Advanced Instrumentation

Course Contents
• Review of Fundamental • Analog electronic Instrumentation
Concepts in Instrumentation • Pneumatic Instrumentation
• Digital Data Acquisition
– Characteristics, Control room
• Foundation Fieldbus
and field instrumentation, • More on Instrument Calibration
measurement errors, • Continuous Measurement of
standards, calibration etc – Pressure
• Instrument Documentation & – Level
Connections – Temperature
• Discrete Process Measurement – Flow
• – Analytical
Discrete Control Elements
– Vibration
• Relay Control Systems • Signal Characterization
• SCADA & Programmable Logic • Final Control Elements
Controllers • Research topics on advanced
instrumentation
 Recommended Reading/Reference Material

• Sensor Technology Handbook

Jon S. Wilson, (Newnes) Elsevier Publications (2005)
Review of Some Fundamentals

What is Instrumentation?
is the science of “automated”
measurement & control
Uncontrolled

9
Manual Control or Human-
Aided Control

10
Automatic Control

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 Measurement
• If we can’t measure something, it is
really pointless to try to control it.
• What to measure:
– Fluid pressure
– Fluid flow rate
– Temperature of an object
– Fluid volume stored in a vessel
– Chemical concentration
– Machine position, motion, or acceleration
– Physical dimension(s) of an object
– Count (inventory) of objects
– Electrical voltage, current, or resistance
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Process Instrumentation &
Control
 Instrumentation Terms (1)

• Process:
The physical system we are attempting to control or measure. Examples:
water filtration system, molten metal casting system, steam boiler, oil refinery
unit, power generation unit.
• Process Variable, or PV:
The specific quantity we are measuring in a process. Examples: pressure,
level, temperature, flow, electrical conductivity, pH, position, speed, vibration.
• Setpoint, or SP:
The value at which we desire the process variable to be maintained at. In
other
words, the “target” value of the process variable.
• Primary Sensing Element, or PSE:
A device that directly senses the process variable and translates that sensed
quantity into an analog representation (electrical voltage, current, resistance;
mechanical force, motion, etc.). Examples: thermocouple, thermistor, bourdon
tube, microphone, potentiometer, electrochemical cell, accelerometer.
 Instrumentation Terms (2)

• Transducer:
A device that converts one standardized instrumentation signal into another
standardized instrumentation signal, and/or performs some sort of processing on that
signal. Examples: I/P converter (converts 4-20 mA electric signal into 3-15 PSI
pneumatic signal), P/I converter (converts 3-15 PSI pneumatic signal into 4-20 mA
electric signal), square-root extractor (calculates the square root of the input signal).
• Transmitter:
A device that translates the signal produced by a primary sensing element
(PSE) into a standardized instrumentation signal such as 3-15 PSI air
pressure, 4-20 mA DC electric current, Fieldbus digital signal packet, etc.,
which may then be conveyed to an indicating device, a controlling device, or
both.
• Lower- and Upper-range values, abbreviated LRV and URV,
respectively:
the values of process measurement deemed to be 0% and 100% of a
transmitter’s calibrated range. For example, if a temperature transmitter is
calibrated to measure a range of temperature starting at 300 degrees Celsius
and ending at 500 degrees Celsius, 300 degrees would be the LRV and 500
degrees would be the URV.
•
Instrumentation Terms (3)
Zero and Span:
alternative descriptions to LRV and URV for the 0% and 100% points of an
instrument’s calibrated range. “Zero” refers to the beginning-point of an
instrument’s range (equivalent to LRV), while “span” refers to the width of its
range (URV − LRV). For example, if a temperature transmitter is calibrated to
measure a range of temperature starting at 300 degrees Celsius and ending at
500 degrees Celsius, its zero would be 300 degrees and its span would be 200
degrees.
• Controller:
A device that receives a process variable (PV) signal from a primary sensing
element (PSE) or transmitter, compares that signal to the desired value for that
process variable (called the setpoint), and calculates an appropriate output
signal value to be sent to a final control element (FCE) such as an electric motor
or control valve.
• Final Control Element, or FCE:
A device that receives the signal from a controller to directly influence the
process. Examples: variable-speed electric motor, control valve, electric heater.
• Manipulated Variable, or MV:
Another term to describe the output signal generated by a controller. This is the
signal commanding (“manipulating”) the final control element to influence the
process.
 Controller Modes of
Operation
• Automatic mode:
When the controller generates an output signal
based on the relationship of process variable
(PV) to the setpoint (SP).
• Manual mode:
When the controller’s decision-making ability is
bypassed to let a human operator directly
determine the output signal sent to the final
control element. (useful for startup and
shutdown manipulations, tests, troubleshooting
etc.)
PV, SP, MV (Output) Signals
Example 1: Industrial Boiler
Level Control System
Signal Meanings
Calibration Norms
 Quiz #1
– Pressure range 10 psig to 100 psig is
linearly represented by the standard
current range of 4 to 20 mA.
• What current will result from 14 psig?
• What pressure does 6.5 mA represent?

4.707 mA; 24 psig

 Accuracy versus Precision
• Accuracy of a measurement system is
the degree of closeness of
measurements of a quantity to its actual
(true) value
• Precision of a measurement system,
also called reproducibility or
repeatability, is the degree to which
repeated measurements under
unchanged conditions show the same
results
Accuracy versus Precision (2)
Transfer Function for sensor
input & output

• T.F: is the relationship between the

input and output for the sensor
based on some underlying physical
principle
• Some example transfer functions
are:
• P= (Q)2/119.5
• And many more
 Example Problem 1: Error &
Accuracy

• A temperature sensor has a span of

20-250 °C. a measurement results in
a value of 55 °C for the temperature.
– Specify the error if the accuracy is
• ±0.5% Full Scale
• ± 0.75% of span
• ± 0.8% of reading
– What is the possible temperature in
each case
 Assignment # 1
(due date: one week from now)
• A temperature sensor has a transfer
function of 5 mV/ °C with an accuracy of
±1%. Find the possible range of transfer
function
• A controller output is a 4-20 mA signal
that drives a valve to control flow. The
relation between current and flow is
Q=45[I-2mA] ½ gal/min.
– What is the flow for 12 mA?
– What current produces a flow of 162 gal/min?
 Sensor versus Transducer
• Sensor is a device that detects a change in a physical stimulus and turns
it into a signal which can be measured or recorded;
• Transducer is a device that transfers power from one system to another
in the same or in the different form
• A sensor is the complete assembly required to detect and communicate a
particular event, while a transducer is the element within that assembly.
• For example, a pressure sensor may use a diaphragm and/or strain gauge
to "detect" pressure differential across the diaphragm, but the complete
sensor will additionally consist of a display element and the electronics
required to energize and condition the output of the detecting transducer,
as well as the elements required to house and drive the display feature.
• A compass is a simple sensor of magnetic north, wherein the magnetic
element in the compass is the transducer or "north detector" and the
needle, housing and compass face comprise the remainder of the "north
sensor".
Sensor Stimuli
 Sensor Sensitivity &
Resolution
• Sensitivity is the minimum input of
physical parameter that will create a
detectable output change.
• Resolution is the smallest detectable
incremental change of input parameter
that can be detected in the output
signal. Resolution can be expressed
either as a proportion of the reading (or
the full-scale reading) or in absolute
terms.
 Sensor Time Response
• Sensors do not change output state immediately when an
input parameter change occurs. Rather, it will change to
the new state over a period of time, called the response
time or dynamic transfer function
• Dynamic transfer function specifies how a sensor
output varies when the input changes
instantaneously in time, i.e. a step change
• The static transfer function determines the output
when the input is not changing in time

• o(t)= oi+(of-oi )[1-e-t/T]

 Example Problem (Sensor
Response Time)
• A sensor measures temperature linearly
with a static transfer function of 33 mV/⁰C
and has a 1.5 sec time constant. Find the
output 0.75 sec after the input changes
from 20 ⁰C to 41 ⁰C. Find the error in
temperature this represents.

(Ans: 932.7 mV and 12.7 ⁰C)

Temperature Transducers:
Thermocouple
Temperature Transducers:
RTD
Bimetallic & Glass Thermometer Type
Temperature Transducers
PRESSURE TRANSDUCERS:
BOURDON TUBE
PRESSURE TRANSDUCERS:
Piston Type & Diaphragm Type
SPEED TRANSDUCERS: OPTICAL
TYPE & Magnetic Pickup Type
FLOW TRANSDUCERS: Meshing
Rotor Type & Turbine Type
Differential Pressure
Transducers