Module 2:

Amplifiers, measurement of non-electric quantities

and Signal processing Circuits
Syllabus: Module 2: Amplifiers, measurement of non-electric quantities
and Signal processing Circuits

Electronic Amplifiers- difference or Balanced Amplifiers, Electrometer

Amplifier, operational Amplifiers, feedback amplifiers, Isolation
Amplifiers, charge Amplifiers, power Amplifiers. Measurement of phase
Angle- Frequency Measurement – Time – Interval measurement - Basics of
Temperature, pressure, Force, Torque, Density, Liquid level, Viscosity,
Flow, Displacement measurement. Signal processing Circuits – Data
Display and recording systems – Data Transmission and Telemetry.
Topics to be covered

 Basics of Temperature Measurement

Mechanical Transducers

 Set of primary sensing elements that respond to changes in a physical

quantity with a mechanical output.

Bourdon Tube

Diaphragm

Bellows

Manometer

Thermocouple
Temperature Measurement
 Degree of hotness or coldness is identified .
 Measured in degrees [°]
Fahrenheit [°F]
Celsius or centigrade [°C]
Kelvin [°K]
Bimetallic strips

Liquid-in-glass thermometer
Bimetallic strip thermometer
Contd…

Pressure thermometer
Resistance temperature detectors (RTDs)
Application
Construction
Criteria for selection of sensing material
Platinum as sensing element
Resistance temperature detectors (RTDs)

Industrial Resistance Thermometers

Platnium, Nickel – Commonly used

Gold, Silver – Low resistivity
Tungsten – High resistivity
Copper- Occasionally used
Contd…

Linear Approximation

Straight line representing an approximate relationship between R and θ

Contd…
Contd…
Contd…
Contd…
Types of RTD constructions

 RTD measuring circuits are deflection or null type.

 As the change in resistance w.r.t temperature is measured, one has to

take precautions for variations in cable line resistances which may
depend upon the distance between the RTD and the measuring unit and
ambient temperature fluctuations.

 To take care of this various methods of RTD connections are as follows

 RTDs work generally with three RTD wiring configurations – 2-wire,

3-wire, and 4-wire.
 Two wire RTD

• 2 wire/2 lead construction result in lead wire resistance getting added to the element
resistance.

• Consequently, temperature reading is artificially high.

• This method is the least accurate of the 3 types since there is no way of eliminating the lead
wire resistance from the sensor measurement.

• 2 wire RTD’s are mostly used with short lead wires or where close accuracy is not required.
 Three wire RTD

• 3 wire/3 lead constructions result in cancelled lead wire resistance error only if the transmitter can
measure true 3 wire resistance.

• Lead wire resistance error cancellation is most effective when all the lead wires have the same
resistance .
Four wire RTD

• If small error caused by the difference in values of A and B described in three wire circuits is to be
eliminated for some precision measurements, four wire circuits are to be used.

• It operates by switching a triple pole double throw switch and making alternate null balance
measurements in the two configurations.

• In one configuration, lead A is measured together with the RTD resistance, while in the other
configuration it is lead B, so they cancel out completely and the actual value of the RTD resistance
(𝑅3𝑎+𝑅3𝑏)
is determined as
2
Electrical Temperature Measurements
Thermocouple Seebeck Effect
Peltier Effect

Typical industrial thermocouple

Simple thermocouple circuit

General thermocouple
Thermocouple
 Device used for the measurement of temperature variations
 It is an active transducer, i.e, it doesn’t need ant external
supply for its operation.
 Temperature into voltage or current
 Seeback effect sates that whenever two dissimilar metals are
connected together to form two junctions out of which one
junction is subjected to high temperature and another junction is
subjected to low temperature then induced emf is proportional to
temperature difference between two junctions.

 Peltire effect states that when two dissimilar metals form a

closed loop, if externally current forced to flow through closed
loop, then one junction will get heated and other will become cool.
Thermistor
Thermal Resistors- special type of resistor whose resistance changes with the
change in temperature.
Composed of semiconductor material
It has negative temperature coefficient
Small changes in temperature can be detected which RTD or Thermocouple cant.
Temp ranges from -60ºC to 15ºC
Resistance ranges from 0.5Ω to 0.75MΩ

Different shapes of thermistors Symbol for thermistors

Contd…

Measurement of temperature using a thermistor

Characteristics of Thermistors

Resistance temperature characteristics

Contd…
COMPARISON
 Thermal Radiation Detectors-
pyrometers
 Radiation of a hot body can be measured and the temperature
of the hot body deduced from it.

 This principle used for non contact type temperature

measurement.
 (i) Radiation pyrometer
 (ii) Optical pyrometer
 Applications

Pyrometers are used in different applications such as,

• To measure the temperature of moving objects or constant objects from a greater

distance.
•In metallurgy industries
• In smelting industries
•Hot air balloons to measure the heat at the top of the ballon
•Steam boilers to measure steam temperature
•To measure the temperature of liquid metals and highly heated materials
• To measure furnace temperature.
 (i) Thermal Radiation Detectors- pyrometers
0
 At temperature above 1400 C , it is not possible to establish physical contact due to practical
limitations of the materials employed for the thermometer elements.

 Hence instruments based on the measurement of radiant energy emitted by the hot body are
developed and used to estimate the temperature of the body and they are known as radiation
pyrometers.

 Pyrometer also is known as an Infrared thermometer or Radiation thermometer or non-contact

thermometer used to detect the temperature of an object’s surface temperature, which depends on the
radiation (infrared or visible) emitted from the object.

 Pyrometers act as photodetector because of the property of absorbing energy and measuring of EM
wave intensity at any wavelength.

 These are used to measure high-temperature furnaces.

 These devices can measure the temperature very accurately, precisely, pure visually and quickly
 Radiation takes place independently of the medium surrounding the source and is entirely
electromagnetic by nature.
 All hot bodies emit visible radiation in the band of wavelengths between 0.3µ and 0.72µ and
infrared(thermal) radiation in the range of 0.72µ - 1000µ.
 Energy emitted at each wavelength varies with wavelength and temperature of the hot body.
 If hot body is a black body, it is a near perfect radiator and also absorbs all radiation falling on it
without transmitting or reflecting any.

 The total energy Et radiated in of surface , by awatts / cm 2

perfectly hot body is given by the Stefan-Boltzmann’s law.

 Et  T 4
 T=temperature of hot body (K)
 σ = Stefan’s constant (  5.672 10 12W / cm 2  deg 4 )
 Pyrometers based on the application of this relationship are known as total radiation pyrometrs.
 Most of the energy radiated by hot bodies having temperature above 250 0 C falls within the range
of wavelengths between 0.72µ and 10µ .
 So that, the thermal radiation within this band of wavelengths requires to be focused on to a detector
which should function as black body absorbing all the thermal radiation incident on it.
 If the detector is at a temperature of Td, then the net radiant energy absorbed by the detector is
given by,

Enet   T 4  Td4 
 To render the radiation detector sensitive and fast in response, it is made as small as possible in size
and low in thermal capacity.
 It is enclosed in an evacuated cell so as to minimize convection loss to the surroundings and
mounted on insulating blocks to reduce conduction losses.
 Fig: Radiation pyrometer

 Thermal radiations from the radiating object come inside the housing tube.
 These radiations fall on the concave mirror and they are reflected to the hot
junction of the thermocouple.
 So, an e.m.f. will be produced in the thermocouple and it is measured by
using a milli voltmeter.
 This change in e.m.f. will give the measure of temperature.
Application

 It is used to measure the high temperature of 3500°C.

Advantages

 It has high accuracy

 There is no physical contact with the radiating object
 The distance between radiating object and pyrometer is negligible

Disadvantages

 It is not suitable for very low temperature measurement due to poor sensitivity.
 Dust, smoke, gases in between radiating object and instrument will cause error.
(ii) Optical pyrometer
 Any metallic surface when heated emits radiation of different wavelengths
which are not visible at low temperature but at about 550 °C, radiations in
shorter wavelength are visible to eye and from the colour approximate
temperature is measured.

 The radiations from a heated body at high temperature fall within the visible
region of the EM spectrum. For a given wavelength in the visible region the
energy radiated is greater than at higher temperature.

 Within a visible range, a given wavelength has a fixed colour and the energy of
radiation is interpreted as Intensity or Brightness. Hence if we measure the
brightness of the light of a given colour emitted by a hot source, we have an
indication of temperature. This is the principle of optical pyrometer.
• In an optical pyrometer, the wavelength of radiation accepted is restricted by
means of a colour filter and brightness is measured by comparison with a
standard lamp.
 An image of the radiating source is produced by a lens and made to coincide
with the filament of an electric lamp.
 The current through the lamp filament is made variable so that the lamp
intensity can be adjusted. The filament is viewed through an eye piece and fil-
ters.
 The current through the filament is adjusted until the filament and the images
are of equal brightness.
 When brightness of image produced by the source and brightness produced by the
filament are equal, the outline of the filament disappears as shown in Fig.(c ).
 However, if the temperature of the filament is higher than that required for equality
of brightness, filament becomes too bright as shown in Fig.(b).
 On the other hand if the temperature of filament is lower, the filament becomes
dark as shown in Fig.(a).
 Since the intensity of light of any wavelength depends upon the temperature of the
radiating body and the temperature of filament depends upon the current flowing
through the lamp.
 The instrument may be directly calibrated in terms of the filament current.
However, the filament current depends upon the resistance of the filament, modern
pyrometers are calibrated in terms of resistance directly.
 The range of temperature, which can be measured by an instrument of this type
depends on the maximum allowable temperature of the lamp which is around 1400
°C.
 The range can be extended by using an absorption type screen placed near the
objective lens. Hence a known fraction of radiant energy enters the pyrometer for
comparison. The range can be extended to 3000 °C by this technique.
Types of Pressure Measuring Devices
 Pressure Measurement:
 Pressure measurement is the analysis of the force exerted by a fluid (liquid or
gas) on a surface.
 Pressure instruments can be divided into two general classes, those employing
mechanical means primarily and those which rely upon some electrical
phenomenon.
Mechanical Pressure Instruments

• Depending upon how the pressure measurements is made, the mechanical

pressure instruments may be divided into two categories:

• 1. Comparing an unknown pressure with a known pressure – Manometer

• 2. Inferring the pressure from the measured deformation of an elastic material
• Metal diaphragm or bellows or capsules
• Bourden tubes
Manometers:
 Manometers are pressure measuring instruments based on the principle of balancing a column of
liquid (the pressure of which is to be found) by the same or another column of liquid.
 It is basically a U- shaped tube partly filled with a liquid (mostly mercury).
 Inclined manometer
 An inclined tube manometer is a sensitive manometer used to calculate differential pressure in fluids
where the pressure values are to be measured with greater accuracy, such as in vacuum systems or low-
pressure gas pipelines.
 The parts of this manometer are similar to other manometers. This apparatus consists of two
interconnected tubes or limbs filled with filtered liquid where one end of the tube is connected to the
point where pressure is to be measured, and the other end is open to the atmosphere or connected to a
reference pressure i.e. atmospheric pressure.
 The two limbs are termed “Well” and “Column” based on the experimental setup. As in this case, the
column is inclined at an angle to the horizontal, between 15∘ and 45∘, to increase the sensitivity of the
device.
 The fluid in the manometer moves farther because of the inclination. The well is partially filled with a
liquid, such as mercury or water, and the pressure difference between two points in the system causes
the liquid to rise or fall in the tube.
 By measuring the height of the liquid levels in the two arms or limbs of the tube, the pressure difference
between the two points in the system may be determined. The larger the differential pressure between
the liquid levels, the bigger the height difference between them.
 The limb having a large cross-sectional area is known as well and
the limb having small cross-sectional area is known as column.
 The column is inclined at an angle w.r.t horizontal.
 When two different pressures are applied to the limbs, the liquid
level decreases in the well, and increases in the inclined column.
A1h1=A2h2
 Barometer:
 Atmospheric pressure is measured by a device called a barometer, thus,
the atmospheric pressure is often referred to as barometric pressure.
 The barometer consists of an inverted mercury-filled tube with a mercury
container that is open to the atmosphere.
 The pressure at point B is is equal to the atmospheric pressure, and the
pressure at C can be taken to be zero since there is only mercury vapour
above point C and the pressure is very low compared to Patm and can be
neglected.
 Writing a force balance in the vertical direction gives’
Patm = ρgh
 In barometer, Hg is used because of its two important properties:
(i) Hg is a high-density fluid.
(ii) Hg has very low vapour pressure.
 The atmospheric pressure at a location is the weight of the air above that
point. So, as one goes up in the atmosphere, one feels a reduction in
pressure as the air above that person continuously reduces.
 The barometer was invented by Torricelli. To honour him, pressure is
represented in the unit of ‘torr’ where 1 torr = 1 mm Hg
Vaccum sensors
 The measurement of low low pressures, which are not usually
accessible to the conventional gauges (1 torr= 1mm Hg, and below and
1 micrometer= 0.001 torr) are measured by mechanical, thermal or
ionisation type vaccum sensors.

1. Mechanical vaccum gauge

(a) Mcleod vaccum gauge

2. Thermal vaccum gauge

(a) Pirani (Resistance wire vaccum gauge)

3. Ionisation vaccum gauge

(a) Hot cathode ionisation vaccum gauge
 McLeod Gauge
 McLeod gauge amplifies the low pressure and was developed to
extend the range of vacuum measurement significantly.
 The McLeod Gauge measures the vacuum pressure in the range
between 10-1 and 10-5 torr. This can be used as a primary standard
device for calibrating other low-pressure gauges.
Working Principle
 McLeod gauge is essentially a mercury manometer in which a
volume of gas is compressed before measurement.
 It operates by compressing a low-pressure gas of known volume into
a smaller volume so that its pressure is sufficiently higher enough to
be read.
 The resultant final volume and pressure provide the indication of
applied low pressure.
Construction

McLeod Gauge - Before and After Compression

 The McLeod gauge consists of a reservoir containing mercury.
 A plunger is attached on the top of the reservoir which is used to
raise or lower the level of mercury into the reference column and
bulb.
 Above the reservoir, there is a bulb and reference column. The point
of connection of bulb and reference column is the opening or cut-off
point.
 The other end of the reference column is open to vacuum pressure
and it has a reference capillary.
 The reference capillary has a zero reference point up to which the
mercury is raised. The mercury rises in the capillary as much as it
rises in the column but only the volume differs.
 The reference column is attached to a measuring capillary which is a
sealed chamber and from which the final volume of gas is read.
Operation
 The working of McLeod Gauge is based on Boyle’s law.
pV = pcVc
Where, p & V – Pressure and Volume of gas before compression
pc & Vc – Pressure and Volume of gas after compression
 The unknown vacuum pressure source is connected to the reference
column and the pressure is applied.
 The level of mercury is adjusted so that it at the opening or cut-off
point. Now, the unknown pressure, p, fills the bulb and capillary.
 The volume of unknown pressure is the volume of bulb and capillary
which is given by V.
 The volume of unknown pressure is the volume of bulb and capillary
which is given by V.
 The mercury is forced into the bulb and capillary by operating the
plunger.
 Once the level of mercury crosses the cut-off point or opening, it
stops the entry of applied pressure into the bulb and measuring
capillary.
 The level of mercury is raised until it reaches the zero reference
point. The pressure and volume of gas trapped in measuring capillary
are read and unknown vacuum pressure is calculated.
  The pressure of gas remaining in the measuring capillary is given
by, pc = p + h
 The volume of gas remaining in the measuring capillary is given by,
Vc = Ach
Where, h – the difference in height of mercury in reference and
measuring capillary
Ac – Area of the cross-section of measuring capillary
 By Boyle’s Law,
pV = (p +h) Ach
= p Ach + Ach2
p(V - Ach) = Ach2
Ach <<<<<V, so it can be neglected.
p = Ach2/ V
Pirani (Resistance wire vaccum gauge)

Pirani Gauge is a device that is used to measure pressure, especially in vacuum

systems.
 It is based on a hot metal wire suspended in a tube and exposed to gas pressure
media.
 This hot metal wire is made up of thin Tungsten, Nickel, or Platinum wire.
 It works by measuring the change in thermal conductivity and use this
measurement to get the pressure of the system.
 This gauge is suitable for measuring pressure in very low pressure in the range
from 0.1 to 100 Pascal.
Construction of Pirani Gauge:

 The Pirani gauge consists of the Wheatstone bridge, which consists of

two-foot gauge tubes and a reference tube. Both tubes have fibers
present inside them.
 The gauge tubes are open to the system whose pressures are to be
measured, and the reference tube is closed. Gauge tube filament is
used to measure environmental pressure.
 The reference tube is present on the opposites side of the gauge tube,
which is used to obtain the temperature by which the filament
temperature is heated due to the interaction of gas molecules.
 The filament material in both tubes is made of tungsten, nickel, or
platinum. This filament is very thin and always less than 25 µm. The
power supply is used to pass the current at the Wheatstone bridge.
 A conductor wire is heated when it flows through an electric
current. The rate at which heat is transmitted from this wire depends
on the conductivity of the surrounding media.
 The conductivity of the surrounding media depends on the density
of the surrounding media (that is, the lower the pressure of the
surrounding media, the lower its density will be).
 If the density of the surrounding media is low, its conductivity will
also below, allowing the wire to be hot for a given current flow and
vice versa.
 A Pirani gauge chamber that encloses a platinum filament.
 A compensating cell to reduce the variation caused by ambient
temperature changes.
 The Pirani gauge chamber and compensation cell are mounted on a
Wheatstone bridge circuit, as shown in the diagram.
Operation of Pirani Gauge:
 A continuous flow is passed through the filament in the patronage
gauge chamber. Due to this current, the filament heats up and assumes
a resistance that is measured using a bridge.
 Now, the measured pressure (applied pressure) is connected to the
Pirani gauge chamber. The applied pressure changes the density around
the Pirani gauge filament.
 Due to this change in the density around the filament, its conductivity
changes, which causes the temperature of the filament to change.
 When the temperatures of the filament change, the resistance of the
filaments also changes.
 Now, the change in resistance of the filaments is determined using the
bridge.
 This change in resistance of the Piranis gauge filament becomes a
measurement of applied pressure when calibrated.
 When the environmental pressure is high, the density of the gas will be
higher and will carry a greater amount of heat from the filament. As it
will take more heat from the filament, it will cool the filament faster.
 When the system pressure is low, the gas density will also below. Due
to the low density and long free path between the gas molecules, the
thermal conductivity of the gas will be low and carry less heat from the
filament. So, the filament will slowly cool down compared to high
pressures.
Hot cathode ionisation vaccum gauge
 Ionization type Vacuum gauge is a device which is used for the measurement
of pressure in vacuum systems or in the very low-pressure region (below
atmospheric pressure). It can measure pressure from 10-3 to 10-8 mm of Hg.

 The gauge consists of 3 electrodes i.e. cathode (heating filament), grid and
plate and are enclosed in a glass vessel. The vessel is filled with a gas. There is
an opening where a vacuum system is connected for which pressure is to be
measured.
 Working
 The cathode (filament) is heated by a source. The electrons are emitted with high
kinetic energy from the heated cathode.
 These highly energetic electrons are accelerated towards the grid (positively
charged by source V1).
 Some of the electrons are captured by the grid and hence constitutes a current ig.
The grid current (ig) is measured by meter A.
 The remaining electrons ionize the gas atoms. This will produce free electrons
and positively charged ions.
 These positively charged ions are attracted by the plate (negatively charged by
the source V2) and hence constitutes a current ip. The plate current (ip) is
measured by meter B.
 The pressure of the gas is proportional to the ratio of plate current (ip) to grid
current (ig) and is given by, 1 ip
P
S ig
where S is the proportionality constant and is known as sensitivity of the gauge. S
is a function of the geometry of the vessel and the gas-filled in it.
References

1. D.V.S Murty, Transducers & Instrumentation,1st ed., Prentice

Hall of India (pvt ltd), 2012 .

2. A K Sawhney, A course in electrical and electronic

measurements and instrumentation, 19 th ed., 2017.