Making Basic Strain Measurements

using 24-Bit Hardware

INTRODUCTION DISCUSSION
Strain gages are sensing devices used in a variety of STRAIN MEASUREMENT CONFIGURATIONS
physical test and measurement applications. They Wheatstone Bridge
change resistance at their output terminals when
To make an accurate strain measurement, extremely
stretched or compressed. Because of this characteristic,
small resistance changes must be measured. The
the gages are typically bonded to the surface of a solid
Wheatstone bridge circuit is widely used to convert
material and measure its minute dimensional changes
the gage’s microstrain into a voltage change that can
when put in compression or tension. Strain gages and
be fed to the input of the ADC. (See Figure 1.).
strain gage principles are often used in devices for
measuring acceleration, pressure, tension, and force.
When all four resistors in the bridge are absolutely
Strain is a dimensionless unit, defined as a change in
equal, the bridge is perfectly balanced and Vout = 0. But
length per unit length.
when any one or more of the resistors change value
by only a fractional amount, the bridge produces a
For example, if a 1-m long bar stretches to 1.000002 m,
significant, measurable voltage. When used with an
the strain is defined as 2 microstrains. Strain gages
instrument, a strain gage replaces one or more of the
have a characteristic gage factor, defined as the frac-
resistors in the bridge, and as the strain gage undergoes
tional change in resistance divided by the strain. For
dimensional changes (because it is bonded to a test
example, 2 microstrain applied to a gage with gage
specimen), it unbalances the bridge and produces an
factor of 2 produces a fractional resistance change
output voltage proportional to the strain.
of (2x2)10-6 = 4x10-6, or 4 µΩ/Ω. Common gage resis-
tance values typically range from 120 to 350 Ω, but
some devices are as low as 30 Ω or as high as 3 kΩ. Full-Bridge Circuits
Although half-bridge and quarter-bridge circuits
In the past, strain gage data acquisition hardware has are often used, the full-bridge circuit is the optimal
typically provided 12- or 16-bit resolution. These devices configuration for strain gages. It provides the high-
must utilize every part of their 12- or 16-bit resolution est sensitivity and the fewest error components, and
to ensure accurate measurements. 24-bit analog-to- because the full bridge produces the highest output,
digital converters (ADC) offer 256 times the resolution noise is a less significant factor in the measurement.
of conventional 16-bit systems. Strain gage based DAQ For these reasons, the full bridge is recommended
systems such as the IOtech 6224 from Measurement when possible.
Computing, use a 24-bit ADC per channel and no longer
operate with this disadvantage.

Figure 1: Full-Bridge Circuit

 

 
 
 
 



 

The full-bridge circuit provides the largest output with minimum errors. All four arms of the bridge are active; two
are in tension while the two on the opposite side are in compression.

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An example of a full-bridge is the full bending bridge configuration Half-Bridge Circuits
containing four strain gages mounted on a test member shown in When physical conditions do not allow mounting a full-bridge
Figure 1. Two gages are mounted on the top surface to measure gage, a half-bridge might fit. Typically, two strain gages are
tension and the other two are mounted on the opposite surface mounted on a test member, and two highly stable discrete resis-
to measure compression when the beam is forced downward. As tors or a highly stable resistor network complete the bridge. The
the member deflects, the two gages in tension increase in resis- output voltage is:
tance while the other two decreases, unbalancing the bridge and
producing an output proportional to the displacement. Upward
Equation 2: Half-Bridge Output Voltage
motion reverses the roles of the strain gages. The bridge output
voltage is given by: Vo = Vex (X/2)
Where: Vo = bridge output voltage, V
Equation 1: Full-Bridge Output Voltage
Vex = excitation voltage applied to the bridge, V
Vo = (Vex)(X)
X = relative change in resistance, ∆R/R
Where: Vo = bridge output voltage, V
Vex = excitation voltage applied to the bridge, V For a large ∆R, half-bridge and quarter-bridge circuits can intro-
duce an additional nonlinearity error. (See Figure 2.) Also, the
X = relative change in resistance, ∆R/R readings are not accurate when the temperature coefficients
among the bridge completion resistors and strain gages are dif-
The bridge nulls out potential error factors such as temperature ferent and the resistances do not change proportionally with
changes because all four strain gages have the same temperature temperature. Furthermore, bridge completion resistors are not
coefficient and are located in close proximity on the specimen. usually located near the strain gages, so temperature differences
The resistance of the lead wire does not affect the accuracy contribute additional errors. In systems with long lead wires,
of the measurement as long as the input amplifier has high the bridge completion resistors should be attached close to the
input impedance, and the bridge excitation is remotely sensed. gages. However, this may not always be practical due to test
For example, an amplifier with a 100 MΩ input impedance fixture limitations or other physical conditions.
produces negligible current flow through the measurement leads,
minimizing voltage drops due to lead resistance.

Figure 2: Half-Bridge Circuit

Bridge Strain
completion resistors gages

R3 R1
+ R1 Motion
 +
Vexc VOUT R2


R4 R2

In a half-bridge circuit, only two arms are active. Two strain gages are on the specimen while the two fixed resistors
that complete the bridge are not.

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 Figure 3: Quarter-Bridge Circuit Figure 4: Kelvin Strain Gage Bridge Circuit
 
 ≅

  ε 
 

  ≅
 

 
   

  


 
 


A quarter-bridge circuit uses only one active arm and is the
least sensitive of the three types. It is also the most prone to
noise and errors. The Kelvin bridge circuit uses one pair of wires to provide the
excitation voltage directly at the bridge, and another to sense the
excitation voltage. A third pair of wires measures the bridge output
voltage. This arrangement removes the voltage-drop error in the
Quarter-Bridge Circuits excitation wires from the measured strain signal.
A quarter-bridge circuit uses one strain gage and three bridge
completion resistors. The output voltage is:

Equation 3: Quarter-Bridge Output Voltage two symmetrical terminals equals the value of one of the resis-
Vo = Vex (X/4) [approximate] tance arms. For example, four 350 Ohm arms make a 350 Ohm
bridge. The load current equals the excitation voltage divided by
Where: Vo = bridge output voltage, V the bridge resistance; in this case, 10V/350 Ω = 0.029 A = 29 mA.
Vex = excitation voltage applied to the bridge, V
X = relative change in resistance, ∆R/R Heating
Resistive heating in strain gages also should be considered because
This arrangement has the smallest output, so noise is a potential the gages respond to temperature as well as stress. The excitation
problem. Furthermore, all the error sources and limitations voltage must be coordinated with the gage and the material to
in the half-bridge circuit apply to the quarter-bridge circuit. which it is bonded. Like most engineering endeavors, strain mea-
(See Figure 3). surement involves making compromises, in this case it is errors
due to self-heating versus signal to noise ratio. Higher excitation
PROCEDURE results in a signal that is less affected by external electrical noise
sources but will result in higher errors due to self-heating. Self-
Excitation Source heating errors are more prevalent when the strain gage is bonded
The Wheatstone bridge is a ratiometric transducer; it’s output to a material that doesn’t heat quickly, such as wood, plastic,
voltage to excitation voltage ratio is proportional to the resis- or glass materials. Also, heat can become a problem when the
tive bridge unbalance. The 6224 makes use of a true ratiometric strain gages are uncommonly small, or numerous gages occupy
measurement system; it’s measured output is proportional to a limited space.
the bridge output voltage to excitation voltage ratio. As such,
this instrument is not sensitive to excitation voltage changes. For full- and half-bridge configurations, consider a Kelvin connec-
The only excitation requirement is low short-term noise and the tion for applying the excitation voltage. Because the excitation
voltage is between 2V and 10 VDC. leads carry a small current, they drop a correspondingly small
voltage; V = I/Rl, which reduces the voltage reaching the bridge
An ideal data acquisition system provides an excitation source terminals. As illustrated in Figure 4, Kelvin connections eliminate
for each channel, independently adjustable from 1.5 to 10.5V this drop with a pair of leads added at the excitation terminals
with a current limit of 100 mA. An excitation voltage, V, used to measure and regulate the bridge voltage. For example, when
with a strain gage of resistance R, requires a current of I = V/R. ie = 50 mA, Rl = 5 Ω, and the combined voltage drop in the two
The resistance of a Wheatstone bridge measured between any leads is 500 mV, no voltage drops in the sense wires.

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An MCC strain gage module uses a Kelvin connection to measure Strain Gage Signal Conditioning
and regulate the voltage at the bridge. It supplies the voltage to Most strain gage based transducers and load cells are assigned
the strain gage with one pair of leads and measures it with another units of measure for weight, force, tension, pressure, torque, and
pair as shown in Figure 5. The six wires are used in pairs for Sense, deflection with a full-scale value measured in mV/V of excita-
Excite, and Measure. The Sense lead is a feedback loop to ensure tion. For example, a load cell with a 10V excitation supply and
that the Excite voltage is constantly held within specifications. a 2 mV/V gain factor generates an output of 20 mV at full load,
whether the load cell was designed to handle 10, 100, or 1,000
In the quarter-bridge configuration it is not possible to re- lbs. The difference is in the resolution of the system. That is, the
motely sense around the lead wire resistances, so a three-wire small 10-lb load cell produces 0.5 lbs/mV, and the large 1,000 lb
connection is recommended. This configuration relies on the load cell produces 50 lbs/mV.
resistances of the lead wires being equal. Note, in Figure 3, that
if RL plus R3 equals RL plus R4 and R1 equals R2, then –AI equals Conductors carrying such low level signals are susceptible to noise
+AI and the bridge will be balanced. The MCC CN-269 and interference and should be shielded. Low-pass filters, differential
CN-270 provide the bridge completion resistor R4. It is up to voltage measurements, and signal averaging are also effective
the user to run the three wires (denoted by RL) to the gage; do techniques for suppressing noise interference. Furthermore,
not tie pins 1 and 2 together at the CN unless the gage wires instrumentation amplifiers usually condition the extremely low
are extremely low resistance. strain gage signals before feeding them to ADCs.

Figure 5: MCC Strain Gage Module

Ex+

VEX
Select

R2+
+
A
–

AI+
+ VREF
AI– A ADC
–

RS–

Ex–

SC

100k Shunt
SC Cal.

An MCC strain-gage module provides adjustable excitation, gain, and offset for each channel. This lets it make
use of the instrument’s entire dynamic range.

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 Figure 6: Wheatstone Bridge Circuit Figure 7: Shunt Bridge Circuit
Strain gage +10V
+10V

347Ω 350Ω +V
350Ω 350Ω

20 mV IA (+)
5.02V
350Ω
350Ω Rs = 100 kΩ
350Ω 350Ω 5.00V –V

RTN Close
to shunt
Normally the strain gage signal in a Wheatstone bridge is super- (–)
imposed on a common-mode voltage equal to half of the excitation
voltage. Consequently, a high CMRR is necessary to reject the A bridge may be calibrated with a shunt resistor, which is switched
common-mode voltage and amplify the strain gage signal. with a software command into either one of the two lower legs.

Common-mode rejection ratio By comparison, a CMRR of 115 dB introduces only 9 mV of error,

A high common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR) is essential for which corresponds to only 0.04% of full scale.
strain gage amplifiers. A strain gage signal in a Wheatstone
bridge is superimposed on a common-mode voltage equal to Strain gage signal conditioning modules usually provide a regu-
half the excitation voltage. CMRR is a measure of how well the lated excitation source with optional Kelvin excitation. Bridge
amplifier rejects common-mode voltages. For example, con- completion resistors may be connected for quarter and half-
sider a 10V excitation supply (Vmax = 5V) for a strain gage with bridge strain gages. Instrumentation amplifiers provide input
2 mV/V (Vs = 20 mV) at full scale and an amplifier with a CMRR and scaling gain.
of 90 dB. (See Figure 6.) The amplifier can introduce 0.158 mV
of error, corresponding to about 0.80% full scale, which may The 6224 utilizes a 24-bit ADC, so the old practice of adjusting
not be acceptable: gain and offset voltages in hardware to pull out every last bit of a
16-bit ADC’s resolution is no longer necessary. The old method had
one very undesirable consequence; if one set the gain too close to
Equation 4: Common-Mode Rejection Ratio
the maximum, the ADC could limit out and valuable information
dB = 20log10(Vs/Ve) would be lost. If the gain were set too low, low level signal informa-
Vmax/Ve = log10 -1 (dB/20) tion would be lost. The 24-bit ADC has 256 times the resolution
of the 16-bit ADC, so software offset and gain adjustments can be
= log10 -1 (90/20) employed providing great resolution and large overhead.
= 31,622
CALIBRATION
Ve = Vmax/log10 -1 (dB/20) The signal conditioning module also typically provides a shunt
= 5.00/31,622 calibration feature. See Figure 7. It lets users switch in an extremely
= 0.158 mV stable, internal shunt cal resistor. For example, a shunt resistor
can be calculated to simulate a full load. Applying a shunt resistor
is a convenient way to simulate an unbalance without having
%error = (Ve/Vs)100 to apply a physical load.
= (0.158mV/20mV)100
= 0.79% Transducers and Load Cells
Strain gages are commercially available in prefabricated modules
Where: Ve = error voltage, V such as load cells that measure force, tension, compression, and
Vs = signal voltage, 20 mV torque. Load cells typically use a full-bridge configuration and
contain four leads for bridge excitation and measurement. The
Vmax = maximum voltage, 5V manufacturers provide calibration and accuracy information.
CMRR = 90 dB

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Strain Diaphragm Pressure Gages of the strain gages themselves. Transducers must contain temperature
compensation circuits to maintain accurate pressure measurements
A strained diaphragm pressure gage consists of two or four strain
in environments with widely varying temperatures.
gages mounted on a thin diaphragm. The gages are wired in a
Wheatstone bridge circuit, including bridge completion resistors
All strained diaphragm pressure gages require a regulated excitation
when needed, so the pressure gage is electrically equivalent to a
source. Some gages contain internal regulators, so users can connect
load cell. The output voltage is specified in mV/V of excitation
an unregulated voltage from a power supply. Some strained
for a full-scale pressure differential across the diaphragm.
diaphragm pressure gages also employ internal signal conditioning,
which amplifies the mV signal output of the Wheatstone bridge
When one side of the diaphragm (called the reference pressure
to a full-scale voltage from 5 to 10V. Gages of this type have low-
side) is open to the ambient atmospheiore, the gage compares the
impedance outputs. In contrast, other pressure gages have no
inlet pressure to the ambient pressure, which is about 14.7 psi at
internal signal conditioning so their output impedance equals
sea level. When the gage measures ambient pressure, the reference
the Wheatstone bridge resistance (several kΩ for semiconductor
chamber must be sealed with either a vacuum reference (near zero
types), and their full-scale output is in mV.
psi) or the sea-level reference.

Temperature variations can affect the accuracy of strained diaphragm MCC Contact Information
pressure gages. A pressure gage with a sealed non-zero reference 10 Commerce Way
pressure exhibits temperature variations consistent with the ideal Norton, MA 02766
gas law. For example, a 5˚C change in ambient temperature near Phone: (508) 946-5100
normal room temp (25˚C) produces an error of 1.7% in the pressure Fax: (508) 946-9500
measurement. Temperature variations can also affect the performance Email: info@mccdaq.com

6224 Strain Measurement Module - Learn more online

The IOtech 6224 module from MCC combines an accurate, instrument class, Ethernet-based module with powerful, easy-to-use
software. It is a major advancement in ease-of-use and functionality. The 6224 features integrated signal conditioning and a
modular design that allows for system expansion. Because it uses an Ethernet connection, modules can be connected directly to
a PC or used in remote configurations utilizing multiple modules. Included with each module is Encore interactive measure-
ment software, which couples ease-of-use with advanced functionality.

Features The 6224 with

• 12 strain gage inputs Encore software
• 24-bit/delta-sigma ADC per channel is a portable,
• 50-kHz per channel sample rate strain gage
measurement
• User programmable excitation
solution
• Simultaneous sampling
• Shunt calibration
• Eight digital I/O
• Multiple trigger modes
• Compact, portable design
• Expandable using multiple modules
• Combine with other 6000 Series modules to measure
voltage or temperature

Software
• Includes Encore interactive measurement software for
setup, acquisition, display, logging, analysis, and reporting Software Overview
• Advanced feature set with no programming required Encore is the premier Out-of-the-Box data acquisition software
• True drag-and-drop functionality package and is included with each 6224 module. Encore
• Easy-to-use set-up wizards combines ease of use with advanced functionality, including
• Drag data directly to Excel® customizable data layouts, powerful analysis, and reporting
• Included data analysis tools capabilities. Instead of having a program to log data, another
• Playback mode to analyze, and a third to develop report data, Encore includes
• Sophisticated test report capability the functionality of all three into one package, thus shortening
• Incorporate multiple 6224 devices into one application the learning curve, and saving time and cost.
• Supported Windows® Operating Systems:
Windows 7 and Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit),
6000 Series, 6224, and Encore software, are the property of MCC. All other trademarks and
Windows XP SP2 (32-bit), Windows 2000 SP4 tradenames are the property of their respective holders.

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