Classifications of Transducers

Classification of transducers
According to the sensed quantity

Primary Non-Primary
Transducers Transducers
 Classification of transducers
According to the sensed quantity (measurand)
Primary (e.g., pressure through a u-tube manometer)

Non-primary (e.g., measurement of distance with a resistive displacement transducer)

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 Classification of transducers

According to energy supply

Active Transducers

Passive Transducers

The active transducer changes the energy without using the auxiliary power
supply whereas the passive transducer uses the exterior power supply for the
conversion of energy

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 Classification of transducers
Passive Transducers:
Examples:
Piezo-resistive pressure transducers

Thermistors

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 Classification of transducers
According to energy supply

Active Transducers:

Examples:
Thermocouple
Piezoelectric transducers
Photovoltaic transducers

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Classification of transducers: Analog vs Digital Output

Analog Transducers Digital Transducers

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 Classification of transducers
According to output
Analog What is analog-to-digital conversion?
Digital

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Classification of transducers: Operation principle

Null mode Deflection mode

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Classification of transducers: According to working mode
Null mode

Deflection mode

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Classification of transducers: according to the order of their dynamical systems

Zero-order, first-order,
second-order and others

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 Classification of transducers: According to dynamic response
Zero-order, first-order, second-order, or more.

An electric resistor is almost a

zero-order dynamic system.

Zero-order dynamic response to a step input

is the time constant

First-order dynamic response to a step input 169

Classification of transducers: According to dynamic response

Second-order dynamic response to a step input

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Classification of transducers: According to the variable parameter, Resistive,
Capacitive, Inductive, etc

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Static Characteristics
of Transducers

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 Understand the basic static sensor
characteristics
Be able to check if the selected
sensor will match the required
characteristics.
Be able to properly select a sensor
for a given measurement situation
based on the required sensor
characteristics.
Be able to identify if a certain
problem of a measurement system is
caused by the sensor or no?
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Transducer Characteristics
Static Characteristics Dynamic Characteristics
Range/span Response time
Error Time constant
Accuracy Rise time
Repeatability Settling time
Sensitivity Bandwidth
Hysteresis
Non-linearity
Offset
Stability
Dead band
Resolution
Input impedance
Output impedance
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 Transfer Function
A sin( t+ ) B sin( t+ )
The ratio of the output to the input of a control system component G
Generally, the transfer function depends on both the frequency and Block
the time Gain

Convert to phasors and divide

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 Transfer Function
Is the functional relationship between physical input signal
and electrical output signal.

Is represented as a graph showing the relationship between

the input and output signal.

Constitutes a complete description of the sensor

characteristics. https://electricalgang.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Transducer-1-1024x576.png

May take the form of a certified calibration curve.

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 Transfer Function
Vin (V)
Amplifier
T (°C)
Temperature Vout (V)
Sensor
Vout (mV)

Valve Position
(% Open) Control
Armature V Dc Motor Valve
Va (V) Liquid Flow
n (rpm) (m3/s)

L (m) Level Error E(V)

Transmitter Controller
Current Correction
(mA) V(V)

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 Transfer Functions
Example: A current-to-voltage converter takes an input of
17.5 30° mA and produces an output of 8.35 37° V Iin (mA) I-to-V Converter

Determine the transfer function gain and sketch the block G Vout (V)
diagram

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Bode Diagram presents the transfer function versus frequency

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 Range and Span
Example of water level
The range: The limits between which the transducer
input can vary

Span: Maximum range Minimum range

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 Error
Error: The difference between the results
of the measurement and the true value
of the quantity being measured.

Example of outdoor temperature measurement

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 Accuracy

The extent to which the value

indicated by a sensor might be right.
It is the summation of all possible
error during the operation of the
sensor. The lower the error, the
better is the accuracy
Example of outdoor temperature measurement

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 Repeatability
Repeatability describes its ability to give the
same output for repeated applications of the
same input value.

The repeatability is expressed as the maximum

error divided by the span

Precision is a measure of the

repeatability/reproducibility of the
measurement.

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 Repeatability

Example of water level transducer Several readings when water level is 15.6m : 15.66
15.62
Upper limit 18m 15.55
15.56
15.61
15.67
15.55
Reference water level 15.6m 15.52
15.53

Lower limit 12m

The repeatability is maximum error divided by the span, (15.67-15.52)/(18-12)=2.5%

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 Accuracy versus Precision
Accuracy is the closeness of a measurement to the true value. The higher the
accuracy, the lower the error.

Precision is the closeness of multiple measurements to each others under the

same input.

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From ni.com
 Sensitivity
The sensitivity: the ratio of change in the output signal magnitude to the change of the input

Output
Which sensor is
more sensitive?

Input

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 Sensitivity

Difference in length: 20 mm Difference in temperature: 4°C

The sensitivity is 20/4 = 5 mm/°C

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 Saturation
Output is constant, even if the input is
increased

saturation

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 Hysteresis
Some sensors do not return to the same
output value when the input is cycled up or
down. The width of the expected error in
terms of the measured quantity is defined as
the hysteresis.

The sensor output depends on which

direction the change in input is made.

Input
This figure shows a typical hysteresis curve.

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 Non-Linearity
Output
The maximum deviation from a linear transfer function over
the specified range.

There are several measures of this error. The most common

compares the actual transfer function with the `best straight
line', which lies midway between the two parallel lines
which encompasses the entire transfer function over the
specified range of the device.

The figure shows an exaggerated relationship between the

straight line and the actual measured, based on calibration.

Input
From www.ni.com

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Offset Error (Bias Error, Zero Error)
Output

If a line is y = mx +b

An offset error is an error in the

b term.

An example of the offset error of Input

a transducer is defined as the
output that exists when it should
be zero

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 Scale-Factor Error
If a line is y = mx +b

An error in the m term is a scale factor

error - a change in sensitivity

Output

Input 193
 Drift
The output changes over time for an input that
is constant in time

Stability of a transducer is a measure of its drift.

A very stable transducer has very low drift

Variation in temperature can cause some

transducers to drift

The current will heat the resistor -> R increases

with time -> V = IR increases with time

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 Dead Band
The dead band of a transducer is the range
of input values for which the output is
zero. The transducer is not able to sense
this small change in the input

Example of a rotameter: the flow rate

must reach a certain limit before the ball
leaves its supporting seat.

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 Resolution
Resolution is the smallest amount of input signal change that the instrument can detect reliably.

If the input is slowly increased from some arbitrary input value, it will be found that the output does not change at all until a
certain increment is exceeded. This increment is called resolution or discrimination of the instrument. Thus, the smallest
increment in input which can be detected with certainty by an instrument is its resolution

Resolution is expressed as a percentage of the Full-Scale Output (FSO). For example, if a transducer has a resolution of 0.1%
of FSO, a 100 psi (6.8 bar) -> It is able to detect a change in pressure increase or decrease of 0.1 psi (0.007 bar).

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A 4.5 digit multi-meter is capable of displaying at least 20,000 counts
(values from 0 to a maximum of 19999).

It means you have four full digits and one half digit, only capable of
displaying 1.

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 Readability
Readability of an instrument is the closeness with
which the scale can be read.
Readability is affected by the skill of the user, the
clarity of the readout on the instrument, the type of
readout (e.g., analog or numeric display) and the
level of lighting.
Readability affects the selection of the measuring
device to be used.
Example: A 100 oC output on a 12 cm scale is more
readable than a 100 oC on a 6 cm scale.
Least count is the smallest difference between two
indications on an instrument scale.
Both the readability and the least count depend on
the length of the scale used

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 Instrument limit of error

Instrument limit of error (ILE) is

the smallest reading that an
observer can read on an
instrument, and is equal to or to
some fraction (1/2, 1/5) of the
least count

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 Input impedance and loading effect
The presence of a sensor may affect the state
of the measurand. This is often referred to as

The input impedance of an electrical

transducer is the measure of the opposition of
current flow into the transducer. It is the ratio of
voltage across the input terminals to the current
flowing through the input terminals.

The input impedance of High Z test tools

-> when the
DMM is placed across a circuit for a
measurement, it will have little impact on circuit
performance.

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 Input impedance and loading effect

When measuring voltage, the higher the input impedance

the lower the disturbance is made to the circuit being
measured.

When measuring current, the lower the input impedance

the lower the disturbance is made to the circuit being
measured.

https://encrypted-
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 Input impedance and loading effect

When measuring voltage, the higher the input impedance

the lower the disturbance is made to the circuit being
measured.

When measuring current, the lower the input impedance

the lower the disturbance is made to the circuit being
measured.

https://encrypted-
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202
Input impedance and loading effect

https://www.physicsforums.com/attachments/circuits1-png.212875/

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 Output Impedance
This characteristic property does apply to all transducers with electric output.

The output signal from the transducer is normally forwarded to a signal conditioning circuit. This
circuit will drain current from the transducer in most cases. The current taken from the transducer
will change the output value due to the output impedance of the transducer. The measured signal is
therefore dependent upon the output impedance of the transducer and the input impedance of the
following circuit.

An ideal constant voltage power supply should have zero output impedance so that changes in the
load such as higher load currents do not cause a voltage drop at the output. In addition, the low
impedance helps in reducing the noise and interference. When the supply has high impedance, high
load current causes a voltage drop across this impedance and lower the output voltage.

Low impedance in a voltage source is usually preferred because it helps to maintain a stable output
voltage even at large output currents to the load.

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 Reliability
reliability - no failures

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Cost and ease of operation
Purchase price
cost of installation and operation
Commercial availability
Ease of operation

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