Lecture_3B

Dr. Jamal Tariq Mian

jtmian@uet.edu.pk
 Pressure
Pressure Definition and Units
 Pressure is equal to the force divided by the area over which it
is applied.

 In the International System (SI) the unit for pressure is called

Pascal (Pa) and is equal to the force of one 1, N divided by an area
of one 1,m2 :
N
1, Pa = 1,
m2
 There are other units, which are not within SI, as shown on the
next slide.

2
 Pressure
Units of pressure

 1 bar = 105 Pa = 0.1 MPa;

 1 atm = 101325 Pa - (standard or physical atmosphere);

 1 kgf/cm2 = 98066.5 Pa = 0.0980665 MPa - (technical atmosphere);

 1 lbf/in2 = 1 psi = 6894.76 Pa = 0.00689476 MPa;

 1 mm Hg = 133.322 Pa - (760 mm Hg = 101324.7 Pa ≈ 101325 Pa)

3
 Pressure Sensors
 Absolute pressure is measured relative to perfect vacuum
where the pressure is zero.

 Local atmospheric pressure is the pressure due to the weight

of the air of the atmosphere at that particular location.

Therefore, the local pressure varies from one location to another

as a function of the height of the location from sea level.

 Average atmospheric absolute pressure due to the weight of

the air of the atmosphere is 14.7 lb / in2 = 14.7 psi.

 This means that the weight acting over an area of 1in2 due to the
weight of the air in the atmosphere is 14. 7 lb.
4
Pressure Sensors

5
 Pressure Sensors
 Pascal's law states that pressure in a contained fluid is
transmitted equally in all directions.
From this physical principle, barometer
is used to measure absolute pressure.
 The pressure acting on the fluid due to
atmosphere at surface is balanced by
pressure due to the fluid (i.e., mercury)
weight in the tube.
 Thus, atmospheric pressure is equivalent
to the pressure applied by a 29.92 in (760
mm) column height of mercury.
 A column of mercury with 29.92 in height
and 1 in2 cross section has 14.7 lb of weight.
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 Pressure Sensors
 If water is used in the barometer instead of mercury, the height
of the water in the tube to balance the atmospheric pressure
would be 33.95 in., which produces the same 14.7 Ib/in2 pressure
because the density of water is lower than mercury.

 Notice that top of the tube in the barometer must be vacuum.

 To establish a vacuum at the top of the tube, the tube filled with
mercury is placed upside-down in the container filled with
mercury.

 Height of the mercury will drop until its height is 29.92 in.,
which generates pressure of 14.7 psi at surface level of container.

7
 Pressure Sensors
 The pressure sensed by most pressure sensors are the relative
pressure with respect to the local atmospheric pressure.

 However, a sensor can be calibrated to measure the absolute

pressure as well.

 If a sensor measures pressure relative to the vacuum pressure, it

is referred to as the absolute pressure and the units as [psia].

 If a sensor measures pressure relative to the local atmospheric

pressure, it is referred to as the relative or gage pressure, and the
unit used to indicate that is [psig].

 [psi] refers to [psig] by standard convention in notation.

8
 Pressure Sensors
 Notice that the atmospheric absolute pressure varies from the
nominal value [14.7 lb / in2 (14.7 psia)] due to variations in:

 Height from the sea level.

 Temperature and the resulting variations in air density.

9
 Pressure Sensors
Displacement-Based Pressure Sensors
 Basic transduction principle in this type of pressure sensor is to
convert the pressure into a proportional displacement, and then
convert this displacement to a proportional electrical voltage.

 Figure on next slide shows various concepts of pressure sensors

where the pressure is proportional to the displacement of the
sensing element (Bourdon tune, bellows, diaphragm).

 The motion of the flexible sensing element can be translated

into a proportional voltage by various methods including
position sensing, capacitance change, strain change, and
piezoelectric effects.

10
 Pressure Sensors
Displacement-Based Pressure Sensors

11
 Pressure Sensors
Displacement-Based Pressure Sensors
 For example, the Bourdon tube-based pressure sensor can be
connected to an LVDT or a linear potentiometer to get a voltage
signal proportional to the pressure:

 The pressure sensors shown in figure on previous slide measure

the relative pressure between p1 and p2; that is, the pressure
difference between them, ∆p = p1 – p2.
 If either p1 or p2 is the vacuum pressure (absolute zero pressure),
then the sensor measures the absolute pressure.
12
 Pressure Sensors
Strain Guage Based Pressure Sensors
 The pressure-induced deformation of the diaphragm is
measured by strain gauges on it.

 The strain on the diaphragm is proportional to the

pressure.

 The resistance of the strain gauge changes in proportion to

its strain.

 Using a Wheatstone bridge circuit, a proportional output

voltage is obtained from the strain gauge.

13
 Pressure Sensors
Strain Guage Based Pressure Sensors
 Relation between
pressure and
strain - gauge
voltage output
is:

14
 Pressure Sensors
Piezoelectric-Based Pressure Sensors
 Piezoelectric-based pressure sensors are the most versatile
pressure sensor types.

 The pressure of the diaphragm is converted to a force acting on

the piezoelectric element (see figure).

 The piezoelectric element will generate a voltage

proportional to the force acting on it which is proportional
to the pressure.

 The piezo-based pressure sensors can have bandwidth in the

order of kHz range.

15
 Pressure Sensors
Piezoelectric-Based Pressure Sensors
 The charge produced by the piezoelectric effect as a result of
pressure is:

and the output voltage is:

Then

16
 Pressure Sensors
Capacitance-Based Pressure Sensors
 Diaphragm pressure sensing concept can also be used to change
the capacitance between two charged plates inside the sensor.

 The displacement of-the diaphragm results in a

proportional change in capacitance.

 Using an operational amplifier, reference voltage, and reference

capacitor, the change in the capacitance of the sensor can be
converted to a voltage output signal proportionally (see figure).

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 Pressure Sensors
Capacitance-Based Pressure Sensors

18
 Pressure Sensors
Capacitance-Based Pressure Sensors
 Using the operational amplifier:

 Signal flow relationship for the sensor operation is as follows:

where the pressure differential results in change in the distance

between two plates of the capacitive sensor which in turn
changes the capacitance of the sensor.
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 Pressure Sensors
Tactile Sensor
 A tactile sensor is a particular form of pressure sensor.

 Such a sensor is used on the ‘fingertips’ of robotic ‘hands’ to

determine when a ‘hand’ has come into contact with an object.

 They are also used for ‘touch display’ screens where a physical
contact has to be sensed.

 One form of tactile sensor uses piezoelectric polyvinylidene

fluoride (PVDF) film.

 Two layers of the film are used and are separated by a soft film
which transmits vibrations (see figure).
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 Pressure Sensors
Tactile Sensor

21
 Pressure Sensors
Tactile Sensor
 The lower PVDF film has an alternating voltage applied to it and
this results in mechanical oscillations of the film.

 The intermediate film transmits these vibrations to the upper

PVDF film.

 As a consequence of piezoelectric effect, these vibrations cause

an alternating voltage to be produced across the upper film.

 When pressure is applied to the upper PVDF film its vibrations

are affected and the output alternating voltage is changed.

22
 Temperature Sensors
 Three classes of temperature sensors will be discussed:

1. Sensors which change physical dimension as a function of

temperature

2. Sensors which change resistance as a function of temperature

(RTD and thermistors)

3. Sensors which work based on thermoelectric phenomena

(thermocouples)

 Pictures of various RTD and thermocouples type temperature

sensors are shown in figure.

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Temperature Sensors

24
 Temperature Sensors
Temperature Sensors Based on Dimensional Change
 Temperature is an indicator of the
molecular motion of matter.

 Most metals and liquids change their

dimension as function of temperature.

 Mercury is used in glass thermometers

to measure temperature because its
volume increases proportionally with
the temperature.

25
 Temperature Sensors
Temperature Sensors Based on Dimensional Change
 Then the glass tube can be scaled to
indicate the measured temperature.
It has typical accuracy of about ±0.50C.

 Similarly, bimetallic solid materials

change their dimension as a function
of temperature.

Thus, it can be used as a temperature

sensor by converting the change in the
dimension of the bimetallic component
into a voltage.
26
 Temperature Sensors
Temperature Sensors Based on Resistance
RTD Temperature Sensors
 An RTD (resistance temperature detector) temperature sensor
operates on the transduction principle that the resistance of the
RTD material changes with the temperature.

 Then the resistance change can be converted to a proportional

voltage using a Wheatstone bridge circuit.

 A good approximation to the resistance and temperature

relationship for most RTD materials is:

where α is sensitivity of the material resistance to temperature

variation.
27
 Temperature Sensors
Temperature Sensors Based on Resistance
RTD Temperature Sensors
 The sensitivity constants α for various materials are shown:

 Platinum is the most common material used in RTD

sensors.
28
 Temperature Sensors
Temperature Sensors Based on Resistance
RTD Temperature Sensors
 Main advantages of RTD sensors are that the resistance-
temperature relationship is fairly linear over a wide temperature
range and that the measurement accuracy can be as small as
±0.005°C.

 Furthermore, drift of the sensor over time is very small, typically

in the range of less than 0.1 0C / year. As a result, RTDs do not
require frequent calibration.

 RTD is a passive device. It has a resistance where the resistance

changes linearly with temperature.

29
 Temperature Sensors
Temperature Sensors Based on Resistance
RTD Temperature Sensors
 In order to measure the change in resistance, the RTD must be
supplied by a current source and measure the voltage across it.

 One good way of doing this is to use the RTD in a Wheatstone

bridge circuit.

 The dynamic response of the RTD sensor is relatively slow

compared to other temperature sensors.

 RTDs cannot be used to measure high-frequency transient

temperature variations.
30
 Temperature Sensors
Temperature Sensors Based on Resistance
Thermistor Temperature Sensors
 Thermistor sensors are based on semiconductor materials where
the resistance of the sensing element reduces exponentially with
the temperature.

 Typical resistance and temperature relationship for a thermistor

is approximately:

where β is also a function of temperature and a property of the

semiconductor material.

31
 Temperature Sensors
Temperature Sensors Based on Resistance
Thermistor Temperature Sensors
 The variation in the resistance of a thermistor for a given
temperature change is much larger than the variation in
resistance of a RTD sensor.

 This type of sensor is used for their high sensitivity, hjgh

bandwidth, and ruggedness compared to RTDs.

 However, the manufacturing variations in thermistors can be

large from one sensor to another.

 Therefore, cannot be used as direct replacement to one another.

Each sensor must be properly calibrated before replacement.
32
 Temperature Sensors
Thermocouples
 Thermocouples are perhaps the most popular, easy to use, and
inexpensive temperature sensors.

 A thermocouple has two electrical conductors made of different

metals.

 The two conductors are connected as shown in figure.

 The key requirement is that the connections between the two

conductors at both ends must form a good electrical connection.

33
 Temperature Sensors
Thermocouples

 The fundamental thermoelectric phenomenon is that there is a

voltage differential developed between the open circuit end of
the conductor proportional to the temperature of the one of the
junction relative to the temperature of the other junction.

 The thermoelectric phenomena is a result of the flow of both

heat and electricity over a conductor. 34
 Temperature Sensors
Thermocouples
 This is called the Seebeck effect, named after Thomas J.
Seebeck who first observed this phenomenon in 1821.

 Voltage differential measured at the output of the thermocouple

is approximately proportional to the temperature differential
between the two points (Vout in figure):

the proportionality constant is a function of the thermocouple

materials. (not exactly a constant but varies with temperature)

 The thermocouple materials refer to the material types used for

conductors A and B.
35
 Temperature Sensors
Thermocouples
 The voltage output of the thermocouple is in millivolt (mV)
range and must be amplified by an op-amp circuit before it is
used by a data - acquisition system.

 Thermocouple measures the temperature difference between its

two junctions.

 In order to measure the temperature of one of the junctions, the

temperature of the other junction must be known.

 Therefore, a reference temperature is required for the operation

of the thermocouple. This reference can be provided by either
ice-water or by built-in electronic reference temperature.
36
 Temperature Sensors
Thermocouples
 Measurement error in most thermocouples is around ± 1 to 2°C.

 Different thermocouple material pairs are designated with a

standard letter to simplify the references to them. See table.

 In most cases, the output of the thermocouple is processed by a

digital computer system.

 The reference temperature is provided by a thermistor-based

sensor as part of the thermocouple interface circuit of the data-
aquisition board (DAQ).

37
 Temperature Sensors
Thermocouples

38
 Temperature Sensors
Thermocouples
 Multiple thermocouples can be connected in series to sum the
sensor generated signal or in parallel to measure the average
temperature over a finite area.

 Computer interface cards for thermocouple signal processing

makes use of the standard thermocouple tables for the voltage to
temperature conversion for each specific type of thermocouple,
instead of using linear approximation to the voltage-temperature
relationship.

39
 Flow Rate Sensors
 There are four main groups of sensors to measure the flow rate of
a fluid (liquid or gas) passing through a cross-sectional area:
1. Mechanical flow rate sensors
2. Differential pressure measurement based flow rate sensors
3. Thermal flow rate sensors
4. Mass flow rate sensors

Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors

 There are three major types of mechanical flow rate sensors:
 positive displacement flow rate sensors,
 turbine flow meter, and
 drag flow meter.
 Their operating principle is based on the volume displaced by the fluid
flow and drag between the fluid and the sensing element.
40
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Positive – Displacement Flow meters
 Positive displacement flowmeters repeatedly entrap fluid to measure
its flow. It can be thought of as repeatedly filling a bucket with fluid
before dumping the contents downstream. The number of times that
the bucket is filled represents the flow.

 Positive displacement flowmeters account for nearly 10% of the total

number of flowmeters used in industry.
±
± 2%,
 The cheapest instruments have a typical inaccuracy of about
but the inaccuracy in more expensive ones can be as low as 0.5%.

 These higher quality instruments are used extensively within the oil
industry, as such applications can justify the high cost of such
instruments.
41
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Positive – Displacement Flow meters

 All positive displacement meters operate by using mechanical

divisions to displace discrete volumes of fluid successively.

 Whilst this principle of operation is common, many different

mechanical arrangements exist for putting the principle into
practice.

 However, all versions of positive displacement meter are low friction,

low maintenance and long-life devices.

42
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Positive – Displacement Flow meters

 The rotary piston meter is a common type of positive

displacement meter, and the principles of operation of this are
shown on next slide.

 It consists of a slotted cylindrical piston moving inside a cylindrical

working chamber that has an inlet port and an outlet port.

 The piston moves round the chamber such that its outer surface
maintains contact with the inner surface of the chamber, and, as this
happens, the piston slot slides up and down a fixed division plate in
the chamber.

43
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Positive – Displacement Flow meters

44
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Positive – Displacement Flow meters
 At the start of each piston motion cycle, liquid is admitted to
volume B from the inlet port.

 The fluid pressure causes the piston to start to rotate around the
chamber, and, as this happens, liquid in volume C starts to flow out
of the outlet port, and also liquid starts to flow from the inlet port
into volume A.

 As the piston rotates further, volume B becomes shut off from the
inlet port, whilst liquid continues to be admitted into A and pushed
out of C.

 When the piston reaches the endpoint of its motion cycle, the
outlet port is opened to volume B, and the liquid which has been
transported round inside the piston is expelled.
45
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Positive – Displacement Flow meters

 After this, the piston pivots about the contact point between the top
of its slot and the division plate, and volume A effectively becomes
volume C ready for the start of the next motion cycle.

 A peg on top of the piston causes a reciprocating motion of a lever

attached to it.

 This is made to operate a counter, and the flow rate is therefore

determined from the count in unit time multiplied by the quantity
(fixed) of liquid transferred between the inlet and outlet ports for
each motion cycle.

46
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Turbine Flow meters
 A turbine flowmeter consists of a multi-bladed wheel mounted in a
pipe along an axis parallel to the direction of fluid flow in the pipe,
as shown in figure on next slide.

 The flow of fluid past the wheel causes it to rotate at a rate that is
proportional to the volume flow rate of the fluid.

 This rate of rotation has traditionally been measured by

constructing the flowmeter such that it behaves as a variable
reluctance tachogenerator.

 This is achieved by fabricating the turbine blades from a

ferromagnetic material and placing a permanent magnet and coil
inside the meter housing.
47
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Turbine Flow meters

 A voltage pulse is induced in the coil as each blade on the turbine

wheel moves past it, and if these pulses are measured by a pulse
counter, the pulse frequency and hence flow rate can be deduced.

 In recent instruments, fiber optics are also now sometimes used to

count the rotations by detecting reflections off the tip of the turbine
blades.

48
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Turbine Flow meters

49
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Turbine Flow meters

± in low friction bearings,

 Provided that the turbine wheel is mounted
measurement inaccuracy can be as low as 0.2%.

 However, turbine flowmeters are less rugged and reliable than flow-
restriction type instruments, and are badly affected by any
particulate matter in the flowing fluid.

 Turbine meters are particularly prone to large errors when there is

any significant second phase in the fluid measured.

 For instance, using a turbine meter calibrated on pure liquid to

measure a liquid containing 5% air produces a 50% measurement
error.
50
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Turbine Flow meters

 Turbine meters have a similar cost and market share to positive

displacement meters, and compete for many applications,
particularly in the oil industry.

 Turbine meters are smaller and lighter than the latter and are
preferred for low-viscosity, high-flow measurements.

51
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Vortex Flow meters
 Vortex flowmeters were first introduced to the market in 1969.

 Vortex flowmeters operate on a principle called the von Karman

effect.

 This principle concerns the behavior of fluids when an obstacle is

placed in the path of flow.

 Under the right conditions, the presence of the obstacle generates a

series of alternative vortices called the von Karman street.

 In vortex flowmeters, the obstacle takes the form of an object with a

broad, flat front called a bluff body.
52
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Vortex Flow meters
 The bluff body is mounted at right angles to the flowstream.

 Flow velocity is proportional to the frequency of the vortices.

Flowrate is calculated by multiplying the area of the pipe times the
velocity of the flow.

 In order to compute the flowrate, vortex flowmeters count the

number of vortices generated by the bluff body.

 The majority of vortex flowmeters use a piezoelectric sensor;

however, some use a capacitive sensor and others use an ultrasonic
sensor to detect vortices.

53
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Vortex Flow meters

54
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mechanical Flow Rate Sensors
Vortex Flow meters

 Such instruments have no moving parts, operate over a wide flow

range, have a low power consumption, require little maintenance
and have a similar cost to measurement using an orifice plate.

± and gas flows and a common

 They can measure both liquid
inaccuracy figure quoted is 1% of full-scale reading, though this
can be seriously downgraded in the presence of flow disturbances
upstream of the measurement point.

55
 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
 Differential pressure meters involve the insertion of some device into
a fluid-carrying pipe that causes an obstruction and creates a
pressure difference on either side of the device.

 Such meters are sometimes known as obstruction-type meters or

flow-restriction meters.

 Devices used to obstruct the flow include:

 the orifice plate,

 the venturi tube
 the flow nozzle
 the pitot tube

56
 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors

 When such a restriction is placed in a pipe, the velocity of the fluid

through the restriction increases and the pressure decreases.

 The volume flow rate is then proportional to the square root of

the pressure difference across the obstruction.

 Differential pressure flowmeters, like most flowmeters, have a

primary and secondary element.

 The primary element causes a change in kinetic energy, which

creates the differential pressure in the pipe. The unit must be
properly matched to the pipe size, flow conditions, and the liquid's
properties.

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 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors

 The secondary element measures the differential pressure and

provides the signal or read-out that is converted to the actual flow
value.

 The manner in which this pressure difference is measured is

important.

 Measuring the two pressures with different instruments and

calculating the difference between the two measurements is not
satisfactory because of the large measurement error which can arise
when the pressure difference is small.

 Therefore, the normal procedure is to use a differential pressure

transducer, which is commonly a diaphragm type.
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 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors

59
 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Orifice Plate

 A flat plate with an opening is inserted into the pipe and placed
perpendicular to the flow stream.

 As the flowing fluid passes through the orifice plate, the restricted
cross section area causes an increase in velocity and decrease in
pressure.

 The pressure difference before and after the orifice plate is used to
calculate the flow velocity.

60
 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Orifice Plate

 In practice, the orifice plate is installed in the pipe between two

flanges.

 Acting as the primary device, the orifice constricts the flow of liquid
to produce a differential pressure across the plate.

 Pressure taps on either side of the plate are used to detect the
difference.

 Major advantages of orifices are that they have no moving parts

and their cost does not increase significantly with pipe size.

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 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Orifice Plate

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 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Orifice Plate

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 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Venturi Tube

 The Venturi tube was invented by an Italian physicist named

Giovanni Battista Venturi in 1797.

 A Venturi tube is connected to the existing pipe, first narrowing down

in diameter then opening up back to the original pipe diameter.

 The changes in cross section area cause changes in velocity and

pressure of the flow.

 Venturi tubes have the advantage of being able to handle large flow
volumes at low pressure drops.

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 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Venturi Tube

65
 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Venturi Tube

 The flowmeters have no moving parts.

 They can be installed in large diameter pipes using flanged, welded

or threaded-end fittings.

 Four or more pressure taps are usually installed with the unit to
average the measured pressure.

 Venturi tubes can be used with most liquids, including those having
a high solids content.

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 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Venturi Tube

 The Venturi has a precision-engineered tube of a special shape. This

offers measurement uncertainty of only ± 1%.
 However, the complex machining required to manufacture it means
that it is the most expensive of all the obstruction devices.

 Permanent pressure loss in the measured system is 10 – 15% of the

pressure difference (P1-P2) across it.

67
 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Flow Nozzle

 A nozzle with a smooth guided entry and a sharp exit is placed in the
pipe to change the flow field and create a pressure drop that is used
to calculate the flow velocity.

 Flow Nozzles, at high velocities, can handle approximately 60

percent greater liquid flow than orifice plates having the same
pressure drop.

 Liquids with suspended solids can also be metered.

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 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Flow Nozzle

69
 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Flow Nozzle

 However, use of the units is not recommended for highly viscous

liquids or those containing large amounts of sticky solids.

 Flow nozzles are sometimes used as an alternative to orifice plates

when erosion or cavitation would damage an orifice plate.

 Flow nozzle offer excellent long-term accuracy.

70
 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Pitot Tube

 A probe with an open tip (Pitot tube) is inserted into the flow field.

 The tip is the stationary (zero velocity) point of the flow.

 It’s pressure, compared to the static pressure, is used to calculate the

flow velocity.

 Pitot tubes can measure flow velocity at the point of measurement.

 Pitot tubes are generally installed by welding a coupling on a pipe

and inserting the probe through the coupling.

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 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Pitot Tube

72
 Flow Rate Sensors
Differential Pressure Flow Rate Sensors
Pitot Tube

 Use of most pitot tubes is limited to single point measurements.

 The units are susceptible to plugging by foreign material in the

liquid.

 Advantages of pitot tubes are low cost, absence of moving parts, easy
installation, and minimum pressure drop.

73
 Flow Rate Sensors
Thermal Flow Rate Sensors
 Thermal mass flowmeters are primarily used to measure the flow
rate of gases.

 The principle of operation is to direct the flowing material past a

heated element.

 The mass flow rate is inferred in one of two ways:

 by measuring the temperature rise in the flowing material or

 by measuring the heater power required to achieve a constant set
temperature in the flowing material.

 Typical measurement uncertainty is ± 2%.

74
 Flow Rate Sensors
Thermal Flow Rate Sensors
Hot Wire Anemometer
 The most well-known thermal measurement-based flow rate sensor
is hot wire anemometer.

 The basic transduction principle is as follows:

There is a heat transfer between any two objects with different

temperatures. The rate of heat transfer is proportional to the
temperature difference between them.

 In the case of a flow rate sensor, the two objects are the sensor head
and the fluid around it (see figure).

 The effective heat transfer coefficient between the sensor and the
fluid is dependent on the speed of the flow.
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 Flow Rate Sensors
Thermal Flow Rate Sensors
Hot Wire Anemometer

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 Flow Rate Sensors
Thermal Flow Rate Sensors
Hot Wire Anemometer
 This relationship is:

where is the heat transfer rate, Tw is the temperature of the

tungsten wire used by the sensor, Tf is the temperature of the fluid,
u is the fluid flow speed, and K0 and K1 are sensor calibration
constants.

 This relationship is used in the hot wire anemometer.

 A tiny probe with a tunsgten wire (length in the range of 1-10 mm

and diameter in the range of 1-15 μm) is placed in the flow field.

77
 Flow Rate Sensors
Thermal Flow Rate Sensors
Hot Wire Anemometer
 The resistance of tungsten probe is proportional to its temperature:

 As current is passed through the tungsten wire, heat is transferred

from the wire to the fluid.

 The heat transfer rate depends both on the temperature difference

and fluid speed.

 The tungsten wire current is controlled in such a way that its

temperature (hence, resistance) is held constant.

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 Flow Rate Sensors
Thermal Flow Rate Sensors
Hot Wire Anemometer
 The amount of heat transferred can be estimated from the current
and resistance measurements on the sensor.

 Assuming that the fluid temperature is also constant (or measured

separately by a temperature sensor), it is possible to calculate the
flow speed.

79
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mass Flow Rate Sensors
Coriolis meters
 Coriolis meters are true mass meters that measure the mass rate of
flow directly as opposed to volumetric flow.

 Because mass does not change, the meter is linear without having to
be adjusted for variations in liquid properties.

 It also eliminates the need to compensate for changing temperature

and pressure conditions.

 The meter is especially useful for measuring liquids whose viscosity

varies with velocity at given temperatures and pressures.
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 Flow Rate Sensors
Mass Flow Rate Sensors
Coriolis meters

 Coriolis meters are available in various designs.

 A popular unit consists of a U-shaped flow tube enclosed in a sensor

housing connected to an electronics unit.

 The flow is guided into the U-shaped tube.

 When an osillating excitation force is applied to the tube causing it

to vibrate, the fluid flowing through the tube will induce a rotation
or twist to the tube.
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 Flow Rate Sensors
Mass Flow Rate Sensors
Coriolis meters
 For example, when the tube is moving upward during the first half
of a cycle, the fluid flowing into the meter resists being forced up by
pushing down on the tube.

 On the opposite side, the liquid flowing out of the meter resists
having its vertical motion decreased by pushing up on the tube.
This action causes the tube to twist.

 When the tube is moving downward during the second half of the
vibration cycle, it twists in the opposite direction.

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 Flow Rate Sensors
Mass Flow Rate Sensors
Coriolis meters

83
 Flow Rate Sensors
Mass Flow Rate Sensors
Coriolis meters

 This twist results in a phase difference (time lag) between the inlet
side and the outlet side and this phase difference is directly affected
by the mass passing through the tube.

 The vibration of Coriolis flowmeters has very small amplitude,

usually less than 2.5 mm (0.1 in), and the frequency is near the
natural frequency of the device, usually around 80 Hz.

 Finally, the vibration is commonly introduced by electric coils and

measured by magnetic sensors.
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 Humidity Sensors
 Relative humidity is defined as the percentage ratio of the
amount of water vapor in moist air, versus the amount of water
vapor in saturated air at a given temperature and pressure.

 Relative humidity is strongly affected by temperature.

 Main types of humidity sensors use the:

 capacitance,
 resistive, and
 optical reflection

principles in the transduction stage.

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 Humidity Sensors
 Capacitive humidity sensors use polymer material which
changes capacitance as a function of humidity. The relationship
is fairly linear.

 The sensor is designed as parallel plates with porous electrodes

on a substrate. The electrodes are coated with a dielectric
polymer material that absorbs water vapor from the environment
with changes in humidity.

 The resulting change in dielectric constant causes a

variation in capacitance.

 The variation in capacitance is converted to voltage by an op-

amp circuit to provide a proportional voltage output.
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 Humidity Sensors
 Resistance-based humidity sensors use materials on an
electrode whose resistance change as a function of humidity.

 In general, resistance-humidity relationship is an exponential

relationship; hence, it requires digital signal processing so that
the voltage output is proportional to the measured humidity.

 Capacitive humidity sensors are more rugged and have less

dependency on the temperature than the resistive humidity
sensors.

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 Humidity Sensors
 The chilled mirror hygrometer (CMH) is one of the most
accurate humidity measurement sensors.

 It measures humidity by dew point method (see figure).

 The operating principle is based on the measurement of the

reflected light from a condensation layer which forms over a
cooled mirror.

 A metallic mirror with good thermal conductivity is chilled by a

thermoelectric cooler to a temperature so that the water on the
mirror surface is in equilibrium with the water vapor pressure in
the gas sample above the mirror surface.

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Humidity Sensors

89
 Humidity Sensors
 When mirror is chilled to the point that dew begins to form and
equilibrium is maintained, a beam of light is directed at mirror
surface, and the photodetectors measures the reflected light.

 The reflected light is scattered as a result of the dew droplets on

the minor surface.

 In order to maintain a constant reflected light, the photodetector

output is used to control the thermoelectric heat pump to
maintain the mirror at dew point temperature.

 Then the measured temperature is related to the humidity of the

gas sample. The resolution of the CMH humidity sensor is about
one part in 100 of its measurement range.
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 Vision Sensors
 Vision systems, also called computer vision or machine
vision, are general purpose sensors.

 They are called the "smart sensors" in industry because what is

sensed by a vision system totally depends on the image
processing software.

 A typical sensor is used to measure a variable, i.e., temperatme,

pressure, length, where as vision system can be used to measure
shape, orientation, area, defects, differences between parts, etc.

 Lower cost also makes them attractive for use in automated

processes i.e. for part inspection and location detection.

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 Vision Sensors
 There are three main components of a vision system:

1. Vision camera: It is the sensor head, made of photosensitive

device array, and the analog-to-digital conversion (ADC) circuit to
convert the analog signal of electrical charges on the sensor head
to digital form.
2. Image-processing computer and software.
3. Lighting system.

 The basic principle of operation of a vision system is shown in

figure on next slide.

 A vision system forms an image by measuring the reflected light

from objects in its field of view.
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Vision Sensors

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 Vision Sensors
 The rays of light from a source (i.e., ambient light or structured
light) strike the objects in a field of view of the camera.

 The part of the reflected lights from the objects reaches the
sensor head.

 The sensor head is made of an array of photosensitive, solid-state

devices such as photodiodes or charge-coupled devices (CCD)
where the output voltage at each element is proportional to the
time integral of the light intensity received.

 The sensor array is a finite number of CCD elements in a line

(i.e., 512 elements, 1024 elements) for the line-scan cameras or a
finite array of two-dimensional distribution (i.e., 512 x 512,640 x
640,1024 x 1024) as shown in figure on next slide. 94
Vision Sensors

95
 Vision Sensors
 Vision sensor head types:

a. line-scan camera where

sensor array is arranged
along a line; and

b. two-dimensional camera
where the sensor array is
arranged over rectangular
area.

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 Vision Sensors
 Field of view in real-world coordinates with dimensions [xf , yf ] is
mapped to the [nx , ny] discrete sensor elements. Each sensor
element is called a pixel.

 The spatial resolution of the camera, i.e., the smallest length

dimension it can sense in x and y directions, is determined by
the number of pixels in the sensor array and the field of view that
the camera is focused on:

where ∆xf , ∆yf are the smallest dimensions in x and y directions

the vision system can measure.
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 Vision Sensors
 Clearly, the larger the number of pixels, the better the resolution
of the vision system.

 A camera with variable focus lens can be focused to a different

field of views by adjusting the lens focus without changing the
distance between the camera and field of view, hence changing
the spatial resolution and range of the vision system.

 Light source is a very important, often neglected, part of a

successful vision system design.

 The vision system gathers images using the reflected light

from its field of view.
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 Vision Sensors
 The reflected light is highly dependent on the source of the light.

 There are four major lighting methods used in vision systems:

1. Back lighting which is very suitable in edge and boundary
detection applications
2. Camera-mounted lighting which is uniformly directed on the
field of view and used in surlace inspection applications
3. Oblique lighting which is used in inspection of the surface gloss
type applications
4. Co-axial lighting which is used to inspect relatively small objects,
i.e., threads in holes on small objects

 An image at each individual pixel is sampled by an analog-to-

digital converted (ADC). The smallest resolution the ADC can
have is 1 bit. 99
 Vision Sensors
 That is the image at the pixel would be considered either white
or black. This is called a binary image.

 If ADC converter has 2 bits per pixel, then image in each pixel
can be represented in one of four different levels of gray or color.

 Similarly, an 8-bit sampling of pixel signal results in 28 = 256

different levels of gray (gray scale image) or colors in the image.

 As the sampling resolution of pixel data increases, the gray scale

or color resolution of the vision system increases.

 In gray scale cameras, each pixel has one CCD element whose
analog voltage output is proportional to the gray scale level.
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 Vision Sensors
 In color sensors, each pixel has three different CCD elements for
three main colors (red, blue, green).

 By combining different ratios of the three major colors, different

colors are obtained.

 Unlike a digital camera to take pictures where the images are

viewed later, the images acquired by a computer system must be
processed at periodic intervals in an automation environment.

 For instance, a robotic controller needs to know whether a part

has a defect or not before it passes away from its reach on a
conveyor.
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 Vision Sensors
 The available processing time is in the order of milliseconds and
even shorter in some applications such as visual serving
applications.

 Therefore, the amount of processing necessary to evaluate an

image should be minimized.

 Consider events involved in an image acquisition and processing:

1. A control signal initiates the exposure of the sensor head array

(camera) for a period of time called exposure lime. During this
time, each array collects the reflected light and generates an
output voltage. This time depends on the available external light
and camera settings such as aperture.
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 Vision Sensors
2. Then the image in the sensor array is locked and converted to
digital signal (A to D conversion).
3. The digital data are transferred from the sensor head to the signal
processing computer.
4. Image processing software evaluates the data and extracts
measurement information.

 As the number of pixels in the camera increases, computational

load and the processing time increases since the A / D
conversion, data transfer, and processing all increase with
increasing number 6f pixels.

 Typical frame update rate in commercial two dimensional vision

systems is at least 30 frames/sec . Line-scan cameras can easily
have a frame update rate around 1000 frames/sec.
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 Vision Sensors
 The effectiveness of a vision system is largely determined by its
software capabilities.

 That is, the kind of information it can extract from the image,
how reliably it can do it, and how fast it can do it?

 Standard image processing software functions include the

following capabilities:
1. Thresholding an image: Once an image is acquired in digital
form, a threshold value of color or gray scale can be selected, and
all pixel values below value (white value) that are set to one fixed
low value, and all pixel values above that value are set to a high
value (i.e., black value). This turns the image into a binary image.
Various detection algorithms can be run fast on such an image,
such as the edge detection algorithm.
104
 Vision Sensors
2. Edge detection of an object: An edge is detected when a sharp
change occurs from one pixel to another in the gray scale value of
the image. Once such a transition is detected between two pixels
in a search direction on the image array, then all the pixels around
the transition pixel are searched to determine the edge boundary.

3. Color or gray scale distribution (also called histogram of image): It

is a plot of the gray scale distribution of the image, that is, how
many pixels (y-axis) has a given gray scale (x-axis).

4. Connectivity of object (detect discontinuities).

5. Image comparison with a reference image in memory (also called

template mathing), i.e., the image system may store a set of "good
part" images. A real-time image is compared to the stored images
to determine whether or not it matches one of template images.
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 Vision Sensors
6. Position and orientation of an object relative to another reference.

7. Dimensions (length, area) of an image: Once the boundaries of a

pat1 or parts in an image are determined, the dimensions and area
information can be easily calculated.

8. Character recognition, i.e., recognize letters and numerals.

9. Geometric image transformations, i.e., mathematical operations

on the matrix data of the image to move, rotate, or stretch the
image.

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 Vision Sensors
Example
 Consider a vision system with 1024 x 1024 - pixel resolution.

 The camera processes 60 frames' per second.

 The resolution of A / D converter system is 8 bit.

 What is the amount of data bytes processed per second?

 If the camera is focused into a surface with 10 cm x 10 cm

dimensions, what is the spatial resolution in measurement?

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 Vision Sensors
Example
 Each pixel holds I-byte data since the ADC converter has 8-bit
resolution.

 The number of bytes processed per second is equal to the

number of data bytes per frame times the number of frames per
second:

 Clearly, the amount of data processed per second is very large in

a high-resolution camera.
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 Vision Sensors
Example
 The smallest distances in x and y directions the system can
measure are:

which indicates that the vision system can measure dimensions

in x and y coordinates with about 0.1 mm accuracy.

109