MEASUREMENTSYSTEM ANDI

TSELEMENTS
A measurementsyst
em maybedef i
nedasasy st
ematicarr
angementfort hemeasurementor
det
erminati
on of an unknown quanti
ty and analy
sis of i
nstr
umentati
on. The gener
ali
zed
measur
ementsy st
em andi
tsdi
ff
erentcomponent
s/el
ementsareshowninFigur
ebelow.

Theoper ati
onofameasur ementsy stem canbeexplai
nedintermsoffunct
ionalelementsofthe
system.Everyi
nstrumentandmeasur ementsyst
em i
scomposedofoneormor eofthesefunct
ional
el
ement sandeachf unct
ionalel
ementi smadeofdisti
nctcomponentsorgroupsofcomponent s
whichperformsrequi
redanddef i
nit
est epsinmeasur
ement.Thevari
ousel
ementsaret hef
oll
owing:

1.Pr
imar
ySensi
ngEl
ement
s

Itisanel ementt hati ssensiti

vet ot hemeasur edv ar i
able.Thephy sicalquantit
yunder
measurement,calledt hemeasur and,makesi tsfi
rstcont actwi t
ht hepri
mar ysensingelement
ofameasur ementsy stem.Themeasur andisalway sdi st
ur bedbyt heactoft hemeasurement ,
butgoodi nst
rument sar edesignedtomi ni
miset hisef f ect.Pri
mar ysensingel ementsmay
haveanon- el
ectr
icali nputandout putsuchasaspr ing,manomet erormayhav eanelectr
ical
i
nputandout putsuchasar ect
ifi
er.I
ncaset hepr imar ysensi ngel ementhasanon- electr
ical
i
nputandout put,theni ti
sconv ert
edintoanel ectricalsi gnalbymeansofat r
ansducer.The
tr
ansducerisdefinedasadev i
ce,whichwhenact uat edbyonef orm ofener gy
,iscapableof
conver
ti
ngi ti
ntoanot herfor
m ofenergy .

Manya t imes,cer tain operati

ons ar eto be per for
med on t he signalbef or
ei t
sf urt
her
tr
ansmi ssionsot hatinterf
eringsour cesarer emov edi norderthatt hesi gnalmaynotget
distort
ed.The pr ocess may be l i
near such as ampl i
fi
cati
on,at tenuation,i ntegr
ati
on,
differ
enti
ation,additi
onandsubt r
actionornonl inearsuchasmodul at
ion,det ecti
on,sampl i
ng,
fi
lteri
ng,choppi ngandcl i
pping,etc.Thepr ocessi scall
edsi gnalcondit i
oning.Soasi gnal
conditi
onerf ol
lowst hepr i
mar ysensi ngelementort ransducer,ast hecasemaybe.The
sensingelementsensest hecondition,stateorv alueoft heprocessv ariablebyext racti
nga
smal lpartofener gyf r
om t hemeasur and,andt henpr oducesanout putwhi chr efl
ectsthis
conditi
on,st ateorvalueofthemeasur and.

2.Var
iabl
eConv
ersi
onEl
ement
s
 Aft
erpassi ngt hrought heprimarysensingelement ,theout putisint heform ofanelectrical
si
gnal,maybev olt
age,cur r
ent,fr
equency,whichmayormaynotbeaccept edtot hesystem.
Forperformingt hedesi r
edoper at
ion,i
tmaybenecessar yt oconv er
tthisoutputtosomeot her
sui
tableform whi leretaini
ngtheinformati
oncont entoft heor i
ginalsi
gnal.Forexample,ifthe
outputisinanal ogf orm andthenextst epofthesy stem acceptsonlyi ndi
gitalformthenan
analog-t
o-digi
talconv erterwil
lbeempl oyed.Manyi nstr
ument sdonotr equireanyv ari
able
conversi
onuni t,whil
esomeot hersrequir
emor ethanoneel ement .

3.Mani
pul
ati
onEl
ement
s

Somet imesi tisnecessaryt o change t he signallevelwi t

houtchangi ng the i
nf ormati
on
containedinitfortheaccept
anceoft heinstr
ument .Thef unctionofthev ariabl
emani pul
ati
on
uniti
st omanipulatethesi
gnalpresent edtoitwhilepreservi
ngt heori
ginal natureofthesignal.
Forexampl e,anel ectr
onicampl i
fierconv er
tsasmal llow v olt
agei nputsi gnalintoahi gh
volt
ageout putsignal
.Thus,t
hev oltageampl i
fieractsasav ariablemani pulati
onunit.Someof
theinstrumentsmayr equi
rethi
sf unctionorsomeoft heinstr
ument smaynot .

4.Dat
aTr
ansmi
ssi
onEl
ement
s

Thedatatransmissionel
ement sarerequir
edtot r
ansmitthedatacont
aini
ngt heinformat
ion
ofthesi
gnalfrom onesystem toanot
her.Forexample,
satell
i
tesarephy
sical
lyseparatedfr
om
theear
thwher et
hecont r
ol st
ati
onsguidi
ngtheirmovementarelocat
ed.

5.Dat
aPr
esent
ati
onEl
ement
s

Thef uncti
onoft hedat apresent
ationel ementsist oprovideani ndicati
onorr ecordi
ngi na
formt hatcanbeev al
uatedbyanunai dedhumansenseorbyacont rol
ler.Theinfor
mat i
on
regar
dingmeasur and(quanti
tytobemeasur ed)ist obeconv eyedt otheper sonnelhandli
ng
theinstrumentort hesy st
em formoni tori
ng,controll
i
ngoranal y
sispur pose.Suchadev i
ce
maybei nthef orm ofanalogordi git
alformat.Thesi mplestform ofadi spl
aydeviceisthe
commonpanelmet erwithsomeki ndofcal i
bratedscaleandpoi nter
.Incaset hedataist obe
recor
ded,r ecordersli
kemagnet ict apesormagnet icdiscsmaybeused.Forcont roland
analysi
spur pose,computersmaybeused.

I
nthiscour
sewear egoi
ngt
ost
udyTr
ansducer
,Si
gnalcondi
ti
oni
ng,Dat
arepr
esent
ati
onandpi
l
ot
dev
icepar
tsepar
atel
y.

Tr
ansducer
Defini
tion:
BroadlyTransducercanbedefinedasadevi
cewhichconver
tsonefor
m ofenergytoanot
herf
orm.I
n
el
ect r
icalsy
stem Transduceri
sadevicewhi
chconver
tsanyfor
m ofener
gyintoelect
ri
cal
ener
gy.

Cl
assi
fi
cat
ionoft
ransducer
s:
Pr
imar
yandSecondar
yTr
ansducer
:-

Pri
mar yTransducer–Thetransducerconsistthemechanicalaswellastheel ectr
icaldev
ices.The
mechanicaldevi
cesofthetransducerchanget hephysi
cali
nputquantit
iesintoamechani calsignal
.
Thi
smechani caldevi
ceisknownast heprimar ytr
ansducer
s.
SecondaryTransducer–Thesecondar ytransducerconver
tsthemechani calsignalint
oanelectri
cal
si
gnal.Themagni t
udeoftheoutputsignaldependsont heinputmechanicalsignal.

Exampl e:
Consi dertheBourdon’
sTubeshowni nthefigur
ebelow.Itdet
ectsthepressur
eandconv er
tsiti
ntoa
displacementf r
om it
sfreeend.Thedispl
acementofthefreeendsmov esthecoreoftheli
near
variabledispl
acementtransf
ormer.Themov ementofthecoreinducestheoutputv
olt
agewhichis
directl
yproporti
onaltot
hedi spl
acementofthetubefr
eeend.

Thus,thet
wot y
peoft
ransduct
ionoccursi
ntheBour
don’
stube.Fi
rst
,thepr
essur
eisconv
ert
edi
ntoa
di
splacementandt
heniti
sconv er
tedi
ntot
hevolt
agebyt
hehelpoftheL.V.
D.T.
TheBour
don’
sTubei
sthepr
imar
ytr
ansducer
,andt
heL.
V.D.
Tiscal
l
edt
hesecondar
ytr
ansducer
.

Passi
veandAct
iveTr
ansducer
:-

Passiv
eTransducer–Thet r
ansducerwhichrequi
rest
hepowerfrom anexter
nal suppl
ysour
cei
s
knownasthepassivet
ransducer
.Theyar eal
soknownast heext
ernalpowert
ransducer.The
capaci
ti
ve,
resi
sti
veandinducti
vetransducer
saretheexampleofthepassi
vetransducer.

Acti
veTransducer–Thet r
ansducerwhichdoesnotrequiretheext
ernalpowersourceisknownas
theact
ivetr
ansducer
.Suchtypeoftransducerdev
elopstheir
sownsv olt
ageorcurrent,
henceknown
asaself-
generat
ingt
ransducer
.Theout putsi
gnali
sobtainedfrom t
hephy si
cal
inputquanti
ty.

Thephysi
calquantit
ylikevel
ocity
,temper at
ure,
forceandt heint
ensit
yofli
ghti
sinducedwi
ththe
hel
pofthetransducer.Thepiezoelect
riccry
stal
,photo-vol
tai
ccell
,tachogener
ator
,ther
mocoupl
es,
phot
ovolt
aiccellar
etheexampl esoft heacti
vetransducers.
Anal
ogandDi gitalTransducer
:-
Anal
ogTr ansducer–TheAnal ogtr
ansducerchangesthei
nputquant
it
yintoaconti
nuousfunction.
Thestr
aingauge, L.
V.D.T,ther
mocoupl
e,ther
mistorar
etheexamplesoftheanal
oguetransducer.

Digi
talTr
ansducer–Theset r
ansducer
sconver
taninputquant
ityint
oadi git
alsignal
orinthef
orm
ofthepulse.Thedi
git
alsi
gnal
sworkonhighorlowpower.Digi
talencoderistypeofdigi
tal
tr
ansducer.

TransducerandI nver
seTransducer :
-
Transducer–Thedev i
cewhi chconvertsthenon-elect
ri
calquanti
tyi
ntoanel ect
ri
cquanti
tyisknown
ast hetransducer.
InverseTr ansducer–Thet ransducerwhichconv er
t st
heelectr
icquantit
yintoaphysi
calquanti
ty,
sucht ypeoft r
ansducersisknownast heinver
set r
ansducer.Example:analogAmmeter,
Voltmeter
(el
ect r
icalenergyconverti
ntomechani caldi
splacementinform ofpointermovement)
.