Measurement & Control Instrumentations

M.Sc. Production Engineering Course

Department of Production Engineering & Metallurgy
University of Technology

By: Assistant Professor Dr. Laith Abdullah Mohammed

Email: dr.laith@uotechnology.edu.iq
Website: www.uotechnology.edu.iq/dep-production/laith/

Resources:
1.Text Books:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

Introduction to Instrumentation and Measurements, 2nd edition, By Robert B. Northrop

Instrumentation for Process Measurement and control, 3rd edition, By: Norman A. Anderson
Instrumentation and Control Systems, By: W. Bolton
Measurement Systems and Sensors, By: Waldemar Nawrocki
Measurement & Instrumentation Principles, 3rd edition, By: Alan S. Morris

2.Web sites:
ISA Instrumentation, Systems, and Automation Society

www.isa.org

American Society for Testing and Materials

www.astm.org

Measurement, Control & Automation Association

www.measure.org

Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers

www.ieee.org

American Society of Mechanical Engineers

www.asme.org

The General Measurement System

Process is a system which generates information
Table 1.1 lists information variables which are commonly generated by processes:
thus a car generates displacement, velocity and acceleration variables,
and a chemical reactor generates temperature, pressure and composition variables.

Observer is a person who needs this information from the process.

The purpose of the measurement system is to link the observer to the process

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In an ideal measurement system, the measured value would be equal to the true value.
The accuracy of the system can be defined as the closeness of the measured value to the true value.
Measurement system error E

E = measured value true value

E = system output system input
Thus if the measured value of the flow rate of gas in a pipe is 11.0 m3/h and the true value is 11.2 m3/h,
then the error E = 0.2 m3/h.
Error is the main performance indicator for a measurement system

Structure of measurement systems

Sensing element:
This is in contact with the process and gives an output which depends in some way on the variable to be
measured. Examples are:
Thermocouple where millivolt e.m.f. depends on temperature
Strain gauge where resistance depends on mechanical strain
Orifice plate where pressure drop depends on flow rate.
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Signal conditioning element:

This takes the output of the sensing element and converts it into a form more suitable for further
processing, usually a d.c. voltage, d.c. current or frequency signal.
Examples are:
Deflection bridge which converts an impedance change into a voltage change
Amplifier which amplifies millivolts to volts
Oscillator which converts an impedance change into a variable frequency voltage.
Signal processing element
This takes the output of the conditioning element and converts it into a form more suitable for
presentation.
Examples are:
Analogue-to-digital converter (ADC) which converts a voltage into a digital form for input to a
computer
Computer which calculates the measured value of the variable from the incoming digital data.
Typical calculations are:
Computation of total mass of product gas from flow rate and density data.
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Data presentation element

This presents the measured value in a form which can be easily recognized by the observer.
Examples are:
Simple pointerscale indicator
Chart recorder
Visual display unit (VDU).

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Examples of measurement systems

temperature system

speed of rotation of an engine

flow system

weight system

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Block diagram symbols

A block diagram approach is very useful in discussing the properties of elements and systems.

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Static Characteristics of Measurement System Elements

Static or steady-state characteristics; these are
the relationships which
may occur between the output O and input I of
an element when I is either at a constant value
or changing slowly

Meaning of element characteristics.

Systematic characteristics
Systematic characteristics are those that can be exactly quantified by mathematical or graphical
means.
These are distinct from statistical characteristics which cannot be exactly quantified.

Systematic characteristics / Range

The input range of an element is specified by the minimum and maximum values of I, i.e. IMIN to IMAX.
The output range is specified by the minimum and maximum values of O, i.e. OMIN to OMAX.
Thus a pressure transducer may have an input range of 0 to 104 Pa and an output range of 4 to 20 mA;
a thermocouple may have an input range of 100 to 250 C and an output range of 4 to 10 mV.

Dr. Laith Abdullah Mohammed

Systematic characteristics / Ideal straight line

An element is said to be linear if corresponding values of I and O lie on a straight line.
The ideal straight line connects the minimum point A(IMIN, OMIN ) to maximum
point B(IMAX, OMAX) and therefore has the equation:

Ex: a pressure transducer have an input range

of 0 to 104 Pa and an output range of 4 to 20 mA

The ideal straight line for the pressure transducer is:

O = 1.6 103I + 4

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Systematic characteristics / Non-linearity

In many cases the straight-line relationship defined by previous equation is not obeyed and the
element is said to be non-linear.
Non-linearity can be defined in terms of a function N(I ) which is the difference between actual and
ideal straight-line behavior, i.e.

N(I ) = O(I ) (KI + a)

or

O(I ) = KI + a + N(I)

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Systematic characteristics / Sensitivity:

This is the change O in output O for unit change I in input I, i.e. it is the ratio O/I.
In the limit that I tends to zero, the ratio O/I tends to the derivative dO/dI, which is the rate of
change of O with respect to I.
For a linear element dO/dI is equal to the slope or gradient K of the straight line;
Ex: a pressure transducer have an input range of 0 to 104 Pa and an output range of 4 to 20 mA
for the above pressure transducer the sensitivity is 1.6 103 mA/Pa.
For a non-linear element
dO/dI = K + dN/dI,
i.e.
sensitivity is the slope or gradient of the output versus input characteristics O(I ).
Figure shows the e.m.f. versus temperature
characteristics E(T ) for a Type T
thermocouple .
We see that the gradient and therefore
the sensitivity vary with temperature:
at 100 C it is approximately 35 V/C
and at 200 C approximately 42 V/C.

Dr. Laith Abdullah Mohammed

Systematic characteristics / Resolution:

Some elements are characterized by the output increasing in a series of discrete steps
or jumps in response to a continuous increase in input (Figure below).
Resolution is defined as the largest change in I that can occur without any corresponding change in O.

Resolution and potentiometer example.

Thus in the Figure above resolution is defined in terms of the width IR of the widest step;
resolution expressed as a percentage of full scale deflection is thus:

A common example is a wire-wound potentiometer (Figure above); in response to a continuous

increase in x the resistance R increases in a series of steps, the size of each step being equal to the
resistance of a single turn. Thus the resolution of a 100 turn potentiometer is 1%.
Dr. Laith Abdullah Mohammed