Measurement Systems

Analysis (MSA)

Dr. Udaya Bhaskar Reddy Ragula, Dr. Krishna

Prasad & Dr. Sriram Devanathan
Dept. of Chem. Engg. & Mat. Sci.
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
 Overview of the Measurement
Systems Analysis & Nomenclature

Unit-to-Unit Variation Observed Measurement

(True Variation) Variation System Error

This is the
actual variation
Precision Accuracy

Repeatability Bias

Reproducibility Stability

Linearity w.r.to Linearity w.r.to

Precision Accuracy
Measurement Systems Analysis –
Introduction
 A variable cannot be controlled unless you measure it
 Driving car: You need to control the car in a particular lane
 You need to measure how far you are away from end of
road / divider/ edge of the lane [or a vehicle infront of yours]
 You need a sensor for measurement: Your eyes
 You need a controller: Steering, gear shift and breaks
 The observation / measurement – underlying principle
 The very act of observation will affect the outcome of the
observation
Measurement Systems Analysis –
Introduction
 The objective of the measurement
system analysis
 To predict the total variation and take
measures to reduce the total variation
 To test an hypothesis
 Maximize or minimize a process
variation
 Compare different options available
Measurement Systems Analysis –
The Definitions
 Process Variation
 Mean of the process variable – Arithmetic average
 Median of the process variable – Middle value of a set of
variables arranged in an order (Increasing / Decreasing)
 Standard deviation – How much the measurements are
deviated from the mean value i xi
Mean of the process    
n
Where,
xi  process variable during the i th measurement
n  Total number measurements

x  
2
i
Standard Deviation    i

n 1
Instrumentation Concepts &
Terminology
 Interval
 The two endpoints that an instrument can be used for
measurement
 Range
 The difference between the two end points of the
interval. This is also called as Span or Full Scale.
 Resolution
 Smallest value of the variable that can be measured by
the instrument
 Some times this is called as sensitivity, Threshold or
detection limit
Precision vs. Accuracy
 Accuracy
 Accuracy is an indicator of a measurement that is true. How
close is the average of all measurements to the true value of
the measurement. The true value of a variable is given by a
standard instrument.
 Accuracy is generally called as “Bias”
 Bias = Average of all observed values – True value
 True value: Is measured by a standard instrument
 Precision
 Precision is an indicator of the consistency of
measurements. How close the measurements are to each
other.
 This basically calculated as the “standard deviation”.
 This is given by Repeatability & Reproducibility (Gauge R&R)
 Precision vs. Accuracy

Accurate & Not Accurate & Precise & Not

precise Precise accurate
Repeatability
 Repeatability: Precision under repeatable conditions
 independent test results
 the same test method
 identical test items
 the same laboratory
 the same operator
 the same equipment
 within short time interval
 Repeatability standard deviation: The standard
deviation of test results obtained under repeatability
conditions
 Repeatability limit (“r”): the absolute difference
between two test results obtained under repeatability
conditions should be less than or equal to this value
Reproducibility
 Reproducibility: Precision under reproducible conditions
 independent test results
 the same test method
 identical test items
 different laboratories
 different operators
 different equipment
 longer time interval
 Reproducibility standard deviation: The standard
deviation of test results obtained under reproducibility
conditions
 Reproducibility limit (“R”): the absolute difference
between two test results obtained under reproducibility
conditions should be less than or equal to this value
 Illustration of Repeatability and
Reproducibility
Exp no. Part no. Instrument Operator Measured
variable
1 A X 1 M1
2 A X 1 M2
3 A X 1 M3
4 A Y 1 M4
5 A Z 1 M5
6 B X 1 M6
7 C X 1 M7
8 A Z 2 M8
9 A Z 3 M9

SD of M1, M2 and M3 = SD of M5, M8 and M9 =

SD of M1, M4 and M5 = SD of M1, M4 and M8 =
 Measurement of Total Variation

Standard deviation is not additive

where as,
Variances are additive
 2Total   2 Process   2 Instruement / measurement
 2
Total  2
Process  2
Reproducibility  2
Repeability
Different types of variables

 Qualitative and Quantitative data

 Continuous and Discrete data
 Nominal and Ordinal data
Gauge R&R Study

 Estimate the repeatability and reproducibility of a

test method to measure a variable
 Measure the total variation
 Judge whether an instrument is suitable to
measure a process variation
 Take measures to Improve the reproducibility
and repeatability
 Simple Gauge R&R Experimental
Design
S.No. Part# Operator# Instrument# Observation S.No. Part# Operator# Instrument# Observation
1 1 A 1 O1 16 2 C 1 O13
2 1 A 2 O2 17 2 C 2 O14
3 1 A 3 O3 18 2 C 3 O15
4 1 B 1 O4 19 3 A 1 O19
5 1 B 2 O5 20 3 A 2 O20
6 1 B 3 O6 21 3 A 3 O21
7 1 C 1 O7 22 3 B 1 O22
8 1 C 2 O8 23 3 B 2 O23
9 1 C 3 O9 24 3 B 3 O24
10 2 A 1 O10 25 3 C 1 O25
11 2 A 2 O11 26 3 C 2 O26
12 2 A 3 O12 27 3 C 3 O27
13 2 B 1 O13
14 2 B 2 O14
Calculate repeatability and
15 2 B 3 O15
reproducibility, separately based on
the observations made
Importance of randomization of
experiments
 Usually that ambient temperature changes, because of this
the, instrumentation behaviour or the process behaviour
changes.
 If the experiments are performed in an order then the Gauge
R&R will fail to give the true picture of measurement of
variation.
 Please note: The main objective of Gauge R&R analysis is to
capture the total variation
 Because of this, randomization of experimental order is
required. We generally use software to do this, due the
limitations of manual randomization.
 Some times, we also do restricted randomization, if the
complete randomization is tedious.
Different Variations during MSA
Linearity in Bias( or Accuracy)
& Precision

Similar plot for precision as well

Confidence Intervals &
Standard Deviation

  3 is in industiral practice.
99.7% of the values are within μ±3σ
Suitability of an Instrument in a
process – The P/T ratio
 P/T Ratio – Precision to Tolerance ratio
 Standard P/T ratio
6 Mesurement Error
P / T ratio 
Specified Tolerance of the Process

 Industrially practiced P/T ratio

5.15 Mesurement Error
P / T ratio 
Specified Tolerance of the Process

 Specified tolerance = Process upper limit – Process lower

limit
 Acceptable P/T ratio is 0.1 (Good Measurement) & 0.2 (For
Adequate measurement)