PRACTICAL:Aim: - To study about Electrical Transducers.

Theory:A transducer term means a type of device which converts one energy form to another. The transducers that convert the mechanical input signals of the physical quantity into electrical output signals are called as electrical transducers The input given to the electrical transducers can be in the form of the displacement, strain, velocity, temperature, flow etc and the output obtained from them can be in the form of current, voltage and change in resistance, inductance and capacitance. Types of Transducer: 1) Electromagnetic 2) Electromechanical 3) Electro acoustic 4) Photoelectric 5) Thermoelectric Electromagnetic: This type of transducer consists of Antenna, CRT, Magnetic cartage, photo detector etc... Antenna converts EM waves to electrical signals, CRT converts electrical signal to visual form, and Magnetic cartage converts motion into electrical signal and photo detector converts change in light into equivalent resistance... Electromechanical: This type of transducer consists of Galvanometer, Potentiometer, Load cell, Strain gauge etc. Galvanometer is an analog electromechanical transducer that produces a rotary deflection of some type of pointer in response to electric current flowing through its coil in a magnetic field. A strain gauge is a device used to measure

the strain of an object. A load cell is a transducer that is used to convert a force into electrical signal. Electro acoustic:It consists of Loudspeaker, Microphone, Geophone, Hydrophone etc... Loudspeaker converts electrical signal in to audio signal, Microphone converts audio into electrical signal, Geophone converts ground movement in to electrical voltage and Hydrophone converts change in water pressure in electrical voltage. Photoelectric:It consists of LED, Photo diode and Photo transistor. A LED converts voltage signals into light visible to human. Photo diode operates when light fall on it. It can be used in light sensing devices. Photo transistor is used for switching operation when light falls on to it.

Thermoelectric:It consists of RTD, Thermocouple and Thermistor. Resistance thermometers, also called resistance temperature detectors or resistive thermal devices (RTDs), are temperature sensors that exploit the predictable change in electrical resistance of some materials with changing temperature. A thermocouple is a device consisting of two different conductors (usually metal alloys) that produce a voltage proportional to a temperature difference between either ends of the pair of conductors. A Thermistor is a type of resistor whose resistance varies significantly with temperature, more so than in standard resistors. Here are some of commonly used electrical transducers: 1) Potentiometer 2) Wheatstone bridge 3) Piezoelectric Transducers 4) Strain Gauges 5) Linear Variable Differential transformer

Potentiometer:It is the device which converts the change in displacement into change in the resistance, which can be measured easily. Potentiometer is one of most commonly used devise for measurement of the displacement. The potentiometer is the electrical type of transducer or sensor and it is of resistive type because it works on the principle of change of resistance of the wire with its length. The resistance of the wire is directly proportional to the length of the wire, thus as the length of the wire changes the resistance of the wire also changes. The main application of the potentiometer is to measure the displacement of the body. As the body moves, the position of the slider located on the potentiometer also changes so the resistance between the fixed point and the slider changes. The potentiometer can be used for the measurement of translational as well as well rotational displacement. Since these potentiometers work on the principle of resistance, they are also called as the resistive potentiometers.

 Wheatstone bridge: A Wheatstone bridge is an electrical circuit used to measure an unknown electrical resistance by balancing two legs of a bridge circuit one leg of which includes the unknown component. A current meter is connected between two arms of the bridge. For convenience R1=R2 is taken. By placing Rx in the circuit and adjusting the R3 and when there is no current flowing through a-meter then the bridge is said to be balanced As R1=R2 then, the value of unknown resistor Rx would be the same as the value of R3.. This way we can find the unknown resistance

Piezoelectric Transducers:There are certain materials that generate electric potential or voltage when mechanical strain is applied to them or conversely when the voltage is applied to them, they tend to change the dimensions along certain plane. This effect is called as the piezoelectric effect. The piezoelectric transducers work on the principle of piezoelectric effect. When mechanical stress or forces are applied to some materials along certain planes, they produce electric voltage. This electric voltage can be measured easily by the voltage measuring instruments, which can be used to measure the stress or force. The physical quantities like stress and force cannot be measured directly. In such cases the material exhibiting piezoelectric transducers can be used.

The stress or the force that has to be measured is applied along certain planes to these materials. The voltage output obtained from these materials due to piezoelectric effect is proportional to the applied stress or force. The output voltage can be calibrated against the applied stress or the force so that the measured value of the output voltage directly gives the value of the applied stress or force.

Strain Gauges:Strain gauges are devices whose resistance changes under the application of force or strain. They can be used for measurement of force, strain, stress, pressure, displacement, acceleration etc. It is often easy to measure the parameters like length, displacement, weight etc that can be felt easily by some senses. However, it is very difficult to measure the dimensions like force, stress and strain that cannot be really sensed directly by any instrument. For such cases special devices called strain gauges are very useful. There are some materials whose resistance changes when strain is applied to them or when they are stretched and this change in resistance can be measured easily. For applying the strain you need force, thus the change in resistance of the material can be calibrated to measure the applied force. Thus the devices whose resistance changes due to applied strain or applied force are called as the strain gauges...

 Linear Variable Differential transformer:It works on the principle of differential transformer that has one primary winding and two secondary windings. The voltage output from the LVDT is proportional to the movement of the core whose displacement is to be measured. Linear variable differential transformer is popularly known as LVDT. As the name suggests LVDT comprises of the differential transformer that provides the AC voltage output proportional to the displacement of the core passing through the windings. The LVDT comprises of the one primary winding, and two secondary windings connected to each other in series opposing manner. The LVDT is basically a differential transformer, whose voltage output is proportional to the displacement of the object hence it is given the name linear variable differential transformer. The differential transformer has a hollow magnetic core on which three coils are wound. There is one primary coil in the middle of the core through which the input voltage is applied. There are two secondary coils at the two ends of the central core, which are connected to each other in the phase opposition manner and through which the output is obtained. Through the hollow another solid core is passed, which is connected to the body whose displacement is to be measured.

Conclusion:By performing this practical we can gain knowledge that what is transducer and what are the principal of operation of various transducers.