Transducer and Their Response
Transducer and Their Response
Transducer and Their Response
entire range.
Accuracy
a high degree of accuracy is assured.
Environmental compatibility
it should be assured that the transducer selected to work under specified
environmental conditions maintains its input-output relationship and does
not breakdown.
Conti.
Insensitivity to unwanted signals
The transducer should be minimally sensitive to unwanted signals and
highly sensitive to desired signals.
Ruggedness
Should capable of withstanding overload(electrical intensive versus size and
weight must be considered)
Electrical aspect
Example the length and type of cable required
Other static characteristics
Transducers should have a low non-linearity , high resolution and a high
degree of repeatability.
Loading effect
Incapability of the transducer to faithfully measure, record or control the
input signal( measurand ) in undistorted form is known as loading effect.
Classification of transducer
Transducers may be classified in various ways such as on the basis of
electrical principles involved, methods of application, methods of energy
conversion used, nature of output signal etc…
they can be classified as follows
1.Primary and secondary transducers
2.Active and passive transducers
3.On the base of transduction form used
4.Analog and digital transducers
5.Transducers and inverse transducers
When the input signal is sensed first by some detector or sensor and its output
being of some form other than input signal is given as input to a transducer for
conversion into electrical form, then such a transducer falls in the category of
secondary transducers.
Active transducers
are those which do not require an auxiliary power source to produce their output.
They are also known as self-generating . The energy required for production of an
output signal is obtained from a physical quantity. As they are active the size is
compact.
Passive transducers
required power for transduction from an auxiliary power supply. They are also
known as externally powered transducers. They are derive part of the power
required for conversion from the physical quantity under measurement. Auxiliary
power supply has to be considered for size.
Conti.
Analog and digital transducers ( based on the nature of output signal)
Analog transducers
(converts the input quantity into an analog
output which is a continuous function of time)
Digital transducers
(converts input quantity into electrical output which is in the form of pulse)
Transducers and Inverse Transducers
Transducer
(non electrical to electrical quantity)
Inverse transducer
(electrical quantity into non electrical quantity)
Conti.
Classification based upon principle of transduction
Resistive
Inductive
Capacitive
depending upon how they convert the input quantity into resistance,
inductance, or capacitance respectively.
They can also be classified piezoelectric, thermoelectric, magneto restrictive,
Electro kinetic and optical.
Resistive transducers
In such a transducers, resistance between the output terminals of a
transducers get varied according to the measurand.
Resistance transducers are preferred over other transducers because DC and
AC both are suitable for resistance measurement.
Conti.
Resistance of any metal conductor is given by the expression
Resistance of the conductor under stress is also changed in due to change in resistivity
of the conductor, this property is called the piezo-resistive effect (the linear
electromechanical interaction between the mechanical and the electrical state
in crystalline materials). That is why strain gauges are also called the piezo-
resistive strain gauges.
In flat grid type bonded wire strain gauge fine resistance wire of diameter of 25
micro or less is wound back and forth in a grid format with as many loops
possible, laid side by side. This grid is cemented to base or carrier which may
be a thin sheet of paper or bakelite or a sheet of teflon.
The wire is covered on top with thin sheet of material in order to protect it from
any mechanical damage
Conti.
The spreading of wire allows a uniform distribution of stress over the grid. A
large length to width ratio in the grid structure is also desirable in order to
keep the transverse sensitivity minimum. Two connecting leads are soldered
or welded to the ends of the grid.
The bonded strain gauge is cemented with special adhesive to the structure
(specimen) whose tensile or compressive strain is to be measured. For
some applications, the adhesive used must also be resistant to humidity,
temperature, and other environmental conditions.
Because of intimate contact between the wire grid and strain surface of the
specimen and because of practically no strength of wire of its own for
resisting any elongation or compression, the wire elongates or compresses
exactly the same distance as the specimen. The strain of wire grid
is,therefore,exactly the same as the strain of the specimen.
The strain of wire grid, is measured with the Wheatstone bridge connecting
the gauge in one of the four arms while the remaining three arms have
standard resistance in the unstrained condition.
Conti.
Main drawbacks
resistance of the loop lengths at the end of the wires also changes due to
transverse strain and cause serious error.
Its resistance also depends on temperature and so a change in temperature of
the surrounding environment (or induced because of stress) can cause
serious error.
To counteracting this temperature effect, a second strain gauge, identical to
first one ,can be mounted on the same structure in the direction
perpendicular to the direction of the force. The force has no effect on this
strain gauge, as it is not aligned with the force, and that is why it is called
the dummy gauge.
This dummy gauge is wired into the Wheatstone bridge as shown in the fig.
below.
Conti.
The purpose of this dummy gauge is to cancel out any temperature related
resistance variation in the active gauge. with both gauges experiencing the
same temperature, any resistance variation in the active gauge due to
temperature variations appears in the dummy gauge too ,therefore , the
bridge remains balanced. In this ways, variations due to temperature can be
eliminated as a source of error.
Conti.
Conti.
Conti.
Wheatstone Bridge
The combination of this bridge with
operational amplifier is used extensively in
industries for various transducers and sensors.
A Wheatstone bridge consists of four resistors
that are connected in the shape of a diamond
with the supply source and indicating
instruments as shown in figure.
This bridge is used to find the unknown
resistance very precisely by comparing it
with a known value of resistances. In this
bridge null or balanced condition is used to
find the resistance.
For this bridge balanced condition voltage at
points C and D must be equal. Hence, no
current flows through the galvanometer. For
getting the balanced condition one of the
resistors must be variable.
From the figure,
The voltage at point D = V × RX / (R3 + RX)
The voltage at point C = V × R2 / (R1 + R2)
The voltage (V) across galvanometer or
between C and D is,
VCD = V × RX / (R3 + RX) − V R2 / (R1 + R2)
When the bridge is balanced VCD = 0,
So,
V × RX / (R3 + RX) = V R2 / (R1 + R2)
RXR1 + RXR2 = R2R3 + R2RX
R1RX= R2R3
R2/R1= RX/R3
This is the condition to balance the bridge. And for finding the unknown value of
resistance
RX = R3 × (R2 / R1)
From the above equation R4 or Rx can be computed from the known value of resistance
R3 and the ratio of R2/R1. Therefore, most of the cases R2 and R1 values are fixed and
the R3 value is variable so that null value is achieved and the bridge gets balanced.
For producing thin film strain gauge transducers ,first an electrical insulation such
as a ceramic is deposited on the stressed elastic metal member such as a
diaphragm or beam and then strain gauge alloy is deposited on the top of the
insulation layer. Both layers may be deposited either by vacuum deposition(is a
family of processes used to deposit layers atom-by-atom or molecule-by-
molecule at sub-atmospheric pressure (vacuum) on a solid surface) or sputtering
process(a process whereby atoms are ejected from a solid target material
due to bombardment of the target by energetic particles).
Conti.
Semi-conductor strain gauges
semiconductor strain gauges are based on the piezo-resistive property of
doped (doping intentionally introduces impurities into an extremely
pure (also referred to as intrinsic) semiconductor for the purpose of
modulating its electrical properties.)silicon and germanium and that is
why the transducers based on semiconductor gauges are often called piezo-
resistive transducers. They are made as continuous films of germanium or
silicon base materials.
Under strained condition, resistivity of any material changes and this is called
the piezo-resistive property of the materials. In metal alloy strain gauges,
variation in resistance is caused, under strained condition, mainly because
of change in resistivity of the material.
Thermistor
Resistance
Temperature
•The higher the temperature at the junction, the greater the voltage produced
by that junction.
Pros
They are inexpensive.
They are rugged and reliable.
Cons
low output voltage
low sensitivity
non-linearity
electrical connections
Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT)