Introductory class

EE305 Instrumentation and measurements

Teaching Assistant Šejla Džakmić
First week‘s plan
 Syllabus (text book, weekly plan, grade assesment...)
 Introduction, basic terminology
 What is measurement?
 Why do we need measurements?
 How it is done?
 Units
 Measurement application
Chapter 1
Fundamentals of measurement systems

 Since the very beginning of human

civilization
 Industrial revolution (19th century)
 Rapid development of instruments
and measurement techniques
 Rapid growth in industrial technology
 Industrial application of computers
 Instruments to measure, record and
control process variables
 To be accurate and inexpensive
Why do we need measurements?

 Fundamental concept in science

 Properties of an object determined
by comparing to the standard value
 Engineering, construction,
manufacturing, farming, etc...
 Cost effectivenes (more accurate
and cheaper)
 Safety (process and humans)
 Product quality
 Control process
Our main interest

 Industrial application
 Control process
Elements of a measurement system

 A measuring system - provides information about the physical value

of some variable being measured.
 A physical quantity - any property of matter that can be quantified,
measured and expressed in numbers.
 Length, mass, time, temperature, current, luminous intensity,
matter
 Every physical variable is measured by a certain unit
 A unit - gives an output reading of signal according to the magnitude
of unknown variable.
 A measuring instrument - a device that determines the magnitude
of physical quantity
Measurement units evolution

 There are two major types of units

 Fundamentals units and derived units
 From the 7 fundamentals units all other units are driven.
 There are various systems of units the most popular ones are:
 Metric system - Meter, centimeter, multimeter
 Imperial system - Yards, feet, inches
 SI system (International System of Units/ – modern form of
metric system)
 All multiples and subdivisions of basic metric units are related
to the base by factor of 10
 Easier to use than Imperial units
Fundamental SI units
Measurement units evolution
Elements of a measuring system
 Elements of a measuring system

 Sensor – primary element in measuring system

- gives an output that is a function of measurand
- approximately linear function for most of the sensors (uniformly)
- liquid-in-glass thermometer, thermocouple, strain gauge
Elements of a measuring system
Variable conversion element

 To convert the output variable to

more convenient form
 Ex: displacement-measuring
strain gauge
 Varying resistance
 Convert it to voltage
 Bridge circuit
 Transducer – sensor & VCE
Elements of a measuring system
Signal processing element
 Amplifier
 Amplifies the output of the
primary transducer or VCE
 Improves the sensitivity and
resolution
 Necessary for thermocouples
 Filter
 Filter induced noise
 Transmitter - signal
processing is incororated
into transducer
 When observation point of
the output is far away form
transducer
Choosing appropriate measuring instrument

 Nature of the application

 Required parameters: accuracy, resolution,
sensitivity, power, efficiency...
 Better characteristics – higher costs
 Durability, maintainability, constancy
Measurement system application
 Three application areas:
 Monitoring and recording
functions
 Automatic process control systems
 Analysis
 Example: The weather station
 For average person
 For agriculturist
 control sense, i.e.: apply antifrost
measures
 Short and long term weahter
predicitions
Next time...

 Instrument types
 Characteristics of instruments
 Calibration
 Error
 Accuracy
Summary

 What are the main elements in measurement system?

 What are their functions?
 Which elements are not needed in some measurement systems?
 Why?
 What are the main factors governing the choice of measuring
instrument?