Instrumentation and

Measurement (Lecture 6)
By
ADNAN FAZIL & AKHTAR HANIF

Department of Mechanical Engineering

Air University

Mass, Force and Torque Measurement

Mass (weight) measurement: Mass describes the quantity of matter that

a body contains.
Load cells are the most common instrument used to measure mass,
especially in industrial applications. Most load cells are now electronic,

although pneumatic and hydraulic types also exist.

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Electronic Load Cell (Electronic Balance)

The electronic load cell uses the physical principle that a force applied to

an elastic element produces a measurable deflection.

Load cells exist in both compression and tension forms. In the

compression type, the measured mass is placed on top of a platform

resting on the load cell, which therefore compresses the cell. In the
alternative tension type, the mass is hung from the load cell, thereby
putting the cell into tension.
Advantages: relatively low cost, wide measurement range, tolerance of

dusty and corrosive environments, remote measurement capability and

ease of installation.
One problem that can affect the performance of load cells is the

phenomenon of creep. Creep describes the permanent deformation that

an elastic element undergoes after it has been under load for a period of
time.
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Electronic Load Cell

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Electronic Load Cell

Various types of displacement transducer are used to measure the

deflection of the elastic elements

Load cells including strain gauges

Inaccuracy figure: less than 0.05% of full-scale

Wide range between 0 and 3000 tonnes

Bottom end: typically 0.15 kg

Top of the range: 103000 tonnes.
Based on differential transformers (LVDTs)

Measure masses up to 25 tonnes.

Inferior to strain gauge-based instruments: 0.2% inaccuracy

Major advantage: their longevity and almost total lack of maintenance
requirements
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Electronic Load Cell

Piezoelectric Device

Range: 0 to 1000 tonnes.

Piezoelectric crystals replace the specially designed elastic member
allowing the device to be physically small.
Very difficult to design such instruments to be insensitive to forces
applied at an angle to the sensing axis.
Lowest inaccuracy: is 1% of full-scale reading.
They also have a high temperature coefficient.

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Electronic Load Cell

Electronic Balance

The electronic balance is a device that contains several compression-type

load cells, as illustrated in Fig. Commonly, either three or four load cells
are used in the balance, with the output mass measurement being formed
from the sum of the outputs of each cell.

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Pneumatic/Hydraulic Load Cells

The force to be measured is applied to the top side of the diaphragm. Due

to this force, the diaphragm deflects and causes the flapper to shut-off the
nozzle opening. Now an air supply is provided at the bottom of the
diaphragm. As the flapper closes the nozzle opening, a back pressure
results underneath the diagram. This back pressure acts on the
diaphragm producing an upward force. Air pressure is regulated until the
diaphragm returns to the pre-loaded position which is indicated by air
which comes out of the nozzle. At this stage, the corresponding pressure
indicated by the pressure gauge becomes a measure of the applied force
when calibrated.

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Pneumatic/Hydraulic Load Cells

The force to be measured is applied to the piston. The applied force

moves the piston downwards and deflects the diaphragm and this
deflection of the diaphragm increases the pressure in the liquid medium
(oil). This increase in pressure of the liquid medium is proportional to the
applied force. The increase in pressure is measured by the pressure
gauge which is connected to the liquid medium.

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Pneumatic/Hydraulic Load Cells

Pneumatic Load Cells

Full-scale reading of 25 kg to 25 tonnes

Inaccuracy is typically 0.5% of full scale

Hydraulic Load Cells

Inaccuracy figure of 0.05% of full scale

A measurement resolution of 0.02% is attainable.

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Intelligent Load Cells

Intelligent load cells are formed by adding a microprocessor to a standard

cell. This brings no improvement in accuracy because the load cell is

already a very accurate device.
What it does produce is an intelligent weighing system that can compute

total cost from the measured weight, using stored cost per unit weight
information, and provide an output in the form of a digital display.

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Mass-balance (Weighing) Instruments

Mass-balance instruments are based on comparing the gravitational force

on the measured mass with the gravitational force on another body of

known mass.
This principle of mass measurement is commonly known as weighing

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Beam Balance (Equal-arm Balance)

In the beam balance, shown in Figure, standard masses are added to a pan

on one side of a pivoted beam until the magnitude of the gravity force on
them balances the magnitude of the gravitational force on the unknown
mass acting at the other end of the beam. This equilibrium position is
indicated by a pointer that moves against a calibrated scale.
The lowest measurement inaccuracy

figure attainable is 0.002%.

A problem in industrial use is the relatively long time needed to make each

measurement. For these reasons, the beam balance is normally reserved as

a calibration standard and is not used in day-to-day production
environments.
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Weigh Beam
The weigh beam, sketched Figure, operates on similar principles to the

beam balance but is much more rugged. In the first form, standard masses
are added to balance the unknown mass and fine adjustment is provided by
a known mass that is moved along a notched, graduated bar until the pointer
is brought to the null, balance point. The alternative form has two or more
graduated bars.
Versions of these instruments are used to measure masses up to 50 tonnes.

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Weigh Beam

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Pendulum Scale
The unknown mass is put on a platform that is

attached to a cam. Downward motion of the

platform, and hence rotation of the cam, under
the influence of the gravitational force on the
mass, is opposed by the gravitational force
acting on pendulum type mass attached to the
cam.
The amount of rotation of the cam when the

equilibrium position is reached is determined

by the deflection of a pointer against a scale.
The shape of the cam is such that this output
deflection is linearly proportional to the applied
mass.
Various

versions of the instrument can

measure masses in the range between 1 kg
and 500 tonnes, with a typical measurement
inaccuracy of 0.1%.

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Electromagnetic Balance
The change of current is directly proportional to the change of weight, this

current change can be used as weight signal.

The force-balance sensor does not detect physical change but change of

current directly, it can achieve accurate and high-speed weighing.

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Spring Balance
Spring balances provide a method of mass measurement

that is both simple and cheap.

Because the characteristics of the spring are very sensitive

to environmental changes, measurement accuracy is usually

relatively poor.
If compensation is made for the changes in spring

characteristics, then a measurement inaccuracy less than

0.2% is achievable.
According to the design of the instrument, masses between

0.5 kg and 10 tonnes can be measured.

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Force Measurement
If a force of magnitude, F, is applied to a body of mass, M, the body will

accelerate at a rate, A, according to the equation:

F = MA
The standard unit of force is the Newton
One way of measuring an unknown force is therefore to measure the

acceleration when it is applied to a body of known mass.

An alternative technique is to measure the variation in the resonant

frequency of a vibrating wire as it is tensioned by an applied force.

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Use of Accelerometers
The technique of applying a force to a known mass and measuring the

acceleration produced can be carried out using any type of accelerometer.

Unfortunately, the method is of very limited practical value because, in most

cases, forces are not free entities but are part of a system (from which they

cannot be decoupled) in which they are acting on some body that is not free
to accelerate.
However, the technique can be of use in measuring some transient forces,

and also for calibrating the forces produced by thrust motors in space
vehicles.

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VIBRATING WIRE SENSOR

Resonant frequency of a wire under tension is

given by:

where M is the mass per unit length

L is the length of the wire
T is the tension due to the applied force, F.
Thus, measurement of the output frequency of

the oscillator allows the force applied to the wire

to be calculated.

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TORQUE MEASUREMENT

Measurement of applied torques is of fundamental importance in all

rotating bodies to ensure that the design of the rotating element is

adequate to prevent failure under shear stresses. The three traditional
methods of measuring torque consist of (i) measuring the reaction force in
cradled shaft bearings, (ii) the Prony brake method and (iii) measuring
the strain produced in a rotating body due to an applied torque.

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REACTION FORCES IN SHAFT

BEARINGS
Any

system
involving
torque
transmission
through
a
shaft
contains both a power source and a
power absorber where the power is
dissipated.

The magnitude of the transmitted

torque can be measured by cradling

either the power source or the power
absorber end of the shaft in
bearings, and then measuring the
reaction force, F, and the arm length
L, as shown in Figure.
The torque is then calculated as the

simple product, FL.

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PRONY BRAKE
One end of the rope is attached to a spring balance and the other end

carries a load in the form of a standard mass, m. If the measured force in

the spring balance is Fs, then the effective force, Fe, exerted by the rope on
the shaft is given by:
Fe = mg Fs
Re = Rs + Rr
T = Fe x Re

Whilst this is a well-known method of measuring shaft torque, a lot of heat is

generated because of friction between the rope and shaft, and water cooling
is usually necessary.

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PRONY BRAKE

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MEASUREMENT OF INDUCED STRAIN

Measuring the strain induced in a shaft due to an applied torque has been

the most common method used for torque measurement in recent years.
It is a very attractive method because it does not disturb the measured

system by introducing friction torques in the same way as the last two
methods described do.
The method involves bonding four strain gauges onto the shaft as shown in

Figure 18.12, where the strain gauges are arranged in a d.c. bridge circuit.

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MEASUREMENT OF INDUCED STRAIN

It is very important that the positioning of the strain gauges on the shaft is

precise, and the difficulty in achieving this makes the instrument relatively
expensive.
A problem is encountered in the case of rotating shafts because a suitable

method then has to be found for making the electrical connections to the
strain gauges. One solution to this problem found in many commercial
instruments is to use a system of slip rings and brushes for this, although
this increases the cost of the instrument still further.

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OPTICAL TORQUE MEASUREMENT

Light from a laser diode light source is

directed by a pair of optic-fibre cables

onto the wheels. The rotation of the
wheels causes pulses of reflected light
and these are transmitted back to a
receiver by a second pair of fibre-optic
cables.
Measurement by the receiver of the

phase difference between the reflected

pulse trains therefore allows the
magnitude of torque in the shaft to be
calculated.
Advantage in many applications is their

small physical size.

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