JJ Systems Laboratory

Background Theory

The JJ System is used to investigate the motion of a vibrating beam.

It is built around the beams with the use of electromagnets and various
combinations of Transducers and signal processing systems that record the motion
of the beam by picking up the signals supplied by the Strain Gauges based purely
on the deformation of the beam due to its vibration.

Transducers
A transducer is defined as a device that converts electrical energy into other forms
of energy.

Depending on what kind of energy it is converting , Transducers can be classified

into

• Chemical Transducers – electrodes,

• Mechanical Transducers - E.g. Strain Gages , Accelerometers & Generators

• Electromagnetic Transducers – E.g. Antennas , Satellite dishes & LDRs

• Nuclear Transducers – E.g. The Geiger Mueller Tube

• Pressure Transducers – E.g. Microphones and Speakers

• Thermal Transducers – E.g. Thermocouples , thermistors and thermometers

Besides this they are also classified as Sensors , Actuators and Combination
Transducers.

Sensors detect signals and process them into another form whereas Actuators are
perform an actions based on their input signals and energy supplied. Combination
Transducers both , detect and perform actions.

The JJ System contains a number of these Transducers since not all of them
are going to be used in this experiment , only some will be discussed below.

Amongst these are :

• Wire Strain Gauges

• Semi conductor Strain Gauges

• Piezoelectric accelerometer
 • Linear Variable Differential Transducer

• Variable Reluctance Magnetic Sensor

• Electromagnetic velocity transducer

Wire Strain Gauges

The Strain Gauge works on the concept that when it is stretched it elongates and
gets smaller in Cross Sectional Area. This will change the resistance of the wire (in
fact increase). If the force applied is keeps the wire under its elastic limit , then this
concept can be used to investigate the amount of force exerted on the wire from
measuring its resistance.

It is known that Resistance R of a material depends on Length , Cross sectional

area and the resistivity

And the relationship is given by

Image 1 Source : http://www.sensorland.com/HowPage002.html

The image above shows an example of a Wire Strain gauge . This consists of a fine
wire , the grid pattern maximizes the amount of metallic wire subject to strain in the
parallel direction.

The wide cross section of the gauge minimizes the the effect of shear strain and
Poisson Strain .
The Gauge is bonded to a think backing, also known as a “carrier”. This is directly
attached to the object such that the strain experienced by the Object is transferred
directly to the strain gauge.

the Gauge is much more sensitive in the vertical direction than it is in the horizontal
direction. The Gauge is then attached to an object ( the beam in our case)

When the object stretches / deforms , the strain gauge stretches too which
decreases the Resistance. The sensitivity of the strain related to the Change in
Resistance depends on the Gauge Factor and the relationship is given by :

Where G is the Gauge Factor , R is Resistance , L is Length and is the Strain.

The Typical Gage Factor for a metallic Wire is around 2.

To actually calculate the force , the Strain gauge is connected to a Wheatstone

Bridge.

Image 2 source : http://www.play-hookey.com/dc_theory/wheatstone_bridge.html

The concept of the Wheatstone Bridge is two voltage dividers that are fed with the
same input , the output of these are then taken from both voltage outputs.
A very sensitive devide called a Galvanometer attached to both the outputs.

This device measures the slightest change in current between both the voltage
dividers.

If the Voltage Dividers have the exact same ratio

R1 / R2= R3 / R x

Then the Bridge is said to be in balance and no current flows through the
Galvanometer.

However, even the smallest imbalance will cause current to flow in the sensitive
Galvanometer.

So when R x is replaced by a Strain Gauge of Resistance RG then the Resistance of

the gage (DR) due to its extension can be related by

DR=GF . RG . e

The setup where just one Resistor is replaced by the Strain Gage is called Quarter
Bridge Configuration.

The sensitivity of the Wheatstone can be increased further by Replacing a second

Resistor by the Strain Gage (Half-Bridge) or by replacing all the Resistors with
Strain-Gages(Full Bridge).

Add some more theory

Semi Conductor Strain Gage

 Image 3 : http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/ph/p/id/226

Similar to the Metal (Wire) Strain Gage , the Semiconductor Strain Gage works on
the principles of changing Resistance with Strain.

In the case of the Semi-conductor however , the resistivity  also changes with
strain along with the physical Dimensions.

This is due to the material property and the change in crystal structure as the strain
is applied that affects the electron flow.

The Result is a much Larger Gage Factor (G) which is still given by

Image 3 shows a Semi conductor Strain gage where the thin wired coil is replaced
by a single piece of semiconductor material. The Semi-conductor material is either
bonded to the object , or if encapsulated

just attached by the encapsulation material.

The typical Range of the Gauge factors is 100 to 300 compared to 2 in metallic
strain gages.

Some of the materials that are commonly used include Germanium and silicon.

The magnitude of the piezo-resistive effect in these crystals depends on the

impurity present.

The disadvantage however is that the variation of G against Resistivity of the

material are not linear.

Effect Of Temperature on Strain Gage

The Temperature has a very large effect on the reading given by the strain gage.

Since the Sensitivity of these devices are very high , the Thermal Co-efficient of the
material definitely affects the output. Beside the heat caused by the object (Beam)
due to deflection , sometimes this effect can also be seen as the strain gage is just
being attached to the Object.

The system gives a reading without any deformation occuring , this is due to the
change in resistance caused by the change in Temperature and is also known as
thermal output.
Thermal Output tends to be the main error source in gage measurements in most
cases.

The effect of temperature is worse in a semi conductor Strain gage compared to

metallic gage's since the coefficient of resistivity is very large.

The temperature sensitivity can be reduced using several ways.

One of the effective ways to do this , is by using two gauges.

A dummy gauge made of the same material is attached to the object in the
opposite direction to the actual strain gauge. This way if the strain gage on one side
is under tension , the dummy gage on the other side will be under tension , both will
produce Difference in Resistances but one will be positive and one will be negative.
This should be used in a Half bridge configuration. Since the dummy gauge is made
from the same material it will have the same effect by the temperature since the
temperature coefficients are the same.

Piezoelectric accelerometer
An accelerometer is used to measure the acceleration , schock or vibration.

A piezoelectric Accelerator does the same by making use of a piezocelectric

material i.e. the sensing element in the accelerometer is a crystal which emits
charge when subjected to a compressive force.

The sensing element is covered in a well protective casing and in most cases
contains a weight that comes into contact with the accelerator as soon as a force is
applied to the weight that causes it to drop.

The output charge is proportional to the force .

Image-4 Source :
http://www.stanford.edu/class/me220/data/lectures/lect10/lect_6.html

The sensing element is housed in a suitable sensor case to protect the meter from
any environmental conditions. The case is usually welded to prevent the entry of
dust , water etc to the crystal.

Linear Variable Differential Transformer

The Linear Variable Differential Transformer is a electromagnetic Transducer that
can convert rectilinear motion into a corresponding electrical signal (AC voltage).

The LVDT consists of a primary coil and two secondary coils wound on a coil form. A
ferromagnetic core links the electromagnetic field of the primary coil to the
secondary coils. Differencing the output of these two coils will result in a voltage
thats proportional to its motion

Image 5 source : http://www.macrosensors.com/lvdt_tutorial.html

The primary coil is supplied with an AC source and AC voltages are induced in the
secondary core by Faradays Law.

LVDT's can be used to measure displacements from a millionth of a metre to almost

0.5m.

The magnitude of Voltage induced is also maximum as it approaches the secondary

coil (when entering the coil from either side , decreases to 0 in the middle where
the transformer action between the primary and secondary coil are the same so
that there will be no difference in voltage.
After this it slowly increases as the core moves closer to the secondary coil.

The output voltage is in phase with the primary voltage source for displacement in
one direction and 180 degrees out of phase in the opposite direction.

Variable Reluctance Magnetic Sensor

The Variable Reluctance Magnetic Sensor converts mechanical motion to electrical
energy without direct contact when placed near a Gear shaft , Rotor , Turbine or
any regularly moving device

It is strain based and typically measures pressure force or acceleration.

A variable reluctance sensor is composed of a winding wound around a cylindrical

magnetic material, typically made of ferrous material and is referred to as a pole
piece.

A magnet is attached to the pole piece which creates a magnetic field around the
pole piece front , the protruding magnet tip is known as the sensor tip.

When a ferrous material passes the sensor tip , it disrupts the magnetic field and a
potential difference is created (a sine wave). Since there is a gap of air between the
sensor tip and the actual body , there will not be any current flow , however an
electrical signal is tranmitted to a nearby An electrical signal is sent from the sensor
tip. So when the Sensor tip is placed near a continously oscillating body it becomes
very easy to measure the speed of the body since the speed of oscillation / rotation
is directly proportional to the frequency of signals being sent.

The amplitude (sensitivity ) of the signal greatly depends on the air gap between
the sensor tip and the object , the speed of rotation and the material being used.

Electromagnetic Velocity Transducer

An electromagnetic Velocity Transducer like the name suggests, is used to measure
the velocity of a body.

The transducer itself is made from a permanent magnet core thats used as a
dynamic core for a stationary coil.

The core is attached to the moving body whose magnetic field is cut by the coil
when the core passes through the coil. The emf induced is directly proportional to
the velocity of the body .
Low Pass Filter &Phase sensitive Detector
A Low pass filter is a filter that separates low frequency signals from Signals that
exceed the cut-off frequency of the filter. This means only a specific range of
frequencies is allowed to pass through the filter while the rest of the signals are
reduced. The low pass filter can be of 2 configurations ( types)

Inductive Low Pass filter – The Impedance of the inductor increases with increasing
frequency which prevents the high frequenciy electric signals to reach the load in
the circuit.

Capacitive Low Pass filter – The Capacitance of the Capacitor decreases with
increasing frequency, a low Impedance along side a parallely connected load tends
to short out the high frequencies in the circuit not letting it reach the load.

A Phase sensitive Detector is used to reduce noise on a signal. The Detector has two
input signals assuming these are sinusoidal of nature and of similar frequency, the
output produced will be the cosine of the phase angle between those two signals

Hence if the two input signals are given by :

v 1=V 1 sin  t
v 2=V 2 sin  t
Then the ouput voltageis given by :
v 0= KV 1 V 2 cos 

where K is a constant.

Both the PSD and the Low pass filter are often used in combination to separate a
specific signal from the noise and amplify it by rectification.

Operational Amplifier
An operational amplifier is a dc differential amplifier that acts as an ideal voltage-
controlled voltage source.

Image -6 source : http://holbert.faculty.asu.edu/ece201/opamp.html

The Operational Amplifier can be modelled ideally with two supply terminals , one
output terminal and one ground terminal.

The Operational Amplifier , only amplifies the difference of voltage between the two
inputs and ignores those common to both.

The Gain of the Voltage can be found using

V out
Voltage GainG=
Vi

Depending on the feedback path the Op-amp can be classified into Positive and
Negative Feedback Amplifier. Similarly when the output signal is in the same
direction as the supply , the Op-amp is non-inverting and vice versa.

Different configurations of Op-amps can be used for different purposes.

Procedure
Experiment 1
Set up the Equipment as shown below.
In this Experiement the sensitivity of the LVDT was investigated by setting the
Oscillator to 5kHz to obtain a 1.5V p2p primary excitation on channel 1. By Varying
the range of the micrometer from 25 to 7.5 mm and obtaining readings for the peak
to peak values for secondary voltages a set of values were obtained for increment
of 2.5mm on the micrometer and its corresponding peak Voltages.

A glaph is plotted from these results to obtain a relationship between sensitivity ,

Secondary Voltage and Micrometer setting which will be investigated further in the
calculations below.

Experiment 2
This Experiment is used to investigate the Phase sensitive detector, its gain and
amplifying properties.

A Phase shifter is also introduced in this experiement to compensate for slight

variations that occur in the phase.

Setup the apparatus as shown below.

 • Set the Oscillator to 5kHzand adjust the control knob to obtain a 2V peak to
peak signalas measured on channel 1 of the oscilloscope. Once the PSD
returns a gain value of +1 ( Input = Output) , move the lead connected to the
PSD reference input from the positive terminal of the DC supply , into the
negative terminal. Note what happens to the output

• To investigate the signal frequency of the supply when using a PSD , move
the lead connected to the input reference to the DC supply from the PSD , to
the 0 degree terminal of the Oscillator. Note the obeservation.

• Move the lead from the 0 degrees to the 180 degrees terminal of the
Oscillator. Note the Obeservations.

• Connect the leads in such a way that the PSD gets its reference from the
Phase shifter , in order to compensate for the slight phase variations that
have been observed during the previous task.

• Adjust the Phase shifter knob to obtain a perfect full rectified wave. Vary the
phase shifter about this optimum setting and observe the variation in reading
from the metre.

• Note the observation and make a sketch of the waveform that corresponds to
the maximum meter output. Comment on the shape of the graph

Experiment 3
This Experiment is study how the Low Pass filter can be used to optimally process
signals from a transducer signal source.

Setup the Apparatus as shown below.

Set the Oscillator to 5kHz minimum and the phase shifter to 12 o'clock.

• Displace the beam using the micrometer until a reasonable signal is

obtained while moitoring the output from the PSD on the oscilloscope.

• Connect the leads in such a way that the output of the psd passes through
the Low Pass filter before reaching the Oscilloscope. Note the Output Voltage
and the waveform.

• Remove the micrometer and deflect the beam by hand. The displacement of
the beam seen on the oscilloscope is directly proportional to the beam
deflection. Note the waveform.

Experiment 4
This Experiment is to investigate the effect of the load Capacitance on a
Piezoelectric Accelerometer.

Setup the Apparatus as shown below.

Set the Oscillator Amplitude control knob to minimum and the frequenct control
knob to 7Hz.

• Connect the output from the Accelerometer to the input to the charge
amplifier using a short Co-axial lead. Note the magnitude and phase
relationship of the ouput relative to the driving signal to the vibrating beam
assembly.

• Repeat the above step using a long coaxial lead. Note the magnitude and
phase relationship relative to the driving signal to the beam assembly.

• Replace the Charge amplifier by a Voltage Amplifier and repeat the first two
steps. Note the observations.

Experiment 5
This Experiment is to provide a basic understanding of the principles and workings
of a non-inverting operational amplifier.

Setup the Apparatus as shown below.

Set the Oscillator to 5kHz, Oscilloscope Channel1 Y sensitivity to 0.5V/cm ,
Oscilloscope Channel2 Y sensitivity to 5 V/cm, Oscilloscope time base to 50  s/cm
& the Oscilloscope triggering from channel 1.

• Vary R1 and R2 to obtain the minimum Gain for the op-amp. Note down the
readings on the oscilloscope for these input and output signals. This data will
be used to calculate the gain.

• Vary R1 & R2 to get the maximum gain of the op-amp, without clipping the
signal. Note down the readings on the Oscilloscope. These will also be used
later to calculate the gain.

• After turning off the JJ-system, Using the meter that has been provided ,
measure the Input and output Resistance of the op-amp. Note the
observations.

Results
• Experiment 1
 Displacement Phase P-2-P
mm rad V
25 1.7 70
22.5 1.7 42
20 1.7 18
17 -0.2 14
15 -0.3 42
12.5 -0.2 70
10 -0.2 88
7.5 -0.2 110

Graph Showing displacement against Peak to Peak Voltage

120

100

80
Voltage (mV)

60

40

20

0
6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26
Displacement (mm)

From the experiment the minimum Peak to Peak Secondary Voltage that was
obtained was :

14mV @ 17mm Displacement.

To find the Sensitivity , the gradient of the graph is required which can be found
using the most linear section of the Graph.
This can be calculated by
Enlarged Graph of Secondary Voltage vs. Displacement
80
f(x) = 10.4x - 190.67
70

60

50
Voltage (mV)

40

30

20

10

0
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26
Displacement (mm)

 y 70−18 mV
Sensitivity= = =±10.4 V / m
 x 25−20mm
The generalised sensitivity is givenby
1
G=Sensitivity .
Primary Voltage
1
G=10.4 . =6.93 m−1
1.5

• Experiment 2 – Observations

1. Both signals are in phase

2. When changing the Balanced supply from + to – Phase shift occurs by

180 degrees. It has a gain of -1.
 3. When changing the Reference input from the -ve to the 0 degree
terminal it becomes fully rectified. Peak to Peak V ch2 =2 , 2.3 V

Image showing the PSD reference input switched from DC supply to 0 degrees of
the 5kHz Oscillator.

4. When the lead is connected back to the 180 degrees terminal the
following bservation is made :

Same peak-to-peak as before. The range is set to 1V and Peak occurs at 1.9V
When using a phase shifter module the following graph shows the signal that was
oberved :
The following figure is the result of trying to adjust the
Phase shifter to obtain a fully rectified wave :

• Experiment 3

Voltage remains the same where as different amplitude.Phase Shifter is used to

rectify the waveform

- Before Phase Shifter was used : (Refer sketch below)

− After Phase Shifter is used : (Refer sketch below)

During the peak voltage , the displacement on the micrometer is 10.56 mm

Due to a fault in the Low pass filter , further Results could not be obtained for the
remaining part of this experiment.

• Experiment 4

Using The Voltage amplifier the following observation was made to the waveform
when

a. The short wire was used :

-Input Voltage 6V max amplitude setting for channel 1

- Output 100mV , output is lagging in phase

- maximum Amplitude for channel 2 of 20mV :

b. The long wire was used :

− The phase remains the same but amplitude of channel 2 descreases.

− Maximum Amplitude of Channel 1 is 100mV

Using the Charge amplifier the following result was observed :

a. For a short wire :

− Output is leading in terms of phase

 − Maximum Output 150mV

b. For the long wire , the exact same output was observed !

• Experiment 5
To obtain the minimum and maximum gains using the op-amp , the resistors R1 and
R2 should have the largest difference possible and the smallest difference possible
correspondingly. The Results were taken before the signal started to clip.

Minimum Gain:

Channel 2 = 1.7 V

Channel 1 = 1.5 V

Minimum Gain = Output / Input = 1.7 / 1.5 = 1.13

Maximum Gain :

Channel 1 = 1.5 V

Channel 2 = 21 V

Maximum Gain = Output / Input = 21 / 1.5 = 14

- The approximate Input Voltage when Clipping occurs = 25V

− When measuring the input resistance the Meter displayed an OL Error which
referred to an overload. The Resistance was too high. Since the meter was
able to measure 10M Ohm the Input Resistance is thought to be exceeding
10 M Ohms.

− Output Resistance was measured to be 161.3 K Ohms.

Discussions
• Experiment 1

The main task is Experiment 1 was to investigate effect of the LVDT on the output
voltage.

This was done by displacing the beam using the micrometer. The results agreeing
with the theory showed that the Secondary Peak Voltage Was highest at the ends of
the Displacing coil and as it moved towards the centre the Value decreased. The
graph produced a linear relations as expected from the LVDT. The Voltage
decreased with decreasing Distance and started to increase specifically around
20mm. The residual Voltage 14mV occurred at a displacement of 17 mm . The
Phase reverses its polarity between 20 and 17 mm which means the centre of the
coil is positioned somwhere around that distance. The Readings themselves are not
very accurate due to the noise interference present in the room that affected the
signals. The approximate sensitivities obtained from these graphs are still fairly
acceptable.

• Experiment 2

In Experiment 2 the operationa and effect of the Phase sensitive detector and the
Phase shifter were investigated.

When the input was set to 2V and the PSD connected. The output signal was
observed to be just identical. Which means the PSD was behaving like an amplifier
that produced a gain of +1.

Whereas when the Lead are interchaged such that the Voltage across the input is
negative. It can be seen that the shape of the output voltage stays exactly the
same. However the Wave is 180 degrees out of phase. This means that there is a
gain of “-1” , which would be as expected since the ouput is negative.

It is also noted that the changeover in polarity does not happen at -1 in fact it
happens at 1.9V. Also noted that a phase shift occurs between the detected signal
and the reference signal.Hence it can be deduced that the Phase Sensitive Detector
not only detects and amplifies the input signal but also the Phase shift that occurs
relative to the reference input . To correct this phase shift, the Phase shifter is used
which means all signals are shifted in frequency by the reference frequency. All
other frequencies that occur are attenuated such that they can not be detected by
the Phase sensitive detector. When the phase shifter knob was adjusted , a fully
rectified wave is obtained at maximum peak. The peak Voltage was 4.3V and the
signal seemed to be much more accurate compared to the other noise affected
signals.

Experiment 3

This Experiment was performed by displacing the beam by 10.56mm in which the
signal was sent to the Phase sensitive detector. The Peak voltage in this wave form
was about close to 100mV. This system would not make a good measurement
system in practise since the system had poor sensitivity besides this the output
signal wasnt very clear and the signal was easliy disturbed by noise and other
factors which was very undesirable.

Since the low pass filter wasnt functioning properly , this experiement couldn't be
verified properly. When the Low pass filter was used , it displayed maximum signal
for Displacement that flicked back to a straight line immediately before the beams
displacement could even be measured. It was suggested that this was due to a
faulty capacitor present in the Capacitive Low filter that is unable to hold the charge
which results in the flickering signal.
From what could be seen by the Capacitive Low filter , IF the system has worked , it
could have been a good system to measure due to the direct linear response
between the change in signal and displacement that could be measures so easily.

Experiment 4

In this Experiment the piezoelectric accelerometer was connected to 2 different

length coaxial cable connected to a charge amplifier and Voltage amplifier one after
another.

When connected to the Charge Amplifier it could be seen that the two channels
were almost

0.5  radians out of phase with the output leading the input signal. However the
lengths of cables did not make a difference to the output of the Charge amplifier.
This is because the Charge amplifier output mainly depends on the feedback
capacitance and the Charge input , which isnt really affected by the Cable
Impedance since it is too low to detect.

In the case of a Voltage Amplifier , the change due to length in wire becomes more
apparent. There is a change of phase between both wires that are much different .
When the charge in the Accelerometer increases , the Voltage will decrease. Since
the Impedance of the Charge Amplifier was too high the signal from the
Acclerometer is reduced. On the other hand , since the Voltafe amplifier has a very
high sensitivity the Difference if the signal due to the difference in length of wires
can be clearly seen.

Experiment 5

In this Experiment the minimum gain in the non-inverted operational amplifier was
1.13 which was about 13% . This was of course taken before clipping. Obtaining the
clipping point seemed to be a bit of a problem and inaccuracies in this experiment
can certainly be accounted by human errors. The input resistance of the Op-amp
could not be measured as the Resistance was much too high. The Output resistor
read a value of about 161.3 K Ohms.

In the ideal case The inpute and output resistors should have read infinity and 0.
Comparitively the Gain was very small.

The Op-amp is designed with limited range of current flow , If the input signal
becomes too large such that the output current would be driven to its limit , clipping
occurs. To prevent clipping a limiting network would be suggestible such that it
identifies when the op-amp starts to become unstable.
Conclusion
The main aim of this Laboratory session was to investigate and understand the
working principles of various Transducers withing the JJ System.

In the First Experiment working with the LVDT yielded a fair set of results which
definitely agreed with the theory displaying a linear Correlation between
Displacement and Voltage. However , the range was very limitied if a more accurate
results is required , a beam with a much larger displacement could be used to
obtain a bigger set of readings.

The Second Experiment was a bit more challenging a clear phase change could be
observed when using the Phase Sensitive Detector. In the second part a clear
rectified signal was obtained in both in and out of phase signals. This could only be
accomplished with the use of a Phase shifter though to rectify the Phase jump. The
shape of the rectified waveform consisted of just peaks where every alternating
peak seemed to have a bigger amplitude. This was due to the fact the the signal
had been rectified and from the discussion it was known that the Positive peak was
much high than the negative peak. The unreliability of the equipment and its
sensitivity made it hard to obtain readings but the end results were fairly
acceptable.

The Third experiment was not very successful due to a fault Low pass filter. No
accurate Readings could be obtained from this Experiment. When the beam was
displaces the Low pass filter should have shown a low signal Corresponding to the
vibration of the beam. In Reality , Although the Filter showed an initial Displaced
signal due to the displacement of the beam , the Signal flicked back to 0. Even as a
working system this would not be very useful for large displacements of beams
since the Low pass filter can only respond to a limited range of signals.

The Fourth Experiment consisted of investigating a piezoelectric accelerometer

with long and short cable by measuring the Signal via a Charge amplifier and
Voltage Amplifier.

The result showed that for the Charge amplifier to show a significant variation
between the two cables , the cable had to be much much longer than used ,to
increase the Resistance of the wire . In the case of the Voltage Amplifier the Signal
was picked up immediately and a significant change was seen. This concludes that
Charge Amplifiers are much more desirable for Applications to measure Input
Signals Since the Length of the wire doesnt have a significant effect.

The fifth Experiement was done using an Operational Amplifier. The minimum and
maximum values for gain were obtained by adjusting to variable resistors. It was
concluded that obtaining values close to theory wasnt very likely since the
Resistance had to either be 0 or infinity. Although resistance can be increased to
very large numbers , it is much harder to reduce Resistance to 0. However for
practical Purposes , having a large enough difference between the two was just as
effective.

Overall the Experiment Was satisfactory and some key concepts and principles of
transducers have been investigated and verified. The JJ system itself is a bit
outdated and considering that the accuracy of an instrument also depends on its
maintenance . Human Errors are very likely since a lot of readings and results
required human intervention.

References
http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_2/chpt_8/2.html

http://www.transtekinc.com/products/LVDT.html

http://www.sensorland.com/HowPage003.html

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-transducers.htm

http://www.allaboutcircuits.com/vol_1/chpt_9/7.html

http://www.play-hookey.com/dc_theory/wheatstone_bridge.html

http://www.sensorland.com/HowPage002.html

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3642

Lecture notes 2010-2011 – Dr.N. Saffari

All these have been accessed between the 21/12/10- 20/01/1

Additional Questions
Experiment 1

1.1What is the cause of the residual Voltage ?

Like discussed above the LVDT consists of two set of coils the primary and the
secondary that are wound around a core. Supplying the Primary coil with a AC
Supply creates an electromagnetic field around the core. The Secondary coils are
wound in series oppositon such that the Induced Voltage of one secondary coil
relative to the other is 180 degrees out lof phase. When the Center of the Core is in
line with the centre of the electromagnetic field then the Secondary Voltage is equal
in Magnitude but exactly out of phase which “nulls” the signal. i.e. the signals
cancel each other out. This would be the ideal case.

However there is SOME residual voltage that occur due to varying magnetic
properties of the material , Winding Capacitance & perhaps Disalignment of the
core.

Experiment 2

2.1Explain the reasons for your observations made with the balanced DC
supplly connected to the reference connection ofthe phase sensitive
detector?

When the signal from the reference input was positive the signal on the PSD
became positively rectified and when the reference on the input was 180 out pf
phase then the signal on the PSD was inverted and rectified. The gain in each
Observation was either +1 or -1. This explains why there was no change in the
amplitude or magnitude of the signal just a change in polarity.

2.2Why do you need a phase shifter in this Experiment?

A Phase shifter is needed to shift the phase of the Voltage. This was used to
compensate for the slight variation in phase that occurred when the polarity of the
input was changed.

The Phase shifter , shifts the phase correctly out of 180 degrees so it can be picked
up by the PSD.

Experiment 3

3.1How does the filter operate and what are the components inside ?

Firstly there are two types of Low pass filters , one is a Capactive Low pass filter and
the other , an inductive Low pass filter.

◦ Capacitive Low pass filter

As the name suggest it comprises of a Capacitor and a resistor that are connected
in parallel. As the frequency increases the Capacitors impedance decreases . The
low impedance in parallel to a load resistance tends to short out high frequency
signals.

◦ Inductivce Low Pass Filter

This filter is made of Inductors and Resistors connected in series. The inductors
impedance increases with increasing frequency. This high impedance in series
tends to block high-frequency signals from getting through the load Resistor.

In this Experiment a Capacitive Low Pass Filter was used.

3.2How is the amplitude of the output DC signal related to the amplitude of

the input signal for the filter?

Since the low pass filter was faulty , results couldn't be obtained successfully hence
this investigation was not as precise. Theoretically the Low pass filter is calibrated
to only allow the RMW of the peak voltage to pass through. The results recorded for
this was 0.1V

0.1
=0.0707V
2
Experiment 4
 4.1Explain why you would use a coaxial cable rather than a normal
'unshielded' wire ?

Co-axial cable are made of an inner conductor surrounded by an insulating layer

that is again layered with a conductive shield. Compared to an unshielded wire the
advantage of the co-axial cable is that this design creates an electromagnetic field
that acts as a Faraday's cage i.e. complete block out any external static fields from
the interior. When the signal in the cable is less prone to external interferences it
can travel over greater distances without a disturbance which results in very low
error rates , better output.

At the same time the coaxial cable has a much bigger bandwidth which means it
can be used to transfer many signals with different frequencies at the same time.
Which means the coaxial cable has a much larger throughput capacity than an
unshielded wire.

Experiment 5

5.1Why does clipping occur, how can it be prevented when designin an op-
amp?

Clipping occurs when a device has a limited output range , such that when the
signal thats being sent out is above or below this range then those signals get cut
off and clipping occurs.

This means that beyond the threshold Voltage , a flat cut off can be seen on the
oscilloscope.

Clipping can be avoided using negative feedback from the op-amp used to reduce
the gain when the Peak exceeds the threshold Voltage. This can be done using a
conditioned Loop where the Input signal is checked to ensure its within a given
range which will then influence the feedback on the system.

5.2What values of R1 and R2 would give maximum and minimum gain of the
amp, and why is this not possible in practise?

The maximum and minimum values of gain of an Operational Amplifier are 1 and 0.

The value of gain is given by :

R2
Av =1
R1
Hence the maximumvalue of 1 can only be obtained when R2=0∨R1=∞

The minimum Value is can only be obtained when

R2
=−1
R1

Realistically Resistance can never be 0 or infinite which means there will always be
some marginal error. However for applicational purposes these errors can be
minimised to such small amounts that it doesnt affect the actual reading to a great
extent so that the effect can be taken to be almost negligible.

5.3In your report, redesign the op-amp to give a negative gain (inverting
amplifier) , and then derive the relationship between the gains of the
amplifiers and the two resistors for both these types of amplifiers?

Image source : http://www.electronics-

radio.com/articles/analogue_circuits/operational-amplifier-op-amp/op-
amp_basic_inv.gif

In this design , a negative feedback loop will be used to invert and amplify the
signals. The Resistor R2 sends the output signal back to the negative input terminal.
The difference in the polarity between the two signals means that they're
completely out of phase as this signal superimposes on the incoming input signal , it
reduces the overall gain.

When the Potential Difference between the input and output becomes 0 this means
that the Resistance R1 and R2 are the same such that there is an equal current
flowing from input to output through R1 and R2.

In this case The voltage flowing through the feedback loop is the same as the
Voltage output which means the New Voltage input reduces to 0.

At this point :

V out −V inp=IR
V out−0=IR 2
0−V inp=IR 1
Therefore
V out −V inp
= =I
R2 R1
Hence
V out −R 2
=
V inp R1

For a non-inverting Amplifier

Image source : http://www.electronics-

radio.com/articles/analogue_circuits/operational-amplifier-op-amp/op-
amp_basic_non_inv.gif

In this case the positive feedback will be used to amplify the signal , as the
feedback signal increases , so does the input as it gets larger and larger since the
output signal that is sent back through the feedback loop is positive and
superimposes on the input.

In this figure the Output signal is sent back through the feedback loop into the
negative terminal of the input terminal.

We assume V- = V+
 Since V −ve = IR2
V out
Where I =
R 2 R 1
R2
Combing these gives : V −ve = V
R 2R1 out
V −ve =V ve =V inp
R2
V inp= V
R2R1 out
V R
Which defines the gain as inp as Av =1 2
V out R1