EUE3223

 Compare various types of signals and their conversion in a basic measurement

system.
 Apply the principles of a selection of signal processors and conditioners as well as
the signal receivers.
 Manipulate transfer function of open and closed loop control systems.
 Derive the mathematical models of basic engineering systems.
 Evaluate the output response of the control systems.
 Liquid level sensors
 Flow sensors
 Pressure sensors
 Temperature sensors
 Force sensors
EUE3223
 A sensor is a device that receives a stimulus and responds with an electrical signal.
 The transducer is defined as the device which convert the one form of energy into
another form of the energy
 Widely used in measurement work because not all quantities that need to be
measured can be displayed as easily as others.
 A better measurement of a quantity can usually be made if it may be converted to
another form, which is more conveniently or accurately displayed.
 Motion, position,  Sound
displacement
 Moisture
 Velocity and
 Light
acceleration
 Radiation
 Force, strain
 Temperature
 Pressure
 Chemical presence
 Flow

These quantities are the stimulus.

6
 Example:
 Temperature transducers
 Thermocouples
 Resistance-Temperature Detectors (RTD)
 Thermistors
 Resistive position transducers
 Displacement transducers
 Strain gauge
 When we say electrical we mean a signal which can be channeled,
amplified and modified by electronic devices:
 Voltage
 Current
 Charge
 The voltage, current or charge may be described by:
 Amplitude
 Frequency
 Phase
 Digital code

8
 This conversion can be direct or it may require
transducers.
Fig 1.2

 Example:
 A chemical sensor may have a part which converts the
energy of a chemical reaction into heat (transducer)
and another part, a thermopile, which converts heat
into an electrical signal. 9
 Charges, fields &  Seebeck and Peltier
potentials effects
 Capacitance  Thermal properties of
 Magnetism
materials
 Heat transfer
 Induction
 Light
 Resistance
 Piezoelectric effect

10
 Electrical
 Converts the non-electrical quantity
into the equivalent electrical
quantity.
 Non-electrical quantity such as force,
displacement, stress, temperature.
 Electrical quantity such as current ,
voltage.
Mechanical
 simple and rugged in construction,
cheaper in cost, accurate and operate
without external power supplies
 Poor frequency response,
requirement of large forces to
overcome mechanical friction, in
compatibility when remote control or
indication is required and etc.
 Classified based on the basis of transduction form used.
 As primary and secondary transducers.
 As passive and active transducers.
 As analog and digital transducers.
 As transducers and inverse transducers
 Primary
 When the input signal is directly sensed by the transducer and physical
phenomenon is converted into the electrical form directly
 Secondary Transducers:
 Input signal is sensed first by some detector or sensor and then its output being of
some form other than input signals is given as input to a transducer for conversion
into electrical form,.
 Eg: Bourdon Tube Pressor Sensor
 Bourdon Tube as a primary sensor
which converts pressure first into
displacement, and then the
displacement is converted into an
output voltage by an LVDT. In this
case LVDT is secondary transducer.
Active Transducer:
 Self-generating type transducers i.e. the transducers, which develop their output the
form of electrical voltage or current without any auxiliary source.
 Draw energy from the system under measurement. Normally give very small output
and, therefore, use of amplifier becomes essential.
Passive Transducer:
 Requires external power source for energy conversion.
 Draw source energy from the system under measurement.
 Electrical parameters i.e. resistance, inductance or capacitance changes with the
change in input signal,
 Electrical parameters i.e. resistance, inductance or capacitance causes a change in
voltages current or frequency of the external power source
 Resistive, inductive and capacitive transducer falls in this category.
 Example:
 Classified based on output signals.
 Analog transducer converts input signal into output signal, which is a
continuous function of time such as thermistor, strain gauge, LVDT, thermo-
couple etc.
 Digital transducer converts input signal into the output signal of the form of
pulse e.g. it gives discrete output.
 Digital transducers are becoming more and more popular
 Advantages : Digital signals can be transmitted over a long distance without
causing much distortion due to amplitude variation and phase shift.
 Sometimes an analog transducer combined with an ADC (analog-digital
convector) is called a digital transducer.
 Transducer: Converts a non-electrical quantity into an
electrical quantity. Normally a transducer and associated
circuit has a non-electrical input and an electrical output,
for example a thermo-couple, photoconductive cell,
pressure gauge, strain gauge etc.
 Inverse transducer: Converts an electrical quantity into a
non-electrical quantity. It is a precision actuator having an
electrical input and a low-power non-electrical output.
 For examples a piezoelectric crystal, linear and angular
moving-coil elements can be employed as inverse
transducers.
 Transducer in a measurement system – Critical part to transform
physical quantity to proportional electrical signal.
 Choice of transducer is most important for having accurate results.
 Selection steps:
 Define nature of quantity under measurement (measurand)
 Know the range of magnitudes and frequency of the measurand.
 Examine the available transducer principles for measurement of
desired quantity. The type of transducer selected must be
compatible with the type and range of the quantity to be measured
and the output device.
 Build it or buy it.
 The points to be considered in determining a transducer suitable for a specific
measurement are as follows:
 Range.
 The range of the transducer > expected magnitudes of the measurand.
 Sensitivity.
 The transducer should give a sufficient output signal per unit of measured input in order
to yield meaningful data.
 Electrical Output Characteristics.
 The electrical characteristics-the output impedance, the frequency response.
 Transducer response time ~ compatible with the recording device
 Physical Environment.
 Withstand operating environment ~ temperature, acceleration, shock and vibration,
moisture, and corrosive chemical.
 Level Sensor
 Flow Meter
 Temperature sensors
 Displacement sensors
 Force sensors
 Speed transducers
 Liquid expansion and vapour pressure sensors
 With the wide variety of approaches to level
measurement and as many as 163 suppliers offering one
or more types of level-measuring instrument,
identifying the right one for your application can be
very difficult. In recent years, technologies that
capitalized on microprocessor developments have
stood out from the pack.
 For example, the tried-and-true technique of measuring
the head of a liquid has gained new life thanks to
“smart” differential pressure (DP) transmitters. Today’s
local level-measuring instruments can include
diagnostics as well as configuration and process data
that can be communicated over a network to remote
monitoring and control instrumentation. One model
even provides local PID control.
 Some of the most commonly used liquid-level measurement
methods are:
 FLOAT type
 RF capacitance
 Conductance (conductivity)
 Hydrostatic head/tank gauging
 Radar
 Ultrasonic
 Before you can decide which one is right for your application,
however, you need to understand how each works and the
theory behind it.
 RF (radio frequency) technology uses the
electrical characteristics of a capacitor, in
several different configurations, for level
measurement.
 Commonly referred to as RF capacitance or
simply RF, the method is suited for detecting the
level of liquids, slurries, granulars, or interfaces
contained in a vessel.
 Designs are available for measuring process
level at a specific point, at multiple points, or
continuously over the entire vessel height. Radio
frequencies for all types range from 30 kHz to 1
MHz.
 All RF level systems make use of
enhancements of the same capacitance-
measuring technique, and the same
basic theory underlies them all.
 An electrical capacitance exists
between two conductors separated by a
distance, d. The first conductor can be
the vessel wall (plate 1), and the second
can be a measurement probe or
electrode (plate 2). The two conductors
have an effective area, A, normal to
each other.
 Between the conductors is an insulating
medium—the nonconducting material
involved in the level measurement.
 The amount of capacitance here is determined not only by
the spacing and area of the conductors, but also by the
electrical characteristic (relative dielectric constant, K) of
the insulating material.
 The value of K affects the charge storage capacity of the
system: The higher the K, the more charge it can build up.
 Dry air has a K of 1.0. Liquids and solids have considerably
higher values, as shown in Table 1.
TABLE 1

Dielectric Constants of Sample Substances

Value
Substance
18.3
Isopropyl alcohol
1.8
Kerosene
8.0
Kynar
2.1
Mineral oil
80
Pure water
4.0
Sand
3.0
Sugar
2.0
Teflon
 The capacitance for the basic capacitor arrangement shown in Figure
can be computed from the equation:
C = E (K A/d)
where:
C = capacitance in picofarads (pF)
E = a constant known as the absolute
permittivity of free space
K = relative dielectric constant of the
insulating material
A = effective area of the conductors
d = distance between the
conductors
 To apply this formula to a level-measuring
system, you must assume that the process
material is insulating, which, of course, is not
always true.
 A bare, conductive, sensing electrode (probe) is
inserted down into a tank to act as one
conductor of the capacitor.
 The metal wall of the tank acts as the other.
 If the tank is nonmetallic, a conductive ground
reference must be inserted into the tank to act
as the other capacitor conductor.
 With the tank empty, the insulating medium
between the two conductors is air. With the tank full,
the insulating material is the process liquid or solid.
 As the level rises in the tank to start covering the
probe, some of the insulating effect from air
changes into that from the process material,
producing a change in capacitance between the
sensing probe and ground.
 This capacitance is measured to provide a direct,
linear measurement of tank level.
 The electrode sensor connects directly to an RF
transmitter outside the tank.
This view of a typical RF capacitance
probe shows the electronic chassis
enlarged to twice the size of its housing.
 When another electrical characteristic, impedance,
enters the picture, the result is further refinements in RF
level measurement.
 Offering improved reliability and a wider range of uses,
these variations of the basic RF system are called RF
admittance or RF impedance. In RF or AC circuits,
impedance, Z, is defined as the total opposition to
current flow:
 Z = R + 1/ j 2 π f C
where:
R = resistance in ohms
f = measurement frequency (radio frequency for RF measurement)
C = capacitance in picofarads
 An RF impedance level-sensing instrument measures
this total impedance rather than just the capacitance.
Some level-measuring systems are referred to as RF
admittance types. Admittance, A, is defined as a
measure of how readily RF or AC current will flow in a
circuit and is therefore the reciprocal of impedance (A =
1/Z). Thus, there is no basic difference between the RF
impedance and RF admittance as a level-measurement
technology.
 In some cases, the process material tends to build up a
coating on the level-sensing probe. In such cases, which
are not uncommon in level applications, a significant
measurement error can occur because the instrument
measures extra capacitance and resistance from the
coating buildup. As a result, the sensor reports a higher,
and incorrect, level instead of the actual tank level.
 The conductance method of liquid level measurement is based on the
electrical conductance of the measured material, which is usually a
liquid that can conduct a current with a low-voltage source (normally
<20 V). Hence the method is also referred to as a conductivity system.
Conductance is a relatively low-cost, simple method to detect and
control level in a vessel.
 One common way to set up an electrical circuit is to use a dual-tip
probe that eliminates the need for grounding a metal tank. Such
probes are generally used for point level detection, and the detected
point can be the interface between a conductive and nonconductive
liquid.
Figure shows an arrangement
with two dual-tip probes that detect
maximum and minimum levels.
When the level reaches the upper
probe, a switch closes to start the
discharge pump; when the level
reaches the lower probe,
the switch opens to stop the pump
 In the conductive type of
level measurement, two
dual-tip probes detect
the maximum and
minimum levels in a tank.
 Radar methods of level measurement are sometimes
referred to as microwave types. Both use
electromagnetic waves, typically in the microwave X-
band (10 GHz) range. This technology is being adapted
and refined for level measurement, so you should check
out the latest offerings. Most applications have been
designed for continuous level measurement.
 Basically, all types operate on the principle of beaming
microwaves downward from a sensor located on top of
the vessel. The sensor receives back a portion of the
energy that is reflected off the surface of the measured
medium. Travel time for the signal (called the time of
flight) is used to determine level. For continuous level
measurement, there are two main types of noninvasive
systems, as well as one invasive type that uses a cable
or rod as a wave guide and extends down into the tank’s
contents to near its bottom.
 One type of noninvasive system uses a technology called frequency-
modulated continuous wave (FMCW).
 From an electronic module on top of the tank, a sensor oscillator
sends down a linear frequency sweep, at a fixed bandwidth and
sweep time.
 The reflected radar signal is delayed in proportion to the distance to
the level surface.
 Its frequency is different from that of the transmitted signal, and the
two signals blend into a new frequency proportional to distance. That
new frequency is converted into a very accurate measure of liquid
level.
 The sensor outputs a frequency-modulated (FM) signal that
varies from 0 to ~200 Hz as the distance ranges from 0 to
200 ft (60 m).
 An advantage of this technique is that the level-
measurement signals are FM rather than AM, affording the
same advantages that radio waves offer.
 Most tank noise is in the AM range and does not affect the
FM signals.
 The second noninvasive technology, pulsed radar or
pulsed time-of-flight, operates on a principle very
similar to that of the ultrasonic pulse method. The radar
pulse is aimed at the liquid’s surface and the transit time
of the pulse’s re turn is used to calculate level. Because
pulse radar is lower power than FMCW, its performance
can be affected by obstructions in the tank as well as
foam and low-dielectric materials (K < 2).
 Antennas for the noninvasive methods come in two
designs: parabolic dish and cone.
 The parabolic dish antenna tends to direct the signals
over a wider area while the cone tends to confine the
signals in a narrower downward path. The choice of one
or the other, and its diameter, depends on application
factors such as tank obstructions that may serve as
reflectors, the presence of foam, and turbulence of the
measured fluid.
Radar (microwave) level measurement can use either of
two types of antenna construction at the top of vessel.
 Guided-wave radar (GWR) is an invasive method that uses a rod or
cable to guide the micro wave as it passes down from the sensor into
the material being measured and all the way to the bottom of the
vessel. The basis for GWR is time-domain reflectometry (TDR), which
has been used for years to locate breaks in long lengths of cable that
are underground or in building walls. A TDR generator develops
more than 200,000 pulses of electromagnetic energy that travel down
the waveguide and back. The dielectric of the measured fluid causes
a change in impedance that in turn develops a wave reflection.
Transit time of pulses down and back is used as a measure of level.
 The speed of sound through the medium (usually air) varies with the
medium’s temperature. The transducer may contain a temperature
sensor to compensate for changes in operating temperature that
would alter the speed of sound and hence the distance calculation
that determines an accurate level measurement.
 The presence of heavy foam on the surface of the material can act as
a sound absorbent. In some cases, the absorption may be sufficient to
preclude use of the ultrasonic technique.
 Extreme turbulence of the liquid can cause fluctuating readings. Use
of a damping adjustment in the instrument or a response delay may
help overcome this problem.
 Both ultrasonic and sonic level
instruments operate on the basic
principle of using sound waves to
determine fluid level. The frequency
range for ultrasonic methods is ~20–
200 kHz, and sonic types use a
frequency of 10 kHz.
 A top-of-tank mounted transducer
directs waves downward in bursts
onto the surface of the material whose
level is to be measured. Echoes of
these waves return to the transducer,
which performs calculations to
convert the distance of wave travel
into a measure of level in the tank.
 A piezoelectric crystal inside the transducer converts
electrical pulses into sound energy that travels in the form
of a wave at the established frequency and at a constant
speed in a given medium. The medium is normally air over
the material’s surface but it could be a blanket of nitrogen
or some other vapor.
 The sound waves are emitted in bursts and received back
at the transducer as echoes. The instrument measures the
time for the bursts to travel down to the reflecting surface
and return. This time will be proportional to the distance
from the transducer to the surface and can be used to
determine the level of fluid in the tank.
One of the oldest and most common methods of measuring
liquid level is to measure the pressure exerted by a column
(or head) of liquid in the vessel. The basic relationships
are:
 H = mP/d
 where, in consistent units:
 P = pressure
 m = a constant
 H = head
 d = density
 The density of a liquid varies with temperature. For the highest
precision in level measurement, the density must therefore be
compensated for or expressed with relation to the actual temperature
of the measured liquid.
 For decades, DP-type instruments—long before the DP cell—were
used to measure liquid.
 With open vessels a pipe at or near the bottom of the vessel connects
only to the high-pressure side of the meter body and the low-
pressure side is open to the atmosphere.
 If the vessel is pressurized or under vacuum, the low side of the
meter has a pipe connection near the top of the vessel, so that the
instrument responds only to changes in the head of liquid.
 Figure shows a simplified
system that incorporates only
one pressure transmitter (PT)
with a temperature transmitter
(TT) and makes novel use of a
level transmitter (LT) to detect
accumulation of water at the
bottom of a tank.

Mass (weight) of the tank’s contents can be calculated from the

hydrostatic head (measured by PT) multiplied by the tank area
(obtained from a lookup table). The liquid’s temperature-density
relationship can be used to calculate the volume and level, provided
the tank is not under pressure. Data fed into a computer system
make it possible for all calculations to be automatic, with results
continuously available for monitoring and accounting purposes.
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54
 Laminar Flow
 Frictionless flow
 No change in temperature
 Incompressible
 Horizontal pipe
 Conservation of flow rate

Q1  Q2  A1v1  A2v2

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 Differential Pressure
Orifice
Venturi tubes
Pitot tubes
Flow nozzles
Elbow tap meter

 Positive Displacement
 Velocity
 Mass meter
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 Exercise
A pressure transducer has a sensitivity of
1.5 mV/bar and an output impedance of
200 Ω . If this is connected to a
galvanometer of resistance 50Ω having a
sensitivity of 10 mm/μA, calculate the
pressure being measured if the
galvanometer spot deflects 50 mm on the
ultraviolet- sensitive paper. [0.83bar]

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70
• What is temperature?
• What effects may temperature cause on material or
structure?
• Examples:
– Resistance
– Volume
– Emf (Electromotive Force, Thomas Seebeck effect 1821 from the joint of
two dissimilar metals)
– Thermal radiation (astronomy, the temperature of a star)
– Appearance (color)
• Existing sensors:
– RTD (Resistance Temperature Device), thermistor
– Thermometer (thermal expansion device, use mercury or organic fluid or
bimetallic device)
– Thermocouple
– Infrared radiator
71
– Liquid in glass
 Methods of Temperature Measurement

1. Mechanical Methods

2. Electrical Methods
ELECTRICAL TEMPERATURE INSTRUMENTS

There are three types of electrical temperature instruments

(temperature sensors) which are generally used in industries.

 Thermocouple

 Resistance thermometer(RTD)

 Thermistor
 Thermocouples provide an economic means
of measuring temperature with many
practical advantages, for example:
1. They can be extremely robust, by using
thick wire.
2. Fine wire thermocouples respond very
rapidly to temperature changes (less than
0.1 s). For ultra fast response (10 ps
typical), foil thermocouples are used.
3. Capable of measuring over very wide
temperature ranges, from ice-cube to
engine exhausts.
4 Thermocouples are easy to install and are
available in many packages, from probes
to bare wires or foil.

74
75
76
Typical Industrial Thermocouple Assembly
78
• The type of thermocouple is associated with the type of metal joints.
• Constantan is a generic name of copper-nickel alloy. Its composition
79 is not the same when used in types E, J and T.
 Based on nickel, more commonly known as
type K, or nickel chromium/nickel aluminium
is the most widely used. Type K
thermocouples were standardised in 1916
Type K materials are nickel doped with
aluminium and nickel doped with chromium
and in 1916 it was not possible to produce very
pure nickel. In fact in recent years these
impurities have had to be deliberately added
to maintain calibration.
For these reasons type K thermocouples are
standardised or characterised by
EMF/temperature. It is common to add extra
elements to 'adjust' the EMF/temperature
characteristics of a particular melt.

80
81
 The number of free electrons in a piece of
metal depends on both temperature and
composition of the metal, therefore pieces
of dissimilar metal in isothermal contact
will exhibit a potential difference that is a
repeatable function of temperature.The
resulting voltage depends on the
temperatures, Tl and T2, in a repeatable
way.
The voltage produced across the junction
varies non linearly with temperature. The
Voltage may be approximated by
ETAB
1 ,T2
 E AB
T1  E AB
T2

 a1 (T1  T2 )  a2 (T12  T22 )  a3 (T13  T23 )  ...

82
 a1

Assuming the linear relationship in the range

provided:
ETAB
1 ,T2
 E AB
T1  E AB
T2

 a1 (T1  T2 )  a2 (T12  T22 )  a3 (T13  T23 )  ...

 a1 (T1  T2 )

83
 Since the thermocouple is basically a
differential rather than an absolute temperature
measuring device, one junction must be at a
known temperature if the temperature of the
other junction is to be found from the value of
the output voltage. Because the temperature
depends not only on the difference between the
temperatures but also on the values (expressed
in oC) one junction is ideally placed at the ice
point.

84
 An alternative measurement technique is
to use a reference junction which is
allowed to change with temperature, but it
is carefully measured by some type of
absolute thermometer. A measurement of
the thermocouple voltage combined with
a knowledge of the reference temperature
can be used to calculate the measurement
junction temperature. Usual practice,
however, is to use a convenient
thermoelectric method to measure the
reference temperature and to arrange its
output voltage so that it corresponds to a
thermocouple referred to 0oC.
85
86
 Temperature to be measured Reference temperature

EMF depends on T1 & T2 only

Allow to have a 3rd metal,

like a Voltmeter

Allow to have a
3rd metal,
like a Voltmeter at
This position
Copper Copper Nickel Law of
Intermediate
Iron Nickel Iron metals
Law of
Intermediate
temperatures
ET1, T2 = ET1, T3 + ET3, T2

87
 We wish to measure the temperature, T1 of a liquid inside a
vessel with Chromel vs. Alumel (Type K) thermocouple.
The measurement junction is inserted in the vessel and the
reference junction is outside the vessel, where the
temperature is measured to be 20 oC, i.e. T3 = 20 oC. The
measurement of voltmeter shows 5.3mV, ET1,20. What is the
EMF value at reference temperature, ET1,0?
(Ans: 6.098mV)

What is T1?
(Ans: around 149OC)

88
89
 A type J thermocouple is used to measure the temperature in an environment
which yielded an output of 2.8mV. If the reference junction is at 0°C, what is
the temperature of the measured environment? (Refer to Table 1) [54.057]

90
 From the previous question, same thermocouple is used for measuring the
environment temperature with the reference junction at 30°C. The output
voltage is 3.68mV, what is the measured temperature? [99.04]

91
a. Define the operating principle of the thermocouple and the governing rules. Discuss the
importance of cold junction compensation.
b. It is intended that the temperature of a liquid electrolyte be monitored by a
thermocouple. The temperature of operation is 280 oC, while the ambient temperature in
the vicinity of the tank holding the electrolyte can vary between 10 oC -40 oC. The
desired output voltage must have a range of 0-300 mV. Choose a suitable thermocouple
and design the circuit by calculating the suitable values for resistor Ra and R

92
 Resistance Temperature Detector- RTD

 How it works:
 Utilizes the fact that
resistance of a metal
changes with temperature.
 Make up:
 Traditionally made up of
platinum, nickel, iron or
copper wound around an
insulator.
 Temperature range:
 From about -196°C to
482°C.

Thin Film RTD

RESISTANCE TEMPERATURE DETECTOR- RTD

 It is a positive temperature coefficient

device, which means that the resistance

increases with temperature.

The industry standard is the platinum wire

RTD (Pt100) whose base resistance is
exactly 100.00 ohms at 0.0 °C.
 Resistance Temperature Detector- RTD
Platinum Wire RTDs (PRTs)

PRTs have established themselves as the de-facto industry

standard for temperature measurement, and for many reasons:
 linear temperature sensors

 Resistance vs temperature
characteristics are stable and
reproducible

 linear positive temperature

coefficient (-200 to 800 °C)

 very accurate and suitable for

use as a secondary standard
 RT  Ro (1  T  T  T  .... 2 3

Based on the variation of resistance of metals with

temperature
Where R0 is the resistance at 0oC and ,  and  are
the temperature coefficients.
Typical metals used are nickel, copper and platinum.
Metal Temp TCR
O
Range C (% C @25OC)
O

Platinum -200 to + 850 0.39

Nickel -8 to + 320 0.67
Copper -200 to + 260 0.38
Nickel/Iron -200 to + 260 0.46

96
97
98
RT  Ro (1  T )RT  K exp   
T 

A resistance temperature detector (RTD) is used to measure the temperature of liquid in

the range of 0 oC to 100 oC. The output sensitivity is to be 10mV/oC and balanced at
0oC. The governing equation of the RTD is given as equation below:

RT  Ro (1  T )
where
Ro= 500 at 20 oC, α = 0.005 oC-1 and T = temperature.

Describe the operating principle of a RTD and what is the most significant advantage of
the RTD?

The RTD is placed in an ice bath at 0 oC. Calculate the resistance of the RTD at 0 oC
(without considering the self-heating effect).

99
 In view of the very small fractional changes of resistance with temperature
(0.4%), the RTD is generally used in a bridge circuit. The following figure
illustrates the essential features of such a system.

The compensation line in R3 leg of the bridge is required when the lead
lengths are so long that thermal gradients along the RTD leg may cause
changes in line resistance. By using the compensation line, the same
100 resistance changes also appear on the R3 side of the bridge and cause no
net shift in the bridge null.
Refer to the figure below, the resistor R3 is used to null the bridge with R1 = R2 =
20 Ω and supply voltage of 15 V. The RTD has a = 0.01/°C, resistance of R4 = 20
Ω and a dissipation constant of PD = 100 mW/°C at 30°C. Determine the value of
R3 if the RTD is placed in a bath of 0°C.

101
 RTD is a resistance, there is an I2R power dissipated by the device itself
that causes a light heating effect, a self-heating. This may also cause an
erroneous reading or even upset the environment in delicate measurement
condition. Thus, the current through the RTD must be kept sufficiently low
and constant to avoid self-heating.

Typically, a dissipation constant is provided in RTD specifications. This

number relates the power required to raise the RTD temperature by one
degree of temperature.

A 25-mW/oC dissipation constant shows that if I2R power losses in the RTD
equal 25 mW, the RTD will be heated by 1.0oC.

The dissipation constant is usually specified under two conditions: free air
and a well-stirred oil bath. This is because of the difference in capacity of
the medium to carry heat away from the device.
102
 The self-heating temperature rise can be found from the
power dissipated by the RTD, and the dissipation constant
from:

103
104
 Thermistors are semiconductor temperature
sensors which usually have negative TCRs.

They are highly non linear, highly sensitive and

exhibit large resistance variations for small
temperature variations, i.e. a 25OC temperature
typically gives a 350% change in resistance
variation.

The materials commonly used are oxides of

nickel, cobalt or manganese and sulphides of iron
aluminium or copper.

105
 The thermistors can be in the shape of a rod, bead or disc.
 Manufactured from
oxides of nickel,
manganese, iron,
cobalt, magnesium,
titanium and other
metals.
Thermistors

 
RT  K exp 
T 
 Advantages:  Disadvantages:
 Very sensitive (has the largest output  Output is a non-linear function
change from input temperature)  Limited temperature range.
 Quick response  Require a current source
 More accurate than RTD and  Self heating
Thermocouples
 Fragile
110
The word that best describes the thermistors is
“sensitive”
 ,  is strain

Strain is the amount of deformation of a body due to an

applied force. More specifically, strain (e) is
defined as the fractional change in length.

113
114
 A strain gauge, a device whose electrical resistance
varies in proportion to the amount of strain in the
device.
115
 When a conducting material is strained its
electrical resistance changes. This is the
piezo resistive effect which occurs to some
extent in all conductors.
This change in resistance is used to
measure the strain.
The resistance of a conductor is given by
L
R
A
where: R is the resistance.
 is the resistivity,
A the cross sectional area (W xH)
L is the length.
116
 To find the fractional change in resistance
we proceed as follows
Taking logs
log R  log   log L  log A
and differentiating
dR d dL dA
  
R  L A

117
 The expression consists of three parts
Change in resistance due to change in
length only
Change in resistance due to change in
cross sectional area only
Change in resistance due to change in
piezo resistive effect only
Poissons ratio for most metals is about 0.3
Most common metal based commercial
gauges have a gauge factor of about 2
G=1 + 0.6+ 0.4
Semiconductor gauges can have gauge
factors in the order of 200, but are very
temperature sensitive and must be
individually calibrated
118
 dA dw dh
   2St
A w h
The relationship between longitudinal Strain and
transverse strain is given by Poisson's Ratio.

dw dL dh dL
  and  
w L h L

20/09/
119 EN0564 Slides
2019
With some manipulation we arrive at
 dR   d 
   
 
G
R  
 1  2 
 dL   dL 
   
 L   L 
A strain gauge is cemented to an Iron post of length 1m, which is subjected to a
compressible force. The nominal resistance of the gauge is 200 . The change
in resistance of strain gauge is measured to be 0.7 . The final length of the
iron post is 999 mm, Calculate the gauge factor of the strain gauge

121
Last Updated:20 September 2019
 A strain gauge has an unstrained resistance
of 120 and
a resistance under 3% strain of 132.
What is the gauge factor? [3.33]

122
A capacitive liquid level sensor is illustrated as below. The capacitance is given by:
2 r  0 h
C
b
ln 
a
where:
C is the capacitance,
0 is the permittivity of free space (Fm-1),
r is relative permittivity, h is the height of the water level,
a and b are the radii of the inside and outside cylinders
respectively.
a. Explain how this capacitor can be used as a level sensor in a fluid tank.
b. Given the following parameters, determine the capacitance as a function of liquid height and
comment on the linearity or otherwise of the output.

1
c. The capacitor is used as part of an LC oscillation circuit (   LC ) and is fed into a frequency to
voltage converter, an ADC, and a signal microprocessor unit to recover the fluid level. Determine
suitable component values for the system? (assuming that the inductance, L = 2 mH)
 Pressure,
P1 Pressure,
P2

Sensor

If the gas pressure is at 3 bars and the atmospheric pressure is at 1.013

bars, calculate:
i) the differential pressure read by the sensor,
ii) the gauge pressure and,
iii) the absolute pressure.

i) the differential pressure read by the sensor,

P1 - P2 = 1.987 bars
i) the gauge pressure and,
3 bars (reference to the atmospheric pressure)
i) the absolute pressure.
P1 + P2 = 4.013 bars (reference to vacuum pressure)