CISE-201

Introduction to Control and

Instrumentation Systems
Engineering (CISE)

Instructor: Dr. Muhammad Mysorewala.

Email: mysorewala@kfupm.edu.sa
Measurement Systems
Chapter 1 (Textbook)
 System
• A system can be defined as an arrangement of
parts within some boundary which work together
to provide some form of output from a specified
input or inputs.
 Interconnected Systems
• Output from one system becoming the input to
the next system. In drawing a system as a series
of interconnected blocks, it is necessary to
recognize that the lines drawn to connect boxes
indicate a flow of information in the direction
indicated by the arrow and not necessarily
physical connections.
 Examples
• # 1: Measurement

• # 2: Control
 Industrial Robots

• Sense: Acquisition of data from the external environment.

• Think: Analysis of data for planning the tasks to be performed.

• Act: Controlling the external environment by executing tasks.

 Instrumentation and Measurement
• The purpose of an instrumentation system used
for making measurements is to give the user a
numerical value corresponding to the variable
being measured. Thus a thermometer may be
used to give a numerical value for the temperature
of a liquid.
• Error in measurement: An instrumentation system
for making measurements has an input of the true
value of the variable being measured and an
output of the measured value.
 Constituents of an Instrumentation
System
• Sensor
• Signal Processor
• Data Presentation

Example: Thermistor (Temperature change is detected

through change in electrical resistance)
 (1) Sensor
• This is the element of the system which is
effectively in contact with the process for which a
variable is being measured and gives an output
which depends in some way on the value of the
variable and which can be used by the rest of
the measurement system to give a value to it.
 (2) Signal Processor
• The term signal conditioner is used for an element
which converts the output of a sensor into a suitable
form for further processing.
• Thus in the case of the resistance thermometer
there might be a signal conditioner, a Wheatstone
bridge, which transforms the resistance change into
a voltage change, then an amplifier to make the
voltage big enough for display.
 (3) Data Presentation
• This presents the measured value in a form which
enables an observer to recognise it. This may be via a
display, e.g. a pointer moving across the scale of a
meter or perhaps information on a visual display unit.
Alternatively, or additionally, the signal may be recorded,
e.g. on the paper of a chart recorder or perhaps on
magnetic disc, or transmitted to some other system such
as a control system.
 Transducer
• Transducer is defined as an element that
converts a change in some physical variable into
a related change in some other physical
variable.
• It is generally used for an element that converts
a change in some physical variable into an
electrical signal change. Thus sensors can be
transducers.
• However, a measurement system may use
transducers, in addition to the sensor, in other
parts of the system to convert signals in one
form to another form.
 Performance terms for Measurement
Systems
• Static Characteristics: These are the
values given when steady-state
conditions occur, i.e. the values given
when the system or element has settled
down after having received some input.
• Dynamic Characteristics: The
dynamic characteristics refer to the
behavior between the time that the input
value changes and the time that the
value given by the system or element
settles down to the steady-state value.
• Figure shows how the reading of an
analog ammeter might change when the
current is switched on. The meter
pointer oscillates before settling down to
give the steady-state reading.
 Static Characteristics: Accuracy and
Error
• Accuracy is the extent to which the value indicated by a
measurement system or element might be wrong. For
example, a thermometer may have an accuracy of
±0.1degC.
• Error = measured value - true value
• Thus if the measured value is 10.1 when the true value
is 10.0, the error is +0.1. If the measured value is 9.9
when the true value is 10.0, the error is -0.1.
• Accuracy is often expressed as a percentage of the full
range output or full-scale deflection (fsd). For example,
a system might have an accuracy of ±1% of fsd. If the
full-scale deflection is, say, 10 A, then the accuracy is
±0.1 A.
 Types of Error: (1) Hysteresis Error
• The term hysteresis error is used
for the difference in outputs given
from the same value of quantity
being measured according to
whether that value has been
reached by a continuously
increasing change or a
continuously decreasing change.
• Thus, you might obtain a different
value from a thermometer used to
measure the same temperature of
a liquid if it is reached by the liquid
warming up to the measured
temperature or it is reached by the
liquid cooling down to the
measured temperature.
 Types of Error: (2) Non-linearity Error
• The term non-linearity error is used for the error
that occurs as a result of assuming a linear
relationship between the input and output over
the working range, i.e. a graph of output plotted
against input is assumed to give a straight line.
 Types of Error: (3) Insertion Error or
Loading
• Example 1: When a cold thermometer is put in to a hot
liquid to measure its temperature, the presence of the
cold thermometer in the hot liquid changes the
temperature of the liquid. The liquid cools and so the
thermometer ends up measuring a lower temperature
than that which existed before the thermometer was
introduced. The act of attempting to make the
measurement has modified the temperature being
measured.
• Example 2: when an ammeter is inserted into a circuit to
make a measurement of the circuit current, it changes
the resistance of the circuit and so changes the current
being measured.
 Range
• The range of variable of system is
the limits between which the input
can vary.
• For example, a resistance
thermometer sensor might be
quoted as having a range of -200
to +800°C.
• The range of variable of an
instrument is also sometimes
called its span.
• The term dead band or dead
space is used if there is a range
of input values for which there is
no output.
 Precision vs Accuracy
• The term precision is used to
describe the degree of freedom of
a measurement system from
random errors. Thus, a high
precision measurement instrument
will give only a small spread of
readings if repeated readings are
taken of the same quantity. A low
precision measurement system will
give a large spread of readings.
 Repeatability and Reproducibility
• The terms repeatability and reproducibility are ways of
talking about precision in specific contexts.
• The term repeatability is used for the ability of a
measurement system to give the same value for repeated
measurements of the same value of a variable. Common
cause of lack of repeatability are random fluctuations in the
environment, e.g. changes in temperature and humidity.
• The term reproducibility is used to describe the ability of a
system to give the same output when used with a constant
input, with the system or elements of the system being
disconnected from its input and then reinstalled.
• The error arising from repeatability/reproducibility is usually
expressed as a percentage of the full range output. For
example, a pressure sensor might be quoted as having
repeatability/reproducibility of ±0.1% of full range. Thus with
a range of 20 kPa this would be an error of ±20 Pa.
 Sensitivity
• The sensitivity indicates how much the output of an
instrument system or system element changes when the
quantity being measured changes by a given amount,
i.e. the ratio output/input. For example, a thermocouple
might have a sensitivity of 20 and so give an output
of 20 for each change in temperature. Thus, if we
take a series of readings of the output of an instrument
for a number of different inputs and plot a graph of
output against input, the sensitivity is the slope of the
graph.
Sensitivity
Sensitivity to environmental changes
• The term is also frequently used to indicate the
sensitivity to inputs other than that being measured, i.e.
environmental changes.
• For example, the sensitivity of a system or element might
be quoted to changes in temperature or perhaps
fluctuations in the mains voltage supply. Thus a pressure
measurement sensor might be quoted as having a
temperature sensitivity of ±0.1% of the reading per oC
change in temperature.
 Sensitivity
• For a pressure measurement system:
 Dynamic Characteristics
• The dynamic characteristics refer to
the behavior between the time that
the input value changes and the
time that the value given by the
system or element settles down to
the steady-state value.
• Commonly use dynamic
characteristics are: Response time,
Rise time, and Settling time
• (a) The spring system with a
constant load applied at some
instant of time, (b) the step showing
how the input varies with time, (c)
the output showing how it varies
with time for the step input.
 Reliability
• Reliability is an important requirement of a measurement system.
The reliability of a measurement system, or element in such a
system, is defined as being the probability that it will operate to
an agreed level of performance, for a specified period, subject to
specified environmental conditions. The agreed level of
performance might be that the measurement system gives a
particular accuracy.
• The reliability of a measurement system is likely to change with
time e.g. as a result of perhaps springs slowly stretching with
time, resistance values changing as a result of moisture
absorption, wear on contacts and general damage due to
environmental conditions. For example, just after a measurement
system has been calibrated, the reliability should be 1. However,
after perhaps 6 months the reliability might have dropped to 0.7.
Thus the system cannot then be relied on to always give the
required accuracy of measurement, it typically only gives the
required accuracy seven times in ten measurements, seventy
times in a hundred measurements.
• A high reliability system will have a low failure rate. Failure
rate is the number of times during some period of time that
the system fails to meet the required level of performance,
i.e.:

• A failure rate of 0.4 per year means that in one year, if ten
systems are observed, 4 will fail to meet the required level of
performance. If 100 systems are observed, 40 will fail to meet
the required level of performance.
• Failure rate is affected by environmental conditions. For
example, the failure rate for a temperature measurement
system used in hot, dusty, humid, corrosive conditions might
be 1.2 per year, while for the same system used in dry, cool,
non-corrosive environment it might be 0.3 per year.
• Failure rates are generally quantified by giving the mean time
between failures (MTBF). This is a statistical representation of
the reliability.
 Requirements: (1) Calibration
• The main requirement of a measurement system is
fitness for purpose. This means that if, for example, a
length of a product has to be measured to a certain
accuracy that the measurement system is able to be
used to carry out such a measurement to that accuracy.
• In order to deliver the required accuracy, the
measurement system must have been calibrated to give
that accuracy. Calibration is the process of comparing
the output of a measurement system against standards
of known accuracy. The standards may be other
measurement systems which are kept specially for
calibration duties or some means of defining standard
values.
 Requirements: (1) Calibration
• Calibration should be carried out using equipment which
can be traceable back to national standards with a
separate calibration record kept for each measurement
instrument.
• This record is likely to contain a description of the
instrument and its reference number, the calibration
date, the calibration results, how frequently the
instrument is to be calibrated and probably details of the
calibration procedure to be used, details of any repairs or
modifications made to the instrument, and any limitations
on its use.
• There are standards for quantities such as: Mass,
Length, Time, Current, Temperature, Luminous Intensity,
Amount of substance and angles.
 Requirements: (1) Calibration
• Typically National Standards in turn are used to define
reference standards which can be used by national
bodies for the calibration of standards which are held in
calibration centres.
• The equipment used in the calibration of an instrument in
everyday company use is likely to be traceable back to
national standards in the following way:
– National standards are used to calibrate standards for calibration
centres.
– Calibration centre standards are used to calibrate standards for
instrument manufacturers.
– Standardised instruments from instrument manufacturers are
used to provide in-company standards.
– In-company standards are used to calibrate process instruments.
 Requirements: (1) Calibration
• There is a simple traceability chain from
the instrument used in a process back to
national standards. In the case of, say, a
glass bulb thermometer, the traceability
might be:
– National standard of fixed thermodynamic
temperature points
– Calibration centre standard of a platinum
resistance thermometer with an accuracy
of ±0.005 deg C
– An in-company standard of a platinum
resistance thermometer with an accuracy
of ±0.01 deg C
– The process instrument of a glass bulb
thermometer with an accuracy of ± 0.1
degC
Requirements: (2) Safety
Requirements: (2) Safety
Requirements: (2) Safety
 Assignments
• Read Chapter 1 of Textbook
• Solve problems at the end of Chapter 1,
and submit by the midnight of 25nd Oct
2020.
• Test2 on Mon Oct 26th in class. Material is
Topic2.