Mini Project Report

On Flow Transmitter using Differential Pressure Sensor

Submitted by Mohammed Sarwar Shaikh Arif Shamsher Khan Mohammed Nasiri

Under the Guidance of Prof.N.B.Joshi.

INSTRUMENTATION DEPARTMENT

Smt. Indira Gandhi College of Engineering

University of Mumbai 2009-10

1 Flow Transmitter using Differential Pressure Sensor

Smt. Indira Gandhi College of Engineering INSTRUMENTATION DEPARTMENT

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mohammed Sarwar Shaikh Arif Shamsher Khan Mohammed Nasiri Have submitted this mini project report entitled

FLOW TRANSMITTER USING DIFFERENTIAL PRESSURE SENSOR

GUIDE
(Prof. N. B. JOSHI)

H.O.D
(Prof. S. D. Gaikwad)

EXAMINER

PRINCIPAL
(Dr. S. K. Narayankhedkar)

2 Flow Transmitter using Differential Pressure Sensor

Flow Transmitters
Flow transmitters are circuitry which are used to amplify and condition the signal coming from the particular sensor and transmit it to suitable use (such as display, transmission or further signal processing). Flow transmitters can take signals from various type of sensor depending upon their circuitry, or environment or process place in which they are going to be installed. A Flow transmitter must be able to perform at least three basic operations on the incoming signal from the sensor i.e. amplifying, signal conditioning, converting (favorably to the current parameter if used for long distance transmission). There are various type of flow transmitters they are, Differential Pressure flow transmitters, Ultrasonic flow transmitters, Mass flow transmitters, Wheel flow transmitters.

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Differential Pressure Flow Transmitters In a differential pressure drop device the flow is calculated by measuring the pressure drop over an obstructions inserted in the flow. The differential pressure flowmeter is based on the Bernoullis Equation, where the pressure drop and the further measured signal is a function of the square flow speed.

The DP transmitter operation is dependent on the pressure difference across an orifice, venturi, or flow tube. This differential pressure is used to position a mechanical device such as a bellows. The bellows acts against spring pressure to reposition the core of a differential transformer. The transformers output voltage on each of two secondary windings varies with a change in flow.

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Differential Pressure Flow Detection Block Diagram

A loss of differential pressure integrity of the secondary element, the DP transmitter, will introduce an error into the indicated flow. This loss of integrity implies an impaired or degraded pressure boundary between the high-pressure and low-pressure sides of the transmitter. A loss of differential pressure boundary is caused by anything that results in the high- and low-pressure sides of the DP transmitter being allowed to equalize pressure. As previously discussed, flow rate is proportional to the square root of the differential pressure. The extractor is used to electronically calculate the square root of the differential pressure and provide an output proportional to system flow. The constants are determined by selection of the appropriate electronic components. The extractor output is amplified and sent to an indicator. The indicator provides either a local or a remote indication of system flow. Recovery of Pressure Drop in Orifices, Nozzles and Venturi Meters
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After the pressure difference has been generated in the differential pressure flow meter, the fluid pass through the pressure recovery exit section, where the differential pressure generated at the constricted area is partly recovered.

As we can see, the pressure drop in orifice plates are significant higher than in the venturi tubes.

Differential Pressure Flow Transmitters using Piezoresistive Differential Pressure sensor The resistance change in a monocrystalline semiconductor (a piezoelectric effect) is substantially
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higher than that in standard strain gauges, whose resistance changes with geometrical changes in the structure. Because most control systems operate with electrical signals, pressure or force must be converted to current or voltage before further processing or analysis. Capacitive and resistive signal transducers are commonly used for this purpose. In resistive sensors, pressure changes the resistance by mechanically deforming the sensor, enabling the resistors in a bridge circuit, for example, to detect pressure as a proportional differential voltage across the bridge. Conventional resistive pressure measurement devices include film resistors, strain gauges, metal alloys, and polycrystalline semiconductors.

Specific advantages are: High sensitivity, > 10mV/V

 Good linearity at constant temperature Ability to track pressure changes without signal hysteresis, up to the destructive limit Disadvantages are: Strong nonlinear dependence of the full-scale signal on temperature (up to 1%/kelvin) Large initial offset (up to 100% of full scale or more) Strong drift of offset with temperature Within limits, these disadvantages can be compensated with electronic circuitry. The signal generated from piezoresistive differential pressure sensor are then given as input preferably to an instrumentation amplifier which are potent for amplifying and signal conditioning .

8 Flow Transmitter using Differential Pressure Sensor

9 Flow Transmitter using Differential Pressure Sensor

Block Diagram description.

PIEZORESISTIVE SENSOR : This is a Low pressure sensor uses the piezo resistive method to convert the air pressure into electrical signal. This electrical signal is given to the amplification block.

2. AMPLIFIER : The electrical signal from the piezo resistive sensor is given to the amplifier where the noise & disturbances are suppressed whereas the amplitude level is raised by the suitable gain factor proper shaping if the signal is alos provided by this block we get the pure equivalent electrical signal which high amplitude. The output is given to the V to I Converter. 3. VOLTAGE TO CURRENT CONVERTER : V to I converter takes the output from the Amplifier in electrical form (voltage ) and is converted into the electrical current in the range of 4-20mA.

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11 Flow Transmitter using Differential Pressure Sensor

12 Flow Transmitter using Differential Pressure Sensor

13 Flow Transmitter using Differential Pressure Sensor

Instrumentation Amplifier A brief description of an instrumentation amplifier is given below along with its most commonly used circuit configuration. An instrumentation (or instrumentational) amplifier is a type of differential amplifier that has been outfitted with input buffers, which eliminate the need for input impedance matching and thus make the amplifier particularly suitable for use in measurement and test equipment. Additional characteristics include very low DC offset, low drift, low noise, very high open-loop gain, very high common-mode rejection ratio, and very high input impedances. Instrumentation amplifiers are used where great accuracy and stability of the circuit both short- and long-term are required. Although the instrumentation amplifier is usually shown schematically identical to a standard op-amp, the electronic instrumentation amp is almost always internally composed of 3 opamps. These are arranged so that there is one op-amp to buffer each input (+,), and one to produce the desired output with adequate impedance matching for the function.[1][2] The most commonly used instrumentation amplifier circuit is shown in the figure. The gain of the circuit is

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The rightmost amplifier, along with the resistors labelled R2 and R3 is just the standard differential amplifier circuit, with gain = R3 / R2 and differential input resistance = 2R2. The two amplifiers on the left are the buffers. With Rgain removed (open circuited), they are simple unity gain buffers; the circuit will work in that state, with gain simply equal to R3 / R2 and high input impedance because of the buffers. The buffer gain could be increased by putting resistors between the buffer inverting inputs and ground to shunt away some of the negative feedback; however, the single resistor Rgain between the two inverting inputs is a much more elegant method: it increases the differential-mode gain of the buffer pair while leaving the common-mode gain equal to 1. This increases the common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) of the circuit and also enables the buffers to handle much larger common-mode signals without clipping than would be the case if they were separate and had the same gain. Another benefit of the method is that it boosts the gain using a single resistor rather than a pair, thus avoiding a resistormatching problem (although the two R1s need to be
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matched), and very conveniently allowing the gain of the circuit to be changed by changing the value of a single resistor. A set of switch-selectable resistors or even a

potentiometer can be used for Rgain, providing easy changes to the gain of the circuit, without the complexity of having to switch matched pairs of resistors. The ideal common-mode gain of an instrumentation amplifier is zero. In the circuit shown, common-mode gain is caused by mismatches in the values of the equally-numbered resistors and by the mis-match in common mode gains of the two input op-amps. Obtaining very closely matched resistors is a significant difficulty in fabricating these circuits, as is optimizing the common mode performance of the input op-amps. The output of the instrumentation amplifier is supplied to the Voltage-Current converter, which converts the voltage output of the instrumentation amplifier into current attribute, which are suitable for long distance transmission and various other application.

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Voltage To Current Converter For a variety of reasons, in low-voltage electronics, voltage is a more frequently used data carrier. Thus electronic devices tend to be labeled with voltage inputs and outputs. However some devices are labeled in terms of current-input and -output (for example, a bipolar transistor). In such cases, a component is needed to convert (change) the electric attributes into a relay of information. A voltage-to-current converter changes the electric attribute carrying information from voltage to current. It acts as a linear circuit with transfer ratio k = IOUT/VIN [mA/V] having dimension of conductivity. That is why the active version of the circuit is referred also as a transconductance amplifier. Typical applications of voltage-to-current converter are measuring voltages by using instruments having current inputs, creating voltagecontrolled current sources, building various passive and active voltage-to-voltage converters, etc.

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Voltage-to-current converters feeding to grounded loads often find their way into industrial measurements and control applications. The conventional textbook circuit needs both positive and negative-supply rails. This circuit uses one half of the quad operational amplifier LM324. The first amplifier is configured as a subtractor, while the second amplifier is configured as a current converter. The output of the first amplifier at A equals e1 minus ein. Here, e1 is derived from the positive power supply by potentiometer P1. The voltage at B equals V minus IL RS. Op amp inputs at A and B are the same, so: e1 ein = V IL RS IL = ein/RS + (V e1)/RS The first term is proportional to the input voltage, with the second term a constant. RS is chosen so that the first term gives 16 mA for full-scale input voltage, and the potentiometer is adjusted such that the second term supplies a constant 4 mA. In effect, the output is 4 to 20 mA, corresponding to zero to full input voltage. Thus, this circuit works without using a negative power-supply rail. For the circuit shown in Figure 2, the current varies from 4 to 20 mA with an input of 0 to 1 V.

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19 Flow Transmitter using Differential Pressure Sensor

Using such circuits we can effectively transmit the signal coming from the piezoresistive differential pressure sensor, and effectively amplify and conditioning the signal, as well as converting the voltage attribute to the current attribute. ADVANTAGES : 1. Measurement is accurate and precise as compare to other methods. 2. Easy to Install. 3. Can be used for corrosive and viscous liquids. DISADVANTAGES : 1. Design is complex. 2. Sensor is expensive. APPLICATION : 1. It is most suitable for measurement of corrosive and viscous fluid. 2. It is used for open tank applications.

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Future Scope: Such circuitry and technique have tremendous use and future scope (i.e. development and implementation) in various fields, specially mostly in process industry where constant reading and analyzing of the fluid flow is an important aspect in production cycle. Flow transmitters have found their way in to various fields, from process industry, power generation, water supply, oil and gas industry, etc. Flow transmitter have penetrated into every industry, thus have a wide use in present as well as future developing industry and units, and becoming a non avoidable part of Industrial Cycle.

References: Differential Piezoresistive Pressure Sensor. Firtat, B. Moldovan, C. Iosub, R. Necula, D. Nisulescu A Linear voltage-to-current converter.(eBook). Chen, R.Y. Tsung-Shuen Hung. Op-Amp and its applications(eBook).
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Walter G. Jung A.K. Sawhney Instrumentation design by Ranghan, Mani & Sharma. A handbook of process control by Bela G. Liptak. Web Source: www.wikipedia.org. www.artikel-software.com/handbook of instrumentation and controls/ www.maxim-ic.com

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