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Calibration of Tachometers
3.1 Introduction
Fast and accurate method is also required for the calibration of tachometers.
Different types of tachometers which include contact type, non-contact type, and
both analog and digital tachometers are being used for speed measurement in the
industries as well as laboratories. The calibration of a tachometer refers to
comparing its readings (speed) with a more accurate (standard) speed measuring
instrument whose accuracy should be at least four times better than the
tachometer being calibrated [52]-[53]. The tachometers are manufactured by
physical materials and they are used in the real world of humidity, heat, physical
stress, noise and vibrations etc., hence their performance gets affected and
deteriorates. Moreover the magnetic field strength of a dc tachometer as well as
tachogenerator decreases due to aging effect. Therefore for accurate speed
measurement and feedback control applications, a regular calibration of these
devices is necessary according to manufacturer's specifications. The main benefits
of a calibrated tachometer include uniformity between measurements, assurance
of measurement accuracy, and reduction in measurement errors.
Usually, instead of providing the error curve for the whole speed range, the
manufacturers of tachometers supply the data of Absolute Error or Guarantee
Error for a range of speed. For an analog tachometer which is calibrated by the
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proposed method, the Maximum Point-Error provided by the manufacturer at
different speed is given as [60]
The data does not tell anything about the error in between two given speeds.
Similarly, the error of a digital non-contact tachometer is specified by the
manufacturer as [62]
This does not indicate the actual error of measurement for the speed between
specified ranges. The accuracy of measurement is also specified by the
manufacturer's Guarantee Error in terms of percentage of full scale reading (FSR)
for the entire range of speed. Hence, the absolute error remains same for the
whole range of measurement. Consequently, at lower range, the percentage of
error becomes significantly high. For a digital contact type tachometer with 5
digit display, the error at the maximum speed of 10000 r/min is 6 r/min (± 0.05 %
+ 1 digit) [61]. However, for a lower speed of 10 r/min, the error (± 6 r/min)
44
becomes 60 %. Hence, it becomes necessary to calibrate the tachometer for the
whole range to obtain the accuracy of measurement at any desired speed.
In this chapter, the proposed scheme (Figure 2.25) is used for the calibration
of tachometers. For calibration of tachometers, the measurement is based on the
fundamental principle of electromagnetic theory where the frequency of the
induced EMF in the rotor circuit of synchro is directly proportional to the speed of
rotating member [94]. Therefore, the proposed method of measurement can be
used for the calibration of tachometers. Three different types of tachometers (an
analog/mechanical type, a digital non-contact type, and a digital contact type) are
calibrated with the proposed scheme. The detailed specifications of these
tachometers are given in Appendix A.3. The calibration curves are also drawn for
lower and higher speed ranges. The resuhs of calibration are compared with the
data specification sheets of these tachometers.
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of error may be introduced in the measurement due to a slight deviation in the
frequency of signal generator and due to the measurement error of DSO. Here, a
very high resolution, arbitrary function generator (Tektronix, AFG-2022 B) is
used with an error of ± Ippm, ± l^Hz at 0 to 50 °C [97]. Likewise, the DSO used
(LeCroy, lVISO-10MXs-B4), has the sampling rate of 10 GS/s with an update rate
up to 22000 waveforms/s [98]. Moreover, the DSO has a very high resolution and
measures Tz accurately up to nine decimal places [Figures 3.1 (a)-(e)]. At higher
speed, the high frequency noise signals, superimposed over Vr, introduce error in
the measurement of Tz. These noise signals are removed from Vr using a low pass
filter (71filter)with a cut-off frequency of 478 Hz [f^ = l/(2;iRC), R = 3.33 kQ, C
= 0.1 |iF]. It is also evident from figure 2.15, 2.21, 2.23 and 3.1 (e) that the
measurement of output voltage of synchro is unaffected even in the presence of
noise and spikes over large extent due to square wave shape of the output voltage
of ZCD. As all the measurements are done with the output signal of ZCD instead
of the ac output of synchro, hence, Vz and the measurement of Tz remain
unaffected.
where, the actual speed is the measured speed by proposed method and the
observed speed is the measured speed by tachometers #1, #2, and #3 respectively.
46
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r/min, (b) 100 r/min, (c) 200 r/min, (d) 300 r/min and (e) 600 r/min.
•Analog/Meclianicai taciiometer #1
49
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52
SI-Actual (Exact)
52- Analog/Mechanical tachometer # 1
53- Digital non-contact type tachometer #2
54- Digital contact type tachometer #3
3.3 Conclusion
The experimental results of errors of the tachometer are summarized in Table 3.4.
It clearly shows the variation in error from the manufacturer's specifications.
Thus using the calibration curve, the proposed method can be used to obtain the
accurate speed at any desired value, as in general, manufacturers do not provide
errors curve for all speed range.
Table 3.4 Comparison of the errors of tachometers under test with proposed
method.
Errors of tachometers
Tachometers Manufacturers Experimentally found
specification by proposed method
Tachometer # 1 ± 3 r/min for 300 r/min ±2 r/min to ± 10 r/min
± 10 r/min for 1200 r/min for 0 to 1200 r/min
Tachometer # 2 ± 1 r/min ± 2 r/min to ± 6 r/min
for 5 to 1200 r/min for 0 to 1200 r/min
Tachometer # 3 ± 7 r/min ± 3 r/min to ± 13 r/min
for 5 to 1200 r/min for 0 to 1200 r/min
53
300 r/min to 1200 r/min [60]. The errors found by the proposed method are ± 2
r/min to ± 10 r/min, over this range. The accuracy of digital non-contact type
tachometer is ± 1 r/min in the range of 5 r/min to 1200 r/min, according to
calibration report provided with the tachometer [62]. Whereas, the error found by
the proposed method is ± 2 r/min to ± 6 r/min in this range. Similarly, the error
(Guarantee Error) of digital contact type tachometer is claimed as ± 7 r/min for
the entire range of 5 r/min to 1200 r/min, according to manufacturer's data
specification sheet [61]. However, the error found by the proposed method is ± 3
r/min to ± 13 r/min in this range.
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