AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this laboratory is to understand the importance of statistical distributions in the
operation of measurement equipment. Involves:
1. The measurement of the offset voltage and offset current from a large collection of
operation amplifiers
2. The analysis of the distribution of the measured data
3. The use of an operation amplifier to increase the signal level of a pressure sensor,
selecting the amplifier from the statistical population of amplifiers.
4. Calibration of the pressure sensor
PART ONE
MATERIALS USED IN THE EXPERIMENT
The operational amplifiers; LF353, TL072, and LM358.
Op- amp tester: to measure the offset voltage and the offset current
A Multimeter: used for measuring the voltage output
METHOD USED IN THE EXPERIMENT
Connect the Multimeter to the banana plug and set the meter to the voltage range
required.
The operational amplifiers used in this lab have amplifiers on two physical sides on
the chip (the left and the right)
The Switch S4 (in Figure 1) selects either the left side or the right side of an
operational amplifier. Once the left (or right) opamp is selected using Switch S4,
switch S1 on the left (or S2 on the right) selects the offset voltage or the offset
current. When the offset voltage is selected, the output voltage can then be
measured at the banana plug.
SAMPLE CALCULATIONS
To calculate the voltage offset we used this calculation when the offset voltage is selected
V
0
= -(

) V
offset
= -100V
offset

Example: for #1 :

V Therefore

0.4960mV

To calculate the offset current when the offset voltage and offset current is selected, the
output voltage (V
0
) is given by

) (

; Example: for #1

V,

0.4960mV

Therefore

=

= 2.4530A
The mean x =

and the standard deviation

The Gaussian distribution f(z)=

where z=( x - x)/s

The uncertainty was U
c
= kU
x
where the U
x
= the experimental standard deviation of the
mean and k=2.17 For example: the LF353 op-amp the sample mean for the V
offset
was
0.26mV and the S= 1.978 and the number of samples n=13 therefore Ux=S/= 1.978/
= 0.549
Uc= 2.17 0.549 = 1.19 therefore the mean and spread of the mean is 0.26mV1.19Mv. This
was calculated using the ISO guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement and is
expressed by the stated interval which is estimated to contain the measurand with 95%
probability. The coverage factor for the interval is 2.17 (from the student t distribution).

GRAPHS
Offset voltage represented as V
offset

Offset current represented as I
offset

Figure 1.Measured values and normal distribution for offset voltage for the LF353 op-amp


Figure 2. Measured values and normal distribution for offset current for the LF353 op-amp
Comment on the graphs for LF353 op-amp
After calculating the V
offset
and I
offset
of various samples on the right and left side of the op-
amp and plotting it on the graph, it was observed that there was a random distribution of
values about the sample mean. The sample mean here was calculated to be 0.26mV and -
1.29A for the V
offset
and I
offset
respectively. The V
offset
and I
offset
on the right were observed
to have all its measured values above the mean while the V
offset
and I
offset
on the left of the
measured values were below the sample mean. The spread or imprecision of the mean in
the graph is a 1.19mV for the V
offset
on the right and left while that of I offset has a spread
of 5.91 A about the mean.

Figure 3. The distribution of measured data of offset voltage in the LM358 op-amp

Figure 4. The distribution of measured data on the offset current of the LM358

Comments on the graph of the V
offset
and I
offset
of the LM358 op-amp
After calculating the V
offset
and I
offset
of various samples on the right and left side of the op-
amp and plotting it on the graph, it was observed that there was a random distribution of
values (spread) with about two values of both the V
offset
and I
offset
coming off the sample
mean. The sample mean here was 0.15mV and 0.73A for the V
offset
and I
offset
respectively.
The V
offset
and I
offset
on the right were observed to have most of its measured values above
the mean with at least two of the values exceeding the sample meanwhile the V
offset
and
I
offset
on the left of the measured values was below the sample mean with two of its
measured data also above the sample mean. The spread or imprecision about the sample
mean is 0.69mV for the V
offset
on the right and left while that of I
offset
is spread is 3.43A
about the sample mean.


Figure 5. The distribution of measured data of offset voltage in the TL072 op-amp

Figure 6. The distribution of measured data on the offset current of the TL072

Comments on the graph of the Voffset and I offset of the TL072 op-amp
After calculating the V
offset
and I
offset
of various samples on the right and left side of the op-
amp and plotting it on the graph, it was observed that there was a random distribution of
values (spread) with the V
offset
and I
offset
spread below the zero point with the sample mean
being -2.51mV and -12.43A for the V
offset
and I
offset
respectively. The uncertainty and
spread about the mean was 1.36mV for V
offset
and 6.74A for I
offset.

Discussion of the findings for part 1
The sample mean of the V
offset
and I
offset
for the LF353 op-amp was obtained as 0.26mV
1.19mV and -1.29A 5.91 A respectively. This reveals that the op-amp has a low input
offset voltage and an internally trimmed offset voltage and they also a low offset and bias
current with little drift from the required zero input V
offset
and I
offset
. The same mean of the
V
offset
and I
offset
for the LM358 op-amp is 0.15mV0.69mV and 0.73A 3.43A respectively.
This reveals that the op-amp has a very low input offset voltage closer to zero and it also
has a very low offset and bias current (lower than that of LF353 op-amp with a very little
drift from the required zero input V
offset
and I
offset
. The sample mean of the V
offset
and I
offset
for
the TL072 op-amp was obtained as -2.51mV 1.36mV and -12.4304A 6.74 A respectively.
Though little offset voltage it was larger than the other two op-amp and with a large offset
or drift of current from the zero point than the other two op-amp. The random spread of
values in the measured data was due to several sources of error, which made the reading
very different from the expected input offset voltage and input offset current which was
expected t be zero in an ideal state. This uncertainty in measurement was due to a lot of
errors which we had no control over such as calibration uncertainty in the equipments, the
ambient conditions such as the changes in the pressure, temperature and humidity
calibration factor and ageing of the equipments, furthermore errors such as taking just a
few samples of the op-amp could have resulted into such deviation and drift from the actual
readings.

PART TWO
MATERIALS USED
The MPX 2102A pressure sensor is used which is a silicon piezoreisitive pressure
sensor providing a highly and linear voltage output.
A printed circuit board with a specially designed breadboard
Two Resisitors with colour bands: resistor 1- 1.5k and the resistor 2- 680k
A short and a long tube, multimeter, scale ruler and a syringe
We chose the best and worst offset voltage for LF353 op-amp as analyze below

Figure 6. The best and worst offset voltage for the LF353 op-amp

THE CIRCUIT USED TO AMPLIFY THE PRESSURE OUTPUT

Figure 7.The circuit used to amplify the pressure output
MPX2102 pressure sensor converts pressure change into micro voltage changes as output
signal. As seen in the datasheet, the voltage gain of LF353 is given as 100 V/mV which
means 1 mV change in input voltage from the pressure sensor will result in 1 V voltage
change in final output. This is equivalent to 10
5
times the input voltage. The amplifier used
to amplify the pressure output is a differential amplifier and amplifies the difference
between two voltages but does not amplify the particular voltage and has the advantage of
having a very high common mode rejection ratio (CMRR) which rejects the noise sources
present on both V
1
and V
2.
However the gain in the amplifier used is given as G =

=
453
METHOD USED FOR CALIBRATION
Connect the circuit correctly as indicated as indicated in figure 7 using the best and
the worst voltage gotten from the LF353 op-amp.
We selected a long tube and measured the length of the tube as L1=1930mm and
the inner diameter of the tube D1=4mm the volume = 24.253cm
3

We connected one end of the tube to one sensor inlet and measured voltage V1
we filled the syringe with water and then connect it to the other end of the tube
and measure voltage V2
We marked the length of the rise of the water in the tube and placed the tube
horizontally along a ruler and measure the length of water pushed into the tube
at various increments (by pushing slowly on the syringe)
Measure the voltage V(L) at each value of water length L pushed into the tube
We determined the pressure change in the tube which results from the
compressed volume of air in the tube
SAMPLE CALCULAIONS
To calculate pressure we use P
0
V
0
= P
1
V
1
; P
0
= 1atm =101.3kPa ; V
0
=volume of the tube
V
water
=

; V
1
= V
0
- V
water
; P
1
=

Gauge pressure (pressure differential): P
gauge
=P
1
-P
0
To determine the output voltage from the the data sheet we used the formula
V
ouput
(mV) =

1000 where m= slope; b= intercept; G=gain

UNCERTAINTY ANALYSIS FOR THE MEASURED DATA
#2 Left (Worst) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Voltage1 -1.417 -0.773 -0.217 0.372 0.848 1.440 2.110
Voltage2 -1.412 -0.790 -0.29 0.295 0.892 1.436 2.090
Voltage3 -1.410 -0.780 -0.259 0.306 0.834 1.413 2.080
Voltage4 -1.438 -0.789 -0.29 0.301 0.900 1.385 2.020
Voltage5 -1.410 -0.772 -0.26 0.312 0.887 1.401 2.090
Voltage6 -1.408 -0.786 -0.239 0.263 0.861 1.409 2.207
Voltage7 -1.425 -0.766 -0.223 0.341 0.841 1.505 2.070
Voltage8 -1.419 -0.808 -0.27 0.298 0.870 1.459 2.080
Voltage9 -1.432 -0.789 -0.284 0.254 0.840 1.428 2.060
Voltage10 -1.410 -0.812 -0.282 0.363 0.835 1.344 2.060
Measurand (mV)
-1.420.01 -0.790.01 -0.260.02 0.30.02 0.860.02 1.420.03
2.080.03







#12 Right(Best) 0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Voltage1 -0.1537 0.515 1.049 1.685 2.23 2.89 3.58
Voltage2 -0.1866 0.424 1.024 1.683 2.27 2.91 3.64
Voltage3 -0.1558 0.474 1.056 1.651 2.29 2.85 3.58
Voltage4 -0.1607 0.519 1.107 1.679 2.3 2.8 3.5
Voltage5 -0.1634 0.446 1.1051 1.631 2.18 2.74 3.51
Voltage6 -0.1746 0.499 1.024 1.624 2.17 2.87 3.5
Voltage7 -0.18 0.505 1.101 1.717 2.33 2.85 3.58
Voltage8 -0.174 0.475 1.057 1.673 2.26 2.92 3.59
Voltage9 -0.163 0.549 1.114 1.708 2.27 2.84 3.55
Voltage10 -0.169 0.519 1.073 1.646 2.22 2.87 3.59
Measurand
(mV)
-
0.1680.0
2
0.490.03 1.070.0
2
1.6690.0
3
2.2820.0
2
2.86
0.02
3.54
0.03

Table 1. Showing the measured voltages in the circuit with uncertainty

This was calculated using the ISO guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement
and is expressed by the stated interval which is estimated to contain the measurand with 95%
probability. The coverage factor for the interval is 2

CALIBRATION PLOT




Figure 8. the voltage output vs pressure from the measured values


Figure showing the measured value in respect to the true value from the data sheet
This graph above was plotted using the indicated pressure which is obtained from our
measurement while the true pressure was calculated from the figure 3 Output voltage vs
pressure data sheets to obtain the formula to calibrate the pressure sensor. The formula
Y= 1.6605x +0.4249 was used
Pressure calibrated = (pressure indicated -0.4249 )/1.6605
The calibrated pressure when compared to the one in the datasheet is as shown below






COMPARISON OF THE SENSITIVITY OF THE DATASHEET AND THE EXPERIMENTAL ONE
To get the actual sensitivity of the pressure sensor, the experimental value by the Gain i.e
K
a
= K /G
The gain of the op amp was given by R
2
/R
1
which is equal to 453.33.
To obtain the sensitivity of the pressure sensor can be evaluated as:

mV/KPa
Hence the sensitivity is obtained as 0.2426 mV/KPa using the best op-amp meanwhile the
sensitivity given in datasheet is typically at 0.4 mV / Kpa which is almost two times higher
than our group`s experimental result. This shows that the typical pressure sensor is more
sensitive. The sensitivity of the pressure sensor was not that accurate when compare to the
datasheet.

Problems observed with the calibration method
It wasnt easy using water as there was bound to be the leakage of water when it was put
into the tube.
Statistical uncertainty in parameters affects a measurement
There are several uncertainties due to the number of readings that were taken
Uncertainty due to the conditions of pressure, temperature , humidity and any drift
since factory calibration
There was also uncertainty associated with the calibration which is from the
manufacturers data
The uncertainty of input resistance may change the voltage gain of an op-amp and
thus brings systematic errors to the measurement with different amplifiers. Also
may increase the noise to the output signal.
There could be Uncertainty in the Common-Mode Rejection Ratio leading to a very
minimal reading in the output voltage
There was error due to resolution which is as a result of the readability of the data
Uncertainty as a result of the sensitivity to the changes in conditions of the room
However, we tried to minimize the Type B error by not putting it in autoranging and also by
using the same multimeter to measure the values
Contribution of each team member:
Thomas Aremu : the analysis of part one and the taking applying the pressure during the
lab he was involved in typing the report was his contribution
Buxin Teng : Set up circuits, reading the multimeter and recording in the lab together with
and carrying out calculations and analyzing part two was his contribution. We both had
equal percentage contribution

REFERENCES
Adrian keating (2013), Measurement and Noise, course note, University of western
Australia
Operational amplifiers, last updated 7/08/2013
http:///en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operational_amplifiers last viewed 28/09/2013

APPENDIX