36

1 J. Instrum. Soc.
India 36(1) 1-7

DESIGN OF FFT SPECTRUM ANALYZER ON
PC PLATFORM USING LABVIEWAND
MICROCONTROLLER BASED
DATAACQUISITION SYSTEM
K. Arun Venkatesh
1
, Shikha Chauhan
1
, S.G. Hiranya Bhatta
2
and N. Mathivanan
l,3
1
University Science Instrumentation Centre, Madurai Kamaraj University, Madurai - 625021
2
Honeywell Technologies Solutions Lab Pvt. Ltd., Madurai - 625015
3
All communication should be addressed to
ABSTRACT
The design and development of a FFT Spectrum Analyzer on PC using Lab VIEW and
microcontroller based data acquisition (DAQ) system is discussed. Spectrum Analyzers
find wide applications in vibration analysis, speech analysis, harmonic measurement, etc.
There are different types of Spectrum Analyzers in use. Among them, FFT Spectrum
Analyzer, which is suitable for analyzing signals containing wide range of frequencies,
can be easily implemented on PC platform. The FFT Spectrum Analyzer has been
implemented by interfacing a microcontroller based data acquisition system to PC through
parallel port. The DAQ system has been designed around the microcontroller AT89C51
and analog to digital converter ADC0804. The microcontroller gives out signals for
sampling the analog signal at specified intervals of time, stores 64 bytes of sampled data
in its internal RAM and transfers the 64 bytes to the PC system in sequence. The
software has been developed using LabVIEW. The FFT spectrum of the sampled data is
computed using LabVIEW built-in function and it is displayed on the screen.
1. INTRODUCTION
Amplitude vs. time plot of a signal represents the signal in time domain. Amplitude vs.
frequency plot of a signal represents the signal in frequency domain. A Spectrum Analyzer
computes frequency components present in a signal and plots amplitude vs. frequency graph.
Signals represented in frequency domain provide more information and are convenient to
analyze. Measurements like harmonic distortion are very difficult in time domain by inspecting
the waveform in time-scale on an oscilloscope. The same signal when displayed in the
frequency domain, amplitudes of various harmonics in the signal can be easily measured.
Basically, Spectrum Analyzers are of two types, (i) Swept Spectrum Analyzer, and (ii). FFT
Spectrum Analyzer. FFT Spectrum Analyzers are suitable for analyzing signals containing wide
range of frequencies.
2
2. DESIGN OF A MICROCONTROLLER BASED DATA ACQUISITION
SYSTEM
Basically, a FFT Spectrum Analyzer samples the signal at regular interval of time, computes
FFT on sampled data and plots the amplitude vs. frequency spectrum. In the present Spectrum
Analyzer, a microcontroller based Data Acquisition (DAQ) system has been designed for
sampling the analog signal. The DAQ system has been interfaced to PC through parallel port
for transferring the sampled data to the PC. The DAQ system is built around a microcontroller
AT89C51 and an analog to digital converter ADC0804. The circuit diagram is shown in
Figure 1.
Fig. 1 : The circuit diagram of microcontroller based data acquisition system.
As per the sampling theorem, the signal should be sampled at a frequency greater than
twice the maximum frequency component present in the signal. If the signal is undersampled
(i.e. sampled at a frequency less than twice the maximum frequency component in the signal)
aliasing will occur. Aliasing refers to reflection of high frequency components into low
frequencies in the frequency spectrum. Aliasing results in error in frequency spectrum
computation. To prevent aliasing, an anti-aliasing filter (a low-pass filter) is used at the input
stage. A second order (-40 dB/decade) low-pass filter with 2 kHz cut-off frequency is designed
using an UA741 op-amp. The input signal is passed through the filter.
ADC0804
(1)
is used to convert the analog signal to digital data. ADC0804 is an 8-bit
successive approximation type ADC and operates with +5 V supply voltage. It has 100 us
conversion time and operates with 600 kHz clock frequency. Successive approximation type
ADCs require the analog input signal to be held constant during the conversion period. A
Sample and Hold (S/H) amplifier LF398
l
is used to hold the signal constant during conversion.
The S/H amplifier is set to hold mode before AID conversion is started and driven to sample
mode after the conversion is over.
Microcontroller AT89C51 is used to control the operation of S/H amplifier and the ADC
in the DAQ system. It is also used to read the converted data from the ADC and to transfer
to PC. AT89C51
2
is an 8-bit microcontroller that operates at 11.0592 MHz clock frequency
K. Arun Venkatesh, Shikha Chauhan, S.G. Hiranya Bhatta and N. Mathivanan
3
and with +5 V power supply. It has 128 bytes of internal RAM, two 16-bit Timers/Counters,
four parallel I/O ports, one programmable serial port and six interrupt sources.
Port-1 of A T89C51 is used to get the converted data from the ADC and Port-0 is used
to send the data to the PC through parallel port
3
. Since Port-0 is open-drain I/O, it requires
the pins of the port to be connected to Vcc through 10 kO pull-up resistors. Port-2 of the
AT89C51 is used to give out control signals to CS#, WR# and RD# inputs of ADC and S/H
control signal to S/H amplifier. The AID conversion is started by applying logic low to CS#
and WR# pins. Conversion is monitored by polling the INTR# pin of ADC through P3.2 pin
of Port-3. Logic high to low transition of INTR# indicates the end of conversion. Converted
data is read by applying logic low to CS# and RD# pins of the ADC. The S/H amplifier is set
to sample/hold mode by applying logic high/low to S/H control input (pin-8) of LF398 through
P2.4 pin.
P2.3 pin of Port-2 (output pin) and P3.3 pin of Port-3 (input pin) are used for handshaking
during data transfer from microcontroller to PC. The following handshaking scheme has been
implemented for the data transfer. The microcontroller outputs the data on its Port-0 pins and
asserts pin P2.3 of Port-2, which is connected to pin-10 of parallel port. The PC polls the
signal on pin-10 of its parallel port (by polling the bit-6 of status register) and determines
whether a new data is available. When it determines that a new data is available, it reads the
data (from the data register ofthe parallel port) and acknowledges the same to microcontroller
by asserting pin-16 (bit-2 of control register) of the parallel port.
3. SOFTWARE DESCRIPTION
Programming AT89C51
The program has been developed in the assembly language and the code is downloaded
into the EPROM of A T89C51 using a universal programmer kit. Timer-0 of the AT89C51 is
programmed to generate timer interrupt at an interval of 250 us for sampling the signal at the
frequency of 4 kHz and is operated in mode-2 (auto reload). During the sampling period, all
interrupts except timer interrupt are disabled to ensure precise time interval. For every timer
interrupt, the AT89C51 issues start of conversion (SOC) to ADC, polls end of conversion
(EOC), reads converted data on EOC and stores in its internal RAM in sequence. Though
AT89C51 has internal RAM of size 128 bytes, only 64 bytes are used to save the sampled
data. The data are then transferred to PC through the parallel port.
LabVIEW Programming
Program for transfer of sampled data from AT89C51 to computer memory has been
developed in LabVIEW. The 64 bytes of sampled data are stored in sequence in computer
memory. FFT on the sampled data is computed using the LabVIEW
4
built-in function FFT
Spectrum(Mag-Phase)-vi. It uses the Radix-2 decimation in time (DIT) algorithm. In this
method, the samples are continuously split into odd and even components and Discrete Fourier
Transform is computed for the decomposed sequence. The FFT spectrum is displayed on a
graphic chart on the screen using LabVIEW built in function Waveform Graph.vi which
automatically calibrates the X-axis and Y-axis of the graphic chart. The X-axis is calibrated in
frequency and the Y-axis is calibrated in amplitude. Each division in X-axis is separated by
1/(sampling period * 64) Hz. Figure 2(a) shows the LabVIEW program transferring data from
Design of FFT spectrum analyzer on PC platform using Labview and microcontroller based data acquisition system
4
DAQ system to PC and Figure 2(b) shows the LabVIEW program computing and displaying
FFT spectrum of sampled data.
Fig. 2 : LabVIEW programs - (a) transferring data from DAQ system to PC, (b) computing and
displaying FFT spectrum of sampled data.
(a)
(b)
5
4. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
The Spectrum Analyzer has been tested by applying (i) square wave of known amplitude,
duty cycle and frequency, and (ii) sine wave of known frequency.
A square wave will produce a number of harmonics in the frequency spectrum. The
amplitude of these harmonics depends on the duty cycle of the waveform. Square waves of
25% duty cycle (i.e. 25% ON time and 75% OFF time) and 50% duty cycle will generate
harmonics in integral multiples of the frequency of the square wave with amplitudes in the
ratios of 1/(v2), 1/2, 1(3v2), 0, 1/(v2), ......and 1, 0, 1/3, 0, 1/5, 0, ...... respectively
5
. The
frequency spectra displayed by the Spectrum Analyzer for square waves of duty cycles of
25% and 50% of 500 Hz frequency are shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4. It is observed that
the frequency spectrum for 500 Hz, 25% duty cycle square wave has harmonics at frequencies
in integral multiples of 500 Hz (i.e. 500 Hz, 1,000 Hz and 1,500 Hz) with amplitudes in the
ratio of 1/(v2), 1/2, and 1/(3v2). It is also observed that the frequency spectrum for 500 Hz,
50% duty cycle square wave has harmonics at 500 Hz and 1,500 Hz with amplitudes in the
ratio of 1 and 1/3.
Fig. 3 : FFT spectrum of square wave of frequency 500 Hz with 25% duty cycle
Fig. 4 : FFT spectrum of square wave of frequency 500 Hz with 50% duty cycle.
6
A sine wave of frequency of 500 Hz from a function generator is applied to the Spectrum
Analyzer and the spectrum produced by the Spectrum Analyzer is shown in Figure 5. The
spectrum shows a single frequency component at frequency 500 Hz.
Fig. 5 : FFT spectrum of sine wave of frequency 500Hz.
Fig. 6 : Plots of FFT Spectrum computed using MATLAB on MATLAB generated sequences.
Figure 6 shows the plots of FFT spectrum computed using MATLAB
6
on MATLAB
generated (A) 25% duty cycle, 500 Hz square wave, (B) 50% duty cycle, 500 Hz square
wave and (C) 500 Hz sine wave. The MATLAB program is given in Listing 1. From the
figure it is evident that the present Spectrum Analyzer produces FFT spectrum precisely.
7
Li sti ng 1. MATLAB program generati ng the sequences and computi ng
the FFT.
i = 0:63; n=i (1:32) ;
t = n*1/(0.00025*64) ;
sq1 = square (i*2*pi*500/4000,25) ;
amp1 = fft_spectrum (sq1,64) ;
sq2 = square(i*2*pi*500/4000, 50) ;
amp2 = fft_spectrum(sq2, 64) ;
sin1 = sin(i*2*pi*500/4000) ;
amp3 = fft_spectrum (sin1, 64) ;
subplot (3,1,1) ; plot (t, amp1) ;
xlabel (A. Frequency in Hz --->) ; ylabel (Amplitude --->) ;
xlabel ( B. Frequency in Hz --->) ; ylabel (Amplitude --->) ;
xlabel (C. Frequency in Hz --->); ylabel(Amplitude --->) ;
Function
function [spec] = fft_spectrum(seq, s)
c = fft (seq, s) ; re = real (c) ; im = imag(c) ;
amp = sqrt (re.^2+im.^2) ; spec = amp (1 : s/2) ;
5. CONCLUSION
The FFT Spectrum Analyzer can be used to analyze signals at 8-bit resolution up to 2
kHz. The maximum frequency of signal that can be analyzed with the present Spectrum
Analyzer is limited by the conversion time of the ADC in the DAQ system. It can be improved
by using high speed ADCs. The Spectrum Analyzer gets only 64 samples from the DAQ system
at a time for analysis. Size of internal RAM in AT89C5l in the DAQ system restricts the
maximum number of samples that can be collected and analyzed which in turn limits the
resolution of the spectrum. Microcontroller P89V51RD2 has 1024 bytes of internal RAM and
is pin-to-pin compatible to AT89C5l, which enables computation of FFT with large number
of sampled data can be used.
REFERENCES
1. National Semiconductor, Linear Data Book, (1982).
2. Kenneth J. Ayala, The 8051 Microcontroller Architecture, Programming and Applications,
Second Edition, Penram International, (1997).
3. N. Mathivanan, Microprocessors, PC Hardware and Interfacing, Prentice-Hall of India,
New Delhi, (2003).
4. National instruments, User manual LabVIEW, Ver 6.1, (2000).
5. John G. Proakis, Dimitris G. Manolakis, Digital Signal Processing: Principles, Algorithms, and
Applications, Third Edition, Prentice-Hall of India, New Delhi, (1996).
6. Vinay K. Ingle, John G. Proakis, Digital Signal Processing Using MATLAB, Thomson Brooks/
Cole, (2003).
8
ON THE DEVELOPMENT OFA LOW-COST,
TRANSFORMER-ISOLATED VOLTAGE PROBE
FOR DIFFERENTIAL MEASUREMENTS
Mangesh Borage, Sunil Tiwari and Swarna Kotaiah
Power Supplies Division
Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology, Indore, India
ABSTRACT
The development of a transformer-isolated voltage probe for differential measurement is
reported in this paper. It is simple to design and implement. It is a low-cost alternative
for isolated measurement of differential signals. Optimum passive damping is described
for the resonant circuit composed of magnetizing inductance of transformer and the dc
blocking capacitor. The prototype development and experimental results on a full-bridge
resonant converter demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique.
1. INTRODUCTION
Test, measurement and diagnosis of electronic circuits need instrumentation for monitoring
voltage waveforms at different points in the circuit. A cathode-ray-oscilloscope (CRO)
associated with a voltage probe is used for this purpose. Since the voltage is defined between
two points, all voltage measurements are differential. A voltage at a single point can be measured
with respect to earth ground, which is typical in most of the CRO measurements. Single-
ended passive voltage probes are high-bandwidth, simple and low-cost but they are limited to
voltage measurement referenced to ground. Sometimes in practice, a voltage between two
points is required to be monitored neither of which is connected to ground. Such types of
measurements are commonly required in power electronic circuits for which single-ended
passive probes can not be used and different techniques are required.
Each CRO comes with built-in quasi-differential capability. That is, it is capable to subtract
the signals at two input channels and display the resultant waveform. This method is, however,
sensitive to mismatch in the calibration and skew of probes. Common-mode rejection is also
poor. Isolated voltage probe is another alternative for differential measurement. Greater
common-mode rejection and physical separation is the feature of this technique obtained via
an optical coupling. Differential probes [1] make a good alternative to isolated probes for high-
voltage measurements. Some battery powered CROs provide isolated input channels [2].
Independent isolated channels also enable two floating measurement at the same time. An unsafe
practice (which is therefore not recommended) for differential measurements is to float the
CRO from its protective earth ground by disconnecting the ground plug or by using an isolation
transformer at ac mains input.
* This paper was originally published in Vol. 35, No. 3, P. 266-74. Since there were many errors,
it is being published again.
J. Instrum. Soc. India 36(1) 8-16
9
Indeed, differential probes and isolated-channel CROs are the most effective tools for
differential measurements but are costlier. Therefore the instruments are not sometimes available
for test and measurements. In such and other circumstances, a low-cost alternative is required
for an engineer to carry out measurements using available conventional instruments. In this
paper the development of a low-cost, transformer-isolated voltage probe is reported for use
in testing of off-line switch-mode power supplies and similar applications. The transformer-
isolated voltage probes have been sometimes used for sensing low-level differential signal ac
voltage in the audio systems [3]. They can not directly be used in power electronic circuits
due to presence of dc component in majority of the test waveforms. The dc blocking and
optimum damping of the proposed transformer-isolated voltage probe is described in this paper.
The development of the transformer-isolated voltage probe was motivated by the need for a
low-cost, add-on tool for on-site testing and fault-diagnosis of an 18 kW, full-bridge LCC
resonant converter magnet power supply for INDUS-2 synchrotron radiation source [4]. The
specifications and operation of the power supply is described briefly.
2. FULL-BRIDGE RESONANT CONVERTER
An 18 kW (180 A/ 100 V) current controlled power supply has been developed using
LCC resonant converter for the quadrupole magnet of INDUS-2 synchrotron radiation source.
The circuit diagram of full-bridge resonant converter is shown in figure 1. A full-bridge square-
wave inverter drives the L
S
-C
S
-C
P
resonant network. Insulated Gate Bipolar Transistor (IGBT)
is used as the switches in the inverter circuit. Two diagonal IGBT pairs Q
1
-Q
4
and Q
2
-Q
3
Fig. 1 : Circuit diagram of full-bridge resonant converter used in 18 kW
magnet power supply for INDUS-2.
are switched on and off alternatively. Output rectifier and filter (diodes D
r1
, D
r2
and filter
L
f
, C
f
) converts high-frequency ac to required dc output. The resonant converter is operated
in lagging power factor mode of operation to achieve zero-voltage-switching (ZVS) of all IGBTs
by simply connecting loss-less snubber capacitors (C
1
through C
4
) directly across them.
Switching frequency is varied between 25 kHz to 70 kHz to obtain desired conversion range
in the output current (40 to 180 A).
Differential voltage waveforms are frequently observed on a CRO during testing and fault
diagnosis of the power supply to ensure that timings and switching transitions are as desired.
On the development of a low-cost, transformer-isolated voltage probe for differential measurements
10
Convenient way of ensuring this is to observe the collector-to-emitter, gate-to-emitter voltage
waveforms of the IGBTs and/or the output square-wave voltage waveforms between nodes
A and B. Occasionally, voltage waveforms across passive components of the L
s
-C
s
-C
p
resonant
network also needs to be confirmed. Note that all these components are located on the primary
side of high-frequency isolation transformer which is connected to three-phase ac mains
through a rectifier and filter (not shown in figure 1). Therefore using single-ended probe is
not possible. Moreover, connection either of the points A and B to ground has profound effect
on the generation of common-mode (CM) noise [5] and also such a connection damages the
capacitors of CM filters placed on the input and output side of the power supply. Further,
while the IGBT voltage waveforms inherently have dc component, voltage waveforms between
points A and B may also have dc component under abnormal operating conditions.
3. TRANSFORMER-ISOLATED VOLTAGE PROBE
The circuit diagram of the transformer-isolated voltage probe for differential measurements
is shown in figure 2. Essentially, the waveform to be observed is isolated and stepped down
Fig. 2 : Circuit diagram of the low-cost, transformer-isolated voltage probe.
using the high-frequency transformer before applying it to input channel of CRO. A ready-
made transformer available in the laboratory is used of the prototype development reported in
this paper. The specifications of the transformer are listed in table 1. Being a transformer
isolated probe, the tool is capable of performing only ac-coupled measurements.
Table 1 : Specifications and details of the high-frequency transformer used in
prototype-development.
11
The secondary of the transformer is terminated on a BNC connector mounted on an
aluminium box which houses the transformer with associated circuit. To limit the winding
currents under inadvertent short circuit across the secondary windings, a series resistance
R
s
= 47 O, 0.5 W is included. Also to protect the circuit under test against failure of the
probe, a 200 mA fuse is connected in series with the primary winding. A capacitor C
b
along
with the damping network C
d
- R
d
is used for blocking dc voltage across the transformer. A
high value (10 MO) shunt resistance, R
sh
, is used to quickly discharge the capacitors C
b
and
C
d
after the input connections of the probe are removed.
4. EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT AND FREQUENCY RESPONSE
A equivalent circuit of the proposed probe referred to the primary side and including the
effect of parasitic components is shown in figure 3. L
m
is the transformer primary magnetizing
Fig. 3 : Equivalent circuit diagram of the transformer-isolated probe to study the
frequcncy response characteristics.
inductance and L
lk
is the winding leakage inductance reflected on the primary side. R
w
is the
effective winding resistance. The respective values for the prototype transformer are given in
table 1. Various parasitic capacitors in the transformer are lumped into a capacitor designated
as C
w
in the equivalent circuit. The elements R
sh
, R
s
and fuse are not included in the equivalent
circuit since they do not affect the circuit operation significantly.
A. Response without damping
The damping network composed of C
d
and R
d
(see figure 3) is not presently included to
study the response without damping. For low-frequency operation, the parasitic components
play insignificant role. C
b
and L
m
constitute a second-order high-pass filter. Since the winding
resistance is low, the circuit response is under-damped. A characteristic resonant peak in the
l
frequency response at a resonant frequency f
01
= --------------- is expected.
2 v(L
m
C
b
)
12
At high-frequency operation C
b
and L
m
has little effect and transformer leakage inductance
L
lk
and winding capacitance C
w
dominate the system response. Depending on the value of
the resistance in series path, damped or under damped response second-order
l
low-pass system is expected. In this case, the circuit resonates at f
02
= -----------------------
2 v(L
lk
C
w
)
The simulated and measured frequency response showing the magnitude of probe transfer
function (that is, the ratio of output voltage to input voltage) is shown in figure 4(a). For
simulation, parameters of table 1 are used. A 0.22 F, 1 kV polypropylene capacitor is used
Fig. 4 : (a) Frequency response of the voltage probe without damping, obtained using
simulation (continuous curve) and experimental measurements (solid dots).
(b) Simulated transient response of the voltage probe without damping showing
the voltage waveforms at the input and at the transformer primary.
(a)
(b)
13
for dc blocking. The measured response is seen to be in close agreement with the simulated
response. A high resonant peak at low-frequency resonant frequency, f
01
, can clearly be seen.
In time domain, the resonant peak reflects as low frequency oscillations in the transformer
primary and secondary voltage waveforms. Figure 4(b) shows the results of a simulation
wherein a 400 V peak uni-polar square-wave voltage waveform of 25 kHz was applied suddenly
to the probe. Low frequency oscillations are seen to be superimposed on the voltage across
the transformer primary. To damp these low-frequency oscillations, a damping circuit is
required.
B. Damping network
Let us consider the effect of passive damping circuit consisting of C
d
and R
d
. (see
figure 3) on the low-frequency response. Although the description and analysis of this damping
network for application in L-C low-pass filter networks is presented in [6], the same for high-
pass filter has not been reported in the literature. The damping action of the damping network
can be explained as follows: The value of damping capacitor is higher than the dc blocking
capacitor. Let C
d
= N.C
b
. That means, under transient conditions the reactance of C
d
is
smaller than that of C
b
. Therefore, under transient conditions, resistor R
d
comes across C
b
thereby damping the resonant oscillations effectively. As described in [6], there exists an
optimum value of R
d
for given value of N, which results in the minimum value of resonant
peak in the transfer function of the filter. A detailed analytical procedure for deriving the
optimum conditions for the low-pass filter is outlined in [6]. Applying the procedure in the
present application involving high-pass filter yields the results given in figure 5. The figure
shows variation of optimum resonant peak as a function of N. Also shown are the plots of
Fig. 5: Optimum passive damping of low-frequency resonance. Plots of optimum resonant
peak ( _
s
_ ), normalized optimum damping resistance, R
dn,opt
( _ _) and normalized
optimum resonant frequency, f
n, opt
(_ _) as a function of ratio of C
d
to C
b
, N.
14
normalized optimum damping resistance, R
dn,opt
, and normalized optimum resonant frequency,
f
n,opt
,which are defined as under:
f
o
being the frequency at which the optimum resonant peak occurs. A damping network
consisting of a 1F, 1 kV capacitor and 560 O resistance is used to damp the resonance and
oscillations observed in figure 4. Figure 6(a) gives the simulated and measured frequency
response showing the magnitude of probe transfer function. As compared to figure 4(a), the
resonance peak is seen to be effectively reduced. Figure 6(b) shows the results of transient
simulations. As compared to figure 4(b), the oscillations are seen to be quickly damped.
Fig. 6: (a) Frequency response of the voltage probe with damping, obtained using
simulation (continuous curve) and experimental measurements (solid dots).
(b) Simulated transient response of the voltage probe with damping showing the voltage
waveforms at the input and at the transformer primary.
(a)
(b)
15
Fig. 7 : Experimental results. The waveform marked actual is observed with a
differential probe and the one marked sensed is observed using the developed
transformer-isolated probe. Voltage waveform between nodes A and B (see figure 1)
when the circuit is operating at (a) 72 kHz, and, (b) 28 kHz, (c) A xy-plot showing
that the sensed signal (x-axis) nearly exactly correspond to actual signal (y-axis).
(d) An ac-coupled representation of collector-to-emitter waveform of IGBT.
5. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS
The prototype low-cost transformer isolated voltage probes was tested to monitor the
waveforms of the power supply described in section - 2. The shield of the transformer is
connected to earth. Figure 7(a) shows the voltage waveform between points A and B of the
circuit of figure 1 when the circuit is operating at 72 kHz. The waveform marked "actual" is
observed with a differential probe and the one marked "sensed" is observed using the developed
transformer-isolated probe. Similar waveforms for operation of the circuit at 28 kHz are shown
in figure 7(b). The one-to-one correspondence between the "actual" and "sensed" signal is
illustrated by the straight-line xy-plot of figure 7(c). The probe is also tested to measure the
collector-to-emitter voltage waveform across the IGBTs. Figure 7(d) shows that the dc
component of the "actual" voltage waveform is effectively blocked and an ac-coupled
waveform is observed on the CRO.
a b
c d
16
6. CONCLUSION
The transformer-isolated probe described in this paper gives inherently ac-coupled
measurements. It is simple to design and implement. It provides a low-cost alternative for
isolated measurement of differential signals. The prototype development and experimental results
demonstrate the effectiveness of this technique, particularly for the test and diagnosis of off-
line switch-mode power supplies.
Being inherently an ac-coupled probe, it can not be used for measurement of dc voltages.
Further, the said technique is deemed suitable for differential measurement of high-frequency
voltages since the size of transformer will increase if low-frequency signals are to be monitored.
Thus the tool will lose its handiness. Although the reported development is motivated by a
particular application, it is also useful for the measurements with other circuit. Also recall that
a readily available isolation transformer is used in the prototype development and it is not
optimized for the particular application. Never the less the experimental results are seen to be
satisfactory for the present application. Essentially, to further improve the performance a broad-
band transformer must be designed. High frequency response can be improved by minimizing
the leakage inductance and winding capacitance of the transformer. To improve the low-
frequency response, the magnetizing inductance of the transformer should be maximized. For
a specified core material, number of turns must be increased to increase the magnetizing
inductance. However, this is associated with proportional increase in leakage inductance also.
Therefore a trade-off is required between the low- and high-frequency responses. Parasitic
capacitances between the windings of the transformer and between winding and the core must
be minimized by using suitable winding techniques and electrostatic shields.
REFERENCES
1. 'High voltage differential probes: P5200, P5205, P5210', Tektronix Inc., http://www.tek.com/site/
ps/0,,51-11195-INTRO_EN,00.html
2. 'Handheld battery operated oscilloscope/DMM/power analyzers THS700 series', Tektronix Inc.,
http://www.tek.com/site/ps/0,,3M-10566-INTRO_EN,00.html
3. 'Making differential probes for sensing audio signal voltages across devices which are not
ground referenced', Liberty Instruments Inc., http://www.libinst.com/Difprobe.htm
4. S. Kotaiah, Status of INDUS-2 synchrotron radiation source, Proc. Indian particle accelerator
conference (INPAC), 3-7 (2003).
5. Mangesh Borage, Sunil Tiwari and S. Kotaiah, Common-mode noise source and its passive
cancellation in full-bridge resonant converter, Proc. International conference on
electromagnetic interference and compatibility (INCEMIC), 9-14 (2003).
6. R. D. Middlebrook, Design techniques for preventing input-filter oscillations in switch-mode
regulators, Proc. of POWERCON, 5th national solid state power conversion conference, (1978).
17
MICROCONTROLLER BASED
PORTABLE ARSENIC ANALYSER
P. Madhusudhan
1
, B. Mahaveera
2
and C. Karthikeyan
1
1
SASTRA Deemed University, Thanjavur - 613402
2
Instruments and Systems Division, Electronics Corporation of India Ltd, Hyderabad - 500 062
ABSTRACT
Presently in many places arsenic present in the water is the major problem to peoples in
West Bengal-India, and other countries.Arsenic is a carcinogen naturally found in surface
and groundwater. The concentration is well below the present WHO provisional guideline
value for drinking water of 10ugl
-1
(0.01ppm)
1
. However, concentrations exceeding the
guideline value may deleteriously affect the gastrointestinal tract, cardiac, vascula system
and central nervous system. There is a need to measure and control the arsenic in crops
and other food products that are known to concentrate arsenic from water especially in
the wake of recent WHO guidelines. To detect arsenic concentration present in the water
many instruments are available, but those instruments are costly and not field instruments.
We developed low cost, low weight portable arsenic analyser to detect the amount of
arsenic present in the water. Arsenic measurement system is designed such that a user
can carry the instrument to the field and make the measurement of arsenic in water. It
takes half an hour to prepare sample. This paper discussing hardware and software of
the portable arsenic analyser.
1. INTRODUCTION
Arsenic is naturally found in surface and groundwater, but the concentration levels differ
widely depending, largely, on the underlying geology. Arsenic is found in soil, water and air
as a common environmental toxicant. Arsenic contamination has become a problem in many
parts of the world. Different forms of arsenic exist with different ranges of human toxicity.
The inorganic forms of arsenic, which are the dominant forms in surface and groundwater,
are the most toxic forms, while the organic forms, common in fish products, are much less
toxic. Humans primarily take up arsenic from drinking water and food products. It is, therefore,
important to measure the arsenic levels in water resources (i.e. ground water and surface
water), in order to identify potential problems before they give rise to adverse health effects
within the population
2
.
The system works on the principle of light transmitted through the sample by the source
having wavelength of 470nm. By using standard instruments we can measure arsenic at 193.5
nm, it is UV region. By developing color we can measure arsenic in visible region at 470 nm
18
instead of 193.5 nm. The light is detected by the photo detector and is processed by using an
amplifier. An A/D converter provides a digital representation of the level of light detected by
the detector. A microcontroller calculates the absorbance or transmittance and it is displayed
on the LCD whichever we selected from the keypad.
2. HARDWARE DESCRIPTION
The microcontroller based Portable Arsenic Analyzer unit is designed to meet the needs
of onsite detection of arsenic in water. When light falls upon a homogeneous medium a portion
of incident light is absorbed within the medium and the remaining portion is transmitted. It is
the transmitted light that is actually detected by the instrument. Transmittance (T) is defined
as the ratio of intensity of transmitted light and intensity of the light that is falling upon the
sample. Absorbance (A) is the logarithm to the base of 10 of the reciprocal of transmittance
3
.
The system is energized by a highly regulated power supply. The block diagram of the
system is shown in Fig. 1. This unit accommodates the source of radiation, the ultra bright
blue LED, the optics for collimation and dispersion of the light beam, the sample compartment,
electronics circuitry for providing power supplies to the source of radiation, for processing
the signal from Detector. The light signal coming out of the reference and the sample falls on
solid-state detector. The preamplifier converts the current from the detector into a voltage
proportional to the intensity of the light incident on the detector. The output of the amplifier
is connected to the analog to digital converter, then microcontroller for further processing.
2.1 Detector
The Texas Instrument's TSL250 light to voltage optical sensor, combining a photodiode
and a transimpedance amplifier on a single monolithic IC. The output voltage is directly
proportional to the light intensity on the photodiode
4
. It acts as a detector. In our instrument
it receives light from the source through sample or reference.
Fig. 1 : Block diagram of Microcontroller based Portable Arsenic Analyzer
P. Madhusudhan, B. Mahaveera and C. Karthikeyan
19
2.2. A/D Converter
The National Semiconductor's ADC804 is CMOS 8-bit successive approximation A/D
converter having 100-usec conversion time, the voltage reference input can be adjusted to
allow encoding any smaller voltage span to the full 8 bits of resolution
5
.
2.3. Microcontroller
Microcontroller AT89C52 is used to process the input data taken from the ADC, Keypad
interface and to display the results on the LCD. The Atmel's AT89C52 is a low power, high
performance CMOS 8-bit microcontroller with 8K bytes of Flash programmable and erasable
read only memory (PEROM) and is compatible with the industry standard 80C51 and 80C52
instruction set and pin out. The on-chip Flash allows the program memory to be reprogrammed
in-system or by a conventional nonvolatile memory programmer. By combining a versatile 8-
bit CPU with Flash on a monolithic chip, provides a highly flexible and cost-effective solution
to many embedded control applications. The 89C52 have the following features
6
:
1. Endurance: 1,000 Write/Erase Cycles.
2. Fully Static Operation: 0 Hz to 24 MHz
3. 256 x 8-bit Internal RAM.
4. 32 Programmable I/O Lines arranged as four 8-bit ports.
5. Three 16-bit Timer/Counters.
6. Eight Interrupt Sources.
7. Full duplex Serial data transmitter / receiver.
8. Low-power Idle and Power-down Modes.
2.4. Display driver and keypad
The Lampex's LM16200 is a alphanumeric 16 x 2 LCD display driver to display the user
friendly instructions to operate the instrument easily and displays the results of transmittance
and absorbance. The keypad consists of four keys named as %T (Percentage of Transmittance),
ABS (absorbance), RST (reset), and ENTER.
3. SOFTWARE OF THE SYSTEM
In microcontroller based system, software design is a more demanding task than hardware
design. The software is written in C language by using KEIL uVISION3 compiler to
perform the following
7,8
:
1. Analog to digital conversion.
2. Computation of transmittance and absorbance.
3. Keypad and LCD interfacing.
4. Routines for display user friendly instructions.
4. SAMPLE PREPARATION
The present work uses hexamine as a base of choice in combination with chloroform
and SDDC (Silver Diethyl Dithio Carbamate) in hexamine chloroform reagent
9
. The organic
Microcontroller based portable arsenic analyser
20
base hexamine, a solid, is stable over a long period and less expensive. The reagent solution
is free of pungent odor and devoid of health hazards.
35 ml of arsenic contained water called as sample was taken in a clean 120 ml conical
flask; 5.0 ml of Conc. HCl, 2 ml of KI and 1 ml of SnCl
2
(stannous chloride) reagent were
added successively. Take 5 ml of SDDC reagent blank solution into the arsine gas collector
U-tube and 3 gm of zinc filings were added to the sample and the mouth of conical flask was
closed with arsine gas collector U-tube immediately. The reaction was allowed to proceed for
30 min for the complete evolution of arsine. Because of adding zinc fillings to the sample, the
sample generates arsine gas which was thrown out through the reagent solution in thu U-tube
attached to the conical flask.The solution of the arsine gas collector U-tube was poured directly
into the 10 mm path length cuvette of spectrophotometer and absorbance or %T was measured
at 470 nm using the SDDC reagent blank as the reference.
5. COST EVALUATION
Cost effective when compared with other chemicals concerned with this type of analysis.
The cost of the chemicals required for analysis of arsenic in 100 water samples comes to
about Rs. l770/-, the details of which are presented in the Table 1. The cost of Portable
Arsenic Analyser was estimated to be Rs. l0,000/- that includes the cuvette.
S.No. Item Quantity Indian Rupees
1. Concentrated HCL 500 ml 95
2. Zinc metal 500 gm 230
3. Stannous chloride 250 gm 125
4. Potassium iodide 250 gm 690
5. Lead acetate 500 gm 170
6. Hexamine 500 gm 130
7. SDDC 5 gm 200
8. Chloroform 500 ml 130
Cost of 100 tests 1770
Table 1 : Cost estimation for analysis of arsenic in water samples
6. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
We tested different arsenic samples of 1 ppm to 0.01 ppm and compared those values
with arsenic measured in standard ECIL's Doble Beam UV-Visible Spectrophotometer.The values
obtained using Portable Arsenic Analyser and Doble Beam UV-Visible Spectrophotometer are
given in Table 2. During these tests we obsorved that the absorbance values taken from Portable
Arsenic Analyser are almost same as the absorbance values taken from standard Doble Beam
UV-Visible Spectrophotometer instument.The Fig.2 shows the Beer's law plot between
concentration and absorbance values shown in Table 2.
21
Table1 2 : Absorbance Comparison between Portable Arsenic Aanalyser and Double Beam
UV-Visible Spectrophotometer.
S.No. Concentration of
Arsenic in ppm
Absorbance at 490nm
(Using portable
arsenic analyser)
Absorbance at 490nm
(Using UV-Visible
spectrophotometer)
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
1.0
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
0.09
0.08
0.07
0.06
0.05
0.04
0.03
0.02
0.01
1.004
0.701
0.597
0.586
0.563
0.401
0.377
0.325
0.218
0.131
0.124
0.120
0.112
0.100
0.089
0.073
0.045
0.037
0.021
1.002
0.702
0.595
0.587
0.563
0.400
0.375
0.324
0.215
0.130
0.122
0.120
0.111
0.100
0.088
0.073
0.046
0.034
0.018
Fig. 2 : Beer's law plot
Microcontroller based portable arsenic analyser
22
7. CONCLUSION
The microcontroller based Portable Arsenic Analyser is simple for determination of arsenic
in ground water and drinking water samples. The method used in the analysis avoids the use
of corrosive, toxic solvents like pyridine and can safely employed for precise estimation of
arsenic within the range of 0.01 ppm to 1.0 ppm and thus meets the lower permissible limits
recently given by WHO.The microcontroller based portable arsenic analyser is designed and
developed specifically for arsenic analysis of rural water samples in remote villages. A protocol
which can be simply followed by semi skilled personnel in rural areas for estimation of arsenic
in drinking water.
REFERENCES
1. Guha Mazumdar DN, 'Arsenic levels in drinking water and the prevalence of skin lesions in
West Bengal, India', Int. J. Epidemiol, 27, 871 - 877 (1998).
2. Hughes K. et. al., ' Inorganic arsenic: Evaluation of risks to health from environmental exposure
in Canada', Environmental carcinogenesis and ecotoxicology reviews, 12, 145 - 149 (1994).
3. Douglas A Skoog, Principles of Instrumental Analysis, 3rd edition, Holt-Saunders
International editions, Japan (1985).
4. http://www.ti.com/sc/docs/folders/analog/ts1250.html
5. http://www.national.com/
6. http://www.atmel.com/
7. Mahammad Ali Mazidi, The 8051 Microcontroller and Embedded systems, 1st edition, LPE,
India (2002).
8. Michael Barr, Programming Embedded Systems in C and C++, 1st edition, O'Reilly &
Associates, Canada (1999).
9. Chatterjee A, Arsenic in ground water in six districts of West Bengal, India: the biggest arsenic
calamity in the world, Analyst, 120, 643-650(1995).
23
EFFECT OF ELECTRIC FIELD BEHAVIOR ON
NORMAL BRAIN AS ANALYSED BY ELECTRICAL
IMPEDANCE TOMOGRAPHY
R. KALPANA and S. RAMAKRISHNAN*
Department of Instrumentation Engineering, MIT Campus*
School of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, College of Engineering
Anna University, Chennai - 600025
ABSTRACT
Scalp surface potential are predicted for both normal brain and gray matter using Electrical
Impedance Tomography. Fluctuation on normal brain and gray matter response at various
position are studied using linearised analytical approximation under external electrical
simulation through adjacent and opposite electrodes. The result demonstrates equal
response for both normal brain and gray matter. Further opposite injecting electrodes
gives better response when compared to adjacent injecting electrodes. As informations
on normal brain could be useful in determining gross abnormalities, these studies seem
to be clinically relevant.
1. INTRODUCTION
Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) is a technique that is applied to generate cross-
sectional images of the internal impedance distribution of electrically conductive objects using
potential measurements, resulting from current injection through electrodes attached on the
surface
11
. The main feature of this technique lies in tracking the fast changes in internal
impedance of the chosen medium
6
. It promises to offer a form of functional imaging of the
body at a significantly lower cost than any other technology
1
. This is a non-invasive
evaluation method where in there is no requirement for ionizing radiation. It has varied
application potential in biomedical instrumentation and some of them have been demonstrated
through studies on brain, lungs, heart and stomach
2
. Because of its non-invasive nature and
radiation safety, it is widely used to image the functional activity of brain. However, this
technique applied to skull is much ill posed due to its low conductivity
4
. In this work, the
application of EIT to understand the function of normal brain using is addressed using linearized
homogenous spherical model.
2. MODELS AND METHOD
For the purpose of electrical predictions, modeling a human head is required and such
modeling proves considerable insight into specific application. Human brain is often considered
24
to be a complex biological structure
7
. It is difficult to separate the effects due to the specific
electrical properties of the tissues from purely geometric effects
8
. In Electrical Impedance
Tomography problem are addressed by solving forward and inverse problem
4
. The
computational complexity of inverse problem largely depends on how the forward problem is
modeled. In this study, linearised analytical approach is used for solving forward problem for
a homogeneous spherical head model and bioelectric field inside the head due to external
stimulation governed by Poissons equation is considered.
The electric potential inside the brain (), is described by the equation
5
,
d . (cd) = 0 ....................... (1)
It satisfies the following boundary condition in the medium considered.
c (6 / 6n) = j on the source electrode
= -j on the sink electrode
= 0 on the other boundary
where d denotes the Laplacian operator, j the current density, n the normal to the surface
and c is the internal conductivity in S/m. By considering such homogeneous spherical head
model with conductivity of normal brain = 0.15 S/m [4] and gray matter = 0.345 S/m [12],
the forward problem is solved analytically and potential are calculated. Low frequency
(<10 KHZ) and at low amplitude (10 uA)
4
is used for this purpose. The output is determined
for electrodes whose radius range from 2 to 3 cm. Nine electrodes of equal size are used on
the surface at angles of 40,70,100,130,180,210,250,300,360 degrees. One of the electrodes
is source and the other is sink, and remaining seven electrodes are used for measurement of
boundary potential.
3. RESULTS
The output voltage for adjacent and opposite injection is determined for normal brain and
gray matter tissue and is shown in Table 1. The results show that opposite injection of current
produces better response when compared with adjacent injection. In order to validate the result
correlation co-efficient were calculated by changing the conductivities of normal brain and
gray matter tissues are determined and is plotted in Fig. 1. A small variation in correlation co-
efficient could be attributed to the fact that normal brain is almost occupied by gray matter.
Table 1 : Variation of surface potential on normal brain and gray matter
Tissue Type
Output Voltage (mV)
Adjacent injection Opposite injection
Normal 0.25262 0.92128
Gray Matter 0.1114 0.40056
R. Kalpana and S. Ramakrishnan
25
4. CONCLUSION
Electrical Impedance Tomography is a non-invasive technique where in there is no
requirement of ionizing radiations and hence it is used to understand functional behavior of
organs such as brain, heart and lungs. In this study, EIT is used to analyze the functional
activities of normal brain using simple linear and homogeneous spherical model. Although a
head model with realistic head geometry is the best
9
, spherical head model is employed here,
since only the electrical behavior of the tissues on the applied current is of interest in this
study. Linearised analytical approximation to the forward problem, which describes the relation
between the internal conductivity and scalp potential is used, by assuming the conductivities
from the data adopted. In this study application of low frequency current is assumed. This
model predicts the output for electrodes radius ranging from 2 to 3 cm and its response is
better under opposite excitation. The difference in correlation co-efficient of normal brain
and gray matter tells that this approach can be useful for identifying any specific abnormality
in the brain and also for solving complex inverse problem and reconstruction of images. It is
well known that in abnormal conditions, blood or oxygen or water flow to brain may increase
or decrease, which may displace gray matter. In such cases it is believed that, the approach
presented here could be a possible addition to exiting imaging modalities. Further validations
and correlations are being carried out to decide the extent of clinical relevance.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
The support provided by Dr. Sans Research Foundation in Biomedical Engineering USA,
is greatly acknowledged.
REFERENCES
1. D. Jennings and I.D. Schneider, Front-end architecture for a multi-frequency electrical
impedance tomography system, Med. Biol. Eng. Comput., 39, 368 - 374 (2001).
2. Rosalind J. Sadleir and Richard A Fox, Detection and Quantification of Intraperitoneal Fluid
using Electrical Impedance Tomography, IEEE Trans. on Biomed. Eng., 48, 484 - 490 (2001).
Fig. 1 : Variation of correlation coefficient for Normal Brain and Gray Matter
0.900
0.895
0.890
Normal Brain
Gray Matter
1 2
Tissue Type
Effect of electric field behavior on normal brain as analysed by electrical impedance tomography
C
o
r
r
e
l
a
t
i
o
n

C
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t
26
3. Elzbieta Ratajewicz - Mikolakczak and Jan Sikora, Neural Networks Method for Identification
of the Objects Behind the Screen, IEEE Trans. on Med. Imag., 21, 613 - 619 (2002).
4. M. T. Clay and T.C. Ferree, Weighted Regularisation in Electrical Impedance Tomography
with Applications to Acute Cerebral Stroke, IEEE Trans. on Med. Imag., 21, 629 - 637 (2002).
5. Yixi Ma, Hao Wang, Ling-An Xu and Changzhen Jiang, Simulation study of the electrode
array used in an ERT system, Chern. Eng. Science, 52, 2197 - 2203 (1997).
6. Marko Vauhkonen, Pasi A Karjalainen and Javi P. Kaipio, Kalman Filter Approach to track
fast impedance changes in Electrical Impedance Tomography, IEEE Trans. on Biomed Eng.,
45, 486 - 493 (1998).
7. Ernane J.X. Costa, Euvaldo F. Cabral Jr, EEG-based decrimination between imagination of
left and right hand movements using adaptive gaussian representation, Med. Eng. Phys.,
22, 345 - 348 (2000).
8. Warren M. Grill Modeling the Effects of Electric Fields on Nerve Fibers: Influence of Tissue
Electrical Properties, IEEE Trans. on Biomed. Eng., 46, 918-928 (1999).
9. Peng Wen and Yan Li, Constructing Head Models by Computation, IEEE Eng. Med. Biol.,
November/December, 82 - 87 (2000).
10. Claude Cohen-Bacrie, Yves Goussard and Robert Gaurdo,Regularized Reconstruction in
Electrical Impedance Tomography using a variance Uniformization constant, IEEE Trans. on
Med. Imag., 16, 562 - 571 (1997).
11. Inez Frerichs, Electrical Impedance Tomography (BIT) in applications related to lung and
ventilation: a review of experimental and clinical activities, Physiol. Meas., 21, R1 - R21 (2000).
12. Nick Polydorides, William R.B.Lioheart and High Mc Cann, Krylov subspace Iterative
techniques: On the Detection of brain activity with Electrical Impedance Tomography, IEEE
Trans. on Med. Imag., 21, 596 - 606 (2002).
R. Kalpana and S. Ramakrishnan
27
FLOW OF VISCOUS INCOMPRESSIBLE
IMMISCIBLE FLUIDS THROUGH
A POROUS CHANNEL
K S. SAI
S.V.H. College of Engineering, Machilipatnam - 521 002, India
ABSTRACT
The steady poiseuille flow of two viscous, incompressible and immiscible fluids in a long
paralIel channel bounded by a permeable media is considered. Using Darcys law for
flow in an infinite porous media and Brinkmans model for flow in finite porous media
the effect of porosity parameters on the velocity distribution, mass flux, coefficient of
friction is studied in detail.
1. INTRODUCTION
Darcys law (1856) specifying a linear relationship between the seepage velocity and
pressure gradient does not take into account the viscous resistance and convective acceleration
terms. This, ineffect, imposes serious limitations on the range of validity of Darcys law.
Accordingly, Brinkman (1947) accounted for the presence of a solid boundary by adding a
viscous term to Darcys law, while Muskat (1937) included a velocity squared term in Darcys
law to account for the inertia forces.
The study of fully developed poiseuille flow of the two viscous, incompressible, immiscible
fluids of equal heights in a parallel channel has been attracting the attention of many
investigators. This problem can be extended to the case when the upper boundary is porous
and of infinite thickness. While the lower boundary is of finite or infinite thickness. Here the
basic assumptions used are that the interface shape of two fluids is a plane surface, a boundary
condition at the nominal surface is the Beavers-Joseph condition (1967) and the flow though
porous medium is governed by Darcys equation or Brinkmans equation, depending upon the
structure of the porous medium. It is found that the porous parameters and the thickness of
the lower porous region have a strong influence on flow characteristics of the fluid region,
for example, the increase in the thickness of lower porous region for fixed values of c
1
and
c
2
increases the flow velocity.
This analysis find application in the area of location of ground water deposits and location
of iol saturated reservoir rocks (in sedimentary basins). Density and resistivety contrasts of
different zones are important criteria for supporting these application area. Reservoir
characteristics like porosity and permeability mostly used for development of oil pools hidden
28
in the deeper zones of the earth. Further, conductive zones like base metels and resistive
minerals associated with resistive zones are some other important areas of investigation with
the support of skin friction concepts.
This form of flow can be constituted in any weakly cemented porous rock matrix. In
such a case when the fluids are withdrawn the reservoirs results in a decrease in pore pressure
which ultimately leads to an increase in effective stress in the media. The proposed model
comprising the four regions treats the plane Poiseuille flow of two immiscible viscous fluids
in a channel bounded by porous wals. Darcys law and Brinkmans equation are treated in
porous media.
2. FORMULATION OF THE PROBLEM
We consider the flow of two viscous, incompressible and immiscible fluids of densities
o
1
and o
2
( o
2
> o
1
) in a parallel channel bounded by porous media of different permeabilities.
It is further assumed that the interface of two fluids is along the entralplane of the channel
and the motion is caused by a constant pressure gradient, dp The flow region thus divided
into four zones is shown in fig. 1 and fig. 2.
The equation describing flow in the four zones are given by
K S. Sai
29 Flow of viscous incompressible immiscible fluids through a porous channel
30 K S. Sai
31
Here u, V
1
, V
2
, w are the flow velocities in each of four respective zones, k
1
and k
2
are
permeabilities of upper and lower porous media (k
1
<k
2
), Re
1
and Re
2
are the Reynolds number
of upper and lower fluids, c
1
and c
2
are porosity parameters corresponding to upper and lower
media respectively. C=-6p/6x is the applied constant pressure gradient and o a dimensionless
constant which depends on the structure of the porous medium.
Flow of viscous incompressible immiscible fluids through a porous channel
32
3. SOLUTION OF THE PROBLEM
In all that follows we describe the solution for two cases. Case(1) The exact solutions
of equations (2.18) to (2.19) subject to the conditions (2.21) through (2.24) are obtained
as :
K S. Sai
34
POSITIVE
35
POSITIVE
36
The mass flow rate G per unit width of the channel is obtained as
K S. Sai
38 K S. Sai
39
4. DISCUSSION
Considering the flow of water (o
2
= 0.99825) gm/ml, (u
2
= 1.002 cp) and toluene
(o
1
= 0.88412 gm/ml, u
1
= 0.590 cp) in a challel of height 2h, the effects of and porosity
parameters c
1
and c
2
on the velocity profiles in the free fluid region (-1 < q < 1) and the
lower porous regions are shown in Fig. 3(a) and Fig.3(b) for case (1).
An increase in c
2
for fixed c
1
id found to cause a reduction progressively in the magnitude
of the velocity in both the fluid layers.
The slip velocity at the upper permeable surface and liquid-liquid interface valocity are
found to decrease with decrease in c
1
for fixed value of c
2
or increase in c
2
for fixed value of
c
1
.
It is also observed that the velocity profiles are more curved in water layer than in toluene
layer (Fig.3(a)). However, for fixed values of c
1
and c
2
the velocity in respective zones increases
with the increase in the thickness of the lower porous region (Fig.3(b)).
It is, therefore, evident that the porosity parameters and the thickness of the lower porous
region have a strong influence on flow characteristics of the fluid region.
In Case (2), the effect of o, c
1
and c
2
on velocity profiles are shown in Fig 4. It is
found that the velocity decreases with the increase in c
1
or c
2
.
The values of the coefficients of friction at the upper and lower boundary, mass flux
and the velocity at the upper permeable interface have been given in tables 1 and 2 for
Case (1), and also the values of the coefficients of friction and velocities at the upper and
lower permeable interfaces and mass flux have been given in Table 3 for Case(2) for a range
of values of o, c
1
and c
2
.
It is found from Table 1 that the mass flux and the velocity at the upper permeable interface
increase when c
1
increases for fixed c
2
and also the velocity at the upper permeable interface
decreases when c
2
increases for fixed c
1
and o. This effect is more noticeable in Table 2
when the thickness of the lower porous bed is increased.
From Table 3 it is noted that the max flux and velocities at the upper and lower permeable
interfaces decreases when c
1
or o increases for fixed c
2
and also when c
2
increases for fixed
c
1
. It is also noted that the velocity at the upper permeable interface is greater than the velocity
at the lower permeable interface.
Flow of viscous incompressible immiscible fluids through a porous channel
40
Fig.1 : Geometry of the problem for Case 1 Fig.2 : Geometry of the problem for Case 2
Fig. (3a) : Velocity profiles in free fluid
region, -1 < q < 1 and the lower finite
porous region -1.4 < q < -1.
Fig. (3b) : Velocity profiles in free fluid
region, -1 < q < 1 and the lower finite
porous region -1.6 < q < -1.
K S. Sai
42
Table 2 : Coefficients of friction, the mass flow rate and the velocity at the upper permeable
interface when the thickness of lower porous media is a = (0.6)h
K S. Sai
44
Fig. 4 : Velocity profiles in free fluid region, -1 < q < 1 with porous boundaries
of infinite thickness
REFERENCES
1. Darcy, H (1856). Les fontaines publiques dela ville de dijon, dalmont, Paris.
2. Brinkman, H.C. (1947). A calculation of viscous force exerted by a flowing fluid on a dense
swarm O particles. App. Sci. Res. A1, 27-34.
3. Muskat, M. (1937). The flow of homogeneous fluids through porous media, McGraw Hill,
New Yark.
4. Gordons Beavers and Deniel D Joseph (1967). Flow over a naturally permeable bed. J. Fluid
Mech., 30, 197-207.
5. Sai, K.S., Agarwal, J.P. (1980). Flow of Incompressible Immiscible Fluids over a Naturally
permeable Bed. Proc. Int. Symp. Nonl. Cont. Mech. Karagpur, 105-115.
6. Sai, K.S. (1980), J. Math. Phys. Sci. 14, 599-609.
7. Sacheti, Nirmal C. (1983), J. Math. Phys. Sci. 17, 567-578.
8. Sai, K.S. (1990), Def. Sci. J, 183-189.
K S. Sai
45
TOTAL SYSTEM CALIBRATION OFA
PLANTAR FOOT PRESSURE MEASUREMENT UNIT
Deepu Roy and J. Philip
Sophisticated Test and Instrumentation Center Cochin University of Science and Technology
Cochin - 682 022, India
ABSTRACT
We have designed and fabricated a 48-sensor array plantar foot pressure measurement
system to monitor and display pressure distribution at the sole of the feet of a patient.
The system employs a 48-channel multiplexed data acquisition module, which is interfaced
to a PC through the USB port. Necessary software has been developed to provide
chromatic display of the pressure distribution at the sole of the feet on the computer
screen. Even though systems similar to this have already been developed, all of them
make use of the calibration data for individual pressure sensors for the calibration of the
total system. We outline a method to calibrate the total system and report that the method
provides calibration data in terms of the total weight of a subject. The methodology has
been tested with subjects whose weights vary from 15 kg to 75 kg. The maximum deviation
between weights measured with a weighing machine and that computed from the output
of the pressure sensors is less than 10%. The reasons for the deviation are discussed.
Keywords: Plantar foot pressure, Data acquisition, System calibration.
1. INTRODUCTION
Foot ulceration in diabetic patients continues to be a major problem and a source of
concern in health services worldwide. The best solution to this problem is an early detection
of areas of the feet prone to ulceration and protecting them from developing ulcers. In healthy,
normal feet, where there is no pain or any anatomical or functional deformity, relative normal
plantar pressure distribution exists under the load bearing points of the foot, viz. the heel,
metatarsal heads and phalanges of the toes. In the case of an abnormal plantar pressure
distribution or/and the use of inappropriate footwear, the areas of peak pressure do not always
correspond to those where the patient senses pain, either because the subject has changed
his/her walking pattern to protect the areas of pain, or due to a functional problem. This apparent
dilemma indicates that the cause of high pressure under the foot is multi-factorial and is
consequent to either anatomical, functional disturbance, external factor (inappropriate footwear)
or, more likely, a combination of the first two factors with a major influence of the third.
Such disturbances can have severe consequences when they are associated with neuropathy
and/or structural deformity. This is the case in diabetic subjects, leading frequently to ulceration
of the sole of the foot with inevitable risk of amputation.
46
The sole of the foot acts as the interface between the ground and the body and is subjected
to changing patterns of stress during walking, and to a lesser extent when the subject stands
still. These stresses will be accompanied by temporary or permanent strains within the tissues
and may therefore be linked with those foot conditions that involve some degree of structural
failure. One method of investigating the stresses is to measure the pressure distribution at the
sole of the feet. An array of pressure sensors is generally used to measure this pressure
distribution with a high degree of resolution. Different workers have reported use of a number
of sensors ranging from 10 to 500 in an array to record the pressure distribution under each
foot. Comprehensive reviews on this subject are available in literature
1,2
. To a significant extent,
the peak pressures will be influenced by the activity of the person under investigation. Peak
pressure values will be influenced partly by the type of the sensor and the sensor area. Careful
calibration of individual sensors and the array as a whole are extremely important while
designing a system for foot pressure distribution measurement.
A sensor with a flexible contact surface, such as rubber or plastic, may distort
unpredictably and its response may vary according to both magnitude and distribution of the
load. So the region of the sensor, over which the load is applied, must be considered and
reproducible measurements can be made only if the area of the contact region remains the
same for the same applied force. Even though the sensitivity and linearity of an individual
sensor can be measured accurately and hence can be calibrated, the situation often goes out
of control when a number of sensors are encapsulated into a planar array. A subject standing
on the array of sensors usually applies unequal pressures at the individual sensors, making a
total system calibration difficult. Moreover, a part of the pressure applied by the subject is
often felt at the gap regions between the sensors, which are not often accounted for by the
active regions of the sensors. Obviously, increase in the number of sensors can reduce
this error.
Plantar pressure sensors are generally calibrated individually, either in static or dynamic
modes. Static calibration is usually achieved by applying known loads and recording the sensor
output, and is often referred to as step loading. A liner response to loading simplifies the process
of calibration, hut if the output is non-linear
3,4
, the results can be stored in a computer as a
look-up table. Generally, foot pressure sensors are encapsulated in viscoelastic media that
have undesirable time-dependent characteristics
5
, such as hysteresis or creep
6,7
and calibration-
becomes complex. In such cases dynamic calibration is desirable. In dynamic calibration, the
sensors are subjected to a loading-unloading cycle within a specific time interval. If there are
48 sensors in a plantar foot pressure measurement array, one need to generate and store 48
look up tables to calibrate the total system.
In this work we report a comparatively simple procedure to calibrate plantar foot pressure
sensor arrays as a whole, without the need to have the response of individual sensors in the
form of look up tables. The details are described in the following sections.
2. SYSTEM DESIGN
In plantar foot pressure measurement, a variety of sensors such as strain gauges, capacitive
transducers, piezoelectric transducers. etc. are used to pick up the pressure values exerted by
the person at specific points of the sole, while he/she stands or walks. Different workers have
reported using sensors, ranging from 10 to 500 in number in an array to record the pressure
47
distribution under each foot [9]. To a significant extent, the peak pressures will be influenced
by the activity of the person under investigation. It has been found that a pressure range
of = 0 200 k Pa (0-2 kg/cm
2
) is enough for stance, whereas a range of = 0-1000 k Pa (0-10
kg/cm
2
) is required to record the exerted pressure values during walking. The ranges noted
above have been estimated using an optical pedobarograph, which can be considered as having
a small sensor size (high spatial resolution), and are likely to represent realistic values.
We have designed and fabricated a plantar foot pressure measurement unit communicating
through the USB port of the computer. The system use 48 piezoresistive strain gauge sensors
arranged into two arrays, one for each foot. So the pressure distribution under each foot is
picked up with an array of 24 sensors arranged under the sole. The positions of the sensors
are fixed carefully so that the array can accommodate variations in foot area up to about 25%.
Each sensor is suitably sealed in a viscoelastic medium for efficient pressure transmission.
The sensors are then positioned in a perforated boron sheet and sealed with fabric lining so
that the sensors are well protected. An 8-channel digital I/O module with multiplexers is used
to interface the sensor arrays to a computer through the USB port. A block diagram of the
system is shown in Fig. 1.
Fig. 1 : Block diagram of the plantar foot pressure measurement unit
Total system calibration of a plantar foot pressure measurement unit
48
Software has been developed in Visual C to acquire data from each sensor one by one,
and store the pressure values as a file in the computer memory. The program enables one to
display the pressure values from each sensor numerically on the computer monitor, and display
a color pattern based on the relative pressure values. Chromatic display within the boundary
of the feet enables a podiatrist or physician to quickly detect the excess pressure at any region
of the foot.
The color display of the foot pressure distribution consists of six different colors with
two shades, a light shade and a dark shade, each for green, blue and red. The dark shade
represents a higher-pressure region as compared to the light shade of the same base color. Of
the three basic colors, green represent the regions of lowest pressure, blue represents regions
having pressures greater than those corresponding- to green, but less than red. The areas
having the highest pressure require critical attention, and are represented in red. After acquiring
the data from each of the 48 sensors to the computer, a specific color needs to be assigned
to each of these 48 sensor values for display. For this, first we need to fix a base value
based on the data obtained from the 48 sensors. This base value may vary from person to
person, since the output of the sensor is based on the weight of the person. The base value
is obtained by taking the average of the data of 48 sensors that are stored in the computer.
Now, the output of each of the 48 sensors is compared with the base value obtained and a
color is assigned to the sensor based on the deviation of the acquired data from the base
value. The pattern for fixing the color for sensor output value (S) based on the base value (B)
is shown in Table 1.
Table 1 : The color pattern of the sensor value(S) based on the base value (B)
Color assigned Base value deviation
Light Green 0<S<B
Dark Green B<S<2B
Light Blue (Cyan) 2B<S<2.5B
Dark Blue 2.5B<S<3B
Light Red (Pink) 3B<S<4B
Dark Red S>4B
A typical computer print out is reproduced in Figure 2. The table in the inset of Fig. 2
displays the pressure values in kN/cm
2
. In Figure 2, the center of the cross corresponds to
the geometric center of the sensor arrays as he stands with his weight distributed equally
between the two arrays, while the indicated point away from the center of the cross corresponds
to the center of gravity of that person. The distance of this point from the center of the cross
is a measure of the deviation between the two. The more is this deviation, the more would be
the error in the measurement.
49
3. SYSTEM CALIBRATION
The system has been calibrated by determining the effective force exerted by a person
on the sensor arrays and comparing it with his/her actual weight. The effective force is
evaluated by multiplying the total pressure value read by the individual sensors with the total
active area of the sensors. We encapsulated each sensor with a viscoelastic medium and
determined its sensitivity to applied pressure. It is found that for an applied pressure of 69
kN/m
2
, the sensor gives an output voltage of 1 V, with a supply voltage of 10 V.
The subject is allowed to stand on a wooden platform placed on top of the two sensor
arrays. This wooden platform is cut exactly to the size and shape of the sensor pad, so that
all the sensors are equally loaded when the weight is applied. .Now the voltage output of all
the 48 sensors is acquired and this voltage value is converted to pressure (kN/m
2
) by multiplying
it with 69 kN/m
2
. The sum total of the pressure exerted on the 48 sensors is taken as
P kN/m
2
. From this total pressure value; the weight of the subject is determined.
Measurements have been done with a number of subjects, with varying weights. The
total pressure calculated from the sensor outputs, the weight calculated from the total calculated
pressure, the actual weight of the subject, measured with a standard weighing machine, and
the deviation in each measurement are tabulated in Table 2. It can be seen from the table that
the deviations in measurement are always less than 10%. A deviation of 10% is definitely on
the higher side, but we have to take in to account the facts that with a 48-sensor array, there
will be several regions where the weight of the subject will get applied directly to the ground,
rather than on the sensors. Moreover, the way the subject stands plays a significant role in
deciding the accuracy of the measurement.
Table 2 : Parameters and errors involved in the system calibration of plantar foot pressure
sensor arrays. Estimated error for all the parameters is 2.5% from the tabulated values
Measurement Total pressure Weight calculated Actual Deviation
number calculated from from sensor measured (%)
sensor output output (Kg) weight (Kg)
(KN/m
2
)
1 154 14.8 15 1.4
2 255 25.6 27 5.5
3 476 46.8 51 8.9
4 490 47.2 51 8.1
5 512 49.4 52 5.3
6 590 57.8 63 9.0
7 710 68.9 75 8.9
When the weight of the subject varies from 15 kg to 75 kg, the foot area correspondingly
increases. However, the position of the sensors were fixed in such a way that the weight
bearing regions of the feet of all the subjects were on the active area of the sensors. When a
subject with a smaller foot area stands on the sensor arrays, he/she exerts his/her weight
through a less number of sensors at the middle of the arrays. So these sensors will show
50
high pressures corresponding to the weight of the person, with the sensors at the periphery
showing a much lower pressure values. Obviously, this also introduces some error in the
measurement, but we estimate that this error is within the overall error of 10%.
A limitation while using most pressure assessment systems is that the force value measured
by the sensor and the one used in the calculation of pressure is the normal force, or force
that is normal to the sensor surface. Normal force can be considered vertical force when a
platform, fixed to the supporting surface, is used for data collection. When a sensor insole is
placed in a shoe, however, normal force may only be considered vertical force during that
portion of the stance phase when the entire foot is in contact with the supporting surface. In
general, the sensors used for pressure measurement do not measure the fore-aft or medial-
lateral shear forces that are obtained using force platforms.
Having a patient stand on the insole or platform as a method of calibration may not be
the best way of calibrating the unit, because all sensors are not uniformly loaded, and some
sensors may not be loaded at all, generating no calibration data for those sensors. When we
take all these limitations in to account, it can be seen that the present calibration scheme works
well within its limitations.
Provision has been provided in the software to locate the center of gravity of the patient
from the pressure values. When a patient stands with his/her weight distributed equally between
the two feet, the center of gravity is midway between the two feet, in which case the deviation
is found to be less. The best standing position of a patient would correspond to that where
the center of gravity of the subject (marked in Fig. 2) comes as close to the midway
position (marked + in Fig. 2) as possible. So the measurement deviation can be reduced making
the subject stand upright, with his weight distributed equally between the two feet.
Fig. 2 : A typical computer print out of foot pressure distribution recorded by the unit. The
pressure values in the figure are in kN/cm
2
51
4. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
Plantar foot pressure distribution data under static conditions have been recorded and
displayed from a number of subjects, with varying weights from = 15 kg to = 75 kg. The
scheme is found to work well for all the subjects. Provision has been provided in the software
to normalize the sensor outputs to the average output of all the sensors, so that a variation in
the weight of a subject does not affect the pressure distribution data recorded and displayed.
The calibration of the system has been carried out with subjects having weights ranging
from 15 kg to 75 kg. It is found that the calibration of the system holds well in the entire
range, with deviations less than 10%. The system has a relatively high uncertainty because
the sensors alone are not supporting the complete weight of the subject. The boron sheets
that are spread in the space around the sensors also do bear a part of the weight, amounting
to less than 10%. The deviations vary with the standing pattern of the subject, because a
subject often applies uneven pressure at the various regions of the sole of his/her feet. All
these aspects have been taken into account while keeping the uncertainty values at 10%. Since
this system is designed as a static one, variations in foot pressure distribution during gait of
a subject are not accounted for in this discussion.
The present system enables one to do on-line calculation and scale display of plantar
pressure distribution at the sole of the feet of a subject. This helps a podiatrist or a clinician
to quickly assess the regions of the feet that are getting subjected to excess and long duration
loading, and design suitable footwear for the subject.
Acknowledgements : Work supported by M/s. Dynamic Techno-Medicals, Aluva, Kerala,
India.
REFERENCES
1. M. Lord, Foot pressure measurement: a review of methodology J. Biomed. Eng. 3, 1981,
pp. 91-99.
2. M. Lord, D.P. Reynolds, J.R Hughes, Foot pressure measurement: a review of clinical findings
J. Biomed. Eng. 8, 1986, pp. 283-294.
3. N. Silvino, P. M. Evanski, T.R Waugh, The Harris and Beath Foot Printing mat: diagnostic
validity and clinical use Clin. Orthop. 151, 1980, pp. 265 -269.
4. R.P. Betts, C.I. Franks, T. Duckworth, J. Burke, Static and dynamic foot pressure measurements
in clinical orthopedics Med. Biol. Eng. Comput. 18, 1980, pp. 674 - 684.
5. M. Arcan, A. Brull, A fundamental characteristic of the human body and foot, the foot-ground
pressure pattern J. Biomech, 9, 1976, pp. 453 - 457.
6. R P. Betts, T. Duckworth, I.G. Austin, S.P. Crocker, S. Moore, Critical light reflection at a
plastic/glass interface and its application to foot pressure measurement, J. Med. Eng. Tech.
4, 1980, pp 136-142.
7. T. Duckworth RP. Betts C. I. Franks J. Burke, The measurement of pressures under the foot
Foot & Ankle Int. 3, 1982, pp 130 - 141.
8. D. Pitie, K. Ison, M.E. Edmonds, M. Lord, Time-dependent behavior of a force-sensitive
resistor plantar pressure measurement insole Proc. Inst. Mech. Eng. H 210, 1996,
pp 121-125.
9. S. Urry, Plantar pressure measurement sensors Meas. Sci. and Technol. 10, 1999,
pp. R16 - R32.
52
LINEAR PREDICTION METHOD TO EXTRAPOLATE
ULTRASONIC DATA
Sudha Raman* and S. Ramgopal
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India
ABSTRACT
The paper discusses use of Linear Prediction method(LP) to retrieve the main echo from
a noisy ultrasonic signal. The method extrapolates the data beyond a desired point of
time, from where the noise starts to suppress the true signal. The data used for testing
is one which is obtained from our previously conducted experiment. The LP method is
useful when presence of a number of scattering entities in the medium or that of some
other disturbance, makes the 'signal to noise' ratio of transmitted ultrasonic signal low.
1. INTRODUCTION
Due to enormous scattering of acoustic waves in two phase materials like composites
l
and biomedical samples
2
, the wave gets partially absorbed, some scattered and the rest collected
by receiver transducer.
Echoes obtained in successive reflections are equally spaced and their height reduces to
the extent that is a function of amount of absorption(dependent on media) and
scattering(dependent on scattering entities). More the scattering entities as is the case with
multi phase materials, higher is the attenuation due to scattering. Beside these there could be
electrical disturbances. Due to all these, the higher order echoes get merged with the noise.
The echoes are therefore hardly visible beyond the initial ones and ultrasonic wave parameters
can not be evaluated accurately.
The present work describes the application of Linear Prediction method to retrieve these
echoes by extrapolation of data. The method uses the coefficients obtained using maximum
entropy method(MEM) and the previously conducted pulse echo experimental data
3
. These
MEM coefficients were determined in the earlier work (and specified elsewhere
4,5
).
2. MATHEMATICAL DETAILS
Linear prediction (LP) is based on IIR (Recursive) filter. The LP method predicts the
next value of a function y(n) in a time series, from the previous values viz. y(n-k) where
k=1,2,3... M and M is number of poles
4
, n is the data point number (that is the time equivalent).
Mathematically the LP method can be expressed as:
y(n) = _ Cof(k)y(n-k)+x(n) ..........................1
* E-mail : sudhantira_r@yahoo.com
Present address : Consultant, 17/A (N.D), 2nd Main, 11th A Cross, J.P. Nagar III Phase,
Bangalore - 560 078
53
where x(n) is the discrepancy of prediction at time n. One applies eqn no. 1 with known
records to get an idea as to how large is the discrepancy x(n).
This discrepancy is the value which should be added to the predicted value so as to get
the true value of y(n).
When the following condition is realized, x(n) can be taken as zero:
_ x (n) < _ y(n) ..........................2
The Recursive filter viz. Eq. No 1. has its output at a given time which is dependent on
both current, previous input and also on previous output. The filter is stable only if all the M
complex roots of following polynomial eqn. :
Z
M
- _
M
j=1
= Cof (j) Z
M-j
= 0 are inside the unit circle.
i.e. IZI <= 1 where f is frequency, A is the sampling interval.
And z = e
2ifA
For using the equation 1. the linear prediction coefficients Cof(1), Cof(2), ... Cof(M)
should be determined. Initially these coefficients are assigned the value of Maximum Entropy
method (MEM) coefficients
4
. Details of computation of these MEM coefficients are given in
the book
5
and also in the previous reference
4
.The coefficients are modified by calling laguerre
polynomial. But these coefficients may not be the correct ones which would give stability to
the filter. For this, the coefficients have to be massaged by using again the laguerre polynomial
with polish = true. These routines are described in next section (Flow chart). Once the correct
coefficients of LP are known, Linear prediction method can be carried out using Eq. No 1.
The required source code is given in the book
5
.
3. FLOW CHART DETAILS
The flow chart (Fig. 1) explains these mathematical routines. Firstly, MEM coefficients
are calculated for M=7. With these coefficients as input, the routine 'ZROOT' is called, to get
all the complex roots of the. polynomial. The program then checks for condition of stability,
that is, if the absolute value of complex root is more than 1, the root is replaced by inverse
of its complex conjugate. Roots are then sorted in ascending order. The polynomial coefficients
are then reconstructed and the real part is taken as the linear prediction coefficient. Finally
using these values and Eq No. l (with value of x(n) =0) the calculation of the amplitude of
ultrasonic signal at the desired point of time is carried out.
Prog. ZROOT functions as follows :
Initialoly it starts with the 1st root and calls Laguerre polynomial routine( with mem
coefficient as coefficient to start with). The routine 'LAGUERRE' starts with some suitable
guess for the root and then continues with the computation till the exact value of root is arrived
at, for a required value of epsilon(a measure of accuracy e.g .000006). The polynomial gets
now reduced to a lower order. New coefficients are computed and these go as input at next
iteration and the procedure is repeated for the next root and so on, till all the roots are
determined.
Linear prediction method to extrapolate ultrasonic data
54
Fig. 1 : Flow chart for Linear Prediction Method
The program. 'ZROOT' again calls 'LAGUERRE' (with old mem coefficients and new
values of roots as input) and improves the roots to an achievable round off limit (This is
called Polishing i.e Polish=True). The value of complex root is then returned to the main
program.
Sudha Raman and S. Ramgopal
55
4. RESULT AND DISCUSSION
M has been chosen to be 7. This is in view of the fact that the main Power Spectral
Density was most sharp here in comparison to that for M=5 or M=10. Table 1 gives the
value of MEM coefficients (calculated in previous communication
4
) and Linear prediction
coefficients computed in the present case. These LP coefficients are then used to get
extrapolated values of signal.
Table 1 : Values of MEM and LP co-efficients viz. Cof(k) for M=7
Fig.2 : Amplitude vs. Time graph for Experimental (Series 1) and Theoretical value of
Ultrasonic data (Series 2)
Fig. 2 gives the experimental (marked Expt.) and linear prediction values (marked as
Computed) of amplitude of ultrasonic signal. From the Fig., it can be seen that, the computation
gives fairly correct prediction. One can observe that a number of equally spaced peaks with
diminishing amplitude are present. These are in fact the echoes. The height of these echoes
do not suddenly reduce to a low value, as seen in case of experimental values, where beyond
Linear prediction method to extrapolate ultrasonic data
56
two peaks the rest of the echoes were hidden in noise. Up to a time scale of 19, the
experimental and theoretical values are in phase. But beyond this value, the noise suppresses
the actual signal. The noise in present case seems to be from sources other than scattering
(the test material being a clear sample of glass). Other sources of noise could be of electrical
in nature. Though attempt was made to minimize this noise by averaging, since the transducer
was made indigenously in laboratory and not a commercially available one, noise could have
still persisted.
REFERENCES
1. Wagner C.A. Pereira, S. Lori Bridal, member IEEE, Alain Coron and Pasal Laugier, Singular
Spectrum analysis applied to back scatteed ultrasound signals from InVitro human cancellous
bone specimen IEEE Transactions on ultrasonics, Ferroelecctrics and frequency control. 51,
no. 3, p 302, March 2004.
2. Boca Ration FL, Ultrasonic Scattering in Biological Tissue CRC Press, pp. 37-47, (1993).
3. S. Raman (Sudha Raman), C. Nagaraja Murthy and M.V. Lele Processing of ultrasonic signal
for transducer characterization and for improving signal to noise ratio Indian Journal of
Technology vol. 31, Nov 1993, p.774.
4. Sudha Raman, S. Ramgopal Processing of ultrasonic data in a z-Plane, J. Instrum. Soc. India,
Vol. 35(4), Dec. 2005, pp 406-412.
5. W.H. Press, S.A. Teukolsky, W.T. Vellerling and B.P. Flannery, Numerical Reciepes in Fortran
1st edition 1988 and Numerical Reciepes in C, 1993 2nd edition, Cambridge University Press.
Sudha Raman and S. Ramgopal
57
ONLINE MEASUREMENT OF COAT PAPER
QUALITY PARAMETERS USING INFRARED
SENSORS
Prasad Gandikota, K. Subrahmanyam, V. Venkataraman &
Subramaniyam Renganathan*
CEERI Centre, CSIR Complex, Taramani, Chennai, India
*Bharath Institute of Higher Education & Research, Chennai, India
ABSTRACT
Measurement of process quality parameters is very important for control and optimization
in any process industry. Many important process parameters like moisture, temperature
etc. are measured through IR based sensing. In a paper coating process, pigment coat is
applied to the stock paper and dried to get superior surfaced enhanced grade paper for
better printability. Coat weight and coat moisture are the two important quality parameters
of this process required to be measured for their control and to meet the specifications
of the coat paper being manufactured. Two non-contact IR based sensors that work on
absorption principle had been tried to measure these process parameters, in real time
and online during the coat paper manufacture. These sensors were attached to two
independent scanner frames so that sensors would move across the width of the paper
to monitor these parameters. These frames are located at the strategic locations of the
process manufacture to get direct dry coat weight and coat moisture values irrespective
of the basis weight of the base paper. The scanner frames and sensors are connected to
a developed electronic system to control the scanning operations and data acquisition.
The sensors are calibrated so that they work for the entire production range
(18 to 23 gsm coat weights) of the mill. The values obtained from these sensors were
compared with lab values. The system had been successfully installed and commissioned
in a full-fledged paper-coating mill in western India. This paper gives the performance
details of the sensors.
1. INTRODUCTION
There are many kinds of coated paper made in the world today for several purposes. Of
these, pigment-coated paper for printing is by far the most common. This has been invented
to provide enhanced smoothness, gloss and whiteness to the sheet and thereby giving superior
surface to it for better ink receptivity. Coating is done either on an 'on-machine' or 'off-machine'
paper coaters. In the former case, coating operation is done on the paper web before it is
removed from the paper machine while in the later case coating is done on a free standing
machine remote from paper machine. In India, most of the paper coat manufactures have
58
off-machine paper coaters and only this coating machine with air knife doctoring is adopted
for our work. The details on paper converter machines and the coating methods used is available
in the literature
1
. The coating process is a complex one even though it appears simple and
there is every need for a good control of the process
2,3,4
to meet the stringent demands of the
coat paper consumer and to compete in the world market. The block diagram of the process
is shown in Fig. 1. The main operations in the process are paper coating and coat drying, It
is a batch process.
Unwind
Roll
Coating
Station
(Air Knife coat)
Drying
Process
(Air dryer hoods)
Rewind
Roll
Coating Operation Drying Operation
Fig. 1. Block Diagram of an Off-Machine Paper Coater
Briefly, the process will be like this. The web, gets unwound from the unwind roll, passes
over a guide roll and a feed roll directly to the coating applicator roll (color roll). It then
passes to the breast roll with dip roll depressed as shown Fig. 2. Tension is maintained on the
web by the sheet being pulled through the coater by suction apron and then passed into the
dryer section, which will have a series of hot air dryer hoods.
Fig. 2 : Air knife coating (Doctoring)
Prasad Gandikota, K. Subrahmanyam, V. Venkataraman & Subramaniyam Renganathan
59
The schematic diagram of an off-machine paper coater is shown in Fig. 3. The doctoring
and smoothing the coat film is done using air jet. Air jet gives a uniform film thickness
following the contours of the paper. By controlling the air pressure to air jet, stock paper
attains the required coat weight.
The mill, which has been adopted for our work, uses coating composition made of
pigments (clay), binders (calcium carbonate) and a small percentage of other chemicals all
dispersed in water, to control the rheology for application and the properties of the dried film.
The temperatures of all the air dryer hoods are controlled to produce coated paper with required
moisture. The solids and liquids percentages of the coating solution are maintained at 48%
and 52% respectively. The raw stock paper widths will be between 0.61 meters to 1.19 meters.
Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of an Off-machine Paper Coater
197. 5
AIR HOOD-5
AIR HOOD-4
AIR HOOD-3 AIR HOOD-2
AIR HOOD-1
COAT WT SENSOR
SCANNER WITH
COAT MOISTURE
PAPER RUN DIRECTION UN WIND
SCANNER WITH
AIR KNIFE
RE WIND
SENSOR
An integrated electronic system has been developed, installed and commissioned in a paper
mill in western India
5
. The coat weight scanner with sensor is installed immediately after the
coat station (at the suction box) to measure dry coat weight and the coat moisture scanner
and its sensor are installed just before the rewind roller to measure coat moisture of the coated
paper. With the help of these two process parameters, air jet velocity of the air knife and air
temperatures of the dryer hoods can be controlled for coat weight and coat moisture control
respectively. This paper deals with the measurement of these two process parameters. The
control of these parameters would increase the product uniformity, tangible economic benefits
like savings in raw material and reduced drying load.
2. COAT MOISTURE MEASUREMENT
Moisture in coated paper is significant for economic reasons and for its effect on such
properties as printability, shrinkage, dimensional stability, physical strength etc., Paper becomes
stiffer, less flexible and becomes static under increased dry conditions
6
. Process Sensor
Corporation's MT400 IR Moisture sensor has been used to measure the coat moisture. This
is a multiple constituent transmitter that uses fixed infrared wavelengths to measure two
constituents in variety of products
7
.
2.1 Measurement Principle
In the near infrared principle, several molecular bonds absorb near infrared light at well-
defined wavelengths. The common bonds are O-H in water, C-H in organics & oils and N-H
in proteins. The absorbance level at these specific wavelengths is proportional to the quantity
of that constituent in the material.
Online measurement of coat paper quality parameters using infrared sensors 59
60
The sensor generates these absorbance wavelengths and several other non-a wavelengths
using a rotating wheel containing up to 3 infrared filters. The chopped light is reflected from
the surface of the product collected by optical components inside the sensor. Infrared filters
within the sensor generate a sequence of light pulses. One of these pulses is selected to be at
the specific absorbance wavelength for the constituent to be measured, the others are selected
so as to gauge the reflectance properties of the material. The pulses illuminate the sample
being measured; reflected light is collected and focused onto a detector. The electrical signals
from the sensor are processed in a ratio to provide a value that is proportional to the constituent
concentration. Microprocessor electronics transform this raw value to provide a direct readout
in % or other engineering units.
A quartz-halogen light bulb running at reduced voltage generates infrared energy. A parallel
beam of light is projected onto the coated paper A rotating wheel with NIR narrowband filters
allows select wavelengths of light. Scattered light is collected & focused onto PbS detector.
Log ratio of reference & absorption signals directly relates to the coat component. This has
been schematically represented in Fig. 4. Infrared light is selectively absorbed by water molecules
(vibration excitation of OH groups) typically at 1.94 um and 1.42 um wave lengths.
Absorption of infrared energy follows a logarithmic law (Beer-Lambert), a linear relationship
between moisture & coat weight. The infrared absorption would be of the form
I
o
Log ------- = kX
I
t
Where
I
o
=Incident light at designated wave length
I
t
= transmitted light at designated wave length
k = the material absorption coefficient
X = weight of water/ weight of the coat materials
1
2 3
4
5
7
8
9
6
10
(1) Mirror
(2) Light Source
(3) Lens
(4) External Beam
(5) Internal Beam
(6) Filter Wheel
(7) Collection Mirror
(8) Processor
(9) Detector
(10) Coated Paper
LEGENDS:
Fig. 4 : Schematic diagram of MT400 IR sensor
61
Coat moisture of the sheet is measured after the drying process, near the rewinding roll.
The field installation of the scanner frame and the coat moisture sensor attached to it is shown
in Fig. 5.
Coat moisture is measured in percentage as given below
Fig. 5 : Coat Moisture Scanner Frame & Coat Moisture sensor
2.2 Coat Moisture Calibration
Moisture sensor has been calibrated using METLER balance. Three paper samples of
known percentage moisture covering 0 to 15% were prepared. Three pairs of lab readings
and MT400 readings are noted. These are utilized in establishing a product calibration given
by the manufacturer of the sensor
7
. The readings ranged between 4.8 to 6.0%. The readings
were noted twice and samples were extracted and analyzed.
3. COAT WEIGHT MEASUREMENT
Coat weight of the paper is measured immediately after the coat station, as the paper
web comes out of it. The coat weight sensor is also the same sensor that has been used for
measuring coat moisture. This also works on IR absorption principal but calibrated to give
coat weight value instead of moisture, in terms of gram per square meter (GSM). Excepting
for this difference in the calibrations coat moisture and coat weight sensor are the same. The
Fig. 6 shows the scanner frame and coat weight sensor installed in the field.
3.1 Coat weight sensor calibration
Large quantities of samples covering the entire range of production range of the mill were
prepared using a set of draw down rods of different gauge numbers. With the help of these
draw down rods coating was uniformly applied on pre-weighed paper samples of size 20 cm
x 25 cm. Sets of six samples with coat weights ranging from16.0 gsm to 24 gsm were
Online measurement of coat paper quality parameters using infrared sensors
62
prepared. The calibration procedure of this sensor was adopted to calibrate the coat weight
sensor
4
. This calibration worked satisfactorily for 18 gsm and 20 gsm coat papers. Based on
the data collected, fine-tuning of the coat weight can be carried out by suitable adjustment in
calibration setup.
Fig. 6 : Coat weight scanner frame and coat weight sensor
4. RESULTS
Extensive field trials have been conducted to evaluate the performance of these sensors
in a full-fledged paper mill in western India. The results obtained from coat weight and coat
moisture sensors were compared with the laboratory results. The evaluation is done for most
of the products that are in manufacture range.
Table 1 Comparison of sensor values and laboratory values of the coat weight measurements
Base Paper Coat Paper (B-A) Coat Weight Error
Sl.No.
Basis weight Basis weight Coat Wt (Sensor values) (Lab -
(Gsm) (Gsm) (Lab Values) (Gsm) sensor)
A B (Gsm)
1. 95.00 113.00 18.00 18.90 -0.90
2. 260.00 279.50 19.50 20.30 -0.80
3. 84.76 105.80 21.04 21.06 -0.02
4. 97.20 114.50 17.30 18.10 -0.80
5. 87 .00 106.50 19.50 19.00 0.50
6. 87.80 109.70 21.90 21.30 0.60
7. 90.10 113.60 23.50 22.80 0.70
Coat weight is evaluated in the laboratory by taking sample of the coated paper across
the width of the paper to a specific size once the roll is completed. The sample is physically
weighed to get the coat weight. This value gives the 'coat paper basis weight', which is the
sum of basis weight of base paper and the coat weight. Coat weight is then obtained by
subtracting basis weight of the base paper from the coat paper basis weight. Here it is assumed
63
that base paper basis weight is constant for the entire roll, which is not true. The basis weight
of the base paper will usually have a 1 to 1.5 gsm variations under controlled manufacture.
So the laboratory method of determination of coat weight may not be always very accurate
method to determine the coat weight.
The performance of the sensor has been tested for different basis weights of the base
paper (60 to 270 GSM). Table 1 gives comparative results of the sensor values and laboratory
values of the coat weight measurements. The profiles of scan average coat weight and
instantaneous coat weight obtained from the coat weight sensor for a typical product are shown
in Fig. 7.
Coat Weight Profiles (04-05-2003)
15
17
19
21
1
2
:
2
9
:
1
8
1
2
:
3
1
:
2
8
1
2
:
3
3
:
3
8
1
2
:
3
5
:
4
8
1
2
:
3
7
:
5
8
1
2
:
4
0
:
0
8
1
2
:
4
2
:
1
8
1
2
:
4
4
:
2
8
1
2
:
4
6
:
3
9
1
2
:
4
8
:
4
9
1
2
:
5
0
:
5
9
1
2
:
5
3
:
0
9
1
2
:
5
5
:
1
9
1
2
:
5
7
:
2
9
1
2
:
5
9
:
3
9
1
3
:
0
1
:
5
0
1
3
:
0
4
:
0
0
Time
G
S
M
Instantaneous coat weight Scan average coat weight
Fig. 7. Coat weight profiles of scan average and instantaneous values
The moisture sensor readings are compared with the laboratory values. Table 2 gives the
comparative values for some products. These values are tested randomly by taking samples
from the finished paper.
Table 2 : Comparison of sensor values and laboratory values of the coat moisture measurements
Sl. No.
Moisture sensor Moisture Lab Error (Lab-sensor
values (in %) values (%) values)
1. 5.0 4.60 -0.4
2. 5.5 4.80 -0.7
3. 5.1 4.50 -0.6
4. 4.9 4.94 0.04
5. 5.3 4.80 -0.5
6. 5.0 4.30 -0.7
7. 5.6 5.60 0
8. 5.9 4.90 -1.0
9. 5.0 5.20 0.2
10. 4.8 4.50 -0.3
64
The laboratory method of evaluation of moisture is 'Oven-drying method', where a sample
of the coat paper is collected as soon as a coating on a roll is completed and taken to laboratory
to determine the coat moisture using the above method. This is a very time consuming process,
normally takes 30 to 40 minutes to get the value and therefore will not be suitable for controlling
the moisture online. Online and real-time information of coat moisture can be obtained with
this sensor and its scanning arrangement. This information can be fedback to control the coat
moisture online.
The profiles of scan average coat moisture and instantaneous coat moisture obtained from
the sensor in real time for a typical product is shown in Fig. 8.
5. CONCLUSIONS
Many Indian paper-coating mills have very old machines without proper instrumentation.
In an attempt to modernize them a retrofit instrumentation has been done in one of the paper
mills using two identical IR sensors one of them calibrated to measure the coat weight and
the other coat moisture. This retrofit instrumentation will help to directly measure these two
important process parameters in real time. The coat weight measurement is independent of
the basis weight of the base paper and therefore measurements will be more accurate unlike
the conventional method where the variations in the base paper basis weight will have bearing
on the coat weight measurements. Similarly, the coat moisture is also measured online and in
real-time. Both the sensors have given better results and accepted by the industry. They are
more accurate than the conventionally used laboratory methods in determining these values.
The sensor-measured values can be fedback to control coat weight and coat moisture of the
coat paper. The instrumentation has been successfully implemented in a full-fledged paper
coating mill and the sensors have given accurate values of these parameters.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Authors wish to thank Director CEERI Pilani for permitting to publish this paper. They
express their sincere thanks to all their colleagues who have directly and indirectly helped
Fig. 8 : Scan average and Instantaneous coat moisture profiles
65
them during the execution of the work. They also thank Department of Information Technology
(DIT), Govt. of India for part funding the project.
7. REFERENCES
1. Michael Kouris and Michael J Kocurek, Coating, Converting and speciality processes,
8, Joint Text book committee of the paper industry (TAPPI & CPPA), Atlanta USA.
2. Robert V. Byrd, Efficiency and flexibility are key factors in coating control scheme, Process
control for Pulp & Paper Mills, pp 136-139, Miller Freeman Publications Inc, California, 1983.
3. A Pulp & Paper staff report, Off-Machine Coater control system reduces coat weight
variations, Process control for Pulp & Paper Mills, pp 144-145, Miller Freeman Publications
Inc, California, 1983.
4. Marvin English, Fault-detection system improves base paper quality, coater operation,
Process control for Pulp & Paper Mills, pp.146-148, Miller Freeman Publications Inc,
California, 1983.
5. Prasad Gandikota, et.al. Automation of an off-machine paper converter - An integrated
approach, Proc. of 6th International Conference on Pulp & Paper Industry, pp 417-430, Dec,
5-7, New Delhi, 2003.
6. K. Subrahmanyam & V. Venkataraman, Moisture Measurement, Proc. of the International
training workshop (ITW-97), Pp 45-72, India, 1997.
7. MT400 Installation & Operation Manual, Process Sensors Corporation, USA March 2000.
66
MODEL BASED TUNING OF PROCESSES WITH
TRANSPORTATION LAG
J. Arputha Vijaya Selvi, T.K. Radhakrishnan and S. Sundaram
Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology
Thiruchirappalli - 620 015
ABSTRACT
Four processes with transportation tag are experimentally studied and represented by a
First Order plus Dead Time (FOPDT) model. The models agree with the experimental
values with an error of less than 5 percent. Based on the model parameters, different
controllers such as PI, Smith Predictor and IMC controllers are designed and their
characteristics based on rise time, settling time and overshoot are compared. The present
study concludes that IMC controller is the best for the processes.
1. INTRODUCTION
Conductivity measurement plays a vital role in process industry especially in quality control
such as surveillance of feed water purity, control of drinking water and process water quality,
estimation of the total number of ions in a solution or direct measurement of components in
process solutions. The electrical conductivity of water is used in many industries as an
indication of the purity of the water. Conductivity measurements are an important tool for
quality control of Al alloys in aircraft manufacture
1
. Jones
2
has designed a system for the
trace measurement of the conductivity of water. Dharmalingam and Sundaram
8
have
experimentally determined the process model form the reaction curve obtained by monitoring
online electrical conductivity.
The selection of the controller for the particular system is essentially an optimization
problem in which the designer of the control system attempts to satisfy certain criterion of
optimality, the result of which is often referred to as "good" control. A typical criterion for
good control is that the response of the system to a step change in set point or load should
have minimum overshot, minimum rise time and minimum settling time
10
.
In this work, a system, which consists of a coiled pipe and a tank, which contributes
four different lag processes, is used in designing the model parameters for the conductivity
process. The process model is experimentally determined from the step response analysis
obtained by monitoring online electrical conductivity. For the models developed, PI, Smith
predictor and IMC controllers are designed and their performance are compared.
67
2. EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The experimental setup for determining the process model using conductivity of the
Sodium Chloride solution is shown in figure 1. The setup consists of three lag processes
contributed by the coil and the processes P1, P2 & P3 and a process contributed by the coil
alone. The coil is of 3m length. The coil diameter is 0.152m and the inner pipe diameter is
0.013m. Different combinations of processes are realized by operating valves V4 through V9
as given in the table in Figure 1.
Fig. 1 : Experimental setup for determining the process model
3. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
For determining the flow model, an open loop test is conducted. The flow rate of water
is fixed at 4 lpm and that of 10 weight percent sodium chloride is fixed at 100cc/min. The
valve arrangements for different processes are made according to the table given in figure 1.
It is important to note that no disturbances other than the step change enter the system during
the test. The step-by-step procedure is given below:
1. Water is allowed to flow into the process at a constant flow rate of 4 lpm. The
conductivity meter indicates a constant conductivity value of 270 micromhos/cm and
this value is recorded.
2. A 10-weight percent sodium chloride solution is injected at a constant flow rate of
100cc/m in the inlet along with the water through the non-return valve.
3. The conductivity of the outlet water increases slowly and reaches a steady-state value
depending on the lag processes.
4. The variation in conductivity with respect to time is recorded.
Model based tuning of processes with transportation lag
68
4. PROCESS IDENTIFICATION
For system represented by a sigmoidal process reaction curve, a general model that can
be fitted to the transient is the first order plus transportation lag. The First order transfer
function model with transportation lag for a step change in the input is given by equation 4.1.
K
p
e
(rds)
Gp(s) = ------------------ -------- 4.1
(rs+1)
where Kp = Process static gain
r
d
= Transportation lag
r = Time constant
Based on equation 4.1, flow models are established for the four processes with the data
obtained experimentally. The system paprameters fitted to a First Order plus Dead Time
(FOPDT) models are given in Table 1. The experimental values and those calculated from
equations are shown in figure 2. The model fits the experimental data with an error of less
than 5 percent.
Fig. 2 : Experimental and First Order plus Dead Time (FOPDT) models for the processes
Coil only, Coil with P1, P2 & P3
Table 1. System parameters for the processes Coil only, Coil with P1, P2 & P3
Process K
p
r (sec) r
d
(sec)
Coil only 0.67135 85.1788 20
Coil with PI 0.533125 47.619 33
Coil with P2 0.4442125 40.5597 39
Coil with P3 0.398375 39.2464 53
69
5. PI CONTROLLER DESIGN
The conventional methods widely used for controlling the processes are PID and PI
controllers. The tuning of these controllers is well studied and there are many methods like
Ziegler-Nichols, refined Ziegler-Nichols and Cohen-Coon. Cohen-Coon method has been
employed in tuning of controllers for the processes studied. The gain K
C
and time constant r
i
are determined by simulation using Matlab based on the model developed for the four processes.
The PI Controller tuning parameters are given in Table 2 and the responses are shown in
figure 5.
Table 2. PI controller tuning parameters
Process K
c
r
i
Coil only 2.95 0.04999
Coil with PI 1.6 0.033
Coil with P2 1.4 0.03
Coil with P3 1.18 0.025
6. IMC CONTROLLER
Internal Model Control is based on an accurate model of the process and leads to the
design of a control system that is stable and robust. In applying IMC, the information that
must be specified is process model, performance objectives and type of input. Garcia and
Morari
3
have developed a design procedure for Multivariable IMC systems. Chien and
P.S.Fruehauf et a1.
4
have presented IMC tuning procedure to improve controller performance
.The basic structure of IMC is shown in figure 3.
Figure 3. Basic structure of IMC
G - Transfer function of the process
Gm - Model of the process
The designed IMC Controller equations for the four processes are given below:
10.57(s
2
+ 0.11174s + 0.001174)
Gccoil = ----------------------------------------------- -------- 6.1
s
2
+ 0.267s
5.5825(s
2
+ 0.0816s + 0.00127)
Gcp1 = ----------------------------------------------- -------- 6.2
s
2
+ 0.185606s
70
3.04356(s
2
+ 0.0759s + 0.00126)
Gcp2 = ----------------------------------------------- -------- 6.3
s
2
+ 0.1179487s
2.8148(s
2
+ 0.063215s + 0.00096)
Gcp3 = ----------------------------------------------- -------- 6.4
s
2
+ 0.0949s
The IMC controllers are simulated in MATLAB and are compared with PI and Smith
controllers and are shown in figure 5.
7. SMITH COMPENSATOR
Process that contains a large transport lag can be difficult to control because a disturbance
in set point or load does not reach the output of the process until delay units of time elapses.
No control action occurs till elapse of this time delay, with the result that the overall closed
loop response becomes sluggish and unsatisfactory. The control strategy known as Smith
compensation attempts to reduce the undesirable effect of transportation lag. Astrom et al.
5
has developed a new Smith Predictor for long time delay process. Matausek and Micie et al.
6
have presented a modified Smith Predictor for controlling a process with an integrator and
long dead time.
The block diagram of the Smith Compensator is shown in figure 4.
Figure 4. System with Smith Compensator
Here, Gp is the process transfer function represented by,
Gp(s) = G(s) e
-r
D
s
-----------7. 1
Gci - PI controller designed for the delay free process, G(s).
Gci* - Smith compensator
Smith Compensators for the four processes are given by equations 7.2 - 7.5. The
designed Smith compensators are simulated in MATAB design tool and the results are compared
with PI and IMC controllers and are shown in figure 5.
Gci
Gci*coil = ------------------------------------------ -------- 7.2
0.67136Gci(1 e
-20s
)
1 + -----------------------------------------
(85.1788s+1)
71
Gci
Gci*p1 = ------------------------------------------ -------- 7.3
0.533125Gci(1 e
-33s
)
1 + -----------------------------------------
(47.619s+1)
Gci
Gci*p2 = ------------------------------------------ -------- 7.4
0.4442125Gci(1 e
-39s
)
1 + -----------------------------------------
(40.5597s+1)
Gci
Gci*p3 = ------------------------------------------ -------- 7.5
0.398375Gci(1 e
-53s
)
1 + -----------------------------------------
(39.2464s+1)
8. RESULTS
The responses of PI, Smith Compensator and IMC controllers for the four processes
are compared in terms of rise time, settling time and overshoot and are shown in figure 5.
The performance comparison is given in Table 3.
Table 3. Performance comparison of controllers
Controller
Process Rise time Settling Overshoot
(sec) time (sec) %
Coil only 69.36 266.65 8.31
PI Controller
Coil with P1 103.02 332.27 3.89
Coil with P2 132.1 374.02 0.939
Coil with P3 179.45 476.63 0.53
Coil only 55.3 128.09 0.603
Coil with P1 75.4864 221.32 0.242
Internal Model Control
Coil with P2 111.95 257.45 0.185
Coil with P3 145 316.56 0.02
Coil only 230.94 230.94 0
Smith Compensator
Coil with P1 248.81 248.81 0
Coil with P2 262.58 262.58 0
Coil with P3 318.54 318.54 0
9. CONCLUSION
Model identification for a conductivity control system with different transportation lag is
carried out with the data generated experimentally. Control strategies like PI controller, internal
model control and Smith Compensator are established and their performances based on rise
time, settling time and overshoot are compared. It is observed, from Table 3, that IMC controller
has faster settling time and rise time than PI controller and Smith Compensator with minimal
72
overshoot. Smith compensator has no overshoot but it has larger settling time and rise time
than IMC controller. PI controller shows larger settling time and overshoot than IMC controller
and Smith Compensator. Hence it is concluded that IMC is the best-suited controller for these
processes. Further work on different coil diameters and inner coil diameter are in progress.
REFERENCES
1. G. Rietveld, Ch. V. Koijmans, L.C.A. Henderson, M.J. Hall, S. Harmon, P. Warneck and
B. Schumacher, DC conductivity measurements in the VAN DER PAUW GEOMETRY, IEEE
of trans. Instrument. Meas., volume of 52, No.2, pp. 449-453, April 2003.
2. R.G. Jones, Measurements of the electrical conductivity of water - IEE Proc. Sci. Meas.
Technol. Vol. 149, No. 6, November 2002.
3. C.E. Garcia and M. Morari, Internal Model Control Design Procedure for Multiva riable
Systems, Ind. and Eng. Chem. Proc. Des. and Dev., 24, 472-484, 1985.
4. I.L. Chien and P.S. Fruehauf, Consider IMC tuning to improve controller performance, Chem.
Eng. Progress. Vol. 86 No.10, pp. 33-41, 1990.
5. K.J. Astrom, C.C. Hang and B.C. Lim, A new Smith Predictor for controlling a process with
an integrator and long dead time, IEEE Trans. Automat. Control, 39, pp. 343-345, 1994.
6. M.R. Matausek and A.D. Micie, On the modified Smith Predictor for controlling a process
with an integrator and long dead-time, IEEE Trans. Automat. Control, 44, pp. 1603-1606, 1999.
7. Sundaram. S, M. Arumugam & V. Dharmalingam, Conductivity based process modeling for
Time delay process, Proceedings of ISA, 2004.
8. V. Dharmalingam and Sundaram. S, Conductivity based process modeling, Journal of
Instrument Society of India, Volume 33, Dec. 2003
9. Sundaram. S, Dharmalingam. V & Radhakrishnan T.K., RTD studies in Helical coils,
Proceedings of ISA, 2003.
10. Donald R. Coughanowr, Process system analysis and control, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill Inc,
Singapore, 1991.
11. B. Wayne Bequette, Process Control, Modeling, Design and Simulation, 1st ed., PHI, 2003.
Fig. 5. Responses of P1, Smith predictor and IMC controllers for the processes Coil only,
Coil with P1, P2 & P3
73
EMBEDDED SYSTEM DESI GN USI NG MI CRO- CONTROLLERS
(22nd May to 30th May, 2006)
a Short term Course
Organised by :
Instruments Society of India
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - 560 012.
Course Coordinator :
Mr. S. RAMGOPAL
Department of Instrumentation
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
Objective of the Course :
Embedded computer systems are electronic systems that include a microcomputer to perform
a specific dedicated application. Every week millions of tiny computer chips come pouring out
of various vendors are finding their way into our everyday products.Embedded microprocessors
or micro-controllers are the brain behind these systems. The application of these controllers
makes the equipments user friendly, cheap and enables to add features otherwise impossible
to provide by other means. Scientists and Engineers play a major role in all phases of this effort
: Design, development and manufacturing. The objective of this course is to introduce the
participants to the design and implementation of an embedded system. The course also covers
microcontrollers as the most wide-spread example of embedded systems. In particular, the
course covers the 87X5X family of microcontrollers, their programming in C language and
interfacing techniques.
Special emphasis is to provide hands on experience for the participant using a hardware and
interfacing trainer module. The participant actually solves the given problems by implementing
it on the trainer module. This will provide participant with a hands on opportunity to learn the
fundamentals of designing the hardware and software for systems based upon embedded
microcontollers. Hardware and software design issues are discussed for specific systems
implemented using 87X51X/89C51 as the embedded microcontroller. The laboratory component
in this course is about 70%. All exercises will have programming in C language.
Course Syllabus :
Introduction to embedded systems. The 8051 family of Microcontrollers. C programming for
microcontrollers I/O ports programming. Timer/Counter hardware and it device driver. Serial
communication interface and its device driver. Interrupts Programming. Embedded software
development cycle and the environment Debugging techniques for embedded software and the
role of cross compilers and simulators. Real World Interfacing case studies. LCD, Sensors,
stepper motor, keyboard.
Personal Computer Interaction. Design of device drivers for serial devices. Introduction to finite
state machines. Case studies like stop watch, temperature controller. RTC, test beds for LED,
74
stepper motor using finite state machines. Introduction to small networks using RS-485. All the
participants are expected to solve about 30 problems using C language which have been design
to get a good understanding of how to use all the resources of a microcontroller for an application.
Eligibility :
This course is suitable for scientists and engineers who are using or planning to use
microcontrollers for their work. The participant can be bachelor of engineering, master of
science, master of computer applications. The prerequisite for the course is that the participant
must be familiar with any microprocessor or microcontroller and familiarity with C programming
language.
Course duration and timings :
This course starts on 22nd May 2006 and completes on 30th May 2006.
The lectures usually start at 9.30 in the morning with lecture for about 2-3 hours and this will
be followed by laboratory for hands on experience on using cross compiler, simulator and
testing on the target trainer board. The laboratory session can go on upto 8 PM.
Please send the form with D.D. to :
General Secretary, Instrument Society of India
Department of Instrumentation, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - 560 012.
The maximum number of participants for this course is 40. The selection is based on first come first
serve basis. The last date for receipt of filled-in application is 1st May 2006. Selected participants will
be informed by 5th May 2006 or earlier.
APPLICATION
Name :
Mailing Address :
e-mail :
Educational :
Qualification :
Are you conversant with
Microprocessor/Micro Controller Yes / No
'C' Programming Yes / No
Are you a Life Member of ISOI Yes / No
If Yes, LM No..................................
Details of Demand draft
DD No. : Date :
Amount : Bank :
Course Fees :
Rs. 8000/- through D.D. drawn in favour of Instrument Society of India, Payable at Bangalore.
A discount of Rs. 1000/- will be given to life members of ISOI.
Course Fee includes course material, lunch and other refreshments.
The participants have to make their own arrangements for accommodation.

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