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ELECTRICAL
INSTRUMENTS &
MEASUREMENTS
M Tahir Raza

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Book

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Book

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 Lesson Plan
INTRODUCTION TO MEASUREMENT
Week - 1 Measurement units, Measurement system
applications, Elements of a measurement system,
Choosing appropriate measuring instruments

INSTRUMENT TYPES AND PERFORMANCE

Week - 1 CHARACTERISTICS
Review of 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 non-smart instruments, Static
characteristics of instruments, Accuracy and
inaccuracy(measurement uncertainty), Precision /
repeatability / reproducibility , Tolerance
Range or span, Linearity, Sensitivity of measurement,
Threshold, Resolution, Sensitivity to disturbance,
Hysteresis effects, Dead space, Dynamic
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characteristics of instruments, Zero order
 AGENDA CHAPTER 1 &
2
INTRODUCTION TO MEASUREMENT
Measurement units
Measurement system applications
Elements of a measurement system
Choosing appropriate measuring instruments
INSTRUMENT TYPES AND PERFORMANCE
Review of instrument types
Active and passive instruments
Null-type and deflection-type instruments
Analogue and digital instruments
Indicating instruments & instruments with a
signal output
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Smart and non-smart instruments
 AGENDA
Static characteristics of instruments
Accuracy and inaccuracy (measurement uncertainty)
Precision/repeatability/reproducibility
Tolerance
Range or span
Linearity
Sensitivity of measurement
Threshold
Resolution
Sensitivity to disturbance
Hysteresis effects
Dead space

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 AGENDA
Dynamic characteristics of
instruments
Zero order instrument
First order instrument
Second order instrument
Lecture Summary

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 Introduction to Measurement
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 to
ensure that exchanges were fair.
The massive growth in the application of computers to industrial
process control and monitoring tasks has spawned a parallel
growth in the requirement for instruments to measure, record and
control process variables.
As modern production techniques require high accuracy limits so
the requirement for instruments to be both accurate and cheap
becomes ever harder to satisfy.
In the past few years, the most cost-effective means of improving
instrument accuracy has been found in many cases to be the
inclusion of digital computing power within instruments
themselves.

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 Measurement Units
The first improved measurement unit was a unit of length
(the metre) defined as 1/10000000 times the polar
quadrant of the earth.
A platinum bar made to this length was established as a
standard of length in the early part of the nineteenth
century.
This was superseded by a superior quality standard bar in
1889, manufactured from a platinumiridium alloy.
Since that time, technological research has enabled further
improvements to be made in the standard used for defining
length.
Firstly, in 1960, a standard metre was redefined in terms of
1.65076373 x 106 wavelengths of the radiation from
krypton-86 in vacuum.
More recently, in 1983, the metre was redefined yet again
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as the length of path travelled by light in an interval of
Measurement Units

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Fundamental Units

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Supplementary
Fundamentals

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Derived Units

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Derived Units

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Derived Units

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 Elements of Measurement
System
A measuring system exists to provide information about the physical
value of some variable being measured.
In simple cases, the system can consist of only a single unit that
gives an output reading/ signal according to the magnitude of the
unknown variable applied to it.
However, in more complex measurement situations, a measuring
system consists of several separate elements.
The term measuring instrument is commonly used to describe a
measurement system, whether it contains only one or many
elements.
A measuring system normally consists of following elements:
Sensor
Variable conversion element
Signal processing unit
Signal presentation or recording/Signal Utilization unit

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Block diagram of Measurement
System

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Functional Elements of an
Instrument

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Typical Measurement System
Architecture

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The Principles of Basic
Electronic Instrument

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 Instrumentation and
Measurement Applications
Measurement System Applications
Applications of measuring instruments can be classified
into three major areas.
The first of these is their use in regulating trade, applying
instruments that measure physical quantities such as
length, volume and mass in terms of standard units.
The second application area of measuring instruments is
in monitoring functions. These provide information that
enables human beings to take some prescribed action
accordingly.
The third application area of measurement systems is
automatic feedback control systems.

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 Instrumentation and
Measurement Applications

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Application Areas

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 Choosing Appropriate
Measuring Instruments
The starting point in choosing the most suitable
instrument to use for measurement of a particular
quantity in a manufacturing plant or other system is
the specification of the instrument characteristics
required, especially parameters like the desired
measurement accuracy, resolution, sensitivity and
dynamic performance.
It is also essential to know the conditions that the
instrument will be subjected to, as some conditions
will immediately either eliminate the possibility of
using certain types of instrument or else will create a
requirement for expensive protection of the
instrument.

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 Choosing Appropriate
Measuring Instruments
It should also be noted that protection reduces the
performance of some instruments, especially in terms
of their dynamic characteristics
A skilled instrument engineer, having knowledge of all
the instruments that are available for measuring the
quantity in question, will be able to evaluate the
possible list of instruments in terms of their accuracy,
cost and suitability for the environmental conditions
and thus choose the most appropriate instrument
The instrument characteristics are the features that
form the technical basis for a comparison between the
relative merits of different instruments.

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 Choosing Appropriate
Measuring Instruments
Generally, the better the characteristics, the higher
the cost. However, in comparing the cost and relative
suitability of different instruments for a particular
measurement situation, considerations of durability,
maintainability and constancy of performance a re
also very important because the instrument chosen
will often have to be capable of operating for long
periods without performance degradation and a
requirement for costly maintenance.
In consequence of this, the initial cost of an
instrument often has a low weighting in the
evaluation exercise.

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 Choosing Appropriate
Measuring Instruments
So instrument choice is a compromise between
performance characteristics, ruggedness and
durability, maintenance requirements and
purchase cost.
To carry out such an evaluation properly, the
instrument engineer must have a wide knowledge
of the range of instruments available for
measuring particular physical quantities and must
also have a deep understanding of how
instrument characteristics are affected by
particular measurement situations and operating
conditions
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 INSTRUMENT TYPES AND
PERFORMANCE
Review of 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 non-smart instruments
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Active and Passive Instruments

Instruments are divided into active or passive

ones according to whether the instrument
output is entirely produced by the quantity
being measured or whether the quantity
being measured simply modulates the
magnitude of some external power source.
In active instruments, the external power
source is usually in electrical form, but in
some cases, it can be other forms of energy
such as a pneumatic or hydraulic one.

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Active and Passive Instruments

One very important difference between active

and passive instruments is the level of
measurement resolution that can be obtained.
In terms of cost, passive instruments are
normally of a more simple construction than
active ones and are therefore cheaper to
manufacture.
Therefore, choice between active and passive
instruments for a particular application involves
carefully balancing the measurement resolution
requirements against cost.

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Active and Passive Instruments

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 Null-Type and Deflection-Type
Instruments
The pressure gauge is a good example of a
deflection type of instrument, where the value
of the quantity being measured is displayed in
terms of the amount of movement of a pointer.
An alternative type of pressure gauge is the
deadweight gauge which is a null-type
instrument. Here, 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.

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 INSTRUMENT TYPES AND
PERFORMANCE
Pressure measurement is made in
terms of the value of the weights
needed to reach this null position.
The accuracy of these two instruments
depends on different things.
For the first one it depends on the
linearity and calibration of the spring,
whilst for the second it relies on the
calibration of the weights.
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 INSTRUMENT TYPES AND
PERFORMANCE
As calibration of weights is much easier
than careful choice and calibration of a
linear characteristic spring, this means that
the second type of instrument will normally
be the more accurate.
This is in accordance with the general rule
that null-type instruments are more
accurate than deflection types.
In terms of usage, the deflection type
instrument is clearly more convenient.
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INSTRUMENT TYPES AND
PERFORMANCE

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 Analogue and Digital
Instruments
An analogue instrument gives an
output that varies continuously as the
quantity being measured changes. The
output can have an infinite number of
values within the range that the
instrument is designed to measure.
A digital instrument has an output that
varies in discrete steps and so can
only have a finite number of values.
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 Analogue and Digital
Instruments
The distinction between analogue and digital
instruments has become particularly
important with the rapid growth in the
application of microcomputers to automatic
control systems.
Analogue instruments must be interfaced to
the microcomputer by an analogue-to-digital
(A/D) converter, which converts the analogue
output signal from the instrument into an
equivalent digital quantity that can be read
into the computer.
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 Indicating Instruments &
Instruments with a Signal
Output
Instruments can be divided is between
those that merely give an audio or visual
indication of the magnitude of the
physical quantity measured and those
that give an output in the form of a
measurement signal whose magnitude is
proportional to the measured quantity.
The class of indicating instruments
normally includes all null-type instruments
and most passive ones.
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 Indicating Instruments &
Instruments with a Signal
Output
Indicators can also be further divided into
those that have an analogue output and
those that have a digital display.
Instruments that have a signal-type output
are commonly used as part of automatic
control systems.
In other circumstances, they can also be
found in measurement systems where the
output measurement signal is recorded in
some way for later use.
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 Smart and Non-Smart
Instruments
The advent of the microprocessor
has created a new division in
instruments between those that do
incorporate a microprocessor (smart)
and those that dont.

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Performance Characteristics of
Instruments
Static Characteristics
Dynamic Characteristics

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Static Characteristics of
Instruments

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 Accuracy and Inaccuracy
(Measurement Uncertainty)
The accuracy of an instrument is a
measure of how close the output reading
of the instrument is to the correct value.
In practice, it is more usual to quote the
inaccuracy figure rather than the accuracy
figure for an instrument.
Inaccuracy 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.
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 Accuracy and Inaccuracy
(Measurement Uncertainty)
It is an important system design rule that instruments
are chosen such that their range is appropriate to the
spread of values being measured, in order that the best
possible accuracy is maintained in instrument readings.
The term measurement uncertainty is frequently used
in place of inaccuracy.
Example:
A pressure gauge of range 010 bar has a quoted
inaccuracy of 1.0% f.s then the maximum error to be
expected in any reading is 0.1 bar. This means that
when the instrument is reading 1.0 bar, the possible
error is 10% of this value.

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Precision/Repeatability/Reprodu
cibility
Precision is a term that describes an
instruments 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.
High precision does not imply anything about
measurement accuracy. A high precision
instrument may have a low accuracy.

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Precision/Repeatability/Reprodu
cibility
Low accuracy measurements from a high precision
instrument are normally caused by a bias in the
measurements, which is removable by recalibration.
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.
Reproducibility describes the closeness of output
readings for the same input when there are changes in
the method of measurement, observer, measuring
instrument, location, conditions of use and time of
measurement.

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Precision/Repeatability/Reprodu
cibility
Both terms thus describe the spread of
output readings for the same input.
This spread is referred to as repeatability if
the measurement conditions are constant
and as reproducibility if the measurement
conditions vary.
The degree of repeatability or
reproducibility in measurements from an
instrument is an alternative way of
expressing its precision.
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Precision/Repeatability/Reprodu
cibility Example

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 Tolerance
Tolerance is a term that is closely related to accuracy
and defines the maximum error that is to be expected in
some value.
Tolerance describes the maximum deviation of a
manufactured component from some specified value.
Example: One resistor chosen at random from a batch
having a nominal value 1000W and tolerance 5% might
have an actual value anywhere between 950W and
1050 W.
Range or Span
The range or span of an instrument defines the
minimum and maximum values of a quantity that the
instrument is designed to measure.

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 Linearity
It is normally desirable that the output
reading of an instrument is linearly
proportional to the quantity being
measured.
The non-linearity is then defined as the
maximum deviation of any of the output
readings from linear behavior.
Non-linearity is usually expressed as a
percentage of full-scale reading
Example:?????????
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 Sensitivity of
Measurement
The sensitivity of measurement is a
measure of the change in instrument
output that occurs when the quantity
being measured changes by a given
amount.

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 Sensitivity of
Measurement
The sensitivity of measurement is
therefore the slope of the straight line
drawn on instrument response/output
characteristics.
Example: 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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Threshold

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 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.
One of the major factors influencing the resolution of an
instrument is how finely its output scale is divided into
subdivisions.
A car speedometer has subdivisions of typically 20
km/h. This means that when the needle is between the
scale markings, we cannot estimate speed more
accurately than to the nearest 5 km/h. This figure of 5
km/h thus represents the resolution of the instrument.

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 Sensitivity to Disturbance

All calibrations and specifications of an

instrument are only valid under controlled
conditions of temperature, pressure etc.
These standard ambient conditions are
usually defined in the instrument
specification. As variations occur in the
ambient temperature etc., certain static
instrument characteristics change.
The sensitivity to disturbance is a measure
of the magnitude of this change.
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 Sensitivity to Disturbance

Such environmental changes affect

instruments in two main ways, known as:
Zero drift or Bias
Sensitivity drift or scale factor drift
Zero drift or bias describes the effect where
the zero reading of an instrument is modified
by a change in ambient conditions. This causes
a constant error that exists over the full range
of measurement of the instrument.
Zero drift is normally removable by calibration.

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 Sensitivity to Disturbance

Example :
Zero drift is also commonly found in
instruments like voltmeters that are
affected by ambient temperature
changes. Typical units by which such
zero drift is measured are volts/C.
This is often called the zero drift
coefficient related to temperature
changes.
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 Hysteresis Effects
Next Figure illustrates the output characteristic of an
instrument that exhibits hysteresis.
If the input measured quantity to the instrument is
steadily increased from a negative value, the output
reading varies in the manner shown in curve (a).
If the input variable is then steadily decreased, the
output varies in the manner shown in curve (b).
The non-coincidence between these loading and
unloading curves is known as hysteresis.
Two quantities are defined, maximum input
hysteresis and maximum output hysteresis.

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Hysteresis Effects

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 Hysteresis Effects Examples

Hysteresis is most commonly found

in instruments that contain springs,
such as the passive pressure gauge
Hysteresis can also occur in
instruments that contain electrical
windings formed round an iron core,
due to magnetic hysteresis in the
iron.

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 Dead Space

Dead space is defined as the range of

different input values over which
there is no change in output value.
Any instrument that exhibits
hysteresis also displays dead space.
However some instruments that do
not suffer from any significant
hysteresis can still exhibit a dead
space in their output characteristics.
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Dead Space

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 Dynamic Characteristics of
Instruments - Introduction
The static X-tics of measuring instruments are
concerned only with the steady state reading that
the instrument settles down to, such as the
accuracy of the reading etc.
The dynamic characteristics of a measuring
instrument describe its behaviour between the
time a measured quantity changes value and the
time when the instrument output attains a steady
value in response.
As with static characteristics, any values for
dynamic characteristics quoted in instrument
data sheets only apply when the instrument is
used under specified environmental conditions. 68
Outside these calibration conditions, some
 Dynamic Characteristics of
Instruments - Introduction
The dynamic characteristics are necessary to find
dynamic response of the instrument.
Input varies from instant to instant, so it is dynamic.
Dynamic input may be:
Periodic
Transient
Random
Periodic varying cyclically with time or repeating at
constant interval
Transient varying non cyclically and signal is of definite
duration, becomes zero after regular intervals
Random varying with respect to time no definite period &
amplitude is continuous but not cyclical

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 Dynamic Characteristics of
Instruments - Introduction
To study dynamic characteristics it is necessary to
represent each instrument by mathematical model.
By mathematical model we get laws governing I/p
and o/p.
Dynamic characteristics are experimentally
determined by dynamic input.
For theoretical analysis for any dynamic input , a
solution of it s governing equation is obtained by
mathematical models.
Two main parameters of system response are:
Speed of response
Fidelity

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 Dynamic Characteristics of
Instruments - Introduction
Speed of response is defined as rapidity with which
a measurement system responds to change in
measured quantity.
Rise Time
Time Constant
Fidelity is quantity of indication by which the
instrument as regards the change of input Or
change in quantity without dynamic error
Dynamic behavior of measurement systems is
studied in two domains:
Time domains Analysis
Frequency domain analysis

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Response/Transfer Characteristics
of Instruments

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 Response/Transfer
Characteristics of Instruments

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Zero Order Instrument

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Zero Order Instrument

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First Order Instrument

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First Order Instrument

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Second Order Instrument

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LECTURE SUMMARY
QUESTIONS

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