UNIT 4 SIGNAL CONDITIONING AND SIGNAL ANALYSER

In DC measurement circuits, bridge circuits are useful in measuring unknown values of

resistance. The bridge circuit works as a pair of two component voltage dividers connected
across the same source voltage, with a null detector connected between them to indicate a
condition of “balance” at zero volts. They work on the principle of null indication.
Any one of the four resistors can be the resistor of unknown value and its value can be
determined by a ratio of the other three, whose resistances are known to a precise degree.

Bridge Circuit

DC Bridges AC Bridges

Resistance Inductance Capacitance Frequency

Wheatstone bridge Maxwell Bridge

Schering Bridge Wien Bridge
Kelvin bridge Hay Bridge

DC Bridges
Wheatstone Bridge

 It is used to measure an unknown electrical resistance by balancing two legs of a

bridge circuit, one leg of which includes the unknown component.
 It is constructed from four resistors, one of which has an unknown value (Rx), one of
which is variable (R2), and the other two are fixed and equal (R1 and R3).
 The dc source, E is connected across the resistance network to provide a source of
current through the resistance network.
 The sensitive current indicating meter or null detector usually a galvanometer is
connected between the parallel branches to detect a condition of balance
  When there is no current through the meter, the galvanometer pointer rests at 0
(midscale).
 Current in one direction causes the pointer to deflect on one side and current in the
opposite direction to otherwise.
 The bridge is balanced when there is no current through the galvanometer or the
potential across the galvanometer is zero.
 The variable resistor is adjusted until the galvanometer reads zero.
 A galvanometer is used to detect an unbalanced condition in wheatstone bridge.
 Its sensitivity is governed by: current sensitivity, and internal resistance.
 When the bridge is in unbalanced condition, current flows through the galvanometer,
causing a deflection of its pointer. The amount of deflection is a function of the
sensitivity of the galvanometer.

Unbalanced wheatstone bridge Thevenin’s Resistance

Kelvin Bridge
 It is used to measure very low resistances (typically less than 1/10 of an ohm).
 Its operation is similar to the wheatstone bridge except for the presence of additional
resistors.
 These additional low value resistors and the internal configuration of the bridge are
arranged to substantially reduce measurement errors introduced by voltage drops in
the high current (low resistance) arm of the bridge.
AC Bridges

 AC bridges are used for measuring the values of inductors and capacitors or for
converting the signals measured from inductive or capacitive into a suitable form such
as a voltage.
 The general ac bridge circuit consists of 4 impedances, an ac voltage source, and
detector.

 The operation of the bridge depends on the fact that when certain specific circuit
conditions apply, the detector current becomes zero.
 This is known as the null or balanced condition. Zero current means that there is no
voltage difference across detector.
 The voltages at point a and b and from point a to c must be equal.
The condition for balance is given as

Z1/Z3 = Z2/Z4 or Z1Z4 = Z2Z3

The important difference from the DC bridge balance equation is that, here not only the
magnitude of the impedances be balanced but also the phase angle.

Writing the impedances in their polar form, the above condition becomes,
General rule for AC bridges

As a general rule in AC bridges in order to achieve balance conditions, similar

reactive components should be placed on adjacent limbs of the bridge, and different reactive
components should be placed on opposite limbs of the bridge.
For example,
 if only capacitors are to be used in an a.c. bridge, then they should be placed
on adjacent limbs (e.g., the Wien Bridge).
 If a capacitor and an inductor are to be used in a bridge, then they should be
placed on opposite limbs of the bridge (e.g., the Maxwell Bridge).

Definition of electrical Impedance

The impedance of a circuit element is defined as the ratio of the phasor voltage
across the element to the phasor current through the element.

Definition of Reactance, X

Reactance is the imaginary part of impedance, and is caused by the presence of

inductors or capacitors in the circuit. Reactance is denoted by the symbol X and is
measured in ohms.
A capacitance impedance: XC= -1/ωC
An inductive impedance: XL= Ωl

Quality factors for inductors and capacitors

It is the ratio of the value of its reactance to its resistance.
For an inductor,

For a capacitor,
Deflection AC bridges
 AC bridge can be used in two configurations: null and deflection modes.
 In the null mode, the bridge is used to find the value of an L or C component
accurately.
 In a deflection type bridge, the physical variable to be measured is converted to an
output voltage.
 The deflection bridge is especially necessary in cases where the variable to be
measured is changing rapidly.

Maxwell’s Inductance Bridge

The bridge circuit is used form medium inductances and can be arranged to yield
results of considerable precision. In two arms, there are two pure resistances so that for
balance relations, the phase balance depends on the remaining two arms. If a coil of an
unknown impedance Z1 is placed in one arm, then its positive phase angle Φ1 can be
compensated for in either of the following two ways:
1. A known impedance with an equal positive phase angle may be used in either of the
adjacent arms, remaining two arms have zero phase angles (being pure
resistances).Such a network is known as Maxwell’s AC bridge.
2. An impedance with an equal negative phase angle (i.e capacitance) may be used in
opposite arm (so that Φ1 + Φ3 = 0). Such a network is known as Maxwell – Wien
bridge.
Hence inductive impedance may be measured in terms of another inductive impedance in
either adjacent arm (Maxwell bridge) or the unknown inductive impedance may be measured
in terms of a combination of resistance and capacitance in the opposite arm (Maxwell-wien
bridge).
Maxwell- Capacitance Bridge
The positive phase angle of an inductive impedance may be compensated by the
negative phase angle of a capacitive impedance put in the opposite arm. The unknown
inductance then becomes known in terms of this capacitance.
Maxwell bridge is limited to the measurement of medium Q-coils (1<Q<10). It is
also unsuited for the measurement of coils with a very low Q value because of balance
convergence problems. As can be seen from the equations of R3 and L3, adjustments for
inductive balance by R4 upsets the resistive balance by R1 and gives the effect known as
sliding balance.
The usual procedure for balancing the Maxwell bridge is by first adjusting R4 for
inductive balance and then adjusting R1 for resistive balance. Returning to the R4
adjustment, the resistive balance is being disturbed and moves to a new value. This
process is repeated and gives slow convergence to final balance.
Hay Bridge
It is used to measure the value of inductors that have a high Q factor. A Q factor is
considered high for value of 10 or more.

The results depend upon the value of the frequency as opposed to Maxwell bridge,
where the results were independent of the value of frequency.

The capacitor has a high Q. Hence, Q= 1/ ω R1C1

2 2 2 2
ω C1 R1 = 1/Qc ≈ 0
Using this approximation, values of L3 and R3 can be found for high Q values.

L3 = C1R2R4

R3 =
Hay bridge is preferred for measuring inductances with high Q figures, while Maxwell’s
bridge works best with low Q inductors.

Schering Bridge
 It is useful in measuring the capacitance and dielectric loss of a capacitor.
 It is a device for comparing an imperfect capacitor in terms of a loss free standard
capacitor.
 The imperfect capacitor is represented by its equivalent loss-free capacitor in series
with a resistance.
 One arm contains a parallel combination of a resistor and a capacitor, and the
standard arm consists of only a capacitor.
 The standard capacitor is usually a high quality mica capacitor.
 A good quality mica capacitor has very low losses.
 The junction between arms 3 and 4 is earthed.
 Since capacitor impedances at lower frequencies are much higher than resistances,
most of the voltage will appear across capacitors.
 Grounding of the junction affords safety to the operator from the high voltage hazards
while making balancing adjustments in arms 3 and 4.
 The power factor of a series RC combination is defined as the cosine of the phase
angle of the circuit.
PF = Rx / Zx.
 For phase angles close to 90˚, the reactance is almost equal to the impedance and
hence,
PF ≈ r/XC2 = ωC2r
 The dissipation factor of a series RC circuit is defined as the cotangent of the phase
angle.
D = r/XC2 = ωC2r
 We know that Q = XC/R.
 This shows that dissipation factor is the reciprocal of the quality factor Q.
D = 1/Q
 Substituting the values of C2 and r in D, we get,
 D = ωR4C4.
Concepts of Filtering
 To obtain a specific output from a device, it is sometimes necessary to
electronically sort through and pick out exactly what is desired from the
incoming signal.
 Filters can simplify this process by altering the amplitude and phase of the signal
in a desired way.
 In most applications, the signals we obtain contain more frequency components
than we want, so we use a filter to reject undesired components.
 A filter is an electronic circuit that, by design attenuates sinusoidal voltage
signals at undesired components of a signal.
 The changes made to a signal depend on the frequency contained in the signal
and the filter design. A filter is usually inserted between the input source and the
output.

Where, Vi is the input signal with frequency ω

Vm is the amplitude of the input signal.
|T(ω)| is the amplitude of the transfer function or filter.
Θ(ω) is the angle of |T(ω)|.
Thus filter multiplies the amplitude of the input sine wave by T(ω) and adds to the
phase of the sine wave. Since T(ω) and Θ(ω) are the functions of frequency, they are named
as amplitude response and phase response of the filter respectively.
Example:
Low pass filter has the transfer function,

where f = ω / 2π.
The low pass filter passes all frequency components lower than fc and rejects all frequency
components higher than fc. It is practically not possible to build a filter with sharp transition
from pass band to stop band, it takes some finite number of frequencies. Widely used filters
are low pass filter, high pass filter, band pass filter, band stop filter. All these filters have a pass
band, where they pass the frequency components and a stopband, where they reject or attenuate the
frequency components.
Preamplifiers
 A preamplifier (preamp) is an electronic amplifier that prepares a small electrical
signal for further amplification or processing.
 A preamplifier is often placed close to the sensor to reduce the effects of noise and
interference.
 It is used to boost the signal strength to drive the cable to the main instrument without
significantly degrading the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
 Preamplifiers may be:incorporated into the housing or chassis of the amplifier they
feed in a separate housing mounted within or near the signal source

For biophysical measurements, the preamplifiers employed include:

a) ac/dc universal amplifier with special features such as low leakage current, low dc
drift
b) an ECG amplifier with 12 lead selection and patient isolation.
c) A transducer amplifier suited for bridge measurements on strain gages, force
transducers, resistance temperature devices.
d) A dc amplifier used in conjunction with standard thermistor probes for the accurate
measurement of temperature within the range of medical applications.

Various types of preamplifiers used are as follows:

i. Differential amplifier: is one which will reject any common mode signal that
appears simultaneously at both amplifier input terminals and amplifies only the
voltage difference that occurs across its terminals.
ii. Ac coupled amplifier: have a limited frequency response and therefore, used only for
special medical applications such as electrocardiograph machine.
iii. Carrier amplifier: are used with transducers which require an external source of
excitation. They have the ability to operate with resistive , inductive and capacitive
type transducers.
iv. DC amplifiers: are generally of the negative feedback type and are not practical for
very low level applications because of dc drift and poor common mode rejection
capabilities.
v. Chopper amplifier: are preferred for low level inputs to instrumentation systems
because of their high sensitivity and excellent common mode rejection capabilities.
Impedance Matching
Impedance matching is the practice of designing the input impedance of an electrical
load or the output impedance of its corresponding signal source to maximize the power
transfer or minimize signal reflection from the load. In the case of a complex source
impedance ZS and load impedance ZL, maximum power transfer is obtained when

where the asterisk indicates the complex conjugate of the variable.

Where ZS represents the characteristic impedance of a transmission line, minimum
reflection is obtained when

Impedance matching to minimize reflections is achieved by making the load

impedance equal to the source impedance. If the source impedance, load impedance and
transmission line characteristic impedance are purely resistive, then reflection-less matching
is the same as maximum power transfer matching

Impedance matching is needed to provide maximum power transfer between the

source and its load. So first reason of matching is for power efficiency.

Second reason is device protection. If RF circuit is not matched we get reflected

power. The reflected power builds standing waves on the transmission line between the
source and load. If the standing wave is positioned on the transmission line so that the
maximum voltage or current is applied to the power FET’s can be destroyed.

Examples:
 Similar to electrical transmission lines, an impedance matching problem exists when
transferring sound energy from one medium to another.
 If the acoustic impedance of the two media are very different most sound energy will
be reflected (or absorbed), rather than transferred across the border.
 The gel used in medical ultrasonography helps transfer acoustic energy from the
transducer to the body and back again.
  Without the gel, the impedance mismatch in the transducer-to-air and the air-to-body
discontinuity reflects almost all the energy, leaving very little to go into the body.
 The bones in the middle ear provide impedance matching between the eardrum
(which is acted upon by vibrations in air) and the fluid-filled inner ear.

Isolation Amplifier
 They are commonly used for providing protection against leakage currents.
 They break the ohmic continuity of electric signals between the input and output of
the amplifier.
 The isolation includes different supply voltage sources and different grounds on each
side of the isolation barrier.
 Three methods used in the design of isolation amplifiers are transformer isolation,
optical isolation, capacitive isolation.
 The transformer approach uses either a frequency modulated or a pulse width
modulated carrier signal.
 It uses an internal dc-to-dc converter comprising of a 20kHz oscillator, transformer,
rectifier and filter to supply isolated power.
 Isolation by optical means is carried out by using a separate battery operated circuit
that supplies power to the patient circuit and the signal of interest is converted into
light by an LED.
 It is a form of differential amplifier that allows measurement of small signals in the
presence of high common mode voltage by providing electrical isolation and
electrical safety.
 Isolation amplifiers are used to allow measurement of small signals in the presence of
high common mode voltage. The capacity of an isolation amplifier is a function of 2
key isolation amplifier specifications.
1. The amplifier’s isolation breakdown voltage which defines the absolute
maximum common mode voltage that it will tolerate without damage.
Specifications of 1000 volts are common.
2. The amplifier’s common mode rejection ratio specification defines the degree
to which the common mode voltage will disrupt the normal mode component
measurement and therefore affect measurement accuracy.
  The light falls on the phototransistor on the output side, which converts the light
signal again into an electrical signal.
 The capacitive method of isolation uses digital encoding of the input voltage and
frequency modulation to send the signal across a differential capacitive barrier.
 Separate power supply is needed on both the sides.
Merits
 Transformer isolation amplifier is the most commonly used type.
 Opto-coupled amplifier is cost effective followed by the transformer coupled
amplifier.
 Opto coupled offers an isolation voltage of 800 V, transformer coupled offers 1200 V
and capacitance coupled offers 2200V.

Spectrum Analyzer
 The spectrum analyzer, like an oscilloscope, is a basic tool used for observing signals.
 The oscilloscope provides a window into the time domain, whereas the spectrum
analyzer provides a window into the frequency domain.
 In the analyzer, a signal at the input first travels through the attenuator and the low
pass input filter.
 The attenuator then limits the amplitude of the signal, while the filter eliminates the
undesirable frequencies.
 Past the input filter, the signal gets mixed with another signal generated by a voltage
controlled oscillator.
 The frequency of the VCO is controlled by a repeating ramp generator, whose voltage
also drives the horizontal axis of the display.
 As the frequency of the VCO changes, the mixed input signal sweeps through the
resolution bandwidth filter which is fixed in frequency.
 A detector then measures the power level of the signal passing through the IF filter,
producing a dc voltage that drives the vertical portion of the display.
 As the VCO sweeps through its frequency range, a trace is drawn across the screen.
 This trace shows the spectral content of the input signal within a selected range of
frequencies.
 There are three essential steps in any spectrum analyzer measurement:
 It is an oscilloscope that displays the data. It is actually a super heterodyne receiver in
which the local oscillator is a sweep generator. A low frequency wave is applied to both the
sweep oscillator and the horizontal deflection plates of the CRT producing a horizontal
deflection that is a function of frequency.

The lowest frequency of the sweep oscillator is represented by the left side of the trace, while the
highest frequency is represented by right side. The input signals are mixed with local oscillator
signal to produce signal. The bandwidth of amplifier is relatively narrow band, so the output
signal at the detector will have a strength that is proportional to the frequency.