Sensor fundamentals and characteristics

Prof. Melvin P Manuel MEMS & Sensors Division SENSE VIT University

PHOTO RESISTOR
LDR Light Dependent Resistor To measure the light intensity

STRAIN GAUGE
To measure the Strain

PIEZO ELECTRIC SENSOR

To measure the Force

BOURDON TUBE & BELLOW

To measure the Pressure

HALL EFFECT SENSOR

To measure magnetic field strength

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Sensor Classification
Passive Sensors Active Sensors

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Passive Sensors
A passive sensor does not need any additional energy source and directly generates an electric signal in response to an external stimulus. ie. the input stimulus energy is converted by the sensor into the output signal. The examples are a thermocouple, a photodiode, and a piezoelectric sensor.
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Active Sensors
The active sensors require external power for their operation, which is called an excitation signal. That signal is modified by the sensor to produce the output signal. The active sensors sometimes are called parametric because their own properties change in response to an external effect and these properties can be subsequently converted into electric signals
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Example
A thermistor is a temperature-sensitive resistor. It does not generate any electric signal, but by passing an electric current through it (excitation signal), its resistance can be measured by detecting variations in current and/or voltage across the thermistor.

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TYPES OF SENSORS
Thermal Sensors Temperature sensors: Thermometers, Thermocouples, Temperature sensitive resistors (Thermistors and resistance temperature detectors) and bi-metal thermometers

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 Mechanical
Pressure sensors: Pressure gauge, Elastic elements. Gas and liquid flow sensors:Orifice meter, Veturi meter, anemometer, flow meter, gas meter, water meter, mass flow sensor Gas and liquid viscosity and density: viscometer, hydrometer, oscillating U-tube Mechanical sensors: Acceleration sensor, position sensor, Strain gauge humidity sensors: hygrometer
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 Chemical Chemical proportion sensors:

oxygen sensors, ion-selective electrodes, pH glass electrodes, Carbon monoxide detectors.

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 Optical Sensors Light sensors, or photodetectors, including semiconductor devices such as photocells, photodiodes, phototransistors, and CCDs Infra-red sensor, especially used as occupancy sensor for lighting and environmental controls. Proximity sensor- A type of distance sensor but less sophisticated. Only detects a specific proximity. May be optical - combination of a photocell and LED or laser. Fiber optic sensors.

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 Acoustic Sensor Acoustic : uses ultrasound time-of-flight echo return. Ultrasonic sensor: NDT application Sound sensors : microphones, hydrophones, seismometers.

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 BioSensor Artificial sensors that mimic biological sensors by using a biological sensitive component, are called biosensors. (Electronic nose)

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Other Sensors
Motion sensors: Speedometer, Tachometer Orientation sensors: Gyroscope Distance sensor (noncontacting) Several technologies can be applied to sense distance: magnetostriction, Ultrasound

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 Available Forms: Thermocouple Thermistors

RTD (pt 100)

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 Pressure: Elastic Members: Bourdon tube, Diaphragm, Bellows

The Diaphragm Pressure Gage uses the elastic deformation of a diaphragm (i.e. membrane) to measure the difference between an unknown pressure and a reference pressure.

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LVDT (Linear Variable Differential Transformer)

To measure the linear Displacement

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The physical construction of a typical LVDT consists of a movable core of magnetic material and three coils comprising the static transformer. One of the three coils is the primary coil and the other two are secondary coils. When the iron core slides through the transformer, a certain number of coil windings are affected by the proximity of the sliding core and thus generate a unique voltage output.

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 Commercial LVDT:

LVDTs can be utilized in a wide variety of applications wherever position feedback is important
By courtesy of GW Lisk

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Proximity Sensors
Eddy Current Sensor

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 An eddy current is a local electric current induced in a conductive material by the magnetic field produced by the active coil. This local electric current in turn induces a magnetic field opposite in sense to the one from the active coil and reduces the inductance in the coil. When the distance between the target and the probe changes, the impedance of the coil changes correspondingly. This change in impedance can be detected by a carefully arranged bridge circuit.

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 Commercial Eddy Current Probes:

Application: Surface Inspection

By courtesy of Zetec

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 Ultrasonic Proximity Sensor:

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 A special sonic transducer is used for the ultrasonic proximity sensors, which allows for alternate transmission and reception of sound waves. The ultrasonic transducer emits a number of sonic waves which are reflected by an object, back to the ultrasonic transducer. After emission of the sound waves, the ultrasonic sensor will switch over to receive mode. The time elapsed between emitting and receiving is proportional to the distance of the object from the sensor.
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Commercial Sensor
Ultrasonic proximity sensor - detect the presence of an object within 1 inch to 4 feet. This sensor provides a linear output so it can be used to detect approximate distance also.

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IR Proximity Sensor:

Infrared proximity sensors work by sending out a beam of IR light, and then computing the distance to any nearby objects from characteristics of the returned (reflected) signal
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OPTICAL SENSORS
Electro optic sensor: Photo Resistor
A photo resistor is made of a high-resistance semiconductor. If light falling on the device is of high enough frequency, photons absorbed by the semiconductor give bound electrons enough energy to jump into the conduction band. The resulting free electron (and its hole partner) conduct electricity, thereby lowering resistance.
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 Photodiode:

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 A photodiode is a semiconductor diode that functions as a photodetector. Photodiodes are packaged with either a window or optical fibre connection, to let in the light to the sensitive part of the device. A phototransistor is in essence nothing more than a bipolar transistor that is encased in a transparent case so that light can reach the base-collector junction. The electrons that are generated by photons in the base-collector junction are injected into the base, and this current is then amplified by the transistor operation. 36

 Charge Coupled Device (CCD):

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 Charge Coupled Device (CCD): A charge-coupled device (CCD) is an analog shift register, enabling analog signals (electric charges) to be transported through successive stages (capacitors) controlled by a clock signal. coupled device (CCD) is an analog shift register, enabling analog signals (electric charges) to be transported through successive stages (capacitors) controlled by a clock signal.
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MAGNETIC SENSOR
HALL EFFECT

1. Electrons 2. Hall element, or Hall sensor 3. Magnets 4. Magnetic field 5. Power source
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 The Hall effect IC consists of Hall element and signal conditioning circuitry to convert the Hall element output into a digital output. The two devices are mounted in a single package with three active terminals( Power, GND and output). There are two choices of power consumption. Continuous powered devices with standard current consumption and pulsed powered devices at low duty cycles that significantly reduce the average current consumption to microamps.
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Commercial Hall Effect IC

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 Magnetic Pick Up

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Recent Trends in Sensors

Micro ElectroMechanical System (MEMS) Sensors MEMS is the technology of the very small The sensor technology made significant progress due to MEMS.

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 MEMS Accelerometer

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