Mechanical Engineering

Department

Lecture 1

Course: Measurements and Instrumentations

Prepared by

Dr. Abdel-Nasser Sharkawy

Mechatronics and Robotics Engineering
 Course Content

Chapter 1: Fundamentals of Measurement Systems

Chapter 2: Instrument Types and Performance Characteristics

Chapter 3: Errors during the measurement process

Chapter 4: Pressure Chapter 7: Temperature and Heat

Chapter 5: Level Chapter 8:

Translational Motion Transducers
Chapter 6: Flow
 References

1) Alan S. Morris, Reza Langari, Measurement and Instrumentation: Theory

and Application, ISBN: 978-0-12-381960-4, 2012, Elsevier.

2) Alan S. Morris, Measurement and Instrumentation Principles, ISBN 0

7506 5081 8, 2001.

3) William C. Dunn, Fundamentals of Industrial Instrumentation and Process

Control, McGraw-Hill Companies, 2005. DOI: 10.1036/0071466932.
 Lecture 1: Fundamentals of Measurement Systems
❑ Measurement techniques have been of immense importance ever since
the start of human civilization, when measurements were first needed to
regulate the transfer of goods in barter trade in order to ensure that
exchanges were fair.

❑ The massive growth in the application of computers to industrial process

control and monitoring tasks has greatly expanded the requirement for
instruments to measure, record, and control process variables.

❑ The requirement for instruments to be both accurate and inexpensive

becomes ever harder to satisfy.
 Measurement Units

Fundamental SI
Units
 Measurement Units

Derived SI Units
 Elements of a Measurement System
❑ A measuring system exists to provide information about the physical value
of some variable being measured.

1 – Primary Sensor
This gives an output that is a
function of the measurand (the
input applied to it).

Examples:
❑Liquid-in-glass thermometer
❑Thermocouple
❑Strain gauge
 Elements of a Measurement System

2 – Variable conversion elements

These elements are needed where

the output variable of a primary
sensor is in an inconvenient form
and has to be converted to a more
convenient form.

Primary sensor + variable conversion element

= Transducer
 Elements of a Measurement System

3 – Signal processing elements

These elements exist to improve

the quality of the output of a
measurement system in someway.

Examples:
❑The electronic amplifier
❑Filter

In some devices, signal processing is incorporated into a transducer, which is then

known as a transmitter.
 Elements of a Measurement System

4 – Other components

❑ Transmitting the signal to some

remote point.
❑ Displaying or recording the signal
if it is not fed automatically into
a feedback control system.
 Choosing Appropriate Measuring Instruments

❑ Specification of the instrument Characteristics required:

❖ Desired measurement accuracy
❖ Resolution
❖ Sensitivity
❖ Dynamic performance

❑ The environmental conditions that the instrument will be subjected to.

❑ Maintenance requirements.
❑ Purchase cost.
 Measurement System Applications

❑ In regulating trade:
Applying instruments that measure physical quantities such as length, volume, and
mass in terms of standard units.

❑ In monitoring functions:
These provide information that enables human beings to take some prescribed
action accordingly.

❑ Part of automatic feedback

control systems forms

Example: Simple temperature control

system
 Instrument Types

❑ Active and Passive Instruments

❑ Null-Type and Deflection-Type Instruments

❑ Analogue and Digital Instruments

❑ Indicating Instruments and Instruments with a Signal Output

❑ Smart and Nonsmart Instruments

 Active and Passive Instruments
Instruments are divided into active or passive ones according to whether instrument
output is produced entirely by the quantity being measured or whether the quantity
being measured simply modulates the magnitude of some external power source.

Example of a passive instrument:

Passive pressure gauge
 Active and Passive Instruments
Example of an active instrument:
Float-type petrol tank level indicator

Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=G2NGAHjPbNU
 Active and Passive Instruments

Example: Determine if the instrument in the presented video is passive or

active and why?

Source:
https://www.youtube.com/watch
?v=i0N0izxR1uQ
 Null-Type and Deflection-Type Instruments

Deflection-Type Instruments:
The value of the quantity being measured is displayed in terms of the amount of
movement of a pointer.

Example: The previous pressure gauge

Null-Type Instruments:
Example: The Dead-weight pressure gauge
Weights are put on top of the piston until the
downward force balances the fluid pressure. Weights
are added until the piston reaches a datum level,
known as the null point. Pressure measurement is
made in terms of the value of the weights needed to
reach this null position.
 Null-Type and Deflection-Type Instruments
❑Null-type instruments are more accurate than deflection types:
Deflection-type instrument depends on the linearity and calibration of the spring,
whereas for the null-type instrument relies on calibration of the weights.

❑ In terms of usage, a deflection-type instrument is clearly more convenient.

It is far simpler to read the position of a pointer against a scale than to add and
subtract weights until a null point is reached.

❑ For calibration duties, a null-type instrument is preferable because of its

superior accuracy.
‫ مجموعة من عمليات القياس التي تحدث تحت ظروف معينة ومحددة باستخدام أدوات وأجهزة قياس مسندة الي المعايير الدولية أو القومية التي‬: ‫المعايرة‬
.SI ‫تحقق وحدات النظام الدولي للقياسات‬
‫ ومدي مطابقتها للنظام الدولي‬،‫ ومالءمتها لألغرض المستخدمة من اجله‬،‫وتفيد عمليات المعايرة في تحديد مدي دقة اجهزة القياس داخل المنشأت الصناعية‬
.‫ طبقا للمعايير الدولية محددة ويتم تحديد خصائص أجهزة القياس عن طريق إيجاد العالقة بين القيمة الحقيقية والقيمة المقاسة‬SI ‫للقياس‬