MT-II

EEE CYCLE
TRANSDUCERS 2L

SIGNAL CONDITIONING 2L

DISPLAY DEVICES - 2L
Radiant Electrical Mechanical Thermal Chemical Magnetic
Radiant
Filter Photodiode
Electrical
LED transistor Reverse
Piezo-
Electricity
peltier Electro -
plating
coil
Mechanical
Direct
Piezo-
Electricity,
Piezo-
resistance
Gear box
Thermal
seebeck Heat
exchanger
Chemical
pH Chemical
reaction
Magnetic
Hall effect Magnetic
ckt
Devices used to convert one form of energy to
another.
Instrument Transducers are devices which
for the purpose of measurement convert
physical input quantities into an electrical
output signal.

Why Conversion to Electrical Signal? ?

Easy to modify
Easy to process
Easy to Transmit
Easy to Display
No mass-inertia effects
Transducer Classification:
Energy Converter
(Called Self Generating or Active)
Thermocouple, Solar Cell
Energy Controller
(Called Passive or Modulating)
LDR, RTD
Transduction principle
Resistive, Capacitive, Inductive
Primary Input quantity
Flow, temperature, motion, pressure
Material and technology
SMT (Silicon Micro technology), MEMS, Fiber
Optic
Application: Environmental, Biomedical
Factors influencing choice of transducers
Size
Weight
Shape
Sensitivity to desired, modifying and
interfering inputs
Accuracy
Operating range
Transient and Frequency response
Static characteristics
Ruggedness (shock surround)
Reliability (MTBF, MTTR)
Availability and Delivery
Stability ( characteristics not changing with
time)
Environmental compatibility
Cost
Electrical aspects ( Impedance, length and
type of cable)
Major types of Resistive transducers
Potentiometers
Strain Gauges
Resistance temperature detector (RTD)
Thermistors
Light Dependent Resistor (LDR)
RESISTIVE TRANSDUCERS
Preset
(open style)


Presets
(closed style)
Multiturn
preset
Variable pot
RESISTIVITE POTENTIOMETERS
A resistance element provided with a movable
contact.

The contact motion can be
translation
rotation
combination of the two such as helical
Loading Effect Of Potentiometers
( )
( ) ( ) ( ) K 1 mK 1
K
R || R R R
R || R
e
e
x m x p
x m
ex
0
+
=
+
=
m
p
t
i
p
x
R
R
m &
x
x
R
R
= =
K=
R
m
= detector is of infinite impedance i.e. m = 0
K
e
e
ex
0
=
Error = output voltage at loaded condition -
output voltage under no load
( ) K 1 mK 1
K . e
ex
+
=
( )
( )
m
1
K 1 K
K 1 K e
2
ex
+

=
At K = 0 and K = 1, error = 0. At all other points
error is (ve)
For good linearity, for a meter of a given
resistance R
m
, choose a potentiometer of
sufficiently low resistance relative to R
m

Max e
ex
=
p
PR
Low value of R
p
allows only a small e
ex

and therefore a small sensitivity
A variable pot has a total resistance of 2.2 K ohm and
is fed from 10 V DC supply. The output is connected
to a load resistance of 5.1 K ohm. Tabulate errors for
wiper positions from 0.1 to 1.0 in increments of 0.1.
( )
( )
p
m
ex
R
R
K K
K K
E
+

=
1
1
Error
2
K 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1
Error 0 -0.0037 -0.0013 -0.025 -0.037 -0.048 -0.0573 -0.058 -0.052 -0.036 0

Problem : we have two resistors of 10 ohm and
330 both having power rating of 0.25W. Can we
connect both resistors to 6V battery?
Solution :
power dissipated by 330 ohm resistor is
W
R
V
109 . 0
330
6 6
2
=

=
power dissipated by 10 ohm resistors is
W
R
V
6 . 3
10
6 6
2
=

=
10 ohm resistor will burn, since power
dissipated by it exceeds its rated
capacity.
Inductive transducers are those in which
SELF INDUCTANCE of a coil or the
MUTUAL INDUCTANCE of a pair of coil
is altered due to variation in the
measurand.
Change in inductance L is measured.
INDUCTIVE TRANSDUCERS
The self inductance of a coil refers to
the flux linkage within the coil due to
current in the same coil.

Mutual inductance refers to the flux
linkages in a coil due to current in
adjacent coil.
Fig2.3e
SELF INDUCTANCE TRANSDUCER
MUTUAL INDUCTANCE TRANSDUCER
In the magnetic circuits, reluctance is equivalent
to resistance and depends on :
Number of turns
Area of cross section of wire
Permeability of the medium
Air has much lower permeability than a
ferromagnetic material.
Introducing air gap is like introducing high
resistance.
Air Cored Coils
Can be operated at higher frequencies because
there are no eddy current losses in air core.
Iron cored coils
Inductance depends on the value of current.
At high frequencies eddy current losses are
high.
Size much smaller than air cored.
VARIABLE RELUCTANCE TRANSDUCERS
PROBLEM:
A variable reluctance type tachometer has 60 rotor
teeth. The counter records 3600 counts per second.
Determine the speed in rpm.
Soln:
Speed (rps) = pulses per second / number of teeth
rpm rps 3600
60
3600
= =
A disk has 20 holes, the light detector is
connected to frequency meter for shaft
speed measurement. If the frequency
meter reading is 720 Hz. Calculate the
shaft speed.
What is the minimum speed that can be
detected?
20 holes => 20 pulses /rev
720 Hz => 720 pulses/sec
Speed (rps) = pulses per second / number of holes
= 720 / 20 = 36 rps = 2160 rpm
Minimum speed corresponds to 1 Hz
1 Hz corresponds to 2160 / 720 = 3 rpm
Linear Variable Differential Transformer
(LVDT)
There is one primary winding connected to
an ac source (50 Hz 20 kHz), excitation
3 15 V
rms
.
Core is made of high permeability soft
iron or nickel iron. Two secondary
windings are connected in series
opposition
Geometric centre of coil arrangement is called
the NULL position. The output voltage at the null
position is ideally zero.
However it is small but nonzero (null voltage).
Why?
1. Harmonics in the excitation voltage and stray
capacitance coupling between the primary
and the secondary
2. Manufacturing defects.
A typical signal conditioning provides

1. Power supply

2. Frequency generator to drive LVDT

3. Phase sensitive Demodulator and
Low Pass Filter to convert ac to dc

4. DC amplifier to amplify the final
output signal
Advantages
Wide range of displacement from m to cm.

Frictionless and electrical isolation.

High output.

High sensitivity [sensitivity is expressed in mV
(output voltage)/ mm (input core displacement)].
Disadvantages
Sensitive to stray magnetic fields.

Affected by vibrations.

Dynamic response is limited mechanically by
the mass of core and electrically by frequency
of excitation voltage.
A capacitor is an electrical component which
essentially consists of two plates separated
by an insulator.

The property of a capacitor to store an
electric charge when its plates are at different
potential is referred to as capacitance.
CAPACITIVE TRANSDUCERS
V
Q
d
A
C
r 0
c c
=
Capacitance C =
.
If the capacitance is large, more charge is
needed to establish a given voltage difference.
The capacitance between two parallel metallic
plates of area
|
.
|

\
|
=

m
F
12
0
10 85 . 8 c
A capacitor is made of N parallel plates each of
area A and spaced a distance d apart. A second
set of N identical plates is positioned midway
between the first set, as shown below. What is
the total capacitance of the whole system?
To see what's happening, let's take N = 2:
when there are 2 plates in each set, the number
of capacitors, i.e., sheets of positive and
negative charges separated by a distance d/2, is
3, i.e., (2N - 1). Therefore, if there are N plates
in each set, there are (2N - 1) capacitors in
parallel, so the total capacitance is:

(2N - 1) [
o
A/(d/2)] = 2(2N - 1) [
o
A/d]
PLATE DISTANCE CHANGE
d
) x L ( w
C
r 0
c c
=
PLATE AREA CHANGE
PLATE AREA CHANGE
For area variation, the capacitance is maximum
when the overlap area is maximum and is given
by
d
A
C
max r 0
max
c c
=
2
r
A
2
max
t
=
(if plates are semi-circular in shape)
t
u
=
u
. C C
max
d 2
r
C
2
r 0
u c c
=
u
SENSITIVITY=
K
d 2
r C
2
r 0
=
c c
=
u c
c
u
DIELECTRIC CHANGE
Capacitive Sensors
Other Configurations
c. Differential Mode
b. Variable Dielectric Mode
a. Variable Area Mode
Displacement-capacitance relationship is
non linear
Nonlinearity corrupt the performance of a
simple parallel plate sensor
LINEARIZATION TECHNIQUES
Differential Capacitor
2 1
2
1
C C
EC
E
+
=
2 1
1
2
C C
EC
E
+
=
For x=0,
2 1
C C =
2
E
E E
2 1
= =
E
d 2
x d
E
1

= E
d 2
x d
E
2
+
=
x d
A
C
x d
A
C
up moves X
2 1
+
c
=

c
=
1 2
E E E = A
E
d
x
E = A
S = Sensitivity G
d
E
X
E
= =
A
A
=
PIEZOELECTRIC
AND
HALL EFFECT TRANSDUCERS

WHO DISCOVERED PIEZOELECTRICITY?
The first experimental demonstration
of piezoelectric was published in
1880 by brothers Pierre and Jacques
Curie when they were 21 & 24 years
old.
Piezoelectricity
Phenomenon of generating an electric
charge in a material when subjecting it to a
mechanical stress (direct effect).
and
Generating a mechanical strain in
response to an applied electric field
(converse effect).
Piezoelectric materials are Anisotropic
Electrical and mechanical properties differ
along different directions
TYPES OF PIEZOELECTRIC
MATERIALS

Natural: Tourmaline; Quartz; Topaz;
Rochelle salt (sodium potassium
tartrate tetrahydrate).

Synthetic: Barium Titanate (BaTiO
3
);
Lead Zirconate (PbZio
3
); Polymer
Films (Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), (-CH2-
CF2-)n).
There are two families of constants: g constants
and d constants. In the constants the first
subscript refers to the direction of electrical effect
and the second to that of the mechanical effect
according to the axis systems.
i
33
f
Q
3 direction in applied force
3 direction in generated e arg ch
d = A
=
) wl /( f
t / e
3 direction in applied stress
3 direction in produced field
g
i
0
33
= A
=
g = 12 * 10
-3
(V/m) / (N/m
2
) for barium Titanate
g= 50 * 10
-3
(V/m) / (N/m
2
) for quartz.

A quartz crystal 0.1 inch thick would have a
sensitivity of 0.88 V/psi
(

= =

psi
m
N
Pa
4
2
10 45 . 1 1 1
.
c
=
c
=
c
=
e
= A
=
33
i i
0
i
0
33
d
f
Q
f
C . e
/ f
t / e
stress
field
g

d
33
=
33
g . c
p t g e
p . t
e
f . t
A . e
/ f
t / e
g
33 0
0
i
0
i
0
33
=
= =
e
=

Piezoelectric Transducers are used for

measurement and recording of dynamic
changes in mechanical variables such as
pressure, force and acceleration.
Gas Lighters
Generation of sonar waves
Quartz clocks
Loudspeaker
LOW FREQUENCY DEVICES
(Force, Position, Acceleration, Spark generator)

AUDIO DEVICES
(Microphone Heads, Stereophonic pickups, Loud
Speaker)

RF DEVICES
(Ultrasonic generators/receiver/Scanner)
HALL EFFECT SENSORS
WHO
INVENTED
HALL EFEFCT ?
Edwin Herbert Hall discovered the "Hall
Effect" in 1879 while working on his
doctoral thesis in physics in university of
John Hopkins in Baltimore
Commercially available Hall generators
made of

Bulk Indium Arsenide (InAs)

Thin Film InAs

Gallium Arsenide (GaAs)

Indium Antimonide (InSb).
kG mA
mV
is K of unit
HOC
V
H
= K
HOC
I
C
B sin
o I
c
x B
I
C
is the control current in mA ( ac or dc),

B is the magnitude of flux density in
kilogauss (kG) [1 Tesla = 10,000 Gauss)

is the angle in degrees of the incident
magnetic field from a line drawn parallel
to the Hall plate.
silicon Hall effect transducers can be
fabricated on standard bipolar and
CMOS integrated circuit processes.

Sensitivities of semiconductor Hall
transducers are still very low, falling
in the 10mV to 100mV/Gauss,
additional signal conditioning is
usually required for any practical
application.
Preamplifier and a threshold detector are
integral to Hall effect sensor ICs.

Significant amounts of signal processing
circuitry can be incorporated on the
same die as the transducer.

Typical Hall IC has three pins. Supply,
Ground and Output.

Hall ICs cost from $ 0.2 to $ 1.5.


PHOTOELECTRIC

TRANSDUCERS
The basic principle behind the working of
the Photoelectric Transducers is the
Photoelectric effect.
The photoelectric effect was explained
mathematically by Albert Einstein

Einstein won the Noble award for the
discovery of photoelectric effect in 1921.
For a given surface, there is a
minimum frequency of radiation at
which emissions occur

Incident radiation with a lower
frequency( Energy) than the
threshold, does not cause electrons
to be emitted, regardless of intensity.
What is

Emission Spectrum?

Spectral Response?
A graph of energy output of source
plotted versus frequency or wavelength
is Emission Spectrum of source.
Source Characteristics
Graph of device current, voltage or
resistance versus radiation frequency
is Spectral Response.
Device Characteristics
EMISSION SPECTRUM
SPECTRAL RESPONSE
Photo emissive cell
The photoelectric current produced
I = S
Cathode is photo emissive, light release
electrons ,which are attracted towards anode
producing a electric current .

The cathode and anode are enclosed in glass
or quartz envelope which is either evacuated
or filled with a inert gas.
Photoelectric tube response to different
wavelength of light is influence by

Transmission characteristics of
glass tube envelope

The photo emissive characteristics of
the cathode material


PHOTOMULTIPLIER TUBE





.
If the p-n junction is operated in the third
quadrant, the product of a negative current
and a positive voltage will yield a negative
power.

Negative power corresponds to a source
of power.

A p-n junction operated in the third
quadrant can be used as a source of
power : the principle behind the solar cell.
Photodiode (pn junction) operated in reverse bias
In a reverse biased p-n junction a Reverse
Saturation Current flows due to minority carriers
which are thermally generated.
Increasing the reverse bias does not increases the
reverse current significantly. Increasing what
parameter will increase reverse current?
TEMPERATURE and ILLUMINATION increases
number of minority carriers (reverse) current.
Photodiodes

The photons impacting the junction cause
covalent bonds to break
The electric field in the depletion layer sweeps
Minority electrons in p side to n side and minority
holes in n side to the p-side
Reverse current across junction- photocurrent is
proportional to the intensity of the incident light.
Response time is fast (nanoseconds)
Linearity make them useful in simple light meters.
Materials used to produce photodiodes

Silicon
Germanium
Indium Gallium Arsenide
Lead Sulphide
Small current converted to appreciable voltage
By passing through resistor (I V converter)
E
s
= V
R1
-V
D

Photoconductive Devices (or Photo Resistors)
Change in the semiconductor's resistance
when the material is exposed to light.
Semiconductor (CdS, PbS, PbSe, InSb, InAs)
behaves like resistor .

Bulk effect photoconductors have no junction
To cause a change in resistance photons
incident on these materials must have energy,


E
g
is the band gap in electron volts (eV), h is
Plancks constant (4.14 x 10
-15
eV.s), is the
frequency of the light.
g
E hv >
In the dark, the resistance is very high-mega ohm
range.
When illuminated, the resistance may drop to a
few hundred ohms.
Bulk resistivity decreases with increasing
illumination, allowing more photocurrent to flow.



Bulk effect photoconductors are referred as
photoconductive cells or simply photocells.


Photocells are thin film devices made by
depositing a layer of a photoconductive material
on ceramic substrate
Cannot be practically used for high
speed switching. WHY ?



Exhibit "memory effect

Require on the order of a second
for the resistance to rise to its dark
resistance.

Count no. of people going/coming in a
room
Count no. of objects moving on a
conveyer belt
Find the complexion of your face
Automatic Headlight Dimmer

Night Light Control

Street Light Control

Absence / Presence (beam breaker)

Position Sensor
Can handle many watts, so a relay can
be directly operated using an LDR.

LDRs are used as switching devices to
detect presence or absence of light.

Counters, twilight switches, camera
control systems
Advantages of photocells
Lowest cost available near-IR photo detector

Available in low cost plastic encapsulated
packages as well as hermetic packages (TO-46,
TO-5, TO-8)

Responsive to both very low light levels
(moonlight) and to very high light levels (direct
sunlight)

Wide dynamic range: resistance changes of
several orders of magnitude between "light"
and "no light

Maximum operating voltages of 50 to 400
volts DC, 120/240 VAC


Usable with almost any visible or near
infrared light source such as LEDS; neon;
fluorescent, incandescent bulbs, lasers;
flame sources; Sunlight; etc


Available in a wide range of resistance
values
Photovoltaic Cells

A device that turns light into electric
energy.

Where were they developed ??

For What application ??
The photovoltaic cells were developed at
Bell Labs in 1950

primarily for space applications
The Hubbell telescope utilizes solar
panels for its energy requirements.

Space satellites

Rural health clinics for Lighting,
Refrigeration,

Water pumps for irrigation

Small scale power generation.
thin layer of crystalline
semiconductor (Se, Si, Cu
2
O, )
sandwiched between two different
metal electrodes

No Bias but irradiation causes
formation of electron hole-pair
formation

Photovoltaic cells generate a voltage
which is proportional to EM radiation
intensity.

Called photovoltaic cells because of
their voltage generating
characteristics.

Active transducers i.e., they do not
need an external source to power
them.
The power from a cell is a
function of cell area and
power density of light.
Short-circuit current (I
SC
)
current produced when the positive and negative
terminals of the cell are short-circuited,
voltage between the terminals is zero
(load resistance of zero)



Open-circuit voltage (V
OC
)
voltage across the positive and negative terminals
under open-circuit conditions,
current is zero (an infinite load)
Fill factor measures the "squareness" of
the I-V curve




It describes the degree to which the voltage
at the maximum power point (V
max
) matches
Voc
and
the current at the maximum power point
(I
max
) matches I
sc

oc sc
V I
V I
FF
max max
=
Consider a solar cell driving a load of 3O.
This cell has an area of 3cm 3cm and is
illuminated with light of intensity 700 W/m
2
.
Voltage and current for maximum power point
with load of 3 ohm are 0.475 V and 157 mA
respectively.

Find (i) Power delivered to the load,

(ii) Efficiency of the solar cell in this circuit,

(iii) Fill factor of the solar cell. Given :
I
sc
= 178 mA, V
oc
= 0.58 V.
The power delivered to the load :
P
out
= I*V = (15710
-3
)(0.475 V)
= 0.0746 W or 74.6 mW

The input power of sunlight :
P
in
= (Light intensity) (Surface area)
= (700 W /m
2
) (0.03m)
2
= 0.63 W
% 8 . 11
63 . 0
0746 . 0
100 100 (%) = = =
W
W
x x
P
P
Efficiency
in
out
% 72 722 . 0
) 58 . 0 )( 178 (
) 475 . 0 )( 157 (
max max
or
V mA
V mA
V I
V I
FF
oc sc
=
= ~
1.7x10
23
kW Sun Emits
8.5 x10
13
kW reaches the earth
6x10
13
kW penetrates earths atmosphere.


With sun directly overhead on a clear day,
power density of sunlight is

100 mW/cm
2


1 SUN = 1kW/m
2
=100 mW / cm
2

On a cloudy day, power density of
sunlight might be 0.3 SUN or 30
mW/cm
2
.

Energy Density (Langley )
product of power density and time.


1 Langley = 11.62 W-hr/m
2
.