Primary sensors and transducers

= A Force Sensor is a sensor that helps in measuring the amount

of force applied to an object.
= A spring balance is an example of a force sensor in which a force,
namely, the weight, is applied to the scale pan that causes
displacement, i.e., the spring stretches. The displacement is then a
measure of the force. There exist other types of force sensors
— Strain Gauge-based force sensor
— Piezoelectric based
— Current based
Resistive-Strain Gauges
Strain Gauge based force sensor
The principle of this type of sensors is that the elongation of a conductor increases its
resistance. Typical resistances for strain gauges are 50-100 ohms. The increase in
resistance is due to
- Increase in the length of the conductor; and Decrease in the cross-section area of the conductor.

Strain gauges are made of electrical conductors, usually wire or foil, etched on a base
material, as shown in Fig. They are glued on the surfaces where strains are to be
measured.

The strains cause changes in the resistances of the strain gauges, which are measured
by attaching them to the Wheatstone bridge circuit as one of the four resistances.
SAAAAASAAANA Pressure

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(+)

Strain gauge #1

Strain gauge #2

Test specimen t
Pressure
Measuring Strain

Strain Gauge 1 Strain Gauge 2

Strain Direction

Vout c

Strain Directio
n

Strain Gauge 4 Strain Gauge 3

Strain Gauge based force sensor
=» In order to enhance the output voltage and cancel away the
resistance changes due to the change in temperature, two
strain gauges are used, as shown in Fig, to measure the force
at the end of the cantilever beam.
Strain guages " Ry
7

“1
oe
oe
OR,
/ a
| a Ry
raf
A
ee
OR, i

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Cantilever beam with strain gauge Wheatstone’s bridge circuit

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=» Astrain gauge is a sensor whose measured electrical

resistance varies with changes in strain.
a Strain is the deformation or displacement of material that
results from an applied stress.
= Stress is the force applied to a material, divided by the
material's cross-sectional area.
Gauge Factor

It is a measure of sensitivity for the strain .

gauges, and defined by

G=—-—
ER
where G is the gauge factor, and eis
PP

Strain.
Linear Potentiometer

a A linear potentiometer is a type of position sensor that converts

mechanical displacement into an electrical output.
= Linear potentiometers are often rod-actuated and connected to an
internal slider or wiper carrier. The rod will be connected to a device or
object which requires measurement. The linear potentiometer
proportionally divides an applied regulated voltage over its operational
range and provides a proportional voltage output relevant to the
position of the wiper.
= Linear potentiometers are a contacting type of sensor which means that
the moving parts make contact with each other during use.
 Principle of Working
=» Change in the position of the slider leads to a change in resistance of the
potentiometer wire and the corresponding change in output voltage
generated is a measure of the displacement of the slider to be measured.
=» Construction of Linear Potentiometer
A linear potentiometer consists of a stretched resistance wire and a sliding
or movable contact (wiper). The resistance element or resistance wire is
made up of alloys. This resistance wire is wound on a former in such a way
that the slider or Wiper may be moved along the various turns axially.
 Working of Linear Potentiometer
=» Linear potentiometer is a passive transducer because it requires external
power source for its operation. Therefore the resistance wire is excited
with either AC or DC voltage. It is represented as input voltage. When the
slider moves or slides axially along the various turns of the resistance
wire, the effective resistance existing between one end of the wire and the
Slider also changes.
=» Due to this, an output voltage is generated, which can be measured.
Alternatively, this output voltage generated can be directly calibrated to
give displacement. The output voltage generated is a linear function of the
displacement to be measured.
 Potentiometer
¢ Potentiometers work by varying
the position of a sliding contact
across a uniform resistance.
¢ In a potentiometer, the entire input Vp 0) L
voltage is applied across the whole
length of the resistor, and the A
output voltage is the voltage drop Ry "0
between the fixed and _ sliding 4
contact as shown below. |

(a) Linear type

(a) Linear type
Vp: Reference voltage; vp: Measured voltage
L, x, Ry, @, 6: Other physical parameters
Advantages
= Low Cost
= Simple to operate
= Useful for measurement of large displacements
= Low maintenance
> Disadvantages
m For linear potentiometer, large force is required to move the
slider. So it is not suitable for small force applications
= Resolution is poor
m The device has limited life due to early wear of slider or wider.
 Applications of Linear Potentiometer

1. For measurement of pressure.

2. For measurement of linear and angular displacement.
3. Both linear and rotary type potentiometers are used in control-
ling audio equipment for changing loudness, frequency of audio
signals etc.
4, Used as position feedback devices in closed loop control systems,
such as, servomechanism.
Inductive-LVDT
 Position Sensors
= Position sensors are devices that can detect the movement of an object or determine
its relative position measured from an established reference point. These types of
sensors can also be used to detect the presence of an object or its absence.
= The overall intent of a position sensor is to detect an object and relay its position
through the generation of a signal that that provides positional feedback. This
feedback can then be used to control automated responses in a process, sound
alarms, or trigger other activity as dictated by the specific application.
= Position sensors may be divided into three broad classes that include
> linear position sensors,
> rotary position sensors, and
> angular position sensors.
Inductive Position Sensor
> Inductive sensors use currents induced by magnetic fields
to detect nearby metal objects. The inductive sensor uses
a coil (an inductor) to generate a high-frequency magnetic
field.
> If a metal object is near the changing magnetic field,
current will flow in the object.
> This resulting current flow creates a new magnetic field that
opposes the original. The net effect is that it changes the
coil’s inductance in the inductive sensor.
Linear variable differential transformer (LVDT)
The transformer consists of a single primary winding ‘P’ and two
secondary windings S1 and S2 wound on a cylindrical former.
The secondary windings have equal number of turns and are identically
placed on either side of the primary windings.
The primary winding is connected to an alternating current source.
A movable soft iron core is placed inside the former.
The displacement to be measured is applied to an arm attached to the
soft iron core.
When the core is in its normal (NULL) position equal voltages are
induced in two secondary windings.
A sinusoidal voltage of amplitude 3 to 15 volt and frequency 50 to
20000 Hz is used to excite the primary.
 A — a A
Chap Os, eM
Linear variable differential transformer
é AC. laput

Primary
WU winging +
Arra iP oe
Cores pn memati | Core “
Displacement Displacement
Secondar = z
3 | | | windings 3 L fa
Outpat Outbut
} 2 . Differential cutpus
Es) Es2 Esi~ Egy
(a) iv).
i

Lig. 25°38. Circuits of an LVDY.

m |The output voltage of secondary S1 is ES1 and that of sec-

ondary S2 is ES2 In order to convert the outputs from S1 and
S2 into a single voltage signal, the two secondary S1 and S2
are connected in series opposition
m Differential output voltage is Eo = ES1-ES2
Linear variable differential transformer

m When the core is at its normal null position, the flux linking with both the sec-
ondary windings is equal and hence equal emfs are induced in them.
m Thus at null position ES1=ES2
m Since the output voltage of the transducer is the difference of the two voltages,
the output voltage Eo is zero at null position.
m Now if the core is moved to the left of the NULL position, more flux links with
winding S1 and less with winding $2. Accordingly output voltage ES1. of the
secondary winding S1 is more than ES2, the output voltage of secondary winding
S2. The magnitude of output voltage is, thus ES1- ES2 and the output voltage
is in phase with ES1 i.e. the output voltage of secondary winding S1.

m Similarly, if the core is moved to the right of the null position, the flux linking
with winding S2 becomes larger than that linking with winding $1. This results in
ES2 becoming larger than ES1. The output voltage in this case is Eo= ES2-ES1
and is in phase with ES2 ie. the output voltage of secondary winding S2.
Linear variable differential transformer

m |The amount of voltage change in either secondary winding is

proportional to the amount of movement of the core . Hence,
we have an indication of amount of linear motion.
m By noting which output voltage Is increasing or decreasing, we
can determine the direction of motion.
m Any physical displacement of the core causes the Voltage of one
secondary winding to increase while simultaneously reducing ths
voltage in the other secondary winding.
m Ihe difference of the two voltages appears across the output
terminals of the transducer and gives a measure of the physical
position of core and hence the displacement.
Linear variable differential transformer
CIIENTTIITIA = VEPIIZINIZIPGA = WEEE ETZE. .

ag ae Ca] |} (2 t
as ' r i

SEFELOLSTSL CELE LATTE} SLES TLLLE

Core at A Core at 6 Care at 8
(Null position)
(ad . (6) {ec}
Fig. 25°40, LYDT in various positions,

m When the core is moved to the left as in Fig. (a) and is at A,

ES1 is more than ES2 and therefore Eo is +ve.
m By convection this movement represents a positive value of Eo
and therefore the phase angle @= O.
m When the core is moved to the right towards B as shown in
Fig.(c), ES2 is greater than ES1 and then Eo is negative.
= Therefore, the output voltage is 180° out of the phase with the
voltage which is obtained when the core is moved to the left.
Thus ¢= 180°.
 LVDT
=—— CORE POSITION

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MAGNITUDE OF |
DIFFERENTIAL y
AC OUTPUT
Primary |
Coal vail Coil 2 \
|
: | Seco NULL POSITION |
Hiction 1 la
= Cone i; Difeserese voltage 100 <— % OF FULL RANGE —> "0
I : ed : ss |
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cp o PHASE ANGLE (DEGREES) ;
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Conetant vy ;
AC voltage Iseirabatirg, eh20 |
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Ibobban Seccineday OUTPUT RELATIVE
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DC OUTPUT FROM
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 Capacitive —- Changes in the area of plates
¢ The principle of operation of capacitive transducers is based upon the
equation for capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor.
Capacitance C=€A/d
= E9E, A/d
Where
¢ C = Capacitance in Farads
° € = €9€,= 8.854*10-** F/m (farads per meter (F/m).)
° = permittivity of dielectric (medium)
¢ €, = Relative permittivity
¢ A= area of plate overlap
¢ d=distance between plates
 Top plate

Dielectric
material

OO eee
Fig. 25.103 Schematic diagram of a parallel
plate capacitive transducer.
¢The capacitive transducer works on the principle of change of
capacitance which may be caused by :
¢ (i) Change in overlapping area A,
¢ (ii) Change in the distance d between the plates, and
¢ (iii) Change in dielectric constant.
¢ These changes are caused by physical variables like displacement,
force, and pressure in most of the cases.
¢ The change in capacitance may be caused by the change in dielectric
constant as is the case in the measurement of liquid or gas levels.
¢ The capacitance may be measured with bridge circuits. The output
impedance of a capacitive transducer is:
¢ X.=l/2afc, where C = capacitance and
¢ f = frequency of excitation in Hz
 Moving
plate

Displacement

Capacitance
—— Increases

—— Decreases
 Displacement .
Min. Max.

Fig. 25.105 Capacitance displacement curve of ca-

pacitive transducer (working on principle of change of
plate area caused by change in displacement).
Opto-Electronic Transducers- Semiconductors,
photodiodes.
 Opto-Electronic Transducers
Optical Transducers
¢ An optical transducer is a light sensor i.e. a transducer that produces an
electrical output response to light input.
¢ In instrumentation systems, measurements are not confined to visible radiation
of light but are concerned with a wider spectrum of radiation including infrared
and ultraviolet.
¢ The term /ight denotes the total range of radiation involved.
¢ The techniques used in instrumentation and process control are called optical
because the spectrum involved is either the visible one or infrared or
ultraviolet, the latter two are beyond the two extreme ends of the visible
spectrum.
PHOTOMETRIC/RADIOMETRIC MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS
A measurement system for photometric/ radiometric measurements consists of
the following :
,
(1) optical sources Optical we Optical
ork :
Optical
source auateen * detector
(2) optical modulating systems and oy
(3) optical detectors.
¢ A photometric/radiometric measurement system is a device that measures the
intensity and sterance of a light beam.
¢ Any basic photometric/radiometric measurement consists of a light source
such as sunlight, incandescent sources, fluorescent sources, LED, and
laser beam.
¢ The light is modulated with the help of light suppressors, light attenuators,
and filters before it is made incident upon the detectors.
¢ The detectors used are _ photoelectric transducers (photo emissive,
Semiconductors photoelectric transducers, and thermal sensors).
 (nm)
Wavelength
|
10
Extreme
Optical Spectrum

200
300 Far
Ultraviolet

370 Near
—
=

[ Violet
Blue
(b) 492 Pe
S72
597
ai
Yellow
Visible

622 — ge
Photometry
Radiometry

Red
—+
+4

hh I Near
1500 r
Middle
6000 F
Far
40000
Infra-red

‘ott Far far b a a

Semiconductor Photoelectric Transducers
¢ The general scheme of semiconductor photoelectric
transducers is shown in the figure.
¢ Optical radiation, X-rays, and certain corpuscular
radiations fall on a semiconductor
transducer and are absorbed.
photoelectric

¢ The process of energy absorption produces movable Radiation

Output
|
AR, Al, AV

|
charges or a change of mobility of the charge carriers in Z
so

the semiconductors thereby producing one of the Semiconductor

following effects depending upon the type of
transducer used :
(i) change in resistance, AR,
(ii) change in current output, A / and
(iii) change in voltage output, A V
1. Photoconductive cells
¢ Electrical conduction in semiconductor materials occurs when free charge carriers,
e.g., electrons, are available in the material when an electric field is applied.
¢ In certain semiconductors, light energy falling on them is of the correct order of
magnitude to release charge carriers which increase the flow of current produced
by an applied voltage.
¢ The increase of current with increase in light intensity with the applied voltage
remaining constant means that the resistance of semiconductors decreases with
increase in light intensity.
¢ Therefore, these semiconductors are called photoconductive cells or Photo
Resistors or sometime Light Dependent Resistors (LDR), since incident light
effectively varies their resistance.
¢The two most commonly used photoconductive semiconductor
materials are cadmium sulphide (CdS) with a band gap of 2.42 eV and
cadmium selenide (CdSe) with a band gap of 1.74 eV.
¢ The photoconductive cells use a special type of construction that
minimizes resistance while providing maximum surface.
¢ Photoconductive cells are made by chemically sintering the required
powder (CdS) or (CdSe) into tablets of the required shape, and
enclosing them in a protective envelope of glass or plastic.
¢ Electrodes are deposited on the tablet surface and are made of
materials which give an ohmic contact, but with low resistance
compared with that of the photo-conductor.
¢ Gold is typically used.
 Encapsulation Photoconductive
% material

Electrodes

Lead out
wires
¢ When the cell is kept in darkness, its resistance is called dark resistance. The dark
resistance may be as high as 10xl0/¢ohms.
¢ If the cell is illuminated its resistance decreases.
¢ The resistance depends on the physical character of the photoconductive layer as
well as on the dimensions of the cell and its geometric configuration.
¢ The current depends upon the d.c. voltage applied. The current is of the order of mA.
2. Photodiodes.

¢ The photodiode incorporates a P and an N-type layer.

¢ The system has the electrical characteristics of a rectifier.
¢ Radiation is directed in the vicinity of the PN junction and causes a flow
of current.

Radiahon
_ Phote-diode

te i
<= Load Srartprut ;
resistance Voltage, Ey
R. |

, - iain ae
(a)
¢ The photodiode is reverse-biased. The 100
reverse-biased saturation current is
dependent upon the intensity of the 80 f scone eid
incident light. uf :
¢The photodiode is very useful for = H = 500 Wim?
applications where the _ space _ is : T
restricted. The effective area of a 3 = tc ay
photodiode is about 0.2 mm? and it has 2 ——
a pinhead (serving as an electrode) ofa
diameter of 0.5 mm. 7 So aaa
¢The photocurrent’ versus light Reverse
bias (V) >
relationship is linear over a wide
range. To maintain the linearity the
bias voltage should be kept constant.
¢ It is clear that the output resistance R = AV / Al, is very high and is of the
order of tens of Mohm.
¢ The d.c. resistance, V/I, is the diode leakage resistance and that too is
very high. This d,c. resistance depends upon the light intensity.
¢ The frequency response of a photodiode is largely dependent upon the
intrinsic capacity which is typically 2 pF for a reverse bias of -10 V.
¢ Even in dark there is always leakage current of the photodiode and this
current is known as dark current. The dark current doubles about every
10°C increase in temperature for silicon and this decreases the signal to
noise ratio.
¢ The disadvantages of photodiodes include small active area, rapid
increase in dark current with temperature, bias voltage requirement,
and the necessity of amplification at low illumination levels.
3. Phototransistors.

¢ A phototransistor is a normal transistor in which the envelope enclosing

the junction is transparent to allow light to fall on the base emitter
junction.
¢ At any PN junction hole-electron pairs are generated when light falls on the
junction, so that any light falling on the base-emitter junction, produces a
current which is amplified by transistor action, making the device very
Sensitive.
¢ The dark current increases ina
phototransistor exponentially |
. 4
with rise in temperature and if 3 _ 16
the temperature is sufficiently ¢ @ ,,
high the dark and light currents = 2 ~ H = 60 Wim?
may be indistinguishable. S58 ees
¢ At any given temperature the 7 | H= 40 Wim?
dark current can be reduced to ~ * | _H=30W/m—
a small value by biasing the = H= 12.5 W/m 4
base of the transistor which is , " a3 60 80
normally left open-circuited. (Supply voltage, V)
it

¢ The sensitivity is decreased but

the ratio of light to dark
current is increased.
¢ The advantages of the phototransistor are low power consumption,
small size, immediate operation on switching on, low voltage operation,
and long life.
¢ A phototransistor gives a high gain.
¢ This transistor is very good for digital applications because of the small
rise and fall times.
¢The rise time, which represents the response to dark-to-light
irradiance is about 1 gs and the fall time which represents light-to-dark
light irradiance is about 10 ps
4. Photovoltaic cell.

¢ This is an important class of photodetectors.

¢ They generate a voltage that is proportional to EM radiation intensity.
¢ They are called photovoltaic cells because of their voltage-generating
characteristics. They convert the EM energy into electrical energy. They
are passive transducers ie., they do not need an external source to power
them.
¢ The cell is a giant diode, constructing a PN junction between appropriately
doped semiconductors.
¢ Photons striking the cell pass through the thin P-doped upper layer and
are absorbed by electrons in the lower N layer, causing the formation of
conduction electrons and holes. The depletion zone potential of the PN
junction then separates these conduction holes and electrons causing a
difference of potential to develop across the junction.
 Conductor
(upper contact) P doped
sermconductor
Radiation

N doped
Conductor
serrmiconductor
base
¢ The open circuit voltage is given by :
°E,=E,log,E.: (V)
¢ where E. = calibration voltage ; (V)
¢ and E, = radiant incidence ; (W/m)
¢ The photovoltaic cells can operate satisfactorily in the temperature
range of - 100 to 125°C.
¢ The temperature changes have little effect on short circuit current but
affect the open circuit voltage considerably. These changes may be of the
order of afew mV/°C in output voltage.