EN 2850 APLLIED ELECTRONICS

LECTURE 04 Sensors(3)

Level 2/Semester 1 05/10/2009 Kosala Jayasundara

Position, Displacement and Level detectors

Position, displacement and level detectors belong to the same domain of detectors. These are important in areas such as security systems, robotics, industrial automation applications, transportation applications, process feed back systems etc. Proximity sensors are also a special type of displacement sensors. When the displacement is beyond a given threshold they give an output. The displacement sensors are sometimes part of other complex sensors. e.g. Force, Pressure
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Position, Displacement and Level detectors (Contd)

Some of the important factors that should be taken in to account when selecting a position, displacement sensors, for a particular application.

Type of the measured object. (metal, non metal, liquid, ferromagnetic) Accuracy and resolution needed? Type of the displacement (linear or rotary) The space required for mounting the sensor.

We will be briefly looking at several types of position displacement and level detectors.
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Position, Displacement and Level detectors - Potentiomertic

Resistance of a conductor is directly proportional to its length. Therefore by making an object to control the length of a conductor, displacement or the position can be sensed. This can either be linear displacement or rotary displacement. Thus two types of potentiometer based displacement sensors can be identified as linear and rotary. This is sometimes known as the pot
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Position, Displacement and Level detectors Potentiomertic (Contd)

This is essentially an active type of device. The stimulus is the position or the displacement and it is obtained as a voltage upon an applied energy source.
V output voltage (proportional to the displacement)
E Applied voltage D Total length of the potentiometer (fixed) d length corresponding to the displacement

D can be identified as the full scale input (FSI)

Assume no loading effect.
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Position, Displacement and Level detectors Potentiomertic (Contd)

If there is loading effect with the interface circuit, the output voltage will no longer be proportional to the displacement.

Potentiometric liquid level detector

Position, Displacement and Level detectors Potentiometric (Contd)

As because this is an ratiometric device, the resistance of the conductor doesnt affect the accuracy of the system. Few disadvantages of these detectors,

Speed of response is slow. The sensor need to be physically coupled with the object under measurement. Mechanical loading is there. (effect of friction) Mechanical wear and tear.

Position, Displacement and Level detectors Capacitive.

Capacitive detectors are widely used as proximity, displacement and level detectors because they can be used with both conductive and non conductive materials. Capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor (or rotary type) can be controlled either by changing the width (d) between the plates or by the permittivity of the medium. This capacitance variation can be converted to an electrical signal. Therefore these are also active sensors.
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Position, Displacement and Level detectors Capacitive (Contd)

The middle plate is attached with the object under measurement. The top and bottom plates are fed with equal but opposite phase signals. Depending on the movement of the center plate the output (voltage form the middle plate) is obtained and its phase will give the direction of the motion. (whether it is up or down)
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Position, Displacement and Level detectors Capacitive (Contd)

Capacitive proximity sensors make use of the property of permittivity of the medium in order to detect the objects. In many practical applications when capacitive sensors are used as displacement detectors the measured object it self forms the one plate of the capacitor.

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Position, Displacement and Level detectors Capacitive (Contd)

Capacitive bridge type displacement detector

High noise immunity, increased reliability, increased linearity

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Position, Displacement and Level detectors Capacitive (Contd)

When the liquid level changes the permittivity changes, causing the total capacitance to be changed. Thus the level of the liquid can be detected.

Capacitive liquid level detector

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Position, Displacement and Level detectors Inductive

Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT) This is a device used to measure the linear displacement by making use of the property of mutual inductance. LVDT consists of three solenoids placed end to end inside a tube. One is the primary and other two are secondary coils. A cylindrical ferromagnetic core is attached to the object under measurement, and it causes the ferromagnetic core to slide along the axis of the tube.

The primary is driven by an alternating current.

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Position, Displacement and Level detectors Inductive (Contd)

Alternating supply in primary causes voltages to be induced in secondary windings As the core slides, the mutual inductance changes, so the induced voltages in secondary windings change. Two secondary coils are connected in reverse series so that the differential voltage is obtained as the output. When the core is in center position output is zero. Equal and opposite voltages are induced in secondary coils. Both positive and negative displacement can be measured, as the core moves left and right.

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Position, Displacement and Level detectors Inductive (Contd)

Rotary Variable Differential Transformer (RVDT)

This is the angular counterpart of the LVDT. RVDT is used to measure the angular displacements. Has a stator and a rotor. The magnitude of the output voltage is proportional to the angle of rotation. The direction of rotation (whether it is clockwise or anticlockwise) can be obtained by the phase of the output voltage with respect to the phase of the primary voltage.
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Position, Displacement and Level detectors Inductive (Contd)

Advantages of LVDT and RVDT

The effect of friction is minimum because the core is not in contact with the windings. Solid and robust construction have made it suitable for rugged use. High resolution and precision can be achieved. Very low output impedance. High noise immunity. Hystereses effects are negligible.

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Position, Displacement and Level detectors Inductive (Contd)

In addition to the above two types, proximity sensors are widely used. Mutual inductance proximity sensors and self inductance proximity sensors are widely used as metal and susceptive object detector. Hall effect sensors are also used to detect the rotary displacement and the position. Recall Hall effect ???

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Position, Displacement and Level detectors Inductive (Contd)

The Hall voltage developed can be used to encode a rotary motion.

Hall sensor is ON

The magnetic flux is shunted away by the ferromagnetic object. Hall sensor is OFF 19

Position, Displacement and Level detectors Inductive (Contd)

When the above assembly is enclosed in to a one housing, the pulses produced with the presence and absence of the ferromagnetic object, can be used to measure the angular displacement, hence the angular speed.
Automobile distributor make use of this kind of detector !!

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Ultrasonic distance measurement

By using mechanical acoustic waves which are not sensitive to humans (beyond 20kHz) a non contact type distance measurement can be achieved. Ultrasonic energy is reflected in a diffuse manner. That is regardless from the direction of incident energy the reflection occurs in a considerable wide range. (wide solid angle). Once the object under measurement is moving the reflected frequency will be different form that of the incident. (Doppler effect)

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