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Test and Comparison of LVDT Signal Conditioner Performance

Robert S. Weissbach, David R. Loker aild Ralph M. Ford


School of Engineering and Engineering Technology
The Pennsylvania State University at Erie

Abstract There are many excellent resources available on


LVDT signal conditioning [ 1-61. The only available
This paper presents the results of a novel digital signal commercial solutions found are the Analog Devices
processor (DSP) based technique for signal AD598 and AD698 integrated circuits (ICs) [7,8]. The
conditioning of Linear Variable Dgferential differences in operation and application of these ICs are
Transformers (L VDTs). Signal conditioning is documented in the work by Novacek [9].
achieved through a modified DSP-based Costas A recent work reported a real-time digital signal
receiver. This system is tested and compared with two processing (DSP) method of LVDT signal conditioning
commercially available analog signal conditioners and that achievcs better linearity than the AD598 [lo]. This
a second DSP-based signal conditioner. The system system excites the LVDT with a sine wave, and digitizes
developed by the authors has better dynamic response both primaiy and secondary signals. Spectral estimation
than existing solutions and better noise rejection than (SE) techniques are utilized to estimate the magnitude of
commercially available solutions. Static testing of the the two digitized signals, and the position is computed
system using both 4-wire and 5-wire LVDTs verifies from a ratio of the magnitudes. However, SE techniques
that the conditioner meets or exceeds the linearity require analyzing the data over many samples (1024 in
performance of existing signal conditioning systems the work presented) and is analogous to averaging to find
over the full-scale operating range. In addition, this the sine wave magnitudes. This restricts the use of this
system requires no phase compensation network or technique to static measurement problems (i.e.. where the
manual tuning. LVDT core is stationary).
The aut nors in [ 111 have investigated an alternative
DSP soluticm that would allow dynamic, as well as static,
1. Background measureme nts, by considering the signals involved in the
operation of the LVDT to be analogous to a Double
The LVDT is a well-established displacement Sideband Suppressed Carrier AM (DSBSC-AM)
transducer that allows accurate measurement of communication system. A modified Costas receiver
(similar to it phased-lock loop) is used to generate a local,
position. It consists of a transformer with a single
primary winding, two balanced secondary windings in-phase copy of the carrier signal. This local copy of the
carrier is multiplied by the modulated signal seen at the
(series opposed), and a moveable core (see Figure 1).
The primary winding is excited by a sine wave, LVDT secondary windings and the result is lowpass
typically between 2kHz and 1OkHz. Two general styles filtered to obtain the baseband signal, which is akin to the
of LVDT available today are the 4-wire and 5-wire position inf"nation.
LVDT. The difference between the 4-wire and 5-wire
LVDT is that the 5-wire design includes an additional
wire which represents the connection point (center tap)
for both secondary windings, allowing the voltage at
both windings to be computed relative to the center tap.
The signal at the output terminals of a 4-wire LVDT is
the difference of the secondary windings. The 4-wire
LVDT does not have a center tap available. As the
magnetically permeable core is moved from the center
position, the magnetic coupling between the primary
and one secondary coil increases, while the other
simultaneously decreases. Therefore, the difference Figure 1. LVDT Schematic Drawing.
between the two output signals is a non-zero sine wave Courtesy http://bits.me.berkely.edu/-beam.
with amplitude proportional to the core position.

0 2000 IEEE
0-7803-5890-2/00/$10.00

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Clamp
2. Implementation and Testing
The DSP design was implemented and tested in a Extension
real-time test bed on a Bridgenorth BN4000 DSP
development board with a BN3216 analog interface
module. The system uses a Texas Instruments Gauge Blocks
TMS320C40 DSP that provides 16 bit resolution at
sample rates up to 100kHz. As shown in Figure 2, the
development board has 2 A/D input channels and 2 D/A Figure 3. Static test fixture.
output channels. A primary excitation of 2.5kHz was
generated on the DSP and sent via a D/A channel to the Table 1. Signal conditioner design specifications.
LVDT. Both the LVDT primary and secondary signals
were digitized via the two A/D channels. The output
I LVDT I Stroke I Excitation I DC 1 core 1
voltage (the demodulated position signal) was routed to
the D/A and made available as an analog signal.

3. Test Results Model


#A5451
3.1 Static Testing

The linearity of the new DSP technique, the AD598, #200-HR


the AD698, and the SE-based DSP [lo] signal
conditioners was measured and compared. A static test
fixture (see Figure 3) was built to accomplish this, and of sample frequency to excitation frequency necessary for
measurements were made utilizing both a Collins 4- proper operation of the spectral estimation algorithm
wire and Schaevitz 5-wire LVDT. The LVDTs have an employed.
average deviation from linearity of 0.1% and 0.15%, For each set of measurements a linear least squares fit
respectively, over the full scale operating range [ 12,131. was calculated from the data points. The measured data
The conditioners were each designed to meet the set of was then compared to the linear fit and the maximum and
specifications shown in Table 1. The DSP receiver was average deviation from linearity computed. The results
designed as outlined in [ l l ] , and the Analog Devices are summarized in Table 2. The experiments were
solutions were designed following the procedures repeated twice to ensure repeatability of results.
outlined in [7,8]. The SE-based DSP algorithm [lo] Table 2(a) indicates the Costas-based DSP signal
was implemented (real-time on the BN4000 system) conditioner provides a linear response over the entire
following the procedure outlined by the authors. The stroke length which is slightly less than that obtained by
only differences are that a 2.5kHz excitation and SokHz both the AD698 signal conditioner and SE-based DSP
sample rate were used. This maintains the proper ratio algorithm. However, all of the methods employed
achieved a linearity which is within the linearity
specification of the 4-wire LVDT itself. For the 5-wire
LVDT results provided in Table 2(b), the Costas-based
DSP signal conditioner again achieved the same linearity
as the AD698 signal conditioner, and achieved better
linearity than either the AD598 or SE-based signal
conditioners. The linearity of the Costas-based DSP
l l I- I I signal conditioner exceeded the linearity specification of
i the 5-wire LVDT itself by 0.02%.

3.2 Dynamic Testing

The signal conditioners were dynamically tested by


LVIYI' simulating sinusoidal core motion that varied from 1 to
250Hz. A DSBSC-AM waveform was fed directly to the
Figure 2. Real-time DSP Implementation input of the signal conditioners. This method was
selected due to the lack of an appropriate mechanical

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signal measured. Based on these two measures, a figure
AD598 AD698 DSPSE DSP of merit,
Costas
Max N/A 0.16% 0.18% 0.2% F= ~ ~ ' I o ~ ~ ~ ( S N & , / S dB,
NR~,,) (1)
Linearity
Deviation was computed. The results are shown in Table 3 and
Average N/A 0.05% 0.06% 0.07% indicate that the SE-based algorithm has the best noise
Linearity performance. This is because the SE algorithm averages
Deviation many samples (1024) to determine the output. This is
also the reason why the SE algorithm cannot be used for
dynamic measurements. The AD598 and AD698 signal
AD598 AD698 DSPSE DSP conditioners improved the SNR by 16.5dB, and the
Costas Costas-based DSP signal conditioner had an SNR
Max 0.64% 0.37% 0.79% 0.37% improvement of 18.5dB. This represents a 28% increase
Linearity in absolute (not dB) output SNR relative to the Analog
Deviation
Devices designs.
Linearity
4. Conclusions

vibration system suitable for varying the frequency over Testing and comparison of the new DSP-based LVDT
the range of interest. However, the electrical signals signal conditioning system with other analog and digital
seen by the signal conditioner are identical in each case. signal conditioners has been performed. Test results
The DSP SE-based algorithm does not work for indicate that the new DSP-based LVDT signal
dynamic systems and was not tested. As seen in Figure conditioning system has:
4, the dynamic responses for the AD598 and AD698 Better linearity than the AD598 and SE-based signal
show that the maximum attenuation at 250Hz is nearly conditioners, and matches the linearity of the AD698
6dB. This matches the expected response given by the signal conditioner.
manufacturer. However, the dynamic response using Better frequency response over the entire dynamic
the DSP-based algorithm does not experience any range (0 - 250 Hz) than the other signal conditioners.
significant attenuation for frequencies below 150 Hz. Better electrical noise characteristics than either the
The maximum attenuation at 250Hz is 1.56dB. AD598 or AD698 signal conditioners.
In addition, this system is advantageous because:
3.3 Noise Testing It proctsses both 4-wire and 5-wire LVDTs.
Phase correction is automatically achieved.
The objective was to determine the performance of
each signal conditioner in the presence of noise. To
accomplish this, noise was added to the secondary
output signal of the LVDT, as seen in Figure 5. To
quantify the noise performance, varying noise amounts
were added to a fixed power secondary signal to
produce a range of input signal-to-noise ratio (SNR)
levels. Then, the analog output signal (representing the
position) was digitized, and the SNR of the output

Frequency (Hr)
IO 100 1000 Figure 5. Experimental noise testing setup.

Table 3 . LVDT static noise rejection test results for 5-

F(dB) F(dB) F(dB)


AD598 AD698 SE-Based DSP
16.3 19.8 18.7
Figure 4. Dynamic (frequency) response of signal
conditioning systems.

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5 . Acknowledgements [5] F. Yassa and S. Garverick, A Multichannel Digital
Demodulator for LVDT/RVDT Position Sensors, IEEE
Journal of Solid-state Circuits, Vol. 25, No. 2 pp. 441 -
The authors would like to thank Mr. Allen Platz of 450, April 1990.
Lord Coporation for sponsoring this project* We [6] E. E. Herceg, An LVDT Primer, Sensors, Volume 13,
would also like to thank Brian Swahn, an electrical and Issue 6, pp. 27 - 30, June 1996.
computer engineering student at Penn State Erie, for his [7] Analog Devices, LVDT Signal Conditioner, AD598
valuable help with the experimental testing. Application Note, 1989.
[SI Analog Devices, Universal LVDT Signal Conditioner,
6. References AD698 Application Note, 1995.
[9] G. Novacek, Accurate Linear Measurement Using
LVDTs, Circuit Cellar Ink, Issue #106, pp. 20 - 27, May
P. T. Ormiston, Measuring Displacement with LVDT 1999.
Transducers, Electronic Engineering, Volume 50, Issue [lo] D. Crescini, A. Flammini, D. Marioli and A. Taroni,
608, pp. 69-71, June 1978. Application of an FFT-Based Algorithm to Signal
N. Gray, Simplifying LVDT Signal Conditioning, Processing of LVDT Position Sensors, IEEE Transactions
Machine Design, pp. 103 - 106, May 7, 1987. on Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 47, No. 5, pp.
S. Saxena and S. Seksena, A Self-compensated Smart 1119 - 1123, October 1998.
LVDT Transducer, IEEE Transactions on [l 11 S. Haykin, Communication Systems, Td edition, Wiley,
Instrumentation and Measurement, Vol. 38, No. 3, pp. 1983.
748 - 753, June 1989. [121 Collins 4-Wire Specification Sheet, Model #A5451.
J. Sylvan, Monolithic Signal Conditioner Simplifies [131 Schaevitz 5-Wire Specification Sheet, Model #2000-HR.
Displacement Sensing, Electronic Engineering, Volume
62, Issue 759, pp. 41 - 46, March 1990.

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