INSTRUMENTATIO

N AMPLIFIER
Prepared by :Nisha G R
Asst. Professor
Dept. of EC
VCET Puttur

08/25/2020 1
Instrumentation amplifier
■ In many industrial and consumer applications the measurement and control of physical conditions are very
important.
■ Generally transducer(which converts one form of energy to another) is used at the measuring site to obtain the
required information easily and safely.

■ Block dig of
Instrumentation system

■ An instrumentation system is used to measure the output signal produced by the transducer and often control the
physical signal producing it.
■ Fig shows simplified form of such system.
08/25/2020 2
 ■ The input stage is composed of pre amplifier and some sort of transducer depending on
the physical quantity to be measured.
■ The output stage may use devices such as meters, oscilloscope, charts or magnetic
recorders.
■ Connecting lines are called transmission lines which permit signal transfer from unit to
unit. The length of transmission line depends on physical quantities to be monitored and
on system requirements.
■ To amplify the low level output signal of transducer so that it can drive the indicator is
the major function on instrumentation amplifier.
■ Instrumentation amplifier intended for precise, low level signal amplification where
low noise, low thermal and time drifts, high input resistance and accurate closed loop
gains are required.
■ Examples: uA725, ICL7605 and LH0036

08/25/2020 3
 Instrumentation amplifier using
transducer bridge

08/25/2020 4
■ Resistors RA, RB and Rc are selected so that they are equal in value to RT at some
reference condition. So the bridge is balanced initially at desired condition. However as
physical quantity changes the resistance of transducer changes which causes bridge to
unbalance. i.e Va=/ Vb

08/25/2020 5
08/25/2020 6
08/25/2020 7
08/25/2020 8
■ The equation indicates that Vo is directly proportional to the change in resistance of the
transducer. Since change in the resistance is caused by a change in physical energy, a
meter connected at the output can be calibrated in terms of units of that physical energy.
■ Thermisters, photoconductive cells and strain gauges are some of the commonly used
resistive transducer.
■ Thermisters are essentially semiconductors with a negative temperature coefficient of
resistance i.e temp of Thermister increases its resistance decreases. Temp coefficient of
resistance is expressed in ohms per unit change in degree celcius.
■ Thermisters with high temp coefficient of resistance are more sensitive to temperature
change. Thermisters are available in wide variety of shapes and sizes.

08/25/2020 9
■ The photoconductive cells belong to the family of photodetectors whose resistance
varies with an incident radiant energy or with light.
■ As intensity of light increases, the resistance of the cell decreases. The intensity of light
is expressed in meter candles(lux).
■ Materials such as cadmium sulfide and silicon whose conductivity is a function of
incident radiant energy, are used for photoconductive cells .
■ The photoconductive cells is typically composed of ceramic base, a layer of
photoconductive material, a moisture proof enclosure and metallic leads.
■ photoconductive cells are also known as photocells or light dependent resistors(LDRs).

08/25/2020 10
 ■ Strain guage whose resistance changes due to elongation or compression when an
external stress is applied. The stress is defined as force per unit area and can be related
to pressure, torque and displacement.
■ Two basic type of strain gauges are: wire and semiconductor
■ Semiconductor SG are more sensitive and provide better accuracy and resolution.
■ It is a dimension less quantity.
■ Thermistor, photocell and strain guage are all passive transducer means they require
external dc or ac voltage for their operation.

08/25/2020 11
08/25/2020 12