Unit – 1 / General concepts of measurement and instrumentation

“Whatever exists, exists in some amount”

• The process or the act of measurement
consists of obtaining a quantitative comparison
between a predefined standard and a
measurand(unknown magnitude).
• The word measurand is used to designate the
particular physical parameter being observed
and qualified; that is, the input quantity to the
measuring process.
• Measurement - a set of operations having the
Fundamental measuring process
object of determining the value of a quantity.
• Measurement provides a comparison between
what was intended and what was actually
achieved.
 Unit – 1 / General concepts of measurement and instrumentation

“Whatever exists, exists in some amount”

Basic requirements for getting

meaningful result of measurements:
1. Standard employed for comparison
purposes must be accurately
defined and should be commonly
acceptable
2. The standard must be of the same
Fundamental measuring process character as the measurand and
defined by a legal or recognized
• The measurand may be organisation or agency.
 Fundamental quantity 3. The apparatus used and method
 Derived quantity adopted for the comparison purpose
must be provable.
Unit – 1 / General concepts of measurement and instrumentation
 Unit – 1 / General concepts of measurement and instrumentation

Inspection essentially encompasses the following:

1. Ascertain that the part, material, or component conforms to the established or desired standard.
2. Accomplish interchangeability of manufacture.
3. Sustain customer goodwill by ensuring that no defective product reaches the customers.
4. Provide the means of finding out inadequacies in manufacture. The results of inspection are
recorded and reported to the manufacturing department for further action to ensure production of
acceptable parts and reduction in scrap.
5. Purchase good-quality raw materials, tools, and equipment that govern the quality of the finished
products.
6. Coordinate the functions of quality control, production, purchasing, and other departments of the
organizations.
7. Take the decision to perform rework on defective parts, that is, to assess the possibility of
making some of these parts acceptable after minor repairs.
8. Promote the spirit of competition, which leads to the manufacture of quality products in bulk by
eliminating bottlenecks and adopting better production techniques.
Standards of Measurement

• As the measurement is a process of

Standards of measurements are often
comparison, therefore regardless of our
classified as follows:
measurement method we must employ a
• Primary standards
basis of comparison – standardized units.
• Secondary standards
• The standard must be precisely defined
• Working standards
and because different systems of units
exist, the method of conversion from
system to system must be mutually
agreed upon.
• Relationship b/w the standards and read
out scale must be established.
 Unit – 1 / General concepts of measurement and instrumentation

METHODS OF MEASUREMENT

• Measurements are performed to determine the magnitude of the value and the unit of the quantity
under consideration.
• The choice of the method of measurement depends on the required accuracy and the amount of
permissible error.
• The common methods employed for making measurements are as follows:
1. Direct method
2. Indirect method
GENERALIZED MEASURING SYSTEM

Most measuring systems fall within the framework of a general arrangement consisting of three
phases or stages:
Stage 1: A detection-transduction, or sensor-transducer, stage.
Stage 2: An intermediate stage, which we shall call the signal-conditioning stage
Stage 3: A terminating, or readout-recording, stage
Each stage consists of a distinct component or group of components that preforms required and
definite steps in the measurement. These are called basic elements; their scope is determined by
their function rather than by their construction.

Primary sensing element

Variable conversion element
Manipulation element
Data transmission element
Data presentation element
 1. Primary sensing element
2. Variable conversion
element
3. Manipulation element
4. Data transmission element
Bourdon tube pressure gauge
5. Data presentation element
Applications of measurement systems

1. Monitoring of processes and operations

2. Control of processes and operations
3. Experimental engineering analysis
Instrumentation

• Instrumentation is a collective term for sensors incorporated into measuring instruments

used for indicating, measuring and recording physical quantities. Forming the basis of
process control, instruments continue to improve their capability, repeatability, accuracy,
reliability and cost.
• Instrument serves as an extension of human faculties and enables the man to determine
the value of unknown quantity or variable which his unaided human faculties cannot
measure.
• Instrument would sense a physical parameter (eg. Velocity, pressure, temperature),
process and translate it into a format and range which can be interpreted by the observer.
Characteristics of instrument

The performance of an instrument is described by  Accuracy

means of quantitative qualities termed as  Precision
characteristics  Sensitivity
• Static  Reproducibility
• Dynamic  Repeatability
Static characteristics  Drift
 Static error
Measurement of applications in which parameter of
 Dead zone
interest is more or less constant or varies very slowly
with time are called static measurements.
ACCURACY AND PRECISION

• Accuracy is the degree of agreement of the measured dimension with its true magnitude.
• maximum amount by which the result differs from the true value or as the nearness of the
measured value to its true value, often expressed as a percentage.
• Precision is the degree of repetitiveness of the measuring process.
• degree of agreement of the repeated measurements of a quantity made by using the same
method, under similar conditions.
Range and Span

• The difference between the largest

and the smallest reading of the
instrument is called range.
• Span represents the algebraic
difference between the upper and
lower range values of the instrument.
• In the case of a thermometer, its scale Example:
goes from −40°C to 100°C. Thus its A pressure gauge is calibrated 5 bar to 60
span is 140°C. bar. The accuracy is specified within ±0.20
• accuracy is defined as a percentage of percent of instrument span. What is the
span. maximum static error?
Readability

• Frequently used in analog type

instruments.
• Indicates the closeness with which the
scale of an analog type of instrument can
be read.
• Depends upon factors such as:
• No of graduations
• Spacing of graduations
• Size of pointer
• Parallax effects
• Discriminating power of the observer
Repeatability and Reproducibility

• Repeatability pertains to the closeness • Reproducibility relates the closeness of

of output readings when the same input output readings for the same input when
is applied repetitively over a short period there are changes in the method of
of time with the same measurement measurement, observer, measuring
conditions, same instrument and instrument, location, conditions of use
observer, same location and same and time of measurement.
conditions of use maintained throughout.
Drift

• Drift is an undesired gradual departure of

the instrument output over a period of
time that is unrelated to changes in input,
operating condition or load.

• Drift may be caused by the following

factors;
• High mechanical stresses developed
in some parts of instruments
• Wear and tear
• Mechanical vibrations
• Temperature changes
• Stray electric and magnetic fields
Sensitivity

• The ratio of the magnitude of output signal to the input signal or response of measuring
system to the quantity being measured is called sensitivity.
• For a good instrument or process, the sensitivity should always be high, thus producing
higher output amplitudes.
Linearity

• The ability to reproduce the input characteristics symmetrically is called linearity.

• Simply a measure of maximum deviation of

any of the calibration points from the straight
line.
• Any departure from straight line relationship is
non linearity.
Hysteresis

• The maximum differences in output at any measured value

within the specified range when approaching the point first
with increasing and then with decreasing input may be termed
as hysteresis.
• Phenomenon which shows different output effects when
loading and unloading.
• Due to:
• Mechanical friction
• Slack motion in bearings
• Magnetic and thermal effects
Threshold and Resolution

• The minimum value below which no output • When the input is slowly increased from
change can be detected when the input of an some arbitrary input value, it is
instrument is increased gradually from zero is observed that the output does not
called the threshold of the instrument. change at all until a certain increment is
• In a digital system, threshold is the input signal exceeded; this increment is called
necessary to cause one least significant digit of resolution or discrimination of the
the output reading to change. instrument.

Threshold defines the smallest measurable input while the resolution defines the smallest
measurable input change.
Dead zone and Dead time

• The largest change of input quantity for which

there is no output of the instrument is termed as
dead zone.
• It may occur due to friction in the instrument which
does not allow pointer to move till sufficient driving
force is developed to overcome the frictional loss.
• The time required by a measurement system to
begin to respond to a change in the measurand is
termed as dead time.
Classification of instrument

1. Absolute and secondary instruments

2. Analog and digital instruments
3. Mechanical, electrical and electronic instruments
4. Manual and automatic instruments
5. Self contained and remote indicating instruments
6. Self powered and power operated instruments
7. Deflection and null output instruments
Factors relating to selection of instruments

1. Accuracy expected from the instrument

2. When are the final data required
3. Cost criterion
4. In what form the data should be displayed?
5. Whether quantity to be measured has constant
value or it is a time variant?

Functions of instruments

1. Indicating function
2. Recording function
3. Controlling function
ULTRASONIC DETECTORS
 Ultrasonic detectors

• Commonly used in industrial applications to

detect hidden tracks, discontinuities in
metals, composites, plastics, ceramics, and
for water level detection.
• Transmit ultrasonic waves into the air and
detects reflected waves from an object. • Intrusion alarm systems
• Automatic door openers
• Type of acoustic sensor divided into three
• Backup sensors for automobiles.
broad categories: transmitters, receivers and
transceivers.
• Evaluate targets by interpreting the reflected
signals.
Characteristics of Ultrasonic Waves

• Ultrasonic waves are sounds which cannot be heard by humans and are normally,
frequencies of above 20kHz.
• The transducer transmits a packet of sonic pulses and converts the echo pulse into a
voltage.
• The integrated controller computes the distance from the echo time and the velocity of
Distance L = 1/2 × T × C
sound.
where L is the distance, T is the time between the emission and reception, and C is the sonic speed.
 • The emitter and receiver are mounted facing each other.
If the ultrasonic beam is broken by an object, then the
switch output becomes active.
Detection by beam interruption
• The emitter and receiver are mounted in the same
• Through-beam sensor
housing. The ultrasonic beam is reflected back to the
• Double-sheet monitoring
receiver by a fixed reflector plate. Objects entering the
• Reflex sensor mode
sensing range are detected by:
- changes to the measured distances
- lack of signal from the reflector due to absorption or
diffuse reflection

Direct Detection The emitter and receiver are mounted in the same housing
(reflection sensor). The object acts as a sound reflector
 Strain, Stress, and Poisson's Ratio
When tensile force P is applied to a
material, it has stress σ that
corresponds to the applied force. In
proportion to the stress, the cross section
contracts and the length elongates by ΔL
from the length L the material had before
receiving the tensile force.