INSTRUMENTATION AND

MEASUREMENTS
ELE 4111

LECTURE I

Lecturer: Jomo N. Gill

CONCEPTS TO BE EXAMINED
- Measurement systems
- Measurement Units
- Objectives of Engineering Measurement
- Instruments
- Advantages of Electronic Instruments
- Categories of Electronic Instruments
- Static characteristics of instruments
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 MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS

Measurement is the process of

associating a number with a quantity by
comparing the quantity to a standard.
When it is necessary to measure objectively
a quantity such as temperature, rotational
speed, sound level, etc. from an industrial
process or a scientific experiment, a
measurement system is required.

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 . . . cont'd
Electronic measuring systems offer the
following advantages:
- high speed
- the capability to take data in the range of
picoseconds to years
- very high dynamic range
- the ability to send, process, and store
information by electronic means

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 . . . cont'd
Electronic measuring systems can be very
complex but usually contain the common
elements in the simplified measuring
system shown in the Figure below.

Physical Transmission
quantity path Signal
Transducer Conditioning Processing User

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 . . . cont'd
❖ The measurand is the physical quantity
to be measured. For example, temperature,
light intensity, nuclear radiation.
❖ Transducers can include thermocouples,
strain gauges, piezoresistive sensors,
photocells, microphones, etc.
❖ Signal conditioning involves amplification,
filtering, linearisation, decoding, detection,
etc.
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 . . . cont'd
❖ The final stage of the process can be:
- a human observer
- a control mechanism
- a computer (storage)
- a recording system
- a visual display

❖ The user can also be a part of an

automatic control system, in which the data
is acted upon to control a process.
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 MEASUREMENT UNITS

❖ Over time, there has been a progressive

movement toward measurement units that
are defined much more accurately.

❖ For example, the unit of length (the metre)

was defined circa 1800 as 10-7 times the
polar quadrant of the earth. A platinum bar
made to this length was established as the
standard.
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 … cont’d
❖ This was superseded by a superior quality
standard bar in 1889, manufactured from a
platinum–iridium alloy.
❖ In 1960, a standard meter was redefined in
terms of 1.65076373 x 106 wavelengths of
the radiation from krypton-86 in vacuum.

❖ In 1983, the meter was redefined as the

length of path travelled by light in an interval
of 1/299,792,458 seconds.
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DEFINITIONS OF STANDARD
UNITS

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OBJECTIVES OF ENGINEERING
MEASUREMENT
The aims of a data collecting program are to:
(i) Measure the correctness and completeness
of a design,
(ii) Evaluate the performance of the system,
(iii) Permit system improvement with minimum
acceptable tolerance on each component,
(iv) Uncover system defects at an early stage,
(v) Increase the understanding of the
operation of the system,
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 … cont’d
(6) Determine data for new design,
(7) Determine data for improved design,
(8) Perform integrated controls analysis,
and
(9) Confirm theoretical calculations.

❖ These factors are critical indicators of

competitive position or even the success of
an engineering design.
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 INSTRUMENTS
❖ Instruments can be considered as either
stimulus instruments or measuring
(response) instruments.

❖ A measuring instrument is a device

that converts a quantity to be measured
into some usable form for interpretation.
Measuring instruments receive signals from
the signal conditioner or cable and provide
an output in some form for the user.
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 … cont’d
❖ Examples of measuring instruments
include digital multimeters (DMMs),
frequency counters, and oscilloscopes.

❖ Stimulus instruments are sources for

test signals. Some examples are: function
generators, power supplies, oscillators, and
pulse generators.

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 … cont’d

❖ Stimulus instruments are used in measuring

systems for testing, troubleshooting, or
supplying power or signals needed by a
transducer.

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 ADVANTAGES OF
ELECTRONIC INSTRUMENTS

- High speed
- Reliability
- Accuracy
- Versatility
- Sensitivity
- Internal signal processing

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CATEGORIES OF ELECTRONIC
INSTRUMENTS
❖ Passive instruments – absorb energy from
the circuit under test. They load the circuit
by altering its impedance.
Example: voltmeter
❖ Active instruments – supply energy to the
circuit under test. Generally, they require
external power to be removed from the
circuit.
Example: ohmmeter
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 … cont’d
❖ Balancing instruments – they do not
supply nor absorb energy from the circuit
under test. Instead, they detect a null
condition between the circuit and the
measurement.
Example: bridge circuits, potentiometer

❖In all 3 cases, energy is required for the

measurement to be performed.
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 STATIC CHARACTERISTICS
OF INSTRUMENTS
❖ Accuracy and Inaccuracy (Measurement
Uncertainty) - is a measure of how close the
output reading of the instrument is to the
correct value. It is more usual to quote the
inaccuracy or measurement uncertainty value
rather than the accuracy value for an
instrument. Inaccuracy or measurement
uncertainty is the extent to which a reading
might be wrong and is often quoted as a
percentage of the full-scale (f.s.) reading of
an instrument. 19
 … cont’d
❖ Precision - describes an instrument’s
degree of freedom from random errors. If a
large number of readings are taken of the
same quantity by a high-precision instrument,
then the spread of readings will be very
small. - Homework

❖ Range or span - defines the minimum and

maximum values of a quantity that the
instrument is designed to measure.

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 … cont’d

❖ Repeatability - describes the closeness

of output readings when the same input
is applied repetitively over a short period
of time, with the same measurement
conditions, same instrument and
observer, same location, and same
conditions of use maintained throughout.
- Homework

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 … cont’d

❖ Tolerance - is closely related to accuracy

and defines the maximum error that is to be
expected in some value. While it is not,
strictly speaking, a static characteristic of
measuring instruments, it is mentioned here
because the accuracy of some instruments is
sometimes quoted as a tolerance value.

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… cont’d

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 … cont’d
❖ Linearity - It is normally desirable that the
output reading of an instrument is linearly
proportional to the quantity being measured.

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 … cont’d

❖ Sensitivity of measurement - is a measure

of the change in instrument output that
occurs when the quantity being measured
changes by a given amount. Thus, sensitivity
is the ratio:

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 … cont’d

❖ For example, if a pressure of 2 bar

produces a deflection of 10 degrees in a
pressure transducer, the sensitivity of the
instrument is 5 degrees/bar (assuming that
the deflection is zero with zero pressure
applied).

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 … cont’d

❖ Threshold - if the input to an instrument is

increased gradually from zero, the input will
have to reach a certain minimum level before
the change in the instrument output reading
is of a large enough magnitude to be
detectable. This minimum level of input is
known as the threshold of the instrument.

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 … cont’d
❖ Resolution - When an instrument is
showing a particular output reading, there is
a lower limit on the magnitude of the change
in the input measured quantity that produces
an observable change in the instrument
output. Like threshold, resolution is
sometimes specified as an absolute value and
sometimes as a percentage of f.s. deflection.

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 … cont’d
❖ One of the major factors influencing the
resolution of an instrument is how finely its
output scale is divided into subdivisions.

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