Introductiontosensors&transducers

Sensorclassification
SensorSelection
Performancecharacteristics

 Inindustrialautomationextractionof

information/dataplaysamajorrolein
monitoringandcontrollingthepant
Thisisaccomplishedbythe

instrumentation/measuring/dataacquisition
systemoftheplant

 Atypicalmeasuring/dataacquisitiondevice

Measurand (Typicallyan
analogsignalfromplant)

Sensor

Transducer

MeasuringDevice

Measurand
o

Thequantity/parameterbeingmeasured

Transmittable
signal

 Atypicalmeasuring/dataacquisitionsystem

From plant

Sensor

Transducer

Measuring System

Signal
conditioning
&
modification

To
controller/
display

Atypicalmeasuring/dataacquisitionsystemfor
controlling

Input
signal

Outputs

Signal
conditioning

Signal
conditioning

Control
Hardware

Transducer

Measuring System

Actuator

Sensor

Plant

 Sensor
o
o

Adevicethatsensethemeasurand
Acquiresinformationfromtherealworld

Transducer
o

Adevicethatconvertsaprimaryformofenergyinto
acorrespondingsignalwithadifferentformof
energy

Inotherwords,inameasuringdevice,atransducer
convertsinformationsuppliedbyasensorintoa
standardizedsignalwhichcanbeprocessed

Primaryformsofenergy

Mechanical
Thermal
Electromagnetic
Chemical
Optical

Sensorsandactuatorsareexamplesfortransducers

 Someimportantnotesonsensorsand

transducers
o

Almostanyphysicalpropertyofamaterialthat
changesinresponsetosomeexcitationcanbeused
asasensor

Physicalpropertiesusedbysomecommonly
availablesensors

Resistive
Inductive
Capacitive

Piezoelectric
Thermal
Photoresistive

Magnetosrtictive
Elastic

 Someimportantnotesonsensorsand

transducers(Cont..)
o

Mostsensorswillcomewithatransducercoupled
toit
Strain Gauge

Deflection

Strain
Generation

Voltage
Generation

Electrical Signal

 Importanceofsensinginindustrialautomation
o
o
o

Manufacturingprocesscontrol
Processmonitoringandsupervision
Productqualitycontrol

 Classificationofsensorscanbedoneon

severalbasis
SENSORS

SIGNAL
CHARACTERISTICS

o
o

Analogue
Digital

POWER
SUPPLY

o
o

Active
Passive

MODE OF
OPERATION

Nulltype

Deflectiontype

SUBJECT OF
MEASUREMENT

 Analogue
o

Analoguemainlyreferstocontinuousunbroken
seriesofevents

Therefore,theyareusedformeasurementof
continuousprocessvariablessuchas,

Speed
Temperature
Pressure
Flow

Strain

 Analogue
o

Thesesensorstypicallyproducersacontinues
outputsignal(Voltage)thatisgenerally
proportionaltothemeasurand

Theoutputsignalisusuallyslowchangingandsmall
invalue,thussomekindofamplificationmaybe
necessary

Thetypicalvoltagerangeafteramplificationis05V

 Analogue
o

TheoutputwillusuallypassthroughaA/D
converterbeforeenteringthecontroller/display

Examples:
Potentiometer
Thermocouple
LVDT
Pressuresensors

 Analogue

 Digital
o
o

Digitalmainlyreferstoasequenceofdiscrete
events
Thesesensorsproducesadiscreteoutputsignalor
voltagethatisadigitalrepresentationofthe
quantitybeingmeasured

 Digital
o

Itproducesabinary outputsignalintheformofa
logic"1"oralogic"0",("ON"or"OFF")which
meansthatadigitalsignalonlyproducesdiscrete
(noncontinuous)valueswhichmaybeoutputtedas
asingle"bit",(serialtransmission)orbycombining
thebitstoproduceasingle"byte"output(parallel
transmission).

Sincetheoutputfromthesesensorsaredigital,
thesewillnotrequireanyconversionmodules
beforeenteringthecontroller/display

 Digital
o

Examples
Limitswitch
Opticalencoder
Ultrasonicranger
Photosensitivesemiconductor(Photosensors)
CCD
CMOS

 Active
o

Theoutput(mostofit)isproducedbyanexternal
powersource

Examples
Ultrasonicsensors
Radar

 Passive
o

Inpassivesensorstheoutputisgeneratedonlyfrom
theinputparameter(inputenergy)theyaresensing

Thatis,noadditionalpowersourceisnotrequired
togenerateanoutputsignal

However,thegeneratedoutputsignalcanbevery
smallorweak,henceitmaybenecessarytoamplify
theoutputsignalsbyusingactivedevicessuchas
OPamps

 Passive
o

Examples
Straingauges
LVDTs
Thermocouples
Piezoelectricsensors

 Deflectiontype
o

Thesesensorsareusedinaphysicalsetupwhere
theoutputisproportionaltothemeasurand

Moreconvenientthannulltype.(Easeofreading
andoperation)

Intermsofaccuracy,itwillbelessthanthatofa
nulltypesensor

Examplewouldbethepressuregauge

 Nulltype
o

Innulltypesensors,anydeflectionduetothe
measurand isbalancedbytheopposingcalibrated
forcesothatanyimbalancesaredetected
Thesearemoreaccuratethanthedeflectiontypes
sensingequipment

 Inthisclassification,thetypeswilldependon

theparameterorsubjectbeingmeasured
o

Forexample
Acoustic
Biological
Electrical
Mechanical
Thermal
Optical

 Selectionofasensorforaparticularapplication

dependson:
o

Performancecharacteristics

Durabilityandruggedness

Maintenance

Cost

 Performancecharacteristics/parametersofa

sensorcanbebroadlycategorizedundertwo
mainheadings
o

Staticcharacteristics
Parametersthatareconstantintimeorvary
slowlywithtime

Dynamiccharacteristics
Parametersthatvarywithtime

 Staticcharacteristics

Accuracy
Precision

Repeatability

Range/Span

Deadband/deadspace

Hysteresis

Tolerance
Threshold

 Staticcharacteristics(Cont..)

Sensitivity
Resolution

Linearity

Impedance/loadingeffects

 Dynamiccharacteristics
o

Usefulfrequencyrange

Bandwidth

Dynamicrange

 Accuracy

Theclosenessofthemeasuredvaluetothe
truevalue
o Dependsontheinherentinstrument
limitations
o

Lowaccuracy

Highaccuracy

 Precision
o

Theabilityofaninstrumenttoreproducea
certainsetofreadingswithinagivenaccuracy
andaminimumdispersion

Thatis,ifalargenumberofreadingsaretaken
ofthesamequantitybyahighprecision
instrument,thenthespreadofreadingswillbe
verysmall

Precisiondependsonthereliabilityofthe
instrument

 Precision

Highprecision

Lowprecision

 Repeatability

Theclosenessofoutputreadingswhenthesame
inputisappliedrepetitivelyoverashortperiodof
time,withthesamemeasurementconditions,same
instrumentandobserver,samelocationandsame
conditionsofuse,maintainedthroughout
o Inotherwords,itistheabilitytoreproducethe
outputsignalexactlywhenthesamemeasurand is
appliedrepeatedlyunderthesameenvironmental
conditions
o Thedegreeofrepeatabilityisanalternatewayof
expressingprecision
o

 Range
o

Therange/spanofaninstrumentisdefinedas
theminimumandthemaximumvaluesitis
designedtomeasure

Deadspace/deadband
o

Thisistherangeofdifferentinputvaluesover
whichthereisnochangeintheoutputvalues

 Threshold
o

Ifaninputtoainstrumentisgradually
increasedfromzero,theinputwillhaveto
reachacertainminimumlevelbeforethe
changeintheinstrumentoutputreadingisofa
largeenoughmagnitudetobedetectable.This
minimumlevelofinputisdefinedasthe
threshold

 Linearity

Thisissimplythepropertyoftheinstrument
wheretheoutputisalinearfunctionofthe
input
o However,100%linearityisrarelyachievedand
thedeviationsfromtheidealaretermed
linearitytolerances
o

Linearityisexpressedasthepercentageof
departurefromthelinearvalue(i.e.maximum
deviationoftheoutputcurvefromthebestfit
straightlineduringacalibrationcycle)

 Linearity

Theclosenessofthestaticcalibrationcurve(curveof
outputamplitudevs inputamplitudeunderstatic
conditionswithinthedynamicrange)toastraight
linemeasuresthedegreeoflinearity

 Linearity
o

Thenonlinearityisnormallycausedbynon
linearelementssuchasmechanicalhysteresis,
viscousflow,creepandelectronicamplifiers

 Zerodrift
o

Definedasthedriftfromthenullreadingofthe
instrumentwhenthemeasurand ismaintained
atsteadyforalongperiodoftime.Similarly,
fullscaledriftisdefinedwithrespecttofull
scalereading

Causedbyinstrumentinstability,ambientchanges,
changesinpowersupply,nonlinearaties etc,

 Hysteresiseffects
o

Iftheinputmeasured
quantitytothe
instrumentissteadily
increasedfroma
negativevalue,the
outputvariationis
shownascurveA.Then
iftheinputissteadily
decreased,theoutput
curveisasdepictedas
incurveB

 Hysteresiseffects
o

Thepreviousfiguredepictstheoutput
characteristicsofainstrumentwhichexhibitsa
typicalhysteresis

Twoquantities,maximuminputhysteresisand
maximumoutputhysteresiscanbedefined
accordingtothediagram.Thesearenormally
expressedasapercentageofthefullscaleinputor
outputreadingrespectively

 Sensitivity
o

Sensitivityismeasuredbythemagnitude(peak,
rms value,etc.)oftheoutputsignalcorresponding
toaunitinputofthemeasurand

Inotherwords,itistheabilityoftheinstrumentto
respondtothechangesinthemeasurand

Itcanalsobeexpressedastheratioofchangeof
outputtothechangeoftheinput

 Sensitivity
o

Example
Ifamovementof0.001mmcausesanoutput
voltagechangeof0.02Vinaparticularelectrical
sensor,whatwouldbeitssensitivity?

Sensitivity=

 Sensitivity
o

Inthecaseofvectorial ortensorial signals

(displacement,velocityetc.,)thedirectionofthe
sensitivityshouldbespecified

Crosssensitivityisthesensitivityalongdirections
thatareorthogonaltothedirectionofsensitivity
andoftenexpressedasapercentageofdirect
sensitivity

Usuallysensitivitytoparameterchangesandnoise
shouldbeminimum(low)

 Resolution
o

Resolutionisthesmallestincrementinthe
measuredvaluethatispossibletodetect
accurately

Itisalsoknownasthedegreeoffinenesswith
whichmeasurementscanbemade

Itcanbeexpressedasapercentageofthe
maximumrangeoftheinstrumentorastheinverse
ofthedynamicratio

 Resolution
o

Asensorhasadigitaloutputof12bits.Whatisits
digitalresolution?

Thesmallestpossibleincrementwillbethe
changeintheLSB (Leastsignificantbit)

Therefore,theresolution=1

 Usefulfrequencyrange
o

Thiscorrespondstoaflatgaincurveandazero
phasecurveinthefrequencyresponse
characteristicsofaninstrument.

Themaximumfrequencyinthisbandistypically
lessthanhalf(aroundonefifth)ofthedominant
resonantfrequencyoftheinstrument

Gain

Usefulfrequencyrange

UFR

Phase angle

fmax

fr

Frq. (Hz)

 Bandwidth
o

Bandwidthofaninstrumentdeterminesthe
maximumspeedorthefrequencyatwhichis
capableofoperating

TheBandwidthisnormallydeterminedbythe
dominantnaturalfrequencyorthedominant
resonancefrequencyofthesensor

Highbandwidthimpliesfasterspeedofresponse

bandwidthisdirectlyrelatedtotheuseful
frequencyrange

 Dynamicrange
o

Dynamicrageofaninstrumentisdeterminedby
theallowedlowerandupperlimitsofitsinputsor
outputssoastomaintainarequiredlevelof
measurementaccuracyofaninstrument

Usuallyexpressedasaratio,indecibels

Inmanysituations,thelowerlimitofthedynamic
rangeisequaltotheresolutionofthedevice

 Dynamicrange
o

Asensorhasadigitaloutputof12bits.Whatisits
dynamicrange?

Letthesmallestpossibleincrementtobey

Letthesmallestpossiblevaluetobeymin andthe
largestpossiblevaluetobeymax

Notethata12bitwordcanhaveacombinationof
212 values

 Dynamicrange

Therefore,thelargestvalueymax =ymin +(212 1)y

Therewillbe212 valueswithinymin andymax,

inclusiveofthetwoendvalues
Therefore,thedynamicrange=ymax ymin
y
Dynamicrange=(212 1)y=212 1=4905
y

 Dynamicrange

Therefore,thedynamicrange=20log10 (4095)
Dynamicrangeofthesensor=72dB

 Itisnoteworthytorememberthatinstrument

manufacturersdonotprovideallthe
performanceparametersthatwediscussed
Thetypical ratingparametersprovided
o
o
o
o
o

Sensitivity
o Accuracy
Dynamicrange
o Bandwidth
Resolution
o Input/outputimpedances
Linearity
Usefulfrequencyrange

 Introductiontoinstrumentation/data

acquisitionsystems
Definitionsforsensorsandtransducers
Classificationof sensors
Selectioncriteriaofsensors
Performancecharacteristicsofsensors

 Introductiontocommonsensorsusedin

industrialautomation
o

Sensorsforpositionandmotionmeasurements

Sensorsfortemperaturemeasurements

Sensorsforforce,torqueandpressure
measurements

Sensorsforflowmeasurements