Unit 3

Sensors & Transducers

By:
Rajiv R Bhandari
SNJB College of Engineering
Chandwad.
 Sensors?
• American National Standards Institute
– A device which provides a usable output in response to a specified measurand
Input Signal Output Signal

Sensor

• A sensor acquires a physical quantity and converts it into a signal

suitable for processing (e.g. optical, electrical, mechanical)
• Nowadays common sensors convert measurement of physical
phenomena into an electrical signal
• Active element of a sensor is called a transducer
 Transducer?
A device which converts one form of energy to another

When input is a physical quantity and output electrical → Sensor

When input is electrical and output a physical quantity → Actuator

e.g. Piezoelectric:

Force -> voltage

Sensors Actuators
Voltage-> Force
Physical Electrical Input
parameter
=> Ultrasound!

Electrical Output Physical Output

Microphone, Loud Speaker
 Commonly Detectable Phenomena
•Biological
•Chemical
•Electric
•Electromagnetic
•Heat/Temperature
•Magnetic
•Mechanical motion (displacement, velocity, acceleration, etc.)
•Optical
•Radioactivity
 Common Conversion Methods
•Physical
–thermo-electric, thermo-elastic, thermo-magnetic, thermo-optic
–photo-electric, photo-elastic, photo-magnetic,
–electro-elastic, electro-magnetic
–magneto-electric
•Chemical
–chemical transport, physical transformation, electro-chemical
•Biological
–biological transformation, physical transformation
Commonly Measured Quantities
Stimulus Quantity
Acoustic Wave (amplitude, phase, polarization), Spectrum,
Wave
Velocity
Biological & Chemical Fluid Concentrations (Gas or Liquid)

Electric Charge, Voltage, Current, Electric Field (amplitude,

phase,
polarization), Conductivity, Permittivity

Magnetic Magnetic Field (amplitude, phase, polarization),

Flux,
Permeability

Optical Refractive Index, Reflectivity, Absorption

Thermal Temperature, Flux, Specific Heat, Thermal

Conductivity

Mechanical Position, Velocity, Acceleration, Force, Strain, Stress,

Pressure, Torque
Choosing a Sensor
 Need for Sensors
• Sensors are pervasive. They are embedded
in our bodies, automobiles, airplanes,
cellular telephones, radios, chemical plants,
industrial plants and countless other
applications.

• Without the use of sensors, there would be

no automation !!
– Imagine having to manually fill Poland Spring
bottles
 Motion Sensors
• Monitor location of various parts in a system
– absolute/relative position
– angular/relative displacement
– proximity
– acceleration
• Principle of operation
– Magnetic, resistive, capacitance, inductive, eddy current, etc.

Potentiometer

Primary Secondary

Optoisolator

LVDT Displacement Sensor

 L V D Ts
What is an LVDT?

An LVDT is a Linear Position Sensor With a

Proportional Analog Output

An LVDT has 2 Elements, a Moving Core and a

Stationary Coil Assembly
 L V D Ts
Linear Variable Differential Transformer

• Transformer: AC Input / AC Output

• Differential: Natural Null Point in Middle

• Variable: Movable Core, Fixed Coil

• Linear: Measures Linear Position

How LVDT’s Work
Working Principle of LVDT
 Applications
• High Accuracy
• Very Good Stability
• Ability to Operate at High Temperature.
• High Sensitivity.
Photograph of LVDT
 Strain Gauge
– If a strip of conductive metal is placed under
compressive force (without buckle), it will broaden and
shorten.
– If these stresses are kept within the elastic limit of the
metal strip (so that the strip does not permanently
deform), the strip can be used as a measuring element
for physical force, the amount of applied force inferred
from measuring its resistance.
– This is the principle of a Strain Gauge.
 Strain Gauge
With no force applied to the test specimen, both strain gauges have equal
resistance and the bridge circuit is balanced. However, when a downward
force is applied to the free end of the specimen, it will bend downward,
stretching gauge #1 and compressing gauge #2 at the same time:
 Applications : Strain Gauge
• Strain gauges are used to measure force and
small displacements. They are used for
analyzing the dynamic strain of complex
structures. They are used to measure
tension, torque etc.
• Types of strain gauges are:
(a) Wire strain gauges
(b) Foil strain gauges
(c) Thin film
(d) Semiconductor
Load Cell
 Flow sensor

• A flow sensor is a device for sensing the rate of fluid flow.

Typically a flow sensor is the sensing element used in
a flow meter, or flow logger, to record the flow of fluids

Paddle Wheel
Differential Pressure Transducer

Resistance
 What is Data Acquisition System ?

• DAQ systems capture, measure, and analyze physical

phenomena from the real world.

• Light, temperature and pressure are examples of the

different types of signals that a DAQ system can measure.

• Data acquisition is the process of collecting and measuring

electrical signals and sending them to a computer for
processing.

• • Electrical signals comes from Transducers.

 The building blocks of a DAQ system
includes:
Transducer or Sensors: A device that converts a physical phenomenon
such as light, temperature, pressure, or sound into a measurable
electrical signal such as voltage or current.

Signal: The output of the transducer.

Signal conditioning: Hardware that you can connect to the DAQ device to
make the signal suitable for measurement or to improve accuracy or reduce
noise.

DAQ hardware: Hardware you use to acquire, measure, and analyze data.

Software: Application software is designed to help you easily design and

program your measurement and control application.
Block Diagram of DAS
 • Common Analog Sensors
Sensor Physical Variable

Accelerometer Acceleration

Microphone Pressure

Pressure gauge Pressure

Resistive temperature device Temperature

(RTD)
Strain gauge Force

Thermocouple Temperature
 Basic Data Acquisition System

Com
pute
Physical Analog
Paramete
Transduce
Amplifier
Active
Multiple
Sample A/D r
r Filter hold converter
r xer Data

Bus
 Data Loggers

 A data logger is an electronic

device that records data over time
or in relation to location either
with a built in instrument or
sensor or via external
instruments and sensors.

 They generally are small, battery

powered, portable, and equipped
with a microprocessor, internal  Data Logger Cube Storing
memory for data storage, and
sensors. technical & sensor data.
• Different types of data loggers and their
operation
• The differences between various data loggers are based on the
way that data is recorded and stored. The basic difference
between the two data logger types is that one type allows the
data to be stored in a memory, to be retrieved at a later time,
while the other type automatically records the data on paper, for
immediate viewing and analysis. Many data loggers combine
these two functions, usually unequally, with the emphasis
oneither the ability to transfer the data or to provide a printout
of it.
 Applications
• Environmental monitoring
• Road traffic counting.
• Unattended soil moisture level recording.
• Motor Racing
• Temperature, Humidity and Power use for Heating and
Air conditioning efficiency studies.
• Unattended weather station recording
• Measure temperatures (humidity, etc) of perishables
during shipments
• Tank level monitoring.
 Temperature Sensor
• Temperature is an important parameter in many
control systems
• Several distinctly different transduction
mechanisms are employed
• These include non electrical as well as electrical
methods
• A thermometer is the most common non electrical
sensor
• Common electrical sensors include
thermocouples, thermistors and resistance
thermometers
 Temperature Sensor Types
• Thermocouple
• Thermistor
• Resistance Temperature Detectors (RTD)
 Thermocouples
• Based on the Seebeck effect
• When any conductor is subjected to a thermal gradient, it
will generate a voltage
• The magnitude of the effect depends on the metal in use .
• A small difference voltage can be made available by use of
dissimilar metals
• Difference increases with temperature, and can typically be
between 1 and 70 µV/°C
• Thermocouples measure the temperature difference
between two points and not the absolute
temperature
• The relationship between the temperature
difference and the output voltage of a thermocouple
is nonlinear and is approximated by polynomial:
 Advantages and Disadvantages
• They are simple, rugged, need no batteries,
measure over very wide temperature
ranges.
• The main limitation is accuracy System
errors of less than 1°C can be difficult to
achieve
 Applications
• Thermocouples are most suitable for
measuring over a large temperature range,
up to 1800 °C
• These are widely used in the steel industry,
heating appliances, manufacturing of
electrical equipments like switch gears etc
 Thermistor
• A thermistor is a type of resistor with resistance varying
according to its temperature. The resistance is measured by
passing a small, measured direct current through it and
measuring the voltage drop produced.
• There are basically two broad types
NTC-Negative Temperature Coefficient: used mostly in
temperature sensing
PTC-Positive Temperature Coefficient: used mostly in electric
current control.
• A NTC thermistor is one in which the
resistance decreases with an increase in
temperature
• A PTC thermistor is one in which the
resistance increases with an increase in
temperature
Advantages and Disadvantages
• Thermistors, since they can be very small, are used
inside many other devices as temperature sensing
and correction devices.
• Thermistors typically work over a relatively small
temperature range, compared to other
temperature sensors, and can be very accurate and
precise within that range
 Applications
• High Resolution
• Small Size
 RTD
• Resistance Temperature Detectors (RTD), as
the name implies, are sensors used to
measure temperature by correlating the
resistance of the RTD element with
temperature
• As they are almost invariably made of
platinum, they are often called platinum
resistance thermometers (PRTs)
 Construction
Common Resistance Materials for RTDs:
Platinum (most popular and accurate)
Nickel
Copper
Tungsten (rare)

Image obtained from www.omega.com

September 25, 2008 Harshad Desai 44

 Construction
• RTD elements consist of a length of fine coiled wire wrapped
around a ceramic or glass core
• The element is usually quite fragile, so it is often placed inside
a sheathed probe to protect it
• The RTD element is made from a pure material whose
resistance at various temperatures has been documented.
The material has a predictable change in resistance as the
temperature changes it is this predictable change that is used
to determine temperature
 Advantages
• High accuracy
• Low drift
• Wide operating range
• Suitability for precision applications

September 25, 2008 Harshad Desai 46

 Limitations
• RTDs in industrial applications are rarely used above 660 °C.
Difficult to maintain the purity of Platinum at high temperatures
• At low temperatures the resistance is independent of
temperature as there are a very few phonons and resistance is
determined by impurities
• Compared to thermistors, platinum RTDs are less sensitive to
small temperature changes and have a slower response time.
However, thermistors have a smaller temperature range and
stability.