ICSP2014 Proceedings

Research on the sensor calibration of pressure transmitter based on

the least square method

Wang Zhiping a, Xu Aidong b, Wang Kai c, Song Van d and Van Bingjun e
Shenyang Institute of Automation,
Chinese Academy of Sciences
Shenyang 110016, China
awangzhiping@sia.cn, bxad@sia.cn, cwangkai@sia.cn, dsongyan@sia.cn, eyanbingjun@sia.cn

ABSTRACT capacitors share a plate which is the middle measuring

The accuracy of capacitance pressure sensor is easily disturbed
by work environment. In order to improve the accuracy of
pressure sensor, the paper researches on the sensor calibration
of pressure transmitter based on the least square method. The
diaphragm. The position of middle measurement diaphragm
changes when measurement pressure changes s, i.e. the
measurement capacitance CR, CL changes.
CH CL

measurement circuit is designed to convert the output of sensor the location of diaphragm
from the capacitance value to the cycle value. Working quadric
when PI=P2
surface is fitted with the value of environmental temperature,
P2 the location of diaphragm
the output of pressure sensor and setting pressure by the least
square method. The pressure transmitters can accurately l when PI)P2
measure at different temperatures by the experiment. fixing capacitor pla.te

Keywords- pressure transmitter; sensor calibration; the least

square method

1. INTRODUCTION Fig.1 The sylphon of pressure sensor

The pressure transmitters are widely used in petroleum, The measurement circuit of pressure transmitter is made
chemical, steel and other various industries as the pressure up the switching channel circuit and the converting circuit(as
measurement instruments. The pressure transmitters are shown in Figure 2). The pressure transmitter respectively
required the higher and higher measurement precision with connects pressure sensor, the standard capacitor to the
the rapid development of industries. In order to improve the converting circuit by the switching channel circuit. The
measurement accuracy, the paper researches on the sensor converting circuit turns the capacitor value into the
calibration of pressure transmitter. corresponding cycle pulse. The pulse is captured by the timer
Pressure transmitter is classified by the working principle of MCV. MCV calculates the cycle value and then
including the capacitance pressure transmitter and diffusion transforms to the pressure value.
silicon pressure transmitter. The capacitive pressure sensor
which compared with the diffusion silicon sensor is good The measurement circuit
dynamic response characteristic and high sensitivity, but the
output characteristic curve of capacitive pressure sensor is The switching � The converting u
Pressure sensor r- MCU
easily effected by temperature. The paper designs the rr channel circuitr-v circuit �
measuring circuit, and calibrates the pressure transmitter to
improve the measurement accuracy [1-2].
Fig.2 The measurement circuit diagram
2. DESIGN OF THE MEASUREMENT CIRCUIT OF
PRESSURE TRANSMITTER 2.1 The switching channel circuit

The paper takes the differential gap capacitance pressure
sensor as the research object. According to the characteristics
of pressure sensor, the measurement circuit is designed by
digital pressure acquisition technology. The pressure
transmitter converts the sensor capacitance value to
corresponding cycle pulse.
There are two measurement capacitances CR, CL(as
shown in Figure 1) in the sylphon of the pressure sensor. The
mechanical structure is equivalent to two capacitors, and two
The switching channel circuit respectively connects the
pressure sensor, the standard capacitor to the converting
circuit. In order to improve the accuracy of pressure
transmitter, the standard capacitor and the unloaded end are
measured as the standard reference value. The measurement
value of unloaded end is that the parasitical capacitor of
measurement channel generates pulse, and the measurement
value of pressure sensor needs subtract the measuring value
of unloaded end.

978-1-4799-2186-7114/$31.00 ©2014 IEEE 389

 The switching channel circuit make the measurement 3. Calibrate the acquisition of pressure sensor
capacitor CH, CL, the standard capacitor and the The output characteristic of capacitance pressure sensor
unloaded end to orderly connect the converting circuit by is difference curve by the temperature. In order to improve
high speed analog switch. The diagram of the switching
the measurement accuracy of pressure transmitter, the
channel circuit is shown in figure 3.
measurement value is transformed linear, and working
quadric surface is fitted by the least square method to
The switching channel circuit
calibrate the pressure sensor.
ell �
3.1 Convert pressure sensor linear
'I� � Two measurement capacitances CH, CL are nolinear
CL
T with the measurement pressure, but the ratio of the difference
High speed The converting
circuit and summation (CL-CH)/(CL+CH) are linear with the
analog switch
The standard f:> measurement pressure. In The ratio is calculated as the
capaCl. tor measurement value to improve the accuracy of pressure
transmitter.
The unloaded
end
f:> The change distance of diaphragm is linear with the
differential pressure of pressure sensor.

Fig.3 The switching channel circuit diagram

Lld = KILlP (1)
2.2 The converting circuit

The converting circuit is designed by the digital Lld - the change distance of diaphragm.
acquisition technology. The converting circuit is made up of KI - the constant of diaphragm.
comparator, NAND gate, the standard resistance and LlP - the differential pressure of pressure sensor.
pressure sensor, and transforms from the capacitor value to The pressure sensor is the differential gap capacitance
the corresponding cycle pulse. The converting circuit adjusts structure, the change distance is linear with the ratio of
the cycle of pulse with frequency divider to improve the difference and summation (CL-CH)/(CL+CH).
accuracy [3].
The converting circuit generates the standard voltage by CL-CH
the resistance RI,R2 and R3, and the standard voltage acts as LldK2 (2)
CL+CH
=

the "+" input of comparator Uland the "-" input of

comparator U2(as shown in Figure 4).The input
K2 - the constant of diaphragm.
capacitor(pressure sensor) and the standard resistance R4
The paper makes the Eq. (1) into the Eq. (2).
make up the RC circuit which connects to the "-" input of
comparator Uland the "+" input of comparator U2.The
CL-CH
outputs of comparator Uland U2 connects to the inputs of KIK2LlP (3)
CL+CH
=

NAND gate U3 and U4. The comparator and the NAND gate
make up the oscillating circuit.Due to the output of
oscillation circuit too fast, the pulse cannot be captured by
MCU, and MCU comes into being to the losing pulse of
phenomenon. So it influences the measurement accuracy of
pressure transmitter. The frequency divider U5 is connected
to the output of the oscillating circuit to reduce the frequency
output of converting circuit.
RI
R3
Fig.4 The converting circuit diagram
According to the Eq. (3), the ratio of difference and
summation is linear with the measurement pressure. The
converting circuit converts the sensor capacitance value to
corresponding cycle pulse by the digital acquisition
technology. The radio of capacitance is equal with the radio
of cycle, so the ratio of cycle value is linear with the
measurement pressure. The pressure transmitter uses the
ratio of cycle as the measurement value.
3.2 Calibrate the pressure sensor
Due to influence by many factors when the pressure
sensor works, the ratio capacitance is not linear with the
measurement pressure. In order to improve the accuracy of
pressure transmitter and compensate temperature drift,
working quadric surface is fitted with the value of
environmental temperature, the output of pressure sensor and
setting pressure by the least square method. The pressure
transmitter is calibrated by the fitting equation to correct and
compensate temperature drift [4].

390
 The relation expression of the environmental temperature, Table 1. Record the data in O°C
the measurement cycle and setting pressure is given as -5 -3.5 -2.5 -1.5 0
Setting value
follows: KPa KPa KPa KPa KPa
Measurement -5.001 -3.495 -2.001 -1.497 0.002
KPa KPa KPa KPa KPa
X2 + al y2 + bi
value
P = aO * * X + bO * * Y + cO * XY + d (4)
Setting value 0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5 5
KPa KPa KPa KPa KPa
P - the setting pressure. Measurement 0.5002 1.495 2.496 3.497 4.996
value KPa KPa KPa KPa KPa
X - the measuring cycle.
Y - the environmental temperature.
Table 2. Record the data in 45°C
aO,al,bO,b1,cO,c1 - calculation coefficient.
According to the range(-7.5KPa 7.5KPa) and working � Setting value -5 -3.5 -2.5 -1.5 0
KPa KPa KPa KPa KPa
environment temperature(-30 °C 7.5 °C ) of pressure
-4.997 -3.49 8 -2.497 -1.503 0.003
�

Measurement
sensor ,the pressure transmitter is setted with the pressure value KPa KPa KPa KPa KPa
point as follows: -7.5KPa,-3 KPa, OKPa, 3KPa, 7.5KPa,and Setting value 0.5 1.5 2.5 3.5 5
the temperature point as follows: _30°C, 20°C, 70°C. KPa KPa KPa KPa KPa
The pressure transmitter uses the pressure calibrator as Measurement 0.5001 1.502 2.503 3.499 5.005
value KPa KPa KPa KPa KPa
the standard pressure source, and uses high-low temperature
test-box to provide the environmental temperature. The
experiment diagram is shown in figure 5. -- Setting value
........ Measurement value

high-low temperature test-box

Pressure calibrator Pressure transmitter Record the data

Fig.5 The experiment diagram

The fitting equation is calculated with the recording data
-4
by matlab .

P = -0.2355 * X2 - 0.00067 * X + 0.0000082 * y2 - 3 4 6 10 11

0.00067 * Y - 0.00004 * XY + 0.0328 (5) NO.

Fig.7 Working curve of transmitter in O°C

-- Setting value
... Measurement value
6

.,

10

·6

Fig.6 The fitting surface

·4

4. EXPERIMENTAL VERfFICATION

In order to verify the accuracy of transmitter, the

transmitter is setted with 10 pressure points and 2 o 3 6 7 6 9 10 11

temperature points for the experiment, and records the NO.

setting pressure value and the measurement value.

Fig.8 Working curve of transmitter in 45°C

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 The experiment result shows that the calibration method
can accurately measures the pressure sensor, and the
maximum error is 0.005Kpa.The measurement accuracy of
pressure transmitter is up to 0.075 %, and already has
reached the measurement accuracy of world advanced
pressure transmitter.

5. CONCLUSION

The paper takes the capacitance pressure sensor as the

research object, and makes use of the digital acquisition
technology to design the measurement circuit. This paper
makes fits working quadric surface by the least square
method, and calibrates the transmitter to improve the
measurement accuracy.

6. ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work is supported by the National High Technology

Research and Development Program (863 Program), under
contract 2013AA040301.

REFERENCES

[I] Wang Zhiping, Xu Aidong, Song Yan, Yanbingjun.

Design ana develop of furictional safety temperature
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[2] Guo bing, Wang Chong. Current Status and
Development of Pressure Sensors. China
Instrumentation,2009,no.5,pp.72-75.
[3] Yu Haibin, Wang Hong, Zhao Haiyan and Lin Yue.
Pressure digital acquisition front end. China,
CN200610048057 A[P] .2008-4-23.
[4] Liu Qin, Zhou Dongxu, Zhang Zhiguo,Kuang Shi,Li
Xin. Linear Calibration and Temperature Compensation
of Capacitive Pressure Sensor. Instrument Technique
and Sensor, 2010, no.11, pp.3-6.

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