MECHANICAL

ENGINEERING SYSTEMS
LABORATORY

Group 02

Asst. Prof. Dr. E. İlhan KONUKSEVEN

 FUNDAMENTAL
CONCEPTS IN
MEASUREMENT AND
EXPERIMENTATION
HOW TO MEASURE ?
BY MEANS OF SENSING DEVICES
OFTEN CALLED:
Sensors
TRANSDUCERS used for both
Actuators
or
SENSORS

instead of using human senses

 HUMAN SENSES
• LACKING IN LATITUDE
(SCOPE AND EXTENT)

• RELATIVE
• LIMITED
• SLOW
• BIASED
 HUMAN SENSES
• Our ability to sense cold and hot is only
relative, with a selectivity of the order of 1°C
and only over a very limited temperature
range.

• Measuring a high electric voltage with

human senses is extremely hazardous.
 CLASSIFICATION OF TRANSDUCERS

A transducer can be defined as a device capable of

converting energy from one form into another. Transducers
can be found both at the input as well as at the output stage
of a measuring system.

We can distinguish six different energy domains:

(1) Radiant
(2) Mechanical
(3) Thermal
(4) Electrical
(5) Magnetic
(6) Chemical.
 CLASSIFICATION OF TRANSDUCERS

The input transducer is called the sensor, because it senses

the desired physical quantity and converts it into another
energy form.
 CLASSIFICATION OF TRANSDUCERS

The output transducer is called the actuator, because it

converts the energy into a form to which another
independent system can react, whether it is a biological
system or a technical system.

For a biological system the actuator can be a numerical

display or a loudspeaker to which the visual or aural senses
react respectively.

For a technical system the actuator could be a recorder or a

laser, producing holes in a ceramic material. The results
can be interpreted by humans.
 TRANSDUCER TYPES :

• SELFGENERATING
(Passive)

• NON-SELFGENERATING
(Active)
 TRANSDUCER TYPES :
• SELFGENERATING (Passive)

A self-generating transducer is defined as a transducer

which requires no auxiliary energy source to convert
energy.

Examples of a self-generating transducer which can be

found at the input of a system are a solar cell or a
thermocouple, and at

the output we can find for instance a heating element

converting electrical energy into thermal energy without
the need of an auxiliary energy source.
 TRANSDUCER TYPES :

•NON-SELFGENERATING (Active)
Requires an auxiliary energy source to convert energy
from one domain into another.
A good example of a modulating transducer which is
found at the input of a system is a strain gauge. This type
of transducer requires an electrical energy source to
become operational. The electrical current flowing in the
strain gauge is modulated by a mechanical force which is
converted into an electrical voltage change via a change
of the resistive elements.
 TRANSDUCER TYPES :
Transducer Type description
Transistor Modulating shape transducer
Thermocouple Self-generating input transducer
pH meter Self-generating input transducer
LED display Self-generating output transducer
LCD display Modulating output transducer
Coil Self-generating output transducer
Magnetoresistor Modulating input transducer
Photoconductor Modulating input transducer
A collection of electronic self-generating transducers with examples of 'shape' transducers on
the main diagonal where no energy conversion is involved.
SENSORS :

ANY OBJECT THAT HAS A PROPERTY

INFLUENCED BY A VARIABLE IS
POTENTIALLY A SENSOR WHICH MAY
BE USED TO MEASURE THAT
VARIABLE
 INPUT

ENVIRONMENT

TRANSDUCER

an interaction is necessary
between Transducer and OUTPUT
Environment in order to
perform a measurement.
MEASURAND
THE PARTICULAR SYSTEM PARAMETER
/ VARIABLE BEING OBSERVED BY A
TRANSDUCER DURING THE
MEASUREMENT PROCESS IS CALLED
THE MEASURAND
 INPUT - OUTPUT CHARACTERISTICS

INPUT SIGNAL (MEASURED VARIABLE) IS

TRANSFERRED TO THE OUTPUT SIGNAL
(OBSERVED VARIABLE) BY SOME FUNCTIONAL
RELATIONSHIP (INSTRUMENTATION)

DESIRED DESIRED
FD
INPUT OUTPUT
UNDESIRED INPUTS

ALL THE INPUTS OTHER THAN THE

MEASURAND ACTING ONTO THE
TRANSDUCER ARE CALLED UNDESIRED
INPUTS OR DISTURBANCE
UNDESIRED INPUTS :

• INTERFERING INPUTS
• MODIFYING INPUTS
INTERFERING INPUTS :

REPRESENT THE INPUTS TO

WHICH THE INSTRUMENTATION IS
UNINTENTIONALLY SENSITIVE
EXAMPLE :

THE MAGNETIC FIELD DUE TO A

NEARBY ELECTRIC MOTOR OR
TRANSFORMER
MODIFYING INPUTS :

THESE INPUTS EFFECT THE

RELATION ‘BETWEEN THE DESIRED
AND/OR INTERFERING INPUT’ AND
‘THE DESIRED OUTPUT’
EXAMPLE :

STRAIN GAGE IS A TRANSDUCER

IT IS GLUED ONTO A SPECIMEN TO MEASURE STRAIN - ITS
RESISTANCE CHANGES IF IT IS STRECHED
ITS RESISTANCE DEPENDENT ON TEMPERATURE
It changes the gage resistance due to the strain resulting from the
differential expansion of the gage and the specimen since they are made
out materials of different “thermal expansion coefficients”.
TEMPERATURE IS AN “INTERFERING INPUT”
the gage temperature is also a “modifying input” since the “gage factor”
is sensitive to the temperature.
TEMPERATURE IS ALSO AN “ MODIFYING INPUT”
DESIRED INPUT FD
DESIRED
FMD OUTPUT
MODIFYING INPUT

FMI

INTERFERING INPUT FD
 Functional Stages of Measuring Systems:
Most measuring systems consist of the following three stages:

Sensor (or Transducer) is always the 1st stage of every measuring system
and it produces an output to represent the measured quantity (measurand).

Intermediate Stage modifies the sensor output (transduced information) so

that it becomes acceptable to the terminal stage. All processes like
amplification, filtering, conversion, integration, data transmission,
telemetering are performed at this stage.

Terminal Stage includes all possible data storage, monitoring, processing,

displaying, plotting features.

INTERMEDIATE TERMINAL
SENSOR
STAGE STAGE

Measurand Sensor Measurement

Output Data
(Combined single instrument: Mercury in glass thermometer)
GENERALIZED MEASUREMENT
SYSTEM

MEASURED
TRANSDUCER DATA
VARIABLE MANIPULATION

DATA DATA OBSERVED

TRANSMISSION DISPLAY VARIABLE
DESIGNING A MEASUREMENT
SYSTEM REQUIRES 2 THINGS :
DESIGN OF VARIOUS
INDIVIDUAL FUNCTIONAL
ELEMENTS
INTERCONNECTION OF
VARIOUS ELEMENTS
Perfect Measurement:

There exists no such thing like “Perfect Measurement” due to

variety of reasons like:

Presence of Noise (interfering effects),

The effects other than the measurand (i.e.; undesirable inputs)
may produce undesirable changes in the transducer output which
make the measurement susceptible to noise.

Transducer Dynamics,
The ideal I/O dynamics of a transducer is of with “no dynamics”,
that is with a “static characteristics” or simply with an
“instantaneous response”.
R1
+
V Voltmeter
- R2

Loading Effect,
U Rm

Measured Voltage Vm

Since the transfer of information between a transducer and its

environment is accompanied by an energy transfer, the presence
of a sensor may well result in some structural changes in its
environment (and vice versa) which in turn affect the state of the
measurand. This is often referred to as “Loading Effect”.