ME 310 Lab Manual, Spring 2013

University of Kentucky College of Engineering

EXPERIMENT 1 UNCERTAINTY & ERROR ANALYSIS

Part 1: DESIGN STAGE AND SAMPLING UNCERTAINTY I. SUMMARY The error in a measurement is the difference between the true value and the measured value of the variable. However, in any measurement, the true value is not known due to the measuring devices accuracy and resolution. Thus instead of the actual error, we estimate the probable error in the measurement, called the uncertainty. It defines an interval about the measured value within which we suspect the true value of the variable must fall. Determining uncertainty is one of the focuses of this experiment. II. OUTCOMES Upon completion of the experiment, the student will be able to: Measure, classify, and record different error types. Compare measured data to a statistical distribution and make predictions based on this distribution. III. REQUIRED EQUIPMENT A selection of resistors Handheld Digital Multimeter (DMM) Handheld LCR meter IV. READING MATERIAL 0 Chapter 1 (F & B) Chapter 4, Sections 4.1 - 4.4 (F & B) Chapter 4, Example 4.4 (F & B) Chapter 5, Sections 5.1 - 5.6 (F & B) Lab Manual Appendix A Appendix C (Section 3.2.7 Resistance) Appendix H (pg-5 Resistance) All appendices are found on blackboard. Familiarize yourself with the instrument range, resolution, and accuracy for appendices C & H. V. PROCEDURES AND CALCULATIONS Activity #1: Design Stage Uncertainty, 1 2 Systematic and Random Errors Procedure: 1. a. Select six resistors of the SAME nominal resistance.
0 1

b. Using the color coded bands, determine and record the nominal value and tolerance of the resistor set. 2. a. From the DMMs manual or datasheet (Appendix C), record the meters resolution and accuracy for measuring resistance. b. Repeat for the LCR meter (Appendix H). 3. a. Using the DMM, measure, and record the resistance for each of the six resistors. b. Repeat using the LCR meter. Calculations: Calculations 1, 2 and 3 must be completed in Lab and submitted on the network drive. 1. a. Compute the design-stage uncertainty expected for measuring the resistance. Use the manufacturers information from steps 2.a and 2.b, and the nominal value obtained in step 1.b. Compute for both the DMM and the LCR meters. b. Plot the nominal value and the design-stage uncertainty for both the DMM and LCR meters in one plot. c. What can you conclude from this plot? 2. a. Compute the sample mean and sample 4 standard deviation for each set of resistance measurements obtained using the DMM and the LCR meters. 5 b. Compute the overall uncertainty of this mean 6 7 value. Include both random and systematic uncertainties. For random uncertainty, use the 8 student-t distribution for a finite-sized data set with a 95% confidence level. For systematic uncertainty, use the DMM and the LCR meters systematic uncertainty assuming 95% confidence. c. In one single plot, include the following: - The samples mean value for each instrument. - The uncertainty of the samples mean value for each instrument. - The nominal value and tolerance obtained from the color coded band. d. What can you conclude?
3 4

Theory and Design for Mechanical Measurements, F&B 5th ed. Also called bias error 2 Also called precision error

Equation 5.3, page 165, F&B 5th edition Equation 4.14c, page 130, F&B 5th edition 5 Equation 5.2, page 165, F&B 5th edition 6 Equation 4.18, page 133, F&B 5th edition 7 Chapter 5.3, page 164, F&B 5th edition 8 Table 4.4, page 131, F&B 5th edition

1 File: Experiment 1 - Uncertainty & Error Analysis

ME 310 Lab Manual, Spring 2013

University of Kentucky College of Engineering

3. a. In Matlab, use the histfit command to plot a histogram for the data obtained with the DMM. Also, on the same graph, plot the Gaussian distribution using the sample mean and standard deviation. (Refer to appendix 1A at the end of this manual). From this plot, can you conclude that the distribution is in fact Gaussian? b. Assuming that the distribution is Gaussian and the samples were taken randomly from a population of resistors: i. Determine the interval which will contain 95% of the sample means. Note: Use the normfit command in Matlab. (Refer to appendix 1A at the end of this manual). ii. Determine the uncertainty corresponding to that interval and compare it with the tolerance obtained from the color-coded band. What can you conclude? Part 2: UNCERTAINTY PROPAGATION I. SUMMARY Error could propagate in a system if it constrains multiple components or elements. This error should be determined in the design stage. In this activity you will measure the uncertainty due to error propagation in electric circuits. II. OUTCOMES Upon completion of the experiment, the student will be able to: Estimate uncertainty due to propagation of errors in an experiment. III. REQUIRED EQUIPMENT Breadboard A selection of resistors and capacitors Handheld Digital Multimeter (DMM) Handheld LCR meter IV. READING MATERIAL Chapter 5, Sections 5.1 - 5.6 (F & B) Lab Manual Appendix A (BlackBoard) Appendix C (Section 3.2.7 Resistance) Appendix H (pg-5 Capacitance) All appendices are found on blackboard. Familiarize yourself with the instrument range, resolution, and accuracy for appendices C & H

V. PROCEDURES AND CALCULATIONS Activity #2: Error Propagation Procedure: 1. Select any two resistors of different resistance values. Record their nominal value and tolerance. Connect them in series on the breadboard. Measure the resistance across the two resistors using the DMM. 2. Repeat step 1 for resistors arranged in parallel. 3. Select any two capacitors of differing capacitance. Record their nominal value and tolerance. Connect them in series on the breadboard. Measure the capacitance across the two capacitors using the LCR meter. Remove the capacitors from the breadboard. Calculations: 1. Calculate and place in a table the overall uncertainty for each measurement (1-3) above. This should include the systematic error (tolerance) of the passive circuit element (resistor or capacitor), the systematic error of the DMM or the LCR meter, and the propagation of 9 error due to multiple circuit elements. What conclusions can you draw from this information? 2. Suppose we need an output voltage (Vbc) of (2 +/- 0.1)V from the circuit in figure 1. The output of the voltage dividing circuit is given by Vbc=VinR2/(R1+R2). We design the circuit using a 12V DC power supply, R1 = 1k, and R2 = 200 which indeed gives us 2V output, but is it within the tolerance needed? Assuming no loading error, calculate the uncertainty in Vbc (uVbc) considering the following component tolerances: uVin = 1%, uR1 = uR2 = 5%

Figure 1. Voltage Divider Circuit

Would switching one or both resistors to a 2% tolerance be required (R1 = R2 = 2%)? __________________________________________
9

Equation 5.15, page 174, F&B 5th edition

2 File: Experiment 1 - Uncertainty & Error Analysis

ME 310 Lab Manual, Spring 2013

University of Kentucky College of Engineering

Appendix 1A- Matlab Commands10

histfit Syntax

histfit(data) histfit(data,nbins) histfit(data,nbins,dist) h = histfit(___)

Description

histfit(data) plots a histogram of values in data using the number of bins equal to the square root of the number of elements in data and fits a normal density function. histfit(data,nbins) plots a histogram using nbins bins and fits a normal density function. histfit(data,nbins,dist) plots a histogram with nbins bins and fits a density function from the distribution specified by dist. h = histfit(___) returns a vector of handles h, where h(1) is the handle to the histogram and h(2) is the
handle to the density curve. It can include any of the input arguments in previous syntaxes. normfit Syntax

[muhat,sigmahat] = normfit(data) [muhat,sigmahat,muci,sigmaci] = normfit(data) [muhat,sigmahat,muci,sigmaci] = normfit(data,alpha) [...] = normfit(data,alpha,censoring) [...] = normfit(data,alpha,censoring,freq) [...] = normfit(data,alpha,censoring,freq,options)
Description

[muhat,sigmahat] = normfit(data) returns an estimate of the mean in muhat, and an estimate of the standard deviation in sigmahat, of the normal distribution given the data in data. [muhat,sigmahat,muci,sigmaci] = normfit(data) returns 95% confidence intervals for the parameter estimates on the mean and standard deviation in the arrays muci and sigmaci, respectively. The first row of muci contains the lower bounds of the confidence intervals for the second row contains the upper bounds. The first row of sigmaci contains the lower bounds of the confidence intervals for ,and the second row contains the
upper bounds.

[muhat,sigmahat,muci,sigmaci] = normfit(data,alpha) returns 100(1 - alpha) % confidence intervals for the parameter estimates, where alpha is a value in the range [0 1] specifying the width of the confidence intervals. By default, alpha is 0.05, which corresponds to 95% confidence intervals. [...] = normfit(data,alpha,censoring) accepts a Boolean vector, censoring, of the same size as data, which is 1 for observations that are right-censored and 0 for observations that are observed exactly. data must be a vector in order to pass in the argument censoring. [...] = normfit(data,alpha,censoring,freq) accepts a frequency vector, freq, of the same size as data. Typically, freq contains integer frequencies for the corresponding elements in data, but can contain any nonnegative values. Pass in [] for alpha, censoring, or freq to use their default values. [...] = normfit(data,alpha,censoring,freq,options) accepts a structure, options, that
specifies control parameters for the iterative algorithm the function uses to compute maximum likelihood estimates when there is censoring. The normal fit function accepts an options structure which you can create using the function statset. Enter statset('normfit') to see the names and default values of the parameters that normfit accepts in the options structure. See the reference page for statset for more information about these options. ________________________________________________________________________________________________
10

http://www.mathworks.com

3 File: Experiment 1 - Uncertainty & Error Analysis