Displacement Measurement

Systems and Approaches Dr. Ahmad Mirabadi Dept. of Control and Signalling School of Railway Engineering

Sensor classification schemes

Sensors can be classified, according to one of the following criteria Power supply requirements


Passive and active Digital and analog Zero, first, second order, etc. Mechanical, thermal, magnetic, radiant, chemical Resistance, inductance, capacitance, etc.

Nature of the output signal



 

Input/output dynamic relationships



Measurand


 

Physical measurement variable



Application

Passive and active sensors



Passive or self-generating self

Directly generate an electrical signal in response to an external stimuli without the need for an external power supply Output signal power comes from the stimulus, Examples:
 

Thermocouple Piezoelectric sensors

Active or modulating
 

These sensors require external power supply or an excitation signal for their operation Output signal power comes from the power supply,

Analog and digital sensors



Analog sensors


Provide a signal that is continuous in both its magnitude and temporal or spatial content
Most of the physical measurands are analog in nature Examples: Temperature, displacement, light intensity

Digital sensors Their output takes the form of discrete steps or states Digital signals are more repeatable, reliable and easier to transmit Examples: Shaft encoder, contact switch

Displacement, Position and Proximity sensors



Displacement sensors are concerned with the amount of movement of an object Position sensors are concerned with the position of an object with reference to some reference point Proximity sensors are a form of position sensors which are used to determine when an object has moved to within a critical distance of the sensor

Displacement Measurement


Measurement of displacement is the basis of measuring:

Position  Velocity  Acceleration  Stress  Force  Pressure
 

Displacement Sensors types

  

Strain Gages Potentiometers Differential Transformers Capacitive displacement transducers Optical Motion sensors Eddy current displacement Transducers Ultrasonic Displacement Transducers Hall Effect Motion sensors

     

StrainStrain-gauge
The electrical resistance strain is a metal wire, metal foil strip,or a strip of semiconductor material which is waferwaferlike and can be stuck onto surfaces like a postage stamp. When subject to strain, its resistance R changes, the fractional change in resistance R/R being proportional to the strain i.e. R/R= L/L (1/G) where G is the gage factor

Stress vs. Strain

Strain:

Hooke s law:

H I ! l

Stress: W ! F
A

W ! EI
Where: E = Modulus of Elasticity = stress I= strain

For the bike fork material E = 29.0 x 106 psi.

Strain gauges (cont.)



Strain gauges are devices whose resistance changes with stress (piezo-resistive effect) (piezo Strain is a fractional change ( L/L) in the dimensions of an object as a result of mechanical stress (force/area) The resistance R of a strip of material of length L, cross-section A and resistivity is: cross R= L/A Differentiating, dR = A( dL + L d Also we have: V = LA and dV = LdA + AdL Also: dV = L(1+ ) A (1(1)2 AL Where is the Poisson s ratio, which determines the strain in directions normal to L Solving these together, the following equation would be resulted: dR/R = dL/L (1+2 ) + d / ) L dA / A2

Strain Gages (cont.)

dR/R = dL/L (1+2 ) + d / And finally:
dR/R

Gage factor =


dL/L

Different types of resistance strain gages

    

MetalMetal-Wire gage MetalMetal-foil gage Thin metal film gage Thick metal film strain gages Semiconductor strain gage (more sensitive to strain, but very sensitive to temperature changes as well)

Typical bonded strain gages

Strain gauges Fabrication and use



Typical strain gauges consist of a foil or wire grid covered by two sheets of insulation. The gauge is attached to the desired object with an adhesive and Longitudinal segments are aligned with the direction of stress Strain Gages are applied in:
 

Experimental Stress Analysis Construction of transducers for force, pressure, flow, acceleration, and

Strain Gages structure



The sensor consists of a set of preloaded resistance wires or foils connected in a wheatstone bridge. At the initial conditions the strains and resistance of the four wires are nominally equal which gives a balanced bridge.

Wheatstone Bridge
 

The four arms of the bridge circuit are formed by the resistance R1 to R4. The corner points 2 and 3 are connected to the bridge excitation voltage Vs. The bridge output voltage Vo, which is also the measurement signal, is available on the points 1 and 4. Typical resistance changes for a 120 Q foil strain gage at 1000 Qs is about 0.001 Q

R
1

2 R
4

1 R
2

4 3 Vo R
3

V
s

StrainStrain-Gage rosettes


Suitable to specific stress analysis in which surface stresses are to be measured and the magnitude and direction of stress is unknown

Strain Gages characteristics



  

High Gage Factor (small strain causes large changes in resistance) High Linearity Breaking Strain High fatigue life

Wire and Foil S.G Gage factor Resistance 2 120, 350, 600, and 1000 ohm 0.1% up to 1000 Qs and 1% up to 10000 Qs 25000 Qs 10 million strain reversal

Semiconduc tor S.G. 50-60 50More than 500 ohm 1% up to 1000 micro strain 5000 Qs 1 million strain reversal

Thick film S.G. 10-20 10More than 10 kohm 1% up to 1000

Linearity

Breaking Strain Fatigue Life

5000 Qs 1 million strain reversal

Thermal effects


Temperature will change the resistance of the gage. Compensation approaches:

 

Using dummy gages Using special, inherently temperature compensated gages

Thermal Effects
The bridge is balanced when R1 R3 ! R2 R4 From temperature effect:
R1  ( Rt R3 ! R2 R4

The bridge is no longer balanced!

We must compensate with our experimental setup

How can we compensate for temperature?

By adding an unstrained gauge on a similar material, on an adjacent arm. When both specimens strain from temp effects we get:

R1  ( Rt R ! 3 R 2  ( Rt R4
Eo EI
Thus the bridge remains balanced Bridge output is unaffected by the change in temperature When a gauge is used to cancel out temperature effects like this, we call it a dummy gauge or compensation gauge.

Fastening Strain gages

  

Adhesives Welding FlameFlame-spraying

Potentiometer displacement sensors

Resistive displacement sensors



A resistance with a movable contact (a potentiometer) may be used to measure linear or rotational displacements A known voltage is applied to the resistor ends. The contact is attached to the moving object of interest The output voltage at the contact is proportional to the displacement

Potentiometer sensor
 Non-linearities Non-

as a result of loading effects Resolution due to limited number of turns per unit distance  Contact wear as a result of frictions

Noise
The noise of potentiometer refers to the fluctuations in the output voltage during motion of the slider Causes: -Bouncing of the slider -wire spacing and resonance -Dirt and wear Solutions: - two sliders -Elastomeric damping material
Using two sliders with different natural freq.

Three types of potentiometer devices for measuring displacement

Potentiometer types


 

Turn counting dial potentiometer Linear motion Multi turn Potentiometer

Choosing a potentiometer


The important parameters are:

   

Temprature Shock and vibration Humidity Altitude Others:

 

Life cycle Dither

Inductive displacement sensors Linear Variable Differential Transformer (LVDT)

Motion of a magnetic core changes the mutual inductance of two secondary coils relative to a primary coil Primary coil voltage: VSsin( t) Secondary coil induced emf: V1=k1sin( t+) and V2=k2sin( t+) k1 and k2 depend on the amount of coupling between the primary and the secondary coils, which is proportional to the position of the coil When the coil is in the central position, k1=k2 VOUT=V1VOUT=V1-V2=0 When the coil is is displaced x units, k1 k2 VOUT=(k1VOUT=(k1-k2)sin( t+) Positive or negative displacements are determined from the phase of VOUT

Inductive displacement sensors (cont)



LVDT Characteristics
  

Typical LVDTs run at 3 to 15V, and freq. 60 to 20000Hz LVDTs can measure from 75 mm down to 0.1 mm Due to small variations in the windings, a small residual voltage appears at the output when the coil is in the central position

Advantages of the LVDT over other displacement sensors



No mechanical wear ensures a long life Complete electrical isolation DC versions with integrated oscillators are available

Force and acceleration sensors

                

Force sensors The coupled-double-beam load cell coupled-doubleDumbDumb-bell cut-out provides areas of cutmaximum strain for the gauges Cantilever beam bends in an S-shape SThis induces both compressive and tensile strains that can be easily measured in a bridge arrangement Acceleration sensors Spring-massSpring-mass-damper accelerometer Covered in the previous lecture CantileverCantilever-beam with strain gauges A seismic mass is attached to the end of the cantilever Dampening is usually performed with viscous fluids or permanent magnets From [BW96]

Capacitive displacement sensors

The capacitance of a parallel plate capacitor is

  

d is the separation between the plates, A is the area of the plates, 0 is the permitivity of air and r is the relative permitivity of the dielectric A moving object is attached to the dielectric or the plates to generate capacitance changes

Notes  Variable distance (d) sensors operate over a range of a few millimeters  CrossCross-sensitivity to temperature and humidity (specially if the dielectric is air)  Capacitive sensors are also commonly used to measure pressure  Condenser microphones measure changes in air pressure of incoming sound waves

Capacitive Transducers


One plate constant and one moving