Advanced Measurement Techniques for Physical Quantities

LECTURE NOTES- MECE 431 Advanced

Measurement Techniques for Physical Quantities

Data Acquisition Systems Fall Semester 2010/2011 Halil Orhan YILDIRAN, MS

1

Data Acquisition Systems Data Loggers/Data Acquisition Data logger (or datalogger) is an electronic device that records data over time or in relation to location either with a built in instrument or sensor or via external instruments and sensors. Data loggers typically have slower sample rates. A maximum sample rate of 1 Hz may be considered to be very fast for a data logger, yet very slow for a typical data acquisition system. A Data logger is implicitly a stand-alone device, while typical data acquisition system must remain tethered to a computer to acquire data. They range from simple single-channel input to complex multi-channel instruments.
2

Data Acquisition Systems

Fig a Data Logger What is a data acquisition system? In our textbook it is defined as: A system that quantifies and stores data. What kind of measurements require a data acquisition system? Let us consider a slowly changing temperature. This is a static measurement and we do not need DAQ. But if the signal is dynamic and change wrt time we need DAQ systems.
3

Data Acquisition Components

Fig. Typical PC based-Data Acquisition components.

Let us see Components Description for DAQ Data acquisition hardware: At the heart of any data acquisition system lies the data acquisition hardware. The main function of this hardware is to convert analog signals to digital signals, and to convert digital signals to analog signals.
4

Data Acquisition Components Sensors and actuators (transducers) Sensors and actuators can both be transducers. A transducer is a device that converts input energy of one form into output energy of another form. For example, a microphone is a sensor that converts sound energy (in the form of pressure) into electrical energy, whilea loudspeaker is an actuator that converts electrical energy into sound energy.

Data Acquisition Components Signal conditioning hardware Sensor signals are often incompatible with data acquisition hardware. To overcome this incompatibility, the signal must be conditioned. For example, you might need to condition an input signal by amplifying it or by removing unwanted frequency components. Output signals might need conditioning as well.

Data Acquisition Components Computer The computer provides a processor, a system clock, a bus to transfer data, and memory and disk space to store data. Software Data acquisition software allows you to Exchange information between the computer and the hardware. For example, typical software allows you to configure the sampling rate of your board, and acquire a predefined amount of data.
7

Data Acquisition Systems

Sensors/Transducers A sensor converts the physical phenomena of interest into a signal that is input into your data acquisition hardware. There are two main types of sensors based on the output they produce: digital sensors and analog sensors. Analog sensors produce an output signal that is directly proportional to the input signal, and is continuous in both magnitude and in time. Most physical variables such as temperature, pressure, and acceleration are continuous in nature and are readily measured with an analog sensor. For example, the temperature of an automobile cooling system and the acceleration produced by a child on a swing all vary continuously
8

Data Acquisition Systems .

Table Common Analog Sensors Sensor Accelerometer Microphone Pressure gauge Resistive temperature device (RTD) Strain gauge Thermocouple Physical Variable Acceleration Pressure Pressure Temperature Strain, Force Temperature

Data Acquisition Systems-Sensor Characteristics

Static characteristics The properties of the system after all transient effects have settled to their final or steady state Accuracy Resolution Precision Errors Drift Sensitivity Linearity Hystheresis (back lash) Dynamic characteristics The properties of the system transient response to an input Zero order systems First order systems Second order systems
10

Data Acquisition Systems Signal Conditioning Sensor signals are often incompatible with data acquisition hardware. To overcome this incompatibility, the sensor signal must be conditioned. The type of signal conditioning required depends on the sensor you are using. For example, a signal might have a small amplitude and require amplification, or it might contain unwanted frequency components and require filtering.
11

Data Acquisition Systems Common ways to condition signals include Amplification Filtering- Filtering removes unwanted noise from the signal of interest Electrical isolation Multiplexing- A common technique for measuring several signals with a single measuring device is multiplexing. Excitation source- Some sensors require an excitation source to operate
12

Data Acquisition Systems IMPORTANT PARAMETERS of DAQ HARDWARE Sampling Rate Number of Channels Signal Type Resolution Range

13

Data Acquisition Systems- ImportantParameters Sampling Sampling takes a snapshot of the sensor signal at discrete times. Sampling rate is specified in Hz. Nyquist criterion: We should sample at least two times faster than the highest frequency present in signal fs =1/ t Where fs is frequency of sampling, t is time between samples
14

Data Acquisition Systems- ImportantParameters For example, suppose you configure your A/D converter to sample at a rate of 4 samples per second (4 S/s or 4 Hz), and the signal of interest is a 1 Hz sine wave. Because the signal frequency is one-fourth the sampling rate, then according to the Nyquist theorem, it should be completely characterized. However, if a 5 Hz sine wave is also present, then these two signals cannot be distinguished. In other words, the 1 Hz sine wave produces the same samples as the 5 Hz sine wave when the sampling rate is 4 S/s. This situation is shown below
15

Data Acquisition Systems- ImportantParameters

Fig Sampling of 1 Hz and 5 Hz signal with sampling rate of 4 S/s 16

Data Acquisition Systems- ImportantParameters Even though the samples appear to represent a sine wave with a frequency of one-fourth the sampling rate, the actual signal could be any sine wave with a frequency of n0,25x(sampling rate) The relationship 0.25 x (Sampling rate) is called the alias of a signal that may be at another frequency. In other words, aliasing occurs when one frequency assumes the identity of another frequency. By increasing the sampling frequency we can obtain better representation of the signal.
17

Data Acquisition Systems- ImportantParameters

Fig. Higher sample rate: The signal is almost as original 18

Data Acquisition Systems- ImportantParameters Number of Channels We can select : *Dedicated circuitry for each channel *Sample and Hold Multiplexed to a single Analog to Digital Converter

19

Data Acquisition Systems- ImportantParameters Signal Conditioning Excitation Amplification for low level signals Filtering Bridge Completion -Compensation (eg. Thermocouples)

20

Data Acquisition Systems- ImportantParameters Resolution The number of bits that the ADC uses to represent the analog signal, is the resolution. The higher the resolution, the larger the number of divisions the range is broken into, and therefore, the smaller the detectable voltage change. Figure below shows a sine wave and its corresponding digital image as obtained by an ideal 3-bit ADC. A 3-bit converter (which is actually seldom used but a convenient example) divides the analog range into 23, or 8 divisions.
21

Data Acquisition Systems- ImportantParameters Each division is represented by a binary code between 000 and 111. Clearly, the digital representation is not a good representation of the original analog signal because information has been lost in the conversion. By increasing the resolution to 16 bits, however, the number of codes from the ADC increases from 8 to 65,536, and you can therefore obtain an extremely accurate digital representation of the analog signal if the rest of the analog input circuitry is properly designed.
22

Data Acquisition Systems- ImportantParameters

Q =EFSR/2M Where Q= Resolution in Volts Efsr=Full Scale Voltage Range M = Number of Bits

23

Data Acquisition Systems For more information you can also visit the sites: www.mathworks.com www.ni.com

24