CLASS 1: INTRODUCTION

SEE 206:
MEASUREMENT AND INSTRUMENTATION

ASMA AZIZ
LECTURER
asma.aziz@Deakin.edu.au
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 Have you used a
measurement system
today?

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 Did you look at your alarm clock?
Did you measure how much sugar you
put in your coffee?
Did you look at your car speedometer?
Did you look at your car fuel gauge?
Did you count how much money you
have?
Did you weight yourself?

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 What tool did you
use to carry out the
measurement?

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 How accurate was
your measurement?

How can you tell?

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 How can you improve
your measurement
accuracy?

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 How can you apply
automation into your
measurement
process?

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 OVERVIEW
SEE206 Measurement and Instrumentation

Trimester 1, 1 credit point

Unit Chair/Lecturer: Dr. Asma Aziz
Prerequisite: SEE103 –SEJ102
Contact hours:
2 x 1 hour class per week
1 x 1 hour seminar per week
4 x 3 hour practical per trimester

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 Time Table

deakin.edu.au/star

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 Textbooks

There is no prescribed textbook for SEE206

We feel that the lecture notes, the study guide,
and the readings, we make available to you will
cover the materials you need to know.

If, however, you feel that you need more

explanation or want a larger collection of practice
problems, there are a number of textbooks
available.

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 Textbooks

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 Textbooks

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 Textbooks

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 About this Unit
This unit provides an introduction to general
measurement concepts, common instrumentation,
sensors and transducers, measurement of some
basic physical properties, and signal processing.

The unit is presented in three modules:

Measurement Systems
Sensors and Transducers
Signal Processing

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 Aims

The unit aims to produce students who:

• Understand the basic principles of
instrumentation.
• Are aware of techniques used for measuring some
of the basic physical parameters of engineering
significance.
• Understand the general limitations of the
measuring process.
• Are familiar with some of the signal processing
techniques commonly applied in instrumentation

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 Teaching Roadmap

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 Assessments
Summative assessment task 1
You must achieve an overall
mark of at least 40% in the
examination.
2. You must achieve an
Summative assessment task 2
overall mark of at least 50%
in the practical exercises.
3. Compulsory attendance

Summative assessment task 4

Summative assessment task 3

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 Assignment Submission

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 Practical Report Submission

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 Sample format for Lab Report

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 Practicals Weeks

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 Plagiarism

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 Objectives of this lecture

• A introduction to general measurement systems.

• Describe process control:
 variables
 measuring means (primary element/transmitter)
 controller (setpoint)
 final control element
• Explain the function of a control loop.
• Identify the components of a control loop

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 Measurement
Measurement is the acquisition of information about a state or
phenomenon (object of measurement) in the world around us.

This means that a measurement must be descriptive (observable) with

regard to that state or object we are measuring: there must be a
relationship between the object of measurement and the measurement
result.

Illustration:
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Descriptiveness (observability) of a measurement
 Measurement
The descriptiveness is necessary but not sufficient aspect of measurement:
when one reads a book, one gathers information, but does not perform a
measurement.

A second aspect of measurement is that it must be selective: it may only

provide information about what we wish to measure (the measurand) and
not about any other of the many states or phenomena around us.

This aspect too is a necessary but not sufficient aspect of measurement.

Admiring a painting inside an otherwise empty room will provide information
about only the painting, but does not constitute a measurement.

A third and sufficient aspect of measurement is that it must be objective. The

outcome of measurement must be independent of an arbitrary observer.

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 Instrumentation
The field of designing measurement instruments and systems is called
instrumentation.
Instrumentation systems must guarantee the required descriptiveness,
the selectivity, and the objectivity of the measurement.
Problem: We want to regulate the level of water (h) in a tank to a desired value (H).

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 Instrumentation
Solution 1:
A human can regulate the level using a sight tube, S, to compare the level
(h) to the objective (H) and adjust a valve to change the level.

Curtis JohnsonProcess Control Instrumentation Technology, 8e]

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 Instrumentation
Solution 2:
Instead of a sight tube, an instrument can be used that measures the level and
displays it.

Curtis JohnsonProcess Control Instrumentation Technology, 8e]

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 Instrumentation
An automatic level-control system replaces the human with a controller.

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 Process Control
Automatic control of an output variable by sensing the value of the
variable from the process and comparing it to the desired or set level and
feeding an error signal back to control an input variable.

Fundamentals of Industrial Instrumentation and Process Control William C. Dunn

In a process-control facility the controller is not necessarily limited to

one variable, but can measure and control many variables.

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 Instrumentation
Instrumentation is the basis for process control.

It comes in many forms:

From domestic heating system, where the variable temperature is

measured and used to control electricity flow to the heating
system,

To complex industrial process control applications such as

petroleum or chemical industry

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 Instrumentation

Instrument
Makes engineering or scientific measurements of quantities and
displays it, logs it, communicates it, …

eg. temperature, pressure, …

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 Instrumentation

Elements of a general measurement system

•Instruments consist of at least three physical components:
–Sensor/transducer
–Signal conditioner
–Recorder/display

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 Sensor

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 Sensor

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 Variables in a process control loop
•Process Variable: (T, P, F, Analytical)
•Controlled Variable:
(A process variable that is sensed to initiate
the control signal)
•Measured Variable:
(A process variable that is measured)
•Manipulated Variable:
The final control element (e.g. control valve)
is manipulated by the corrective response of
the controller output so that the process
variable is maintained at the appropriate
setpoint value

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 Process Control Loop

Open Control Loop

Feedback (Closed) Control Loop
The change caused by the output A signal path without feedback:
of the controller is fed back into It is a manual mode.
the process providing a self
regulating action.
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 Elements of a process control system

• Expanded to include all the basic functions needed to describe an

instrument.
• These are functional elements, not physical elements. A specific
hardware may perform several of these basic functions.

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 Primary Sensing Element:

–First, receives energy from the measured quantity

and produces an output proportional to the
measured quantity.

–Extracts some energy –disturbs the measured

quantity.

Good instruments
•Designed to minimise this disturbance

–Output signal: A physical variable

•Examples: displacement or voltage.

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 Variable Conversion Element:

–For an instrument to perform its function, it may

be necessary to convert the output signal of the
primary sensing element to another more suitable
variable.

–Still preserve the information content of the

original signal.

–Example: input sensor may give a current output

while the display requires a voltage input.

–Not every instrument requires a variable-

conversion element.
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 Variable Manipulation
Element/Signal Processing
•An instrument may require that a signal (variable) to be manipulated
in some way.

•Variable manipulation element changes the numerical value of

the signal without changing its physical nature.
•Example: An electronic amplifier
–Accepts small voltage input
–Produces output signal that is also a voltage but is some constant
times the input.

•Variable manipulation element does not necessarily follow a

variable conversion element. It may precede it or appears elsewhere
in the chains, or not appear at all.

Signal Conditioning improve the quality of the output of a measurement

system in some way. They :
Linearises
Filters
Amplifies
Isolates one part of a system electrically from other parts of the system
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 Data Transmission Element

•Data transmission element may be required

when some parts of the instruments are physically apart.

•Example:

–Transmitting signal from missiles to ground equipment by

radio.
–The rotation rate of a car axle is transmitted along a cable to be
displayed on the speedometer as the vehicle’s speed.

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 Data Representation Element

•Data representation element:

–Converts data to a suitable form for interpretation by a human
–Converts data into the form suitable for storage

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 Measurement System Applications
• Instruments are applied to measure physical
Regulating trade quantities such as length, volume, and mass in
terms of standard units

Monitoring • Provide information that enables human

beings to take some prescribed action
functions accordingly.

As part of • The characteristics of the measuring

automatic instruments used in any feedback control
feedback control system are of fundamental importance to the
quality of control achieved.
systems

Performance calculations in a process control system are entirely

dependent on the quality of the process measurements obtained. The
accuracy and resolution with which an output variable of a process is
controlled can never be better than the accuracy and resolution of the
measuring instruments used.
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 Measurement System
Analog system: A system that operates
Analog
continuously, with infinite precision and System
infinitesimal time spacing between a
signalling points
Sampler Sampler
Discrete-time system: A system
that operates continuously, with Discrete
infinite precision and discrete System
spacing between signalling points b

Digital system: A system that Sampler Quantizer Quantizer Sampler

operates continuously, with Digital
finite precision and discrete System
spacing between signalling
c
points
a b c

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 What to do now?

Visit the SEE206 CloudDeakin

webpage, and read
SEE206 unit guide
carefully

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