EE 32002 Electrical

Measurements
Dr. KTM Udayanga Hemapala

Outline Syllabus
General principles of measurements: [4 h]
Instruments to measure electrical
quantities: [10 h]
Instrument transformers: [2 h]
Cathode ray oscilloscope (CRO): [2 h]
Bridge methods: [4 h]
Transducers: [4 h]
Digital meters: [2 h]
Signal conditioning. amplification and
filtering. PC interfacing [2 h]

Introduction
Electrical Units

General structure of measurement

system
A measuring system is used to
provide the information about the
physical value of the variable which
is measured

General structure of measurement

system

The sensor gives an output (it is function of the measurand)

Measurand is the input applied to it
For most but not all sensors, this function is at least approximately linear.
Measurements are made for
Evaluating the magnitude of the measurand
Monitoring the behavior of physical quantities
Control feedback signal generation

Eg: 1. Temperature measurement

Athermocoupleis a device consisting of two different conductors (usually metal alloys) that produce avoltage ,
proportional to a temperaturedifference, between either ends of the two conductors.

Thermometer

In general, the sensor is only part of a measurement system. The types of primary sensors
available for measuring a wide range of physical quantities will be presented later.

General structure of measurement

system. ctd
Eg: 2 Hot water system

Signal Conditioning
This element is needed where the output variable of a
primary transducer is in an inconvenient form and has to
be converted to a more convenient form.
For instance, the displacement-measuring strain gauge
has an output in the form of a varying resistance. The
resistance change cannot be easily measured and so it is
converted to a change in voltage by a bridge circuit, which
is a typical example of a variable conversion element.
Reference:
http://www.sensorland.com/HowPage002.html
In some cases, the primary sensor and variable
conversion element are combined, and the combination is
known as a transducer.

The Signal processing

Element
The Signal processing elements exist to improve the
quality of the output of a measurement system in some
way.
A very common type of signal processing element is the
electronic amplifier, which amplifies the output of the
primary transducer or variable conversion element, thus
improving the sensitivity and resolution of measurement.
This element of a measuring system is particularly
important where the primary transducer has a low output.
For example, thermocouples have a typical output of only
a few millivolts. Other types of signal processing element
are those that filter out induced noise and remove mean
levels etc.

The Data Presentation and

Display Elements
They are used to record and present
the achieved reading for the
measured quantity and display it.

Method of measurements
Method of measurements can be classified as
Direct measurements
In-direct measurements

Direct measurements
The quantity to be measured is directly produce a certain
effect
Ex: Current measurement, here the deflection of the pointer is
due to the current

In-direct measurements
The quantity is not measure directly
Ex: power measuring of a resistor
It is done by not measuring the power but measuring the
current and voltage, then use the P=VI equation

Instrument classifications
There are many classifications can be
done as follows.
Active/passive
Null/deflection
Monitoring/control
Analog/digital
Absolute/secondary

Active and passive

instruments
Active

Passive

The active instrument contains a

power source.

The passive instrument does not

contain
any electrical power source.

Here, the change in petrol level

moves a potentiometer arm, and
the output signal consists of a
proportion of the external voltage
source applied across the two
ends of the potentiometer.

The pressure of the fluid is

translated into a movement of a
pointer against a scale.

The resolution can be chnaged

The resolution is less

Null-type and deflection-type

instruments
Null-type

Deflection type

It uses a null detector, the effect

produced by measured quantity
and opposite effect to obtain null
condition

The pressure gauge is a good

example of a deflection type of
instrument, where the value of
the quantity being measured is
displayed in terms of the amount
of movement of a pointer

Here, weights are put on top of

the piston until the downward
force balances the fluid pressure.
Weights are added until the
piston reaches a datum level,
known as the null point. Pressure
measurement

Analogue and digital

instruments
Analog

Digital

It gives an output that varies

continuously as the quantity
being measured changes. The
output can have an infinite
number of values within the
range that the instrument is
designed to measure.

A digital instrument has an output

that varies in discrete steps and
so can only have a finite number
of values.

Eg: Deflection type pressure

gauge
Analogue instruments must be
interfaced
to the microcomputer by an
analogue-to-digital (A/D)
converter, which converts the
analogue output signal from the
instrument into an equivalent
digital quantity that can be read

Absolute/secondary
instruments
Absolute

Secondary

The instrument which gives the

magnitude of the quantity to be
measured in-terms of the physical
constants

The instrument in which the

reading shown by the instrument
gives directly measurement of
the quantity . These are
calibrated by the comparison with
the absolute instruments

Examples of Laboratory
Instruments
Dual Polarity (plus & minus) DC
Source or Power Supply
Digital Multimeter
Function Generator

Examples of Laboratory
Instruments
Oscilloscope

Characteristics of Measuring
Instruments
Static characteristics of instruments (the set of criteria defined for the
instrument which are used to measure the quantities which are slowly varying
with time or constant, is called static characteristics)
Accuracy and inaccuracy (measurement uncertainty)
Precision/repeatability/reproducibility
Tolerance
Range or span
Linearity
Sensitivity of measurement
Threshold
Resolution
Sensitivity to disturbance
Hysteresis effects
Dead space

Dynamic characteristics of Instruments ( the set of criteria defined based

on deferential equations are called dynamic characteristics)
Zero order instrument
First order instrument

calibration
Calibration is the process of making
an adjustment or marking a scale so
that the readings of an instrument
agree with the accepted and the
certified standards

Accuracy and inaccuracy

(measurement uncertainty)
The accuracy of an instrument is a measure
of how close the output reading of the
instrument is to the correct value. In
practice, it is more usual to quote the
inaccuracy figure rather than the accuracy
figure for an instrument.

sh: should value

n: measured value

Precision/repeatability/reproducibi
lity
Precision is a term that describes an
instruments degree of freedom from random
errors.

Repeatability describes the closeness of output

readings when the same input is applied
repetitively over a short period of time, with the
same measurement conditions, same
instrument and observer, same location and
same conditions of use maintained throughout.

Reproducibility
Reproducibility describes the closeness
of output readings for the same input
when there are changes in the method
of measurement, observer, measuring
instrument, location, conditions of use
and time of measurement.

Tolerance
Tolerance describes the maximum deviation of a
manufactured component from some specified
value.
For instance, crankshafts are machined with a
diameter tolerance quoted as so many microns (106 m).
Another example, electric circuit components such
as resistors have tolerances of perhaps 5%. One
resistor chosen at random from a batch having a
nominal value 1000W and tolerance 5% might have
an actual value anywhere between 950W and 1050
W.

Range or span
The range or span of an instrument
defines the minimum and maximum
values of a quantity that the
instrument is designed to measure.

Linearity
Linear device is the one in which the
relation between its output reading is
linearly proportional to the quantity
being measured

Sensitivity of
measurement

The sensitivity of measurement is a measure of the change in

instrument output that occurs when the quantity being measured
changes by a given amount. Thus, sensitivity is the ratio:

Eg: The following resistance values of

a platinum resistance thermometer
were
measured at a range of temperatures.
Determine the measurement
sensitivity
of the instrument in ohms/C.

Threshold
If the input to an instrument is gradually increased from
zero, the input will have to reach a certain minimum level
before the change in the instrument output reading is of
a large enough magnitude to be detectable. This
minimum level of input is known as the threshold of the
instrument.
Manufacturers may specify threshold for instruments as
absolute values or as a percentage of full-scale readings.
As an illustration, a car speedometer typically has a
threshold of about 5 km/h. This means that, if the vehicle
starts from rest and accelerates, no output reading is
observed on the speedometer until the speed reaches 5
km/h.

Resolution
When an instrument is showing a particular output reading, there
is a lower limit on the magnitude of the change in the input
measured quantity that produces an observable change in the
instrument output.
Like threshold, resolution is sometimes specified as an absolute
value and sometimes as a percentage of deflection.
One of the major factors influencing the resolution of an
instrument is how finely its output scale is divided into
subdivisions.
Using a car speedometer as an example again, this has
subdivisions of typically 20 km/h. This means that when the
needle is between the scale markings, we cannot estimate speed
more accurately than to the nearest 5 km/h. This figure of 5 km/h
thus represents the resolution of the instrument.
Resolution is the Smallest measurable input change

Examples
1. A 30 cm scale has 30uniform divisions.
1/20 th of a scale division can be
estimated with a fair degree of certainty.
Determine the resolution in mm? (ans. 0.5
mm)
2. Calcualte the resolution for a 4-bit and 8bit multimeters to show the range from 010V?
(Ans: for 4-bit : 625 mV , 8-bit : 39.0625 mV)

Sensitivity to
disturbance
All calibrations and specifications of an instrument are only valid
under controlled conditions of temperature, pressure etc.
These standard ambient conditions are usually defined in the
instrument specification. As variations occur in the ambient
temperature etc., certain static instrument characteristics
change
sensitivity to disturbance is a measure of the magnitude of this
change.
Such environmental changes affect instruments in two main
ways,
zero drift: Zero drift describes the effect where the zero reading of an
instrument is modified by a change in ambient conditions
sensitivity drift : Sensitivity drift defines the amount by which an
instruments sensitivity of measurement varies as ambient
conditions change.

Effect of Disturbance

Example

Basic Electric Quantities

Measurement
Types of Meters
Analog
Digital