Instituto Politcnico Nacional

Escuela Superior de Cmputo

Instrumentation

Practice 1. Determination of instrument errors

3CV2

Students:

Bernab Aparicio Mara Elsi 2015630054

Fonseca Casao Sergio 2014630156

Granados Puerto Carlos Alberto 2015630552

Professor: Cervantes De Anda Ismael

Objective

By the end of the practice, the student will learn to handle the errors in the measuring
instruments, in order to find the most accurate possible value of the variable in question.

Theoretical introduction

In the world of mechanical devices today, most measurements are made by electronic
instrumentation, not the crude mechanical devices of the past. Most of these newer devices are
actually a modern combination of a mechanical device and electronic sensing element. Many of
the measurements a mechanical engineer makes are done with specialized calibrated
equipment, but some are still made with basic electronic instruments, and the readings
interpreted by the operator.

There are a wide variety of instruments on the market today, but the most common that a
mechanical engineer would see include Multimeters, Frequency Counters, Oscilloscopes,
Function Generators, and Spectrum Analyzers.

Ammeter
Ammeter is an electronic instruments device used to determine the electric current flowing
through a circuit. Ammeters measuring current in milliampere range is known as
milli-ammeters. Common types of ammeters are moving-coil ammeter and moving-iron
ammeter. Ammeters are connected in series to the circuit whose current is to be measured.
Hence this electronic instruments are designed to have as minimum resistance/ loading as
possible. It is used commonly in electronics lab.
Voltmeter
Voltmeter is an electronic instruments used in an electric circuit to determine the potential
difference or voltage between two different points. Digital and analog voltmeters are available
in electronics lab. They are usually connected in parallel (shunt) to the circuit. Hence they are
designed to have maximum resistance as possible to reduce the loading effect. This device is
also common in electronics lab.

Oscilloscope
Oscilloscope is an electronic instruments used to measure constantly varying signal voltages.
This instrument will provide a graphical representation of the input signal on its screen and
hence it is used in electronics lab. Cathode Ray oscilloscope is the main type of oscilloscope.

Multimeter
Multimeter is an electronic instruments used to measure different electrical parameters such as
voltage, current, resistance etc. It is the common electronic instruments used to troubleshoot
the faults in all electrical and electronic devices. Digital multimeters are most commonly used in
electronics lab since they offer better precision and accuracy and are cheaper compared to the
analog versions. It will show the numerical values in its digital display.
Errors in measurements can arise from many causes; there are remedies for some types of
errors, but others haunt us as intrinsic properties of the measurement system under use, and
often can be mitigated by system redesign.

Accurate measurements require the use of a precision measurement system which is calibrated
against a certified, accurate standard. Well discuss the concepts of accuracy, precision,
resolution and limiting error. To begin the quantitative discussion of errors in measurements,
we define the error in the nth measurement as:

The accuracy, An, of the nth measurement is defined as:

The precision of the nth measurement is defined as:

The resolution in measuring the QUM is related to the precision of the measurement and is
basically the smallest unit of the QUM which can be reliably be detected.

Limiting Error (LE) is an important parameter used in specifying instrument accuracy. The
limiting error, or guarantee error, is given by manufacturers to define the outer bounds or the
expected worst case error.
Development

1.- Calculation of the most accurate value

Take a resistor of any value and using digital ohms of different markings make the
measurements that are requested in table 1.

Table 1 shows the measurements made to a 1k resistor using a digital ohmmeter and one
analogical.

Agilent Technologies Steren

Participants
(k) (k)
Measure 1 0.9878 0.984
Measure 2 0.9875 0.984
Measure 3 0.9876 0.984
Measure 4 0.9874 0.984
Measure 5 0.9875 0.983
Measure 6 0.9873 0.983
Measure 7 0.9870 0.983
Measure 8 0.9870 0.983
Measure 9 0.9870 0.983
Measure 10 0.9870 0.983
Measure 11 0.9870 0.983
Measure 12 0.9875 0.982

Table 1

In this case the variable to be measured is the resistance, which we will call as a variable X, for
each type of ohmmeter Xi measurements were made, proceed now to calculate the average
Xprom for each instrument.

X PROM Agilent T echnologies Ohmmeter = 0.9873k

X PROM Steren Ohmmeter = 0.9832k

Now proceed to calculate the residuals (Ri), taking into account the following expression, note
that since the results can be <0, take the absolute value as follows.
 Agilent Technologies Ohmmeter Steren Ohmmeter
R1 = 0.5 R1 = 0.8

R2 = 0.2 R2 = 0.8

R3 = 0.3 R3 = 0.8

R4 = 0.1 R4 = 0.8

R5 = 0.2 R5 = 0.2

R6 = 0 R6 = 0.2

R7 = 0.3 R7 = 0.2

R8 = 0.3 R8 = 0.2

R9 = 0.3 R9 = 0.2

R10 = 0.3 R10 = 0.2

R11 = 0.3 R11 = 0.2

R12 = 0.2 R12 = 1.2

Ri = 3 Ri = 5.8

Calculate the average of the absolute value of the residues (r), using the following expression.

r = (Agilent Technologies Ohmmeter) r = (Steren Ohmmeter)

r = 0.25 r = 0.483

Now suppose that the set of measures X1, X2, ..., Xn have a Gaussian distribution, so that a
simple formula for the typical error (m) can be obtained in the following way.
 m = (Agilent Technologies Ohmmeter) m = (Steren Ohmmeter)

m = 94.22m m = 182.03m

It is the typical error and is called Peters formula, finally the result will express it as.

Y Agilent T echnologies Ohmmeter = 987.394

Y Steren Ohmmeter = 983.382

2. Indirect measurements

Assemble the circuit of figure 1, set the variable resistors to any resistance value, using a
standard ohmmeter (you can also use resistors of fixed value, of any value).
From the reference voltage delivered by the power supply, measure the voltage and current in
each of the resistors and fill table 2.

Table 2 shows the measurement from the reference voltage delivered by the power supply, the
voltage and current for each resistor of 1k in the circuit on figure 1.

figure 1

Source Voltage ER1 ER2 IR1 IR2

(V) (V) (mA) (mA)
(V)
2 0.982 0.984 0.947 0.982
4 1.965 1.985 1.914 1.939
6 2.943 2.995 2.866 2.911
8 3.914 3.995 3.851 3.861
10 4.963 4.996 4.804 4.799
Table 2
Then, with the values of the resistors R1 and R2, and the different values of voltage of the
source E, calculate the voltages ER1, ER2, IR1 and
IR2, and fill table 3.

Source Voltage ER1 ER2 IR1 IR2

(V) (V) (mA) (mA)
(V)
2 1 1 1 1
4 2 2 2 2
6 3 3 3 3
8 4 4 4 4
10 5 5 5 5
Table 3

Finally calculate the resistance values, using the ohm law, dividing voltage/current, for each
voltage of the source E. Perform this operation for the measured and calculated values, with the
results complete table 4.

Source R1 R2 R1 R2 %Error %Error

(measured) (measured) (calculated) (measured) R1 R2
Voltage
(V)
2 1.036k 1.002k 1k 1k 36 2
4 1.026k 1.023k 1k 1k 26 23
6 1.243k 1.028k 1k 1k 243 28
8 1.016k 1.034k 1k 1k 16 34
10 1.033k 1.041k 1k 1k 33 41
Table 4
3.- Standard measure

With the oscilloscope set in the function generator a sinusoidal signal with an amplitude of 10
Vp-p at a frequency of 60 Hz.

Consider the oscilloscope as a standard instrument, then determine the error rate of the
voltmeter by filling Table 4.

Figure 2 shows the oscilloscope sinusoidal signal with an amplitude of 10 Vp-p at a frequency of
60 Hz.

figure 2

Oscilloscope Calculated Measured Calculated % Error % Error

Vp-p of the
VRMS of the
VRMS of the
Vp-p )
(VRMS )
(Vp-p
oscilloscope voltmeter voltmeter

10 3.535 3.548 10.035 0.013 0.035

Simulations

Measuring the voltage ER1 and

ER2.
Measuring the current IR1 and
IR2.
Simulated values

Source Voltage
ER1
ER2
IR1
IR2
(V) (V) (V) (mA) (mA)
2 1 1 1 1
4 2 2 2 2
6 3 3 3 3
8 4 4 4 4
10 5 5 5 5
Questionnaire

1. The following measurements were made for the resistance of a given wire coil in
Ohms (). Calculate the typical error and the most accurate value of the resistance.

5.615 5.622 5.624 5.618 5.620

5.633 5.628 5.624 5.613 5.659

Xi Xi = Ri = |Xi - Xprom|
5.615 0.0103
5.622 0.0033
5.624 0.0013
5.618 0.0073
5.620 0.0053
5.633 0.0077
5.628 0.0027
5.624 0.0013
5.613 0.0123
5.659 0.0337

X prom = 5.6253

R i = 0.0852

1
r = n Ri = 0.00355
Accurate value: 5.6253

Typical error: 0.00355

 2. Why is important to determine the error of the measuring instruments?

It is important because in the measurement process these factor should help us to ensure and
accurately establish that the results of a measuring instrument are consistent and reliable
between a range in order of the magnitude that is measured with it.

3. What types of errors do you know? And tell us how you can avoid.

Random errors are statistical fluctuations (in either direction) in the measured data due to the
precision limitations of the measurement device. Random errors can be evaluated through
statistical analysis and can be reduced by averaging over a large number of observations (see
standard error).

Systematic errors are reproducible inaccuracies that are consistently in the same direction.
These errors are difficult to detect and cannot be analyzed statistically. If a systematic error is
identified when calibrating against a standard, applying a correction or correction factor to
compensate for the effect can reduce the bias. Unlike random errors, systematic errors cannot
be detected or reduced by increasing the number of observations.

Conclusions

The measurement process is of fundamental importance in scientific activity, whatever the

specialty or orientation. Although there are innumerable processes and different measurement
tools, they all culminate in obtaining a result, which is always affected by different errors that
arise from the interaction between the measuring device, the observer and the system under
study.

The errors associated with the measurements can be divided into two large classes: human
mistakes and system errors.

Random or Human mistakes:

Appear as random fluctuations in the values of successive measurements. These random

variations are due to small errors beyond the control of the observer. For example, if we read
several times a measure indicated by the scale of the same tool, the values will fluctuate around
an average value. Strictly speaking, we can never measure the true value of any quantity, but
only an approximation. The purpose of the treatment of the experimental data is precisely to
determine the most probable value of a measured quantity and to estimate its reliability.

These type of errors can arise from such factors as:

1. Reading the instrument before it has reached its steady state. This type of premature
reading produces a dynamic error
2. Not eliminating parallax when reading an analog meter scale, incorrect interpolation
between analog meter scale markings
 3. Mistakes in recording measured data and in calculating a derived measurand
4. Misuse of the instrument. A simple example of this source of error is when a 10 V full
scale analog voltmeter of typical sensitivity (20,000 /V) is connected to a voltage source
having a high Thevenin resistance (100,000 ). Significant voltage is dropped across the
internal (Thevenin) resistor

System errors:

Systematic errors, as the name implies, are committed in the same way each time it is
measured. Many systematic errors can be eliminated by applying very simple corrections.

Systematic errors are not manifested as random fluctuations in measurement results. Therefore,
since the same error is involved in each measurement, they can not be eliminated simply by
repeating the measurements several times (imagine, for example, that you use (without
realizing) a rule that is missing two centimeters in the End of zero]. In consequence, these errors
are particularly serious and dangerous, and can be eliminated only after careful calibration and
analysis of all possible corrections.

These type of errors can arise from such factors as:

1. The instrument is not calibrated, and has an offset (i.e. its sensitivity is off, and it needs
zeroing. Loss of calibration and zero error can occur because of long term component
value changes due to ageing, or changes associated with temperature rise
2. Reading uncertainty due to the presence of random noise.

Knowing this we can then determine that the correct way to write the result of a measurement
is to give the best estimate of the value of the measured quantity and the range within which
this value can be assured. Convinced that there is no such thing as the real value of a quantity to
be measured, we must be satisfied with knowing within what interval we are sure that the
quantity to be measured is found.

References

Electronic Instruments Commonly used in Electronics Lab. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2017,
from
https://www.mepits.com/tutorial/134/Basic-Electronics/Electronic-Instruments-Common
ly-used-in-Electronics-Lab
Northrop, R. B. (2005). Introduction to instrumentation and measurements. Boca Raton: Taylor &
Francis.
Cottrell, M. (2007). General electronic instrumentation. Retrieved February 16, 2017, from
http://web.mst.edu/~cottrell/ME240/Resources/basic_inst/Basic_Instrumentation.pdf
Measurements and Error Analysis. (n.d.). Retrieved February 16, 2017, from

http://www.webassign.net/question_assets/unccolphysmechl1/measurements/manual.html