2011 8th International Multi-Conference on Systems, Signals & Devices

STRAIN GAUGES AND WHEATSTONE BRIDGES –

BASIC INSTRUMENTATION AND NEW APPLICATIONS FOR
ELECTRICAL MEASUREMENT OF NON-ELECTRICAL QUANTITIES
Dan Mihai tefnescu

Romanian Measurement Society, stefidanro@yahoo.com

Abstract. Strain gauges and Wheatstone bridges Three examples are given in Figure 1: a typical
constitute the basic instrumentation for electrical foil strain gauge (a), a group of four shear SGs for torque
measurement of non-electrical quantities. After measuring (b), and a pressure rosette [1] with spiral and
presenting the fundamental properties of the resistive radial grids (c). Their principal parameter is the gauge
strain gauge and the (un)balanced Wheatstone bridge, a factor k, also called strain coefficient of resistance,
significant diversity of measurement techniques and defined as
means are described, typical for the present-day world-
wide instrumentation. Among them: classical (metallic) 'R / R 'U / U
strain gauges, piezoresistive semiconductors, magneto- k 1 2Q  (1)
resistive sensing elements; Wheatstone bridge circuits 'l / l 'l / l
together with analog-to-digital converter, low noise
amplifier and FFT analyzer, sine wave generator and where  is the Poisson’s ratio (transverse sensitivity),
lock-in amplifier, carrier frequency amplifiers or while the relative variation of length l /l is just the strain
cantilever arrays combined with a multiplexed amplifier H, and  is the wire resistivity.
and connected to PC; several sensors / transducers and
load cells covering the entire field of force ranges, from 2. WHEATSTONE BRIDGE
pico- to meganewtons. The principal aim of the paper is
to outline the progress in this field, by illustrating it with The classic configuration associated to the strain gauge
suggestive examples and achievements. sensors is the low-power, Wheatstone bridge, represented
in Figure 2,a as an input-output device (a two-port
Keywords: strain gauges, bridge circuits, force sensors, element). This is a complete network made of four sides
transducers, instrumentation and measurement (usual strain gauge values are: 120 :, 350 : or 1 k:),
four nodes (A, B, C, D) and two diagonals (UA – supply,
UE – signal). The acronym DMS means DehnungsMeß-
1. STRAIN GAUGES Streifen, i.e. resistive strain gauges.
Considering that the bridge is supplied from a
The strain gauge is a device for measuring the changes in constant voltage source of negligible internal resistance
distances between two points in solid bodies that occur and its load is an amplifier having practically infinite
when the body is deformed [Britannica Concise input impedance and applying Kirchhoff’s laws, the
Encyclopedia]. They respond to mechanical strain (unit following relationship is resulting [2]:
deformation), as a function of the applied force / load.
Strain gauges experience a change of an electrical UE R1 R4
parameter, usually their resistance, when they are  (2)
stretched or strained, being indestructibly located on
UA R1  R2 R3  R4
special elastic elements and influenced by a large variety
of measurands: mechanical (force, torque, acceleration, The initial balance condition is: R1 ˜ R3 R2 ˜ R4 (3)
pressure, flow rate, viscosity), biomedical or chemical
quantities.
l
Il
R1 R4
UE
1
DMS a
Ia
3 2
R2 R3 4 h
Ih
FF
a)
UA Ia) Ib)
b) c)
Figure 2. Wheatstone bridge convention and
Figure 1. Different types of strain gauges and rosettes strain gauges positioning

978-1-4577-0411-6/11/$26.00 ©2011 IEEE

 FORCE
Figure 3. Digital Transducer Electronics AD 104
meaning that the products of the resistances in the
opposed arms should be equal, confirming the golden rule
of strain measurement by Wheatstone bridge:
x the effects from two opposite arms are added,
x the effects from two adjacent arms are subtracted.
It was demonstrated that the output voltage
variation in the signal diagonal is proportional to the
relative resistance variation of the Wheatstone bridge.
As a ratiometric device, this bridge is extremely sensitive,
its tensometrical sensitivity being well approximated by
the relationship
'U E n determinations in laboratories [3].
S ˜ k ˜H (4)
UA 4 the emphasis is laid on the digital measurement and
where n is the number of active arms, also called the
bridge factor.
A complete (Wheatstone) bridge is made of four
strain gauges (n = 4), all of them being fully sensitive to
the applied principal strain. In Figure 2,b strain gauges R1
and R3, bonded on the upper face of the cantilever beam,
are stretched while strain gauges R2 and R4, bonded on its
lower face, are compressed.
Apart from the usual DC bridges, in some
transducer arrangements various AC bridges intervene,
which are not always exact equivalents of the Wheatstone
bridge. For example, the four-arm capacitor bridge
behaves like a resistive Wheatstone bridge only in
balanced condition, while the unbalanced output is in a
higher degree dependent on the load. Another frequently
employed AC bridge is the inductive ratio/arm (or
transformer-arm) one, which is an ideal differential
device that can operate in both balanced and unbalanced
conditions.
3. INSTRUMENTATION FOR STRAIN GAUGE-
BASED TRANSDUCERS
Figure 3 illustrates a complex measurement chain with a
large variety of connectable transducers, including
resistive and inductive (half) bridges. In the actual
instrumentation, the Wheatstone bridge, as analogical
conditioning unit for resistive parametric transducers, is
closely connected with amplification and processing
circuits of the electronic signals, ensuring wide
possibilities to make up tensometric “chains” both for
rough industrial processing and for high accuracy
In the tensometrical instrumentation development
computer support. The analog-to-digital conversion is
more advantageous to be performed nearer to the input of
the measuring system. In this way, the analogic part is
reduced to the minimum and the signal conditioning
becomes the PC task which, based on specific algorithms
and using special application programs, performs a long
listing of digital signal processing (DSP) functions.
Such a generalized Wheatstone bridge-based
transducer accepts several inputs from a variety of
transducers, e.g. strain gauges and associated processing
circuits, in order to allow the conversion into proper
engineering units, like in Figure 3, where the mechanical
measurand Force is expressed in kilonewtons.
4. APPLICATIONS IN MICRO, NANO AND
PICONEWTON RANGES
Force calibration of micropipettes at PTB is made by
means of a transferable cantilever-type microforce
standard [4], consisting of a silicon cantilever with
integrated strain gauges and embedded probing tip eliminate the need to manually balance the resistance of
(Figure 4). the signal and reference.

Cantilever Wheatstone
Bias voltage bridge
Contact pads
Truncated pyramid GMR High-pass
sensor filter
pair Differential
amplifier
Strain Electromagnet
gauges Probing area

R1 R4 I
R2 R3
Current
buffer
Ref in

Sine wave Lock-in V

Figure 4. Force calibration of micropipettes using a generator amplifier Time
PTB nanobalance
Computer
In order to estimate the minimum measurable
force [5], noise analysis is performed using the setup seen
Figure 6. Biosensor based on magnetoresistance
in Figure 5. A low noise amplifier (NF Electronic
technology and Wheatstone bridge
Instruments LI-75A) is connected to the output of a
special Wheatstone bridge, which is driven by bias
Piezoresistive microcantilever array sensors
voltage.
(Figure 7) have the selectivity of discriminating various
In order to prevent external noise sources, the
vapors of volatile organic compounds including alkanes
cantilever and Wheatstone bridge are put together inside
with different chain length, according to the principal
a shielding box which is connected to the same ground
component analysis [7]. These sensors do not require
terminal with an amplifier and fast Fourier transform
bulky and expensive instrumentation. Semiconductor
(FFT) analyzer (Agilent 35670A).
strain gauges are used instead of metal foil SGs, because
After measuring the noise power spectral density
they are characterized by a much higher gauge factor k,
and integrating the total noise for a bias voltage of 1.5 V,
i.e. higher output signal as a function of a given sensed
the minimum measurable fractional change in resistance
strain. They have a lot of advantages, such as low cost,
is found to be 2.8u106, and this gives a minimum
simple operation, miniaturization of the whole system
measurable force value of approx. 7 pN.
into a match-box sized device and integration into the
piezoresistive read-out system.
Noise
shield
Cantilever box
Bias voltage

Analyte
Out In
X 100
FFT
analyzer
Low noise Amplifier
amplifier

Signal PC

Figure 5. Electronic circuit for establishing the record in Measurement

force measurement threshold (7 pN) chamber

A main component inside the block diagram of a Figure 7. Sub-ppm vapors detection by piezoresistive
biosensor based on GMR (giant magnetoresistance) microcantilever array sensors
technology is the sine wave generator (Figure 6). Up-to-
date electronics is used to detect and manipulate magnetic 5. SINGLE- AND MULTI-CHANNEL MEASURE-
beads [6]. Two giant magnetoresistive elements (signal MENTS IN MEDIUM- AND MACRO-SCALES
and reference) are incorporated in a Wheatstone bridge.
The magnetizing-field electromagnet is modulated at Two configurations of Romanian achievements in the
200 Hz and the resulting 400 Hz signal of the bridge is field of single- and multi-channel force measurements are
detected with a lock-in amplifier. High-pass filters shown in Figure 8:
 Figure 8. Single- (a) and multi-channel (b) force and torque measurement chains
A Source: DMS
–Z
I n
I l
Y
–X
I m
A’
Front central bar Y, Z, M, N
A – A’
3/350
LYI11
Figure 9. Six-component strain gauged balance for aircraft models tested in wind tunnel
a) a classical column / pillar, axially compressed, and
using two longitudinal strain gauges and two
transverse ones. In this case, the parameter n in the
formula (4) is considered as an “equivalent number”
of the bridge active arms and has a fractionary value.
If two of the four strain gauges sense only the
transverse effect of the axial loading, being “partially”
active (Poisson’s coefficient  = 0.3), one can
consider the global n = 2.6 (namely: 2 × 1 + 2 × 0.3).
b) a force and torque measuring system based on six
independent strain gauged load cells.
An original balance for aircraft models tested in a
supersonic wind tunnel [8] is shown in Figure 9. The
axial force is measured by four short lateral arms close to
the middle of the balance interior. The other five
components are measured in two symmetrical section,
each consisting of a casing with three beams. This
complex structure was developed by means of finite
element analysis; the loads from 722 isoparametric
elements and the displacements for 1536 nodes were
calculated by computer. The balance was manufactured
Hotline Hottinger – 2 / 2001
X, L Rear central bar
1.5/120
LYI11
3/120
XYI21
to the highest possible accuracy by electroerosion from a
single piece of Armco 17-4 PH stainless steel and
metallurgically treated to ensure a permissible tensile
strength in excess of 400 MPa (N/mm2). It is 353 mm
long and 50.8 mm in diameter.
In view of two conflicting requirements, the
choice went to HBM’s Y series foil SGs with the
following standard resistances: 120  – to satisfy the
space restrictions; 350  – in view of the total power
supply (not exceeding 5 V) of the six Wheatstone bridges
with four or eight active strain gauges. Complex
mechanical and electrical analysis was carried out in
relation to the optimum method of attaching and
connecting the SGs to the wind tunnel balance in order to
increase its strain sensitivity and compensate for
disturbing influences.
This integral solution offers the best relation
between capacity and volume, since the interinfluences
between forces and/or moments are accurately specified
by calibration. Maximum operating loads for the
individual components are as follows (Table 1):
 Table 1. Force and moment components
Forces Moments
Axial X 2.85 kN Roll l 320 N·m
Lateral Y 9.65 kN Pitch m 820 N·m
Normal Z 14.70 kN Yaw n 760 N·m
6. CONCLUSIONS
Strain gauges and Wheatstone bridges constitute the basic
instrumentation for electrical measurement of non-
electrical quantities. A significant diversity of
measurement techniques and means were presented in
this paper:
x classical (metallic) strain gauges (Fig. 1, 8 and 9),
piezoresistive semiconductors (Fig. 4, 5 and 7) or
magnetoresistive sensing elements (Fig. 6);
x Wheatstone bridge circuits together with analog-to-
digital converter (Fig. 3), low noise amplifier and FFT
analyzer (Fig. 5), sine wave generator and lock-in
amplifier (Fig. 6), carrier frequency amplifiers (Fig. 8)
or cantilever arrays combined with a multiplexed
amplifier and connected to PC (Fig. 7);
x different sensors / transducers and load cells covering
the entire field of force ranges, from pico- (Fig. 5),
nano- (Fig. 4) and micronewtons (Fig. 6 and 7) to kilo-
(Fig. 9) and meganewtons (Fig. 8).
In a form or another, such an instrumentation may
be used for the electric measurement of a wide range of
non-electric quantities. Numerous applications in the field
of Force Transducers may be found in the handbook to
be published [9].
REFERENCES
[1] W.K. Schomburg, Z. Rummler, P. Shao, K. Wulff, and
L. Xie, “The design of metal strain gauges on diaphragms,”
J. Micromech. Microeng., vol. 14, pp. 1101–1108, 2004.
[2] D.M. tefnescu, Methods for Increasing the Sensitivity
of Strain Gauge Force Transducers (in Romanian), PhD
dissertation, Universitatea “Politehnica” Bucureti, România,
10 Sept. 1999.
[3] www.hbm.com HBM measurement: Transducer, Load Cell,
Data Acquisition System.
[4] E. Peiner, L. Doering, U. Brand, A. Christ, G. Isenberg, and
M. Balke, “Force calibration of micro pipettes for single-cell
probing,” in Proc. XVIIIth IMEKO World Congress, Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, 17–22 Sept. 2006, paper 178.
[5] M. Gel, and I. Shimoyama, “Force sensing submicrometer
thick cantilevers with ultra-thin piezoresistors by rapid thermal
diffusion,” J. Micromech. Microeng., vol. 14, pp. 423-428,
2004.
[6] D.R. Baselt, G.U. Lee, M. Natesan, S.W. Metzger,
P.E. Sheehan, and J. Colton, “A biosensor based on magneto-
resistance technology,” Biosensors and Bioelectronics, no. 13,
pp. 731-739, 1998.
[7] G. Yoshikawa, H.-P. Lang, T. Akiyama, L. Aeschimann,
U. Staufer, P. Vettiger, M. Aono, T. Sakurai, and Chr. Gerber,
“Sub-ppm detection of vapors using piezoresistive micro-
cantilever array sensors,” Nanotechnology, vol. 20, paper
015501, 2009.
[8] D.M. tefnescu, “DMS in Windkanal – Rumänische
Windkanalwaage mit Dehnungsmeßstreifen vom HBM,”
Hotline Hottinger – Informationen aus der industriellen
Messtechnik, no. 2, pp. 12-13, 2001.
[9] D.M. tefnescu, Handbook of Force Transducers –
Principles and Components, Springer-Verlag, Heidelberg, in
print 2011.