Lecture 2:

Instrument Types and Performance

Characteristics

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 Instrument Types and Performance
Characteristics
● Review of Instruments Type
● Static Characteristics of Instruments
● Dynamic Characteristics of Instruments
● Necessity for Calibration

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 Elements in measurement system

1. Sensor: sense a wide range of different energy forms such as movement, electrical signals, radiant energy,
thermal or magnetic energy. It gives an output that is a function of the measure and (the input applied to it).Some
examples of primary sensors are a liquid-in glass thermometer, a thermocouple, and a strain gauge
2. Variable conversion element: needed when the output variable of a primary transducer is in an inconvenient
form and has to be converted to a more convenient form. Example: The displacement-measuring strain gauge
has an output in the form of a varying resistance. Because the resistance change cannot be measured easily, it is
converted to a change in voltage by a bridge circuit. Transducer: sensor and variable conversion element are
combined.
3. Signal processing elements: exist to improve the quality of the output of a measurement system. Example
amplifier- changes detected by the sensor may be very small, so they must be amplified and then conditioned by
improving the sensitivity and resolution of measurement such that they can be properly displayed. Transmitter:
signal processing is incorporated into a transducer.
4. Signal transmission: transmit the signal to some remote point, when the observation or application point of the
output of a measurement system is some distance away from the site of the primary transducer.
5. Signal presentation unit or of a signal-recording unit: data presented in an understandable way.
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 Review of Instrument Types
Active and Passive Instruments: Instruments are divided into active or passive ones according to whether instrument output is
produced entirely by the quantity being measured or whether the quantity being measured simply modulates the magnitude of some external
power source

Passive Instrument

• The pressure of the fluid is translated into

movement of a pointer against a scale.
• The energy expended in moving the pointer is
derived entirely from the change in pressure
measured,
• There are no other energy inputs to the system.

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Active Instrument

• The change in petrol level moves a potentiometer arm, and

the output signal consists of a proportion of the external
voltage source applied across the two ends
• of the potentiometer.
• The energy in the output signal comes from the external
power source: the primary transducer float system is
merely modulating the value of the voltage from this
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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Null-Type and Deflection-Type Instruments

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Analog and Digital Instruments

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Smart Instruments Non-Smart Instruments

Source: Elite Scientific Instruments Sdn Bhd

Source: Symeonaki et. al, 2020 8
 Static Characteristics of Instruments

● Used to define the performance

criteria for the measurements in
condition not varying with time
● Concern with steady-state
reading when the instrument
settles down

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Accuracy:
● 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 or measurement
uncertainty value rather than the accuracy value for an instrument.
● often quoted as a percentage of the full-scale (f.s.) reading of an instrument.

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Accuracy and Inaccuracy

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Precision
● is a term that describes an instrument’s 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
● Accuracy measures how close results are to the true or known value. Precision,
on the other hand, measures how close results are to one another

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Precision vs Accuracy

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 Repeatability & Reproducibility

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

Reproducibility
● describes the closeness of output readings for the same input when there are changes in the method of
measurement, observer, measuring location, conditions of use, and time of measurement.

● Both terms thus describe the spread of output readings for the same input.

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Tolerance

● is a term that is closely related to accuracy and defines the maximum error that is to be
expected in some value.
● the accuracy of some instruments is sometimes quoted as a tolerance value.
● When used correctly, tolerance describes the maximum deviation of a manufactured
component from some specified value.
● For instance electric circuit components such as resistors have tolerances of perhaps 5%

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Linearity

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Static Sensitivity

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Sensitivity

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Sensitivity to Disturbance
-sensitivity to disturbance is a measure of the magnitude of environmental changes such as
temperature, pressure.

1. Zero drift :
• is sometimes known by the alternative term, 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
zero drift coefficient typical unit by which such zero drift is measured is volts/C

2. Sensitivity drift :
• also known as scale factor drift defines the amount by which an instrument’s
sensitivity of measurement varies as ambient conditions change.
• It is quantified by sensitivity drift coefficients that define how much drift there is for a unit
change in each environmental parameter that the instrument characteristics are sensitive to.
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• Sensitivity drift is measured in units of the form (angular degree/bar)/C.
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 Please read

● Threshold
● Resolution
● Hysteresis effect
● Dead space

Page 22-26 Morris Langari

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 Dynamic Characteristics of Instruments

○ The dynamic characteristics of a

measuring instrument describe its
behavior between the time a
measured quantity changes value
and the time when the instrument
output attains a steady value in
response
○ characteristics of being able to
respond to a stimulus
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 Linear time invariant system:

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Zero- order Instrument

Response and
characteristics of zero-
order instruments

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First-Order Instrument

Response and
characteristics of first-
order instruments

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Response and
characteristics of
second-order
instruments

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 Necessity for Calibration

➢Process of establishing the relation between

the indication of a measuring instrument and
the value of a measurement standard
➢Traceability to International Standard
➢Calibration improve accuracy

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