Faculty of engineering

Mechanical Engineering Dept.

Measurements

Instructor:
Dr. Mohamed Abdallah Bhlol
Assistant Professor
Mechanical Engineering Department
Faculty of Engineering
Helwan University
 Outlines
 Introduction to the Staff
 Introduction to the Course
 Textbooks and Course Overview
 Course Objectives/Contents
 Evaluation and Grading
 Lecture 1: Fundamentals of Measurement Systems
Introduction to the Staff

• Instructors Prof. Dr. Abdelhy mohamed

Dr. Mohamed Abdallah Bhlol
Dr. Mohamed Abdallah Attia

• E-Mail bhlolmohamed@yahoo.com
• Office Room 412 mechanical engineering
department
• Class Schedule Tuesday (9:00 am-12:00 pm)
• Class room 14

• TAs Eng. Mohamed Farouk

Eng. Mohamed Adel
Textbooks

[1] Bentley, J. P., “Principles of Measurement Systems”,

Fourth Edition, 2005, Pearson Education Limited,
England.

[2] Alan, S. M., “Measurement and Instrumentation

Principles”, Third Edition, 2001, Butterworth-Heinemann,
England.
 Course Overview
 This course is designed to help engineers to acquire
the basic knowledge and skills about:

- Basic concepts of measurements and instrumentation; the

main components of a measuring system; static and
dynamic characteristics of a measuring system; accuracy
and errors of measuring instruments; classification of
sensors and transducers; signal conditioning and signal
processing elements; classification of data presentation
element. Mechanical and electrical measurements.
Course Objectives
Course Objectives Include:
 Understand the basic concepts of measurements and how
to perform measuring process.
 Evaluate different techniques and strategies for solving
measurement problems.
 Apply sensors and transducers in engineering
measurements.
 Observe, record and analyze data to determine the
experimental errors and its sources.
 Enable students to work in teams.
 Enable students to write experimental technical reports
with interpretation of the results.
Course Contents
Tentative topics of the course include:
Fundamentals of measurement systems
Uncertainty Analysis
Static characteristics of measurement system elements
Accuracy of measurement systems in steady state
Dynamic characteristics of measurement system elements
Sensors and transducers
Signal conditioning elements
Signal processing elements
Data presentation elements
Specified measurement systems
Evaluation and Grading
Mark

Attendance/participation 5
Quizzes 5

Mid-term examination (2 exams) 30

Oral and practical examination 40

Final-term examination 120

Total 200
 Faculty of engineering
Mechanical Engineering Dept.

Measurements

Chapter 1
Fundamentals of Measurement
Systems

Dr. Mohamed Abdallah Bhlol

Topics
Definition of measurement and instrumentation

Significance of measurement

General Measurement System

Functions of instrument in measurements

Calibration and standards

 Measurement and Instrumentation
Measurement
Measurement is the art of assigning
a specific value to a physical variable
detected by a sensor.

A measurement tells us about a

property of something. It might tell us
how heavy an object is, or how hot, or
how long it is.

The result of a measurement is

normally in two parts: a number and a
unit of measurement, e.g. ‘How long is
it? ... 2 metres.’
Measurement and Instrumentation
Instrumentation
Measurements are always
made by using an instrument
(tool) of some kind. Rulers,
stopwatches, weighing scales,
and thermometers are all
measuring instruments.

Iinstrument is a device that

transforms a physical variable
of interest (the measurand )
into a form that is suitable for
recording (the measurement).
Some Tools for Measurement
Measurement and Instrumentation
An example is weighing system

the measurand is the weight of some object

the measurement is the number of units (ton, kilogram,
gram, etc.) that represent the weight.
Measurement and Instrumentation

 Examples of Measurements

What kinds of measurements did you make today?

You are making a measurement when you:

Check your weight.

Read your watch.
Take your temperature.
Read the speed indicator of your car.
Significance of Measurement
 Why measurement? (Significance of Measurements)
To estimate the size/amount of things
To monitor devices and industrial processes
To control process and systems
To verify laws of nature
To establish standards
To design and build systems
To improve the quality of the product
To improve the efficiency of production
General Measurement System
The measurement system includes all the components
necessary for producing a measurement.

The measurement system consists of several elements or

blocks. It is possible to identify four types of element,
although in a given system one type of element may be
missing or may occur more than once.
Elements of a Measurement System

Any measurement system can be divided into four elements:

1) Sensing element
2) Signal conditioning element
3) Signal processing element
4) Data presentation element
 General Measurement System
Elements of a Measurement System

General Structure of Measuring System

1) Sensing element
Is the element in direct contact with the process or variable
being measured.
For examples:
-The strain gauges where its resistance depends on the
measured mechanical strain.
 General Measurement System
-The thermocouple that changes its output (emf) depending on
the measured Temperature.

If there is more than one sensing element in a system, the

element in contact with the process is termed the primary
sensing element, the others secondary sensing elements.
2) Signal conditioning element
Is the element that takes the output of the sensing element
and convert it into more suitable form for further processing.

For examples:
•Deflection Bridge which converts the impedance to form of
voltage.
•Amplifiers which are used to amplify milliVolts to Volts.
 General Measurement System
3) Signal processing element
Is the element that takes the output of the signal
conditioning element converting it into form suitable for
presentation purpose.

For example: Analog to digital converter

4) Data presentation element

Is the element that presents the measured value in form
easy to be recognized by the observer.
For example:
- Simple pointer–scale indicator
- Alphanumeric display
- Visual display unit (VDU)
General Measurement System
Examples of sensors

Thermocouple
Electromagnetic transducer Piezoelectric transducer

Photovoltaic transducer Photoconductive transducer

General Measurement System
Sensor and transducer
Atomic-force microscope with sensor and transducer stages
•Measuring profile of surface
•Physical variable: height of surface
•Sensor : cantilever beam
•phenomena: deflection
• transducer: laser and light sensors
(photodiodes)
A transducer
converts the sensed
information into a
detectable signal.
General Measurement System
Examples of measurement systems

1) Weight measurement system

ε R Deflection v Amplifier V
True Pillar Strain
weight load Cell gauge Bridge

Sensors Signal
conditioning

01001
measured VDU Micro A/D
weight Computer Converter
V

Data Signal
presentation Processing
General Measurement System
Examples of measurement systems

2) Burdon type pressure gauge

General Measurement System
Examples of measurement systems

3) Tire pressure gauge

General Measurement System
Examples of measurement systems

4) liquid-in-glass bulb Thermometer

bulb’s internal capillary

design acts as a transducer.
Functions of instrument in measurements
Functions of instrument and measuring system can be
classified into three. They are:

i) Indicating function.
ii) Recording function.
iii) integrating function.

1) Indicating:
Indicating instruments are those which indicate the
instantaneous value of the electrical quantity being
measured, at the time at which it is being measured. Their
indications are given by pointers moving over calibrated
dials(scale), e.g. ammeters, voltmeters and wattmeters.
 Types of instruments in measurements
2) Recording:
Recording instruments are those which give a continuous
record of variations of the electrical quantity over a selected
period of time. The moving system of the instrument carries
an inked pen which rests tightly on a graph chart. e.g.
recording voltmeters used in supply station.
3) Integrating:
Integrating instruments are those which measure and
register the total quantity of electricity (in ampere-hour) or
the total amount of electrical energy(in watt-hours or
kilowatt-hours) supplied to a circuit over a period of time,
e.g. ampere-hour meters, energy meters.
 Calibration and standards
 Calibration:

Calibration is the comparison of an instrument against a

reference or standard, to find any errors in the values indicated
by the instrument.

Calibration consists of comparing the output of the

instrument or sensor under test against the output of an
instrument of known accuracy (higher accuracy) when the
same input (the measured quantity is applied to both
instrument).

A rule that should be followed is that the calibration standard

should be at least 10 times as accurate as the instrument
being calibrated.
Calibration and standards
 Calibration:

Static Calibration:
-Input and output are time invariant (static characteristics)

Dynamic Calibration:
-Input and output are time variant (dynamic characteristics)

By holding some inputs constant, varying others and

recording the output(s) develop the desired static input-
output relations. Many trial and runs are needed.

The slope of the calibration curve is called the sensitivity

Calibration and standards

Calibration curve
 Calibration and standards
Standards of measurements:
When a measurement system is calibrated, its indicated
value is compared directly with a reference
value. This reference value forms the basis of the comparison
and is known as the standard.

Types of Standards

International Standards (defined based on international

agreement )
Primary Standards (maintained by national standards
laboratories)
Secondary Standards ( used by industrial measurement
laboratories)
Working Standards ( used in general laboratory)
Calibration and standards
Calibration involve a comparison of an instrument with either:
1. A primary standard
2. A secondary standard
3. A known input

Standard weight
Example:
measurement facility

Another weighing
Weighing instrument instrument of higher
accuracy

Mass standard