MeasurementSystems Problemsetn1

MeasurementSystems
Problemsetn1
Sensorsandsignalconditioning
circuits

Exercise1(Straingaugeconditioningcircuit)

a)LetU , U , U andU denotethevoltagedropsacrosstheresistancesR , R , R andR inthe

bridge.

Both branches of the Wheatstone bridge (R , R and R , R ) are connected in parallel to the
voltagesource:

U U U U U

Withineachbranchtheresistancesareconnectedinseries:

U R U R
and
U R U R

Afteradding1tobothsidesofeachequationweobtain:

U U R R U U R R
and
U R U R

U R U R
or and
U R R U R R

ApplyingthemeshruleintheupperpartoftheBridgeleadsto:

U U U 0

U U U U U

b)BysubstitutingR R RandR R R Rinthefinalresultfroma)weobtain:

U U U U U U

AsR Rtheratio isaverysmallnumbercloseto0,sothat 1

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MeasurementSystems Problemsetn1

c)Theresistanceoftheunstrainedwireis:

l 4l
R
S d

We obtain the change in resistance under strain as a sum of the partial derivatives of R with
respecttothevariablesintheformula(, landd)multipliedbytheabsolutechangeofeach:

R R R 4l 4 4l l d
R l d l 2 d R R 2R
l d d d d l d

d
R l d l l
2 1 2 d 1 2
R l d l l l
l

Exercise2(Linearvariabledifferentialtransformer)

a)Thelinearvariabledifferentialtransformer(LVDT)consistsofaprimarycoilandtwosecondary
coils(connectedinseries).Theprimarycoilisexcitedwithasinusoidalvoltageoffewvolts(e.g.5
V) with a frequency of few kHz (e.g. 3 kHz). The electromagnetic coupling between the primary
and secondary coils change as a function of the displacement of the mobile core (steel) of high
magnetic permeability. When the magnetic core lies in the middle (x = 0), the two secondary
voltageshavethesamemagnitudeandtheoutputvoltageiszero.Whenthecoreisdisplaced,the
difference between the two secondary voltages is proportional to the displacement x. The
absoluteamplitude(orRMS)oftheoutputsignalcorrespondstothedisplacement.

Refertothefollowinglinks:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_variable_differential_transformer
http://www.a-tech.ca/doc_technote/LVDT_Principle_ATI.pdf
http://yourinstrumentation.blogspot.ch/2011/10/lvdt-basic-principle-theory-working.html
http://www.lvdt.co.uk/how-lvdts-work/
http://meas-spec.com/downloads/Principles_of_the_LVDT.pdf

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 MeasurementSystems Problemsetn1

(b)Selfinductance:inductiveeffectineachinductorduetoitsowncurrent.Voltagedrop over
aninductorcarryingcurrent is:

whereListheinductance.Themutualinductancehasasimilareffectbutitdescribesthecoupling
betweentwoinductors,eachinitsowncircuitshownonthefigureforthesimplestsituation:
M
i1 i2

u1 L1 L2 u2

Forthecircuitontheleft,wewouldthenhave:



notei2inthesecondterm!Inthesametimeforthecircuitontheright,wewouldhave:



Applied to our situation (Fig 5 from the exercise problem sheet) and together with Kirchoffs
VoltageLaw(KVL)ontheprimaryside,weget:

KVLonthesecondaryside:
di di
u2 ( R2' R2'' )i2 ( L'2 L'2' ) 2 ( M ' ' M ' ) 1
dt dt

Since sin , , and willbeintheformof:
sin
sin
sin

byreplacingtheseexpressionsintheKVLequations:

U 1 ( R1 jL1 ) I 1 j ( M ' ' M ' ) I 2

ForRc:I20

Thisresultsin:

j M ' ' ( x) M ' ( x)

U2 U1
R1 jL1

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MeasurementSystems Problemsetn1

c)Astheferritecoilmoves,theelectromagneticcouplingwiththeinductortowardswhichthecoil
moveswillincrease,whiletheelectromagneticcouplingwiththeothersecondaryinductorwill
decreased.

Toclarify,letssaythattheobjectmovestowards x direction.Sincetheobjectisconnectedto
the ferrite coil, the coil will also move in the same direction which means that it will move
towards L . As a result the electromagnetic coupling between the primary coil and L will
increase. The increase in the electromagnetic coupling means increase in mutual inductance, so
willincrease.Ontheotherhandasthecoilismovingtowards ,itsoverlapwith will
be smaller. This results in less electromagnetic coupling between primary inductor and ,
whichmeansthatthemutualinductance willdecrease.
One can give the same explanation for the situation in which the object (and thus the coil) is
movingtowards and increaseswhile decreases.

So for positive , will increase with increasing while will decrease. Similarly, for
negative , willincreasewhile willdecrease.Knowingthisonemaywritethelinear
approximationfor and :

U j M ''( x) M '( x) U
R1 j L1
2 1

M ( x) M (0) ax ... for x 0

M ( x) M (0) ax ... for x 0

Tofindthelinearrelationwewilltaketheapproximationuptofirstorder,so:

M ( x) M ( x) 2ax

Byreplacingintheaboveequation:

U 2 2 j aU 1 X
R1 jL1