower circuit in figure 1.12
𝑉 − = VOUT, and since 𝑖 + = 0, 𝑉 + = 𝑉𝐼𝑁 . Since 𝑉 − =
𝑉 + then:

Figure 1.11: Voltage follower.

• Is used as a buffer amplifier to connect a voltage signal
source with high output impedance to a low
impedance load. 7/25/2022 30
 Differential amplifier
• Figure 1.12 shows two voltage sources V1, RIN and V2, RIN
connected to a differential amplifier.
• V2, RIN and RF form a potential divider, so that:

Figure 1.12: Differential amplifier

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 Output Presentation
• The data presentation element is the final element
in the measurement system
• its function is to communicate the measured value
of the variable to a human observer
• Figure 1.16 classifies data presentation elements in
wide current use.
• It begins by classifying elements into displays and
recorders/printers.
• Displays are used If no permanent record of the
measured variables is required
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 Cont…
• A choice must first be made between analogue
pointer–scale indicators and digital displays.
• With the pointer–scale indicator, the observer
must interpolate if the pointer lies between two
scale marks:
➢thus if the pointer lies between 9 and 10 the observer
must decide whether the measured value is say 9.4, 9.5
or 9.6.
➢Thus an observation error of up to ±0.5 units is
possible.
• This problem is avoided with a digital display,
which presents the number directly as 9.5.
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 Cont…

Figure 1.13: Classification of Data presentation elements

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 Pointer–scale indicators
• A moving-coil meter is a very commonly used form
of analogue indicator because of its sensitivity,
accuracy and linear scale,
• it only responds to d.c. signals

Figure 1.14: Moving Coil Meter

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 Digital display principles
Character displays:
These are used to display the:
✓numerals 0 to 9
✓the letters of the alphabet A to Z in either upper or
lower case format, and
✓a few other symbols such as punctuation marks
▪ Displays that shows alphabetical and numerical
information are often referred to as alphanumeric.

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 Cont…
Figure 1.15 shows a seven-segment character format.

• Segments a to g are arranged in a figure of eight

configuration and the corresponding character set.
• This is limited to display only the ten numerals and
nine upper case letters

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 Cont…

Figure 1.15 Character formats for displays: (a) Seven-

segment character format
• Each character format is an array of segments or dots;
these elements are referred to as pixels.
• To display a character each pixel must be separately
switched ‘on’ and ‘off’ independently of the other pixels
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 Cont….
• As an example, suppose we want to display the
numerals 0 to 9 using the seven-segment format
(Figure 1.15).
• A seven segment decoder is used to convert the
input parallel digital signal, usually in binary
coded decimal (b.c.d.), into seven-segment code.

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 Cont…

Figure 1.16: Display of numerals using seven segment format. 40

 Graphic displays
• Graphic displays are large scale displays.
• Graphic displays are used to show line diagrams,
graphs, waveforms, bar charts, etc.,
• It consists of a large number of pixels arranged in
rows (along the y-axis) and columns (along the x-
axis).
• A typical graphic display consists of 320Χ240
matrix of pixels.
• i.e. 76 800, pixels each of area 0.33 mm Χ0.33 mm

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 Cont…
• To make electrical contact with each individual
pixel;
• it require 76, 800 electrical connections occupying
an area of a few square meters!(impossible)
• The principle of pixel matrix multiplexing is based
on time division multiplexing .
➢One pair of conductors can serve many pixels by suitable
timing of the voltage across the conductors.

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 Cathode ray tube (CRT) displays
• Cathode ray tubes are used to create large-scale
displays.
• These devices are often referred to as monitors.
• A combination of a CRT display and a keyboard is
called visual display unit (VDU).
• Figure 1.17 shows a basic CRT: electrons are
emitted at the cathode and accelerated towards the
anode.
• A third electrode, called a modulator, is placed
between cathode and anode:
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 Cont…

Figure 1.17: Cathode ray construction

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 Chart recorders
• Chart recorders record, on paper, of the time variation of a
measured variable.
• These can be analogue or digital and the record can be either
a continuous line or a series of dots.
• Need regular replacement of paper and pens.

Figure 1.18: Chart record of measured variables. 45

 Paperless recorders
• Paperless recorders use LCD displays and digital
archive memory
• have less maintenance requirements than chart
recorders.

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Figure 1.19 Paperless Typical recording 46