Module 2 – Sensors

and Actuators
 Sensor, Transducer and Transmitter
• A Sensor is defined as a device which measures a physical
quality (light, sound, space) and converts them into an
easily readable format. If calibrated correctly, sensors are
highly accurate devices. Not all transducers are sensors
but most sensors are transducers.
• A transducer is an electronic device which converts
energy from one form to another.
• Transducers and transmitters are virtually the same thing,
the main difference being the kind of electrical signal each
sends. A transducer sends a signal in volts (V) or millivolt
(mV) and a transmitter sends a signal in milliamps (mA).
Smart Devices
 Principles of Sensor
• Working Principle
• Physical Laws
• Chemical Laws
• Biological Laws
 Classification of Sensor
• Active and Passive
• Contact and Non-contact
• Absolute and Relative
• Area of Application
• Specification
• Sensitivity
• Stability
• Response time
• Operating conditions
• Range
 Sensor Selection
• Environmental Factors
• Economic Factors
• Sensor Characteristics
 Resistance
• What is resistance ?
• https://youtu.be/nBi662ZRfTA
• https://youtu.be/r8-RAjL0mrI
 Resistance Type Sensors
• Potentiometer
• Strain Gauge
• Resistance Thermometer
• RTD
 Potentiometer
• A potentiometer is also commonly known as pot.
• These potentiometers have three terminal connections.
• One terminal connected to a sliding contact called wiper
and the other two terminals are connected to a fixed
resistance track.
• The wiper can be moved along the resistive track either
by use of a linear sliding control or a rotary “wiper”
contact.
• Both rotary and linear controls have the same basic
operation
 Potentiometer
• Linear potentiometer is a device in which the resistance
varies as a function of the position of a slider.
x
Rx  Rp
Rp V=0 to Vex
x max
Rx
xmax V  Rp Vex
x Rx
Vex V Rx
x  Rp x max
x  VVex x max
 Potentiometer
• resistive potentiometers are one of the most widely used
forms of position sensor
• can be angular or linear
• consists of a length of resistive material with a sliding
contact onto the resistive track
• when used as a position transducer a potential is placed
across the two end terminals, the voltage on the sliding
contact is then proportional to its position
• an inexpensive and easy to use sensor
 Potentiometer
• Simplest and most efficient
• Connect slide to moving object
• Three types
• Translation
• Single turn: Angular
• Multi turn: Angular
Potentiometer
 Strain Gauge
• resistive potentiometers are one of the most widely used
forms of position sensor
• can be angular or linear
• consists of a length of resistive material with a sliding
contact onto the resistive track
• when used as a position transducer a potential is placed
across the two end terminals, the voltage on the sliding
contact is then proportional to its position
• an inexpensive and easy to use sensor
Strain Gauges
• Device that changes resistance when it
is stressed.
• With contact the wires stretch or
compress changing their resistance
proportional to the applied load.
• One or more strain gages are used in
the making of a load cell.
Strain Gauges
• Frequently used in Mechanical
Research
• Measure stress generated by
machinery
• Strain Gauges are smaller than a
postage stamp.
• Very thin conductors (1/1000 inch
diameter)
 Electrical Resistance Strain Gauge
• 1856 Lord Kelvin demonstrated that the resistances of copper wire and
iron wire change when the wires are subjected to mechanical strain
• He used a Wheatstone bridge circuit with a galvanometer as the
indicator
Strain Gauge: Motion, Stress,
Pressure

Strain gauge is used to measure deflection, stress,

pressure, etc.
The resistance of the sensing element changes with
applied strain
A Wheatstone bridge is used to measure small changes in
the strain gauge resistance
 Types of Strain Gauges:-

1. Bonded type strain

gauges:-
There three types of
three types of bonded
type strain gauges.
a)Wire type bonded
strain gauges:
 Bonded Type Strain Gauge
• Wire type bonded strain gauges consist of a thin seat of insulating
material such as paper or Bakelite.
• A wire having uniform cross sectional area is cemented on the seat
of insulating material.
• The spreading of wire is important for uniform distribution of stress.
• Another thin seat of insulating material is placed on the strain gauge
wire to prevent it from mechanical damage.
• The strain gauge is bonded with an adhesive material
 Bonded Resistance Gauges
• They are reasonably inexpensive.
• They can pull off overall accuracy of better than +/-
0.10%.
• They are available in a short gauge length and have
small physical size.
• These strain gauges are only moderately affected by
temperature changes.
• They are extremely sensitive and have low mass.
• Bonded resistance strain gages can be employed to
measure both static and dynamic strain.
 Foil type bonded strain
gauge
• The construction of Foil type bonded strain gauge is similar to that of
wire type strain gauge.
• The Foil type bonded strain gauges have more surface area as
compared to wire type strain gauges.
• This causes increased heat dissipation capacity so that it can be used at
higher temperature areas.
• Generally it is made of grid pattern.
• The material used for foil and wire are Nichrome, Constantan, Isoelastic,
Nickel and Platinum.
Resistance Strain Gages
 Unbonded strain gauges

In these types of strain gauges, the wire is stretched between two posts and fixed on a stationary frame. The movable
frame is connected to shaft which is able to move in either direction under the application of force or strain to be
measured.
Strain gauges
Strain gauges
 Resistance Temperature
Detector
Most accurate & stable
Good to 800 degrees Celsius
Resistance= f{Absolute T}
Self-heating a problem
Low resistance
Nonlinear

016
 Resistive Temperature
Detectors (RTD)

• Basically nothing but a coil of very thin platinum wire whose resistance is
100 ohms at room temperature
 Resistive thermometres
• Resistivity is temperature dependent

R (T )  R0 (1  T )

• Materials: Platinum, nickel

 Resistive thermometres
• Copper, Nickel and Platinum are mostly used as RTD materials.
• The range of temperature measurement is decided by the region,
where the resistance-temperature characteristics are approximately
linear.
• The resistance versus temperature characteristics of these materials is
shown in fig., with to as 00C. Platinum has a linear range of operation
up to 6500C, while the useful range for Copper and Nickel are 1200C
and 3000C respectively.
 Construction
• For industrial use, bare metal wires cannot be used for
temperature measurement.
• They must be protected from mechanical hazards such as
material decomposition, tearing and other physical damages.
• The salient features of construction of an industrial RTD are as
follows:
• The resistance wire is often put in a stainless steel well for
protection against mechanical hazards.
• This is also useful from the point of view of maintenance, since a
defective sensor can be replaced by a good one while the plant is
in operation.
• Heat conducting but electrical insulating materials like mica is
placed in between the well and the resistance material.
• The resistance wire should be carefully wound over mica sheet
so that no strain is developed due to length expansion of the
wire.
Working
 Thin Film
Thin-film RTD elements are produced by depositing a thin layer of
platinum onto a substrate.
• A pattern is then created that provides an electrical circuit that is
trimmed to provide a specific resistance.
• Lead wires are then attached and the element coated to protect the
platinum film and wire connections.
 Wire wound RTDs
• Two types of wire-wound elements:
• those with coils of wire packaged inside a ceramic or glass tube (the most
commonly used wire-wound construction),
• those wound around a glass or ceramic core and covered with additional
glass or ceramic material (used in more specialized applications).
 RTD geometry

• Sheathing: stainless steel, glass, alumina, quartz

• Metal sheath can cause contamination at high temperatures and are best below 250ºC.
• At very high temperatures, quartz and high-purity alumina are best to prevent
contamination.
 RTD Applications

Air conditioning and

refrigeration servicing
Furnace servicing
Foodservice processing
Medical research
Textile production
 RTDs
Advantages Disadvantages
• Most stable over time • High cost
• Most accurate • Slowest response time
• Most repeatable temperature • Low sensitivity to small temperature
measurement changes
• Very resistant to contamination/ • Sensitive to vibration (strains the
• corrosion of the RTD element platinum element wire)
• Recalibration if used beyond sensor’s
temperature ratings
• Somewhat fragile
 Thermistor
Thermistor – a resistor whose resistance changes with temperature

• Resistive element is generally a metal-oxide ceramic

containing Mn, Co, Cu, or Ni
• Packaged in a thermally conductive glass bead or disk
with two metal leads
• Suppose we have a “1 kΩ thermistor”
• What does this mean?
• At room temperature, the resistance of the thermistor
is 1 kΩ
• What happens to resistance as we increase
temperature?
 Thermistors
• They have very high sensitivity but highly nonlinear characteristics.
• Thermistors differ from resistance temperature detectors in that the material
used in a Thermistors is generally a ceramic or polymer, while RTDs use pure
metals.
• Thermistors can be of two types:
(a) Negative temperature co-efficient (NTC) Thermistors and
(b) Positive temperature co-efficient (PTC) Thermistors.
 Negative Temperature
Coefficient
• Most materials exhibit a
negative temperature
coefficient (NTC)
• Resistance drops with
temperature!
 Converting Resistance to
Temperature
• The Steinhart-Hart Equation relates temperature to resistance

• T is the temperature (in Kelvin)

• R is the resistance at T and Rref is resistance at Tref
• A1, B1, C1, and D1 are the Steinhart-Hart Coefficients
• HOW COULD WE DETERMINE THESE COEFFICIENTS?
• Take a look at the data sheet
Converting Resistance to
Temperature
 Positive Temperature
Coefficient
• The Positive Temperature Coefficient (PTC) Thermistors have limited use and they
are particularly used for protection of motor and transformer windings.
• As shown in fig., they have low and relatively constant resistance below a threshold
temperature TR, beyond which the resistance increases rapidly. The PTC
Thermistors are made from compound of barium, lead and strontium titanate.
• The nonlinear characteristics of Thermistors often creates problem for temperature
measurement, and it is often desired to linearise the Thermistors characteristics.
• This can be done by adding one fixed resistance parallel to the Thermistors.
• The resistance temperature characteristics of the equivalent resistance would be
more linear, but at the cost of sensitivity.
 Construction

Bead Type thermistors

 Thermistors
Advantages Disadvantages
• High sensitivity to small • Limited temperature range
temperature changes • Fragile
• Temperature measurements • Some initial accuracy “drift”
become more stable with use
• Recalibration if used beyond the
• Copper or nickel extension wires sensor’s temperature ratings
can be used
• Lack of standards for replacement
• Small and Compact in size.
• Absorbs less heat.
 Resistive Sensors
• Applications of Sensors
• Potentiometer
• Strain Gauge
• RTD
• Thermistor
 Capacitance Type Sensors
• What is capacitor ?
• https://youtu.be/f_MZNsEqyQw

• Working of sensor
• https://youtu.be/o4_6yu-GIDU
• Application
• https://youtu.be/SsvjxnN8ZUk
• https://youtu.be/QItuf6lNvmI
 Capacitance Type Sensors
• Variable distance parallel plate
• Variable area parallel plate
• Serrated plate/teeth plate
• Cylindrical type
• Variable dielectric constant
 Piezoelectric Sensors
• What is Piezoelectricity
• https://youtu.be/4nbBAG-848c
• Piezoelectric Sensor Applications
• https://youtu.be/6xHJYQreZnM
• https://youtu.be/9PBrgr7Ai28