UNIVERSITY OF MAURITIUS

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING

SECOND SEMESTER/YEARLY EXAMINATIONS

MAY 2011
PROGRAMME

BEng (Hons) Mechatronics

MODULE NAME

Measurement and Control

DATE

Monday

MODULE CODE

ELEC4037Y(5)

9 May 2011

TIME
NO. OF
QUESTIONS SET

09:30 12:30 Hrs

6

DURATION
NO. OF QUESTIONS
TO BE ATTEMPTED

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES
There are 2 Sections in this paper: Section A and Section B.
Section A and Section B consist of 3 questions each.
Answer any Five (5) questions.
Use separate answer books for each Section.
All questions carry equal marks.

3 hours
5

MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL ELEC 4037Y(5)

SECTION A
Answer any Five (5) questions.
Use separate answer books for each Section.
All questions carry equal marks.
Question 1
(a)

Consider a system having open-loop transfer function G1(s).

( )=

8
( + 4)

Design a compensator such that the static velocity error constant is 20 sec-1, the
damping ratio is 0.5 and the undamped natural frequency is 4rads-1.
[13 marks]
(b)

The open loop system transfer function is modified to G2(s).

( )=

8
( + 1)( + 4)

If a series compensator, Gc2(s), is used, find the values of K2 and b that will
provide the new dominant closed poles,
= 1 + 3.

( )=

( + )
( + 4)
[7 marks]

Question 2
Consider a unity feedback control system having open-loop transfer function G3(s).

( )=

5
( + 1)( + 10)

Design a lead compensator for the system so that the velocity error constant, kv, is
4 sec-1 and the phase margin is at least 45.
[20 marks]

Page 1 of 4

MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL ELEC 4037Y(5)

Question 3
(a)

Consider a unity feedback control system with feedforward transfer function,

G4(s).

( )=

0.625
(0.5 + 1)(0.125 + 1)

Design a PID compensator such that the dominant closed loop poles are located
at2 23.
[14 marks]
(b)

Gc4(s) represents the transfer function of a lead-lag compensator and is defined

by,

( )=
+

1
1

Determine the phase angle of Gc4(j) at frequency 1, where

[6 marks]

Page 2 of 4

MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL ELEC 4037Y(5)

Section B
Use separate answer books for each Section.
Question 4
(a)

Distinguish between static and dynamic characteristics of a transducer.

Write down 3 terms of reference used to characterise each of the above
characteristics.
[6 marks]

(b)

With respect to the static characteristics of transducers, explain each of the

following terms:
(i)
(ii)

(c)

Accuracy
Sensitivity
[4 marks]
Draw the circuit diagram for an active
order low pass filter (LPF) and
write down the cut-off frequency in terms of the constants used in your
diagram.
An instrumentation amplifier is shown in Figure 1 below
1 st

(i)

(ii)
V3

+
R2

R1
R4
-

R3

V6

R1

R4

R2

V4

Figure 1

(1)
(2)

Give TWO (2) advantages that this amplifier has over differential
amplifier.
Derive the overall gain of the amplifier.
[3+2+5 = 10 marks]

Question 5
(a)

With the help of suitable diagrams, discuss the principles of operation of the
following analogue-to-digital converters (ADCs) and the criteria adopted for
the design of each.
(i)
(ii)

Successive Approximation ADC

Parallel or Flash ADC
[8+6 = 14 marks]

(b)

A dual-slope integrating ADC has R = 50 k and C = 100 nF. The reference

voltage is 10 V and the fixed integration time is 10 ms. Find the conversion time
for a 7.5 V input.
[6 marks]

MEASUREMENT AND CONTROL ELEC 4037Y(5)

Question 6
(a)

Compare and contrast the mode of operation of photon detectors and

thermal detectors.
[4 marks]

(b)

List 5 features of the linear variable differential transformer (LVDT) that

makes it useful for a wide variety of applications.
[5 marks]

(c)

Explain the principle of operation of thermocouples.

[5 marks]

(d)

A final year project student is using an ADC which requires a unipolar input
signal in the range 0-5V. The transducer output is bipolar, having a range of
30V. Design a circuit using a summing amplifier to both scale and provide an
offset for the transducer output signal before being passed to the ADC. Use
practical resistor values for implementation and check your design.
[6 marks]

END OF QUESTION PAPER

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