Department Of Mechanical/Mechatronics Engineering

Faculty Of Engineering And Information Technology

An-Najah National University

Transducer and
Interfacing Lab.
Dr. Mohammad Abuabiah Eng. Waleed Abuzainah
m.abuabiah@najah.edu w.abuzaina@najah.edu

Office: 11-4-130 Office: 11-2-150

 Timetable
Lecture
no.
Date Time Experiments
Gp. 1 Gp. 2 Gp. 3 Gp. 4 Gp. 5
1)
Exp. 5 Exp. 1 Exp. 2 Exp. 3 Exp. 4
1 Tuesday – 2/6/2020 11:00 – 02:00 Gp. 1 Gp. 2 Gp. 3 Gp. 4 Gp. 5
2)
Exp. 6 Exp. 7 Exp. 8 Exp. 9 Exp. 10

Gp. 1 Gp. 2 Gp. 3 Gp. 4 Gp. 5

1)
Exp. 7 Exp. 8 Exp. 9 Exp. 10 Exp. 6
2 Monday – 8/6/2020 02:00 – 05:00 Gp. 1 Gp. 2 Gp. 3 Gp. 4 Gp. 5
2)
Exp. 8 Exp. 9 Exp. 10 Exp. 6 Exp. 7

Gp. 1 Gp. 2 Gp. 3 Gp. 4 Gp. 5

1)
Exp. 9 Exp. 10 Exp. 6 Exp. 7 Exp. 8
3 Tuesday – 9/6/2020 11:00 – 02:00 Gp. 1 Gp. 2 Gp. 3 Gp. 4 Gp. 5
2)
Exp. 10 Exp. 6 Exp. 7 Exp. 8 Exp. 9

2
Groups

3
 Evaluation

Assessment Criteria Percent (%) Notes

Only Result, Discussion and
Laboratory Work 40 % Conclusion
(Deadline 11/6/2020)
Two Groups:
Final Practical Exam 20 % 1) Saturday (13/6): 2:00 to 2:30
2) Saturday (13/6): 2:30 to 3:00

Final Written Exam 40 % Saturday (13/6): 3:15 to 5:00

4
 Experiment 6

Pressure Transducer
Pressure Transducer
❑ Pressure in liquids and gases may be measured electrically using
an infinite variety of pressure transducers.
❑ The measurement of pressure may be divided into three general
categories,
1) Absolute pressure transducer: A device containing a reference
vacuum for the measurement of the absolute pressure of the
ambient or of the pressure source connected to it by a tube.

6
Pressure Transducer
2) Differential pressure transducer: A device for the measurement of differential
pressure between two pressure sources connected to it by a tube.

3) Gage pressure transducer: A differential pressure transducer in which the

pressure source consists of the local atmospheric pressure, while the other
source is connected to it by a tube.

7
Pressure Transducer

8
Pressure Transducer

9
Pressure Transducer
❑ Some types of transducer, though belonging to one of these
categories, are better known using different terminology. These
are:
1- Barometric transducer.
2- Altimetric transducer.
3- Vacuum transducer.

❑ Independently of their classification within these groups, pressure

transducers consist basically of two main parts: the first part
converts a pressure 𝐏(𝐭) into movement; the second part converts
this movement 𝐗(𝐭) into electrical signal 𝐕(𝐭).

10
Pressure-movement transduction
❑ In pressure transducers, the mechanical conversion of the
pressure P (t) to movement X(t) is normally achieved using a
device known as diaphragm (or corrugated membrane).

11
Pressure-movement transduction
❑ Two corrugated metal diaphragm welded together form a
capsule. If the internal cavity of this capsule contains a vacuum, it
is possible to measured absolute pressures; the pressure to be
measured is obviously applied to both sides of the element.

12
Pressure-movement transduction
❑ Other mechanical transducers which convert pressure to
movement are the bellows and the bourdon tube.
1. Capacitive capsule: which consists of two ceramic element bearing the
two armatures of capacitor, welded together to form a cavity in which a
vacuum may be formed.

13
Pressure-movement transduction
2. Alumina diaphragm (for Piezoresistive transducers) which bears four
bridge – connected resistors in Piezoresistive material.

14
Pressure-movement transduction
3. Semiconductor diaphragm: consisting of a silicon cell (semiconductor
transducer) on which the resistors (In Piezoresistive material) are obtained
by diffusion.

15
Movement-voltage transduction:
❑ Movement-voltage transduction gives its name to this type of
transducer, of which several versions are used:
1. LVDT (linear variable differential transformer) pressure transducers.

16
Movement-voltage transduction:
2. Potentiometric pressure transducer.

17
Movement-voltage transduction:
3. Strain-gage pressure transducer:

18
 Experiment 7

Force Transducer
Force Transducer
❑ Force transducers (also called force sensors or load cells) are
used for the reliable measurement of tension and compression
forces.
❑ Load cell is a sensor or a transducer that converts a load or force
acting on it into an electronic signal. This electronic signal can be
a voltage change, current change or frequency change
depending on the type of load cell and circuitry used.
1. Resistive load cells work on the principle of piezo-resistivity. When a
load/force/stress is applied to the sensor, it changes its resistance. This
change in resistance leads to a change in output voltage when a input
voltage is applied.
2. Capacitive load cells work on the principle of change of capacitance
which is the ability of a system to hold a certain amount of charge when a
voltage is applied to it.
20
Force Transducer
❑ A load cell is made by using an elastic member (with very highly
repeatable deflection pattern) to which a number of strain
gauges are attached.

21
Force Transducer
❑ The four strain gauges are configured in a Wheatstone Bridge
configuration with four separate resistors connected as shown in what is
called a Wheatstone Bridge Network.

❑ When the metallic member to which the strain gauges are attached, is
stressed by the application of a force, the resulting strain – leads to a
change in resistance in one (or more) of the resistors. This change in
resistance results in a change in output voltage.
22
 Experiment 8

Flow-rate Transducer
Flow-rate Transducer
❑ The proper name of this sensor is "blade or turbine flow meter“.
❑ The sensor consists in a turbine on which blades and magnets are
mounted.

24
Flow-rate Transducer
❑ The rotation of these magnets, caused by the water flow, is
detected by the magnetic field sensor (Hall Effect probe), which
permits to transform the magnetic field variations into electrical
variations (voltage variations).
❑ As the rotation angle of the turbine is proportional to the volume
of the liquid flowing across the blades, the sensor produces a
number of pulses proportional to this volume: the flow will be
equal to the volume across the turbine in the time unit.
❑ This kind of sensor must always be associated to an electronic
counting circuitry, which function is to count the number of pulses
received.
❑ So, the information coming from the sensor is of digital kind; in
order to use it, you must count the times it changes its state in a
particular time lapse.
25
 Experiment 9
Synchro Resolver position
transducer (G23)

26
 Introduction:
• The Synchro resolver used
for measuring the angle
values, is an electrical
machine similar to a
transformer, formed by a
stator, a rotor and some
distributed winding. The
secondary circuit is
provided with two
perpendicular winding and
the first circuit (Rotor)
provided with one winding.

27
In such conditions, by
transmitting to the primary
circuit (rotor) a signal with
constant amplitude and a
frequency ω, we will
measure, under no load, the
following voltage on the
secondary winding:

Es1,s3 = E cos σ sin ωt

Es2,s4 = E sin σ sin ωt
**Note: that the rotation angle σ of the rotor is measured starting from
the electrical axis of the winding, whose terminal are S1 and S3.
28
• Figure below shows the value changed of E cos σ and E sin σ
according to the variation of the rotor angular position σ.

29
 Signal conditioner :
• The signal conditioner for Synchro resolver is generally a very complex equipment, which must
process the couple of sin signal shifted between then of 90°, providing the output with a digital
indication of the rotation angle of the same resolver.

• The weight table of the 12 bits composing the digital data supplied by the converter is:

30
Experiment 10
Luminosity transducer
(G13)

31
Light Transducer:
• Light transducers are devices which transform the light radiation
into an electrical quantity (resistance, current) and can be used
in industry as light transducers and also as indirect transducers of
other physical quantities such as position, angular speed and so
on.
• Devices belonging to the first category are called photoresistor,
while those belonging to the second are called photodiodes,
photoelectric cells and phototransistors.

32
Photoresistive
• The photoresistor is a passive semiconductor component without
junction. Figure in next slide shows the resistance-irradiation
characteristic curve of the photoresistor, with related symbol.
When crossed by a light radiation, it varies its resistance as a
result of the photoconductive effect: the resistance drops when
the light increases. In dark conditions, the photoresistor
practically acts as an insulating piece, as it has resistance values
measured in M  (dark resistance); if strongly illuminated it has
very low resistance values measured up to some tens of  . •
Resistance (10.76 Lux) 100 K.
• Resistance (1076 Lux) 2400 
• Minimum dark resistance 4 M 

33
Photoresistive

34
Photodiode
• The photodiode is a device which structure is similar to a common
semiconductor diode, with a P-N junction, and, for this kind of use, it is
reversely biased. In dark conditions, the photodiode operates as a
common semiconductor diode, while, when the junction is crossed by
a light radiation, the reverse current increases.
• Fig in the next slide shows a typical relation between illumination and
reverse current together with the symbol of the device. The reverse
current of photodiodes can take values ranging inside some nA and
some tens of mA and the mostly used semiconductor materials are
silicon, germanium, gallium arsenide and other semiconductor
compounds.
• The characteristics can be improved with a P-I-N structure, i.e.
interposing a not doped semiconductor (Intrinsic) between the two
doped semiconductors P and N. If a photodiode, which is not biased
and without load, is illuminated, it is crossed by a voltage generated
inside the junction by the interaction between the light radiation and
the semi conductive material (photovoltaic effect).
35
Photodiode
• The typical parameters of photodiodes, beside the characteristic
curve or the resistive values concerning some light values, are:
– The maximum reverse voltage which can be applied across it. • The
maximum power which can be dissipated.
– Maximum switching speed (rise and fall times). The photodiode used in
unit TY13/EV is P-I-N silicon type has the following characteristics (see data
sheet for details):
– Maximum reverse voltage: 32 Vdc
– Maximum sensitivity 0.9 um
– Maximum dark current 30 nA • Reverse current with illumination equal to
1mW/cm2:50 uA • No-load voltage (1000 Lux): 350 mV • Rise and fall times
50 ns.

36
Photodiode

37
Phototransistor
• The phototransistor is a device with a structure similar to the one of a
standard transistor, but with a photo sensible base.
• It is generally NPN kind, it is powered with a positive voltage between
Collector and Emitter and the Base can be left open or connected to
the emitter with a resistor. In this second case, the sensitivity of the
phototransistor can be adjusted by varying the value of the resistor
used.
• On dark conditions, the current of the collector Ic is minimum and
increases with illumination. Fig. 10.3 shows the symbol with the typical
diagram of the connection of the phototransistor; furthermore it shows
the characteristic curve with the relation between the variations of Ic
and the variations of the illumination E.
• The main parameters of a phototransistor, in addition to the
characteristic curve, are:

38
Phototransistor
• The maximum dark current
• The wavelength of maximum sensitivity
• The switching speed (rise and fall times)
• The maximum admitted values of current, voltage and power.
The phototransistor used in the equipment has the following main
characteristics (see data sheets for details):
• Dark current 20 uA
• Rise time 8 μ s • Fall time 6 μ s
• Vceo max 30 Vdc

39
Phototransistor

40