CAPACITIVE TRANSDUCER A capacitive pressure transducer consists of an airtight housing in which a metallic diaphragm is placed. At the inner side, there is a fixed plate. In between the diaphragm and the fixed plate, the dielectric medium is placed. When the pressure is applied to the diaphragm, it moves toward the fixed plate resulting a change in the capacitance. This capacitance is calibrated into voltage proportional to the applied pressure

Advantages: As these transducers have high input impedance, the loading effect is minimum. They require small force for operation hence is useful for small displacement, pressure measurements and requires small power. These transducers have good frequency response. They are less affected by stray magnetic fields. These transducers require good quality isolation so as to protect the transducer (metal plates) from stray capacitance. Guard rings are necessary so as to minimize the stray electric fields. Sometimes frequency response may be affected by the loading effects from connecting links and cables. The performance may be affected by parameters like dust, temperature, moisture, vibration and so forth. They require complex circuit arrangements like bridge, amplifier, etc. for measurement purpose.

Piezoelectric transducers:: “When a mechanical force is applied to a piezoelectric material (crystal), the dimensions of material gets changed resulting in the generation of electric charge or electric potential across surface of the crystal.” This principle is used in piezoelectric transducers for the measurement of pressure, force and acceleration, i.e. mechanical input and electrical output . In the reverse manner, if electric charge or electric potential is applied across the surface of metal, it results the change in dimensions of the crystal due to deformation. The piezoelectric materials used are classified as follows: Natural like quartz crystal, Rochelle salt Synthetic like lithium sulphate, barium titanante, ethylene diamine tartrate and polymer films can also be used as piezoelectric materials. For piezoelectric effect, the crystal should have natural asymmetrical charge distribution. Because of this asymmetric charge distribution, the lattice deformation takes place. The lattice deformation is nothing but relative displacement of positive and negative (opposite) charge within the lattice.

If the asymmetric charge distribution is not available in some material (synthetic), ferroelectric ceramics then such materials get polarized artificially by applying strong electric field. This electric field produces asymmetric lattice. On the surface of piezoelectric crystal, metal electrodes are connected. From these electrodes, the metallic wires or leads are taken out for deriving electric charge. Mechanical deformation of a piezoelectric crystal takes place after applying the mechanical force. This deformation of a piezoelectric crystal has the following modes: thickness expansion, transverse expansion, thickness shear and face shear. These modes depend upon the shape and orientation of the crystal.

Where, d is the crystal charge sensitivity constant for the given crystal in C/N F is the force applied to the crystal in N. The charge sensitivity is defined as the charge generated per unit force applied to the crystal. Due to the applied force F, the thickness of the crystal gets changed (mechanical deformation). Where, A is the area of crystal WL in m2 t is the thickness of the crystal in m Y is the Young’s modulus for the material of the crystal in N/m2 W is the width of crystal in m L is the length of the crystal in m Due to the charge developed at electrodes the output voltage Volt gets increased.

Equivalent circuit of piezoelectric transducer: Fig 7.15 (b) shows an Equivalent circuit of piezoelectric transducer. The voltage Volt is developed due to the generation of charges which is given by

In such type of transducer, the charge amplifiers are used.

Applications: The features of piezoelectric transducer are as follows: More stability Not affected by temperature variations and humidity Maximum output Useful for dynamic parameter measurements Quartz crystal has good stability, so it is used as a frequency generator oscillator. Applications: Piezoelectric transducers have applications in vibration pick up, accelerometer, pressure sensor, sound pressure and so on.

STRAIN GAUGES Strain gauges is defined as an elongation or compression per unit area. Strain gauges work on the principle of piezoresistivity. If a metal wire or conductor is stretched or compressed it resistances changes because of the changes in length, resistivity and the cross sectional area this effect is called piezoresistive effect. Suppose the dimension of the wire as follows: A is the uniform cross sectional area of the wire in m2 L is the length of the wire in m ρ is the resistivity in Ω-m R is the resistance in Ω

If the conductor is stretched or compressed (strained) the above mention parameter change as follows: ∆A is the change in cross sectional area ∆L is the change in length of the wire ∆ρ is the change in resistivity ∆R is the change in resistance The change in resistance is due to following factors Per unit change in the length ∆L/L Per unit change in the area ∆A/A per unit change in the resistivity ∆ρ/ρ If the change in resistivity of the material due to strain is neglected the gauge factor is

CLASSIFICATION OF STRAIN GAUGE BONDED WIRE STRAIN GAUGES A grid or fine wire of resistance is cemented to the base (sheet) paper or sheet of Teflon or Bakelite. A particular resistance wire is covered on to protect it in mechanical damage and faithfully handle the compression and elongation (stress) .the classification of strain gauges vary with application .strain gauge should have high gauge factor ,low resistance temperature coefficient, no hysteresis and resistance should be linear section of strain Different type of strain gauges are: linear, rossette, torque helical etc

BIMETALLIC THERMOMETER The concept of differential expansion of bonded strips of two metals. In certain metal, the volume changes with temperature and the coefficient of change is not the same for all metals WORKING PRINCIPLE The two different metal strips are joined or welded together and heated, the resultant strip having lower expansion rate gets banned , the deflection of the strips is directly proportional to the square of length and temperature is inversely proportional to the thickness of the metal. As a name indicates, a bimetallic thermometer consist of two different metal strips according to the change rise of temperature ,the length of the metals gets change with respect to the change in thermal expansion this expansion result the bending of bimetallic strip. The side having low coefficient of thermal expansion as shown in figure

The deflection of the metal strip is applied to the pointer sliding over scale which is proportional to the temperature variations. The deflection or movement produced by the bimetallic strip is small, Also if the size of strip is small, deflection is small. For large deflection size of the strip should be large to avoid this metal strip element is wounded in spiral and helical shape .As outer part of the spiral strips, a pointer is attached which moves over the calibrated scale . As temperature increases, the spiral strip wind up and the pointer deflects over the calibrated scale in clock wise direction as shown in figure. The complete assembly is placed in the case

ADVANTAGES: It is easy to install. Its maintenance is not complex. It is mechanically rigid and tough. It has low cost. It has wide operating temperature range.

BOURDON TUBE: These are the primary pressure sensing elements used for measurement of medium and high pressures. Bourdon tubes are elastic members and convert the pressure into mechanical displacements. An important aspect is that Bourdon tube is a primary sensing element, which senses pressure and converts it into mechanical displacement. This displacement can be converted into electrical signals using secondary transducers. Materials used for construction of Bourdon tube phosphor bronze, beryllium copper ,monel, Ni-Span C and alloy steel. Pressure range is 100 to 690 MPa.

Working PRINCIPLE When the pressure which is to be measured, is applied to the pressure sensitive element ,it reacts and resulting into mechanical displacement. Mechanical displacement is proportional to applied pressure. This mechanical displacement is converted into electrical signals by using electrical transducers. From this discussion, it is noted that the electrical signal is proportional to the mechanical displacement and hence proportional to the applied pressure. There are various types of bourdon tubes according to shape or form, namely C-type , helical, and twisted.

C-BOURDON TUBE: SPIRAL BOURDON TUBE: It is made by winding an elliptical flattened tube to form a segment of a circle having an arc of 250 degree. This tube has two ends, out of which one is sealed. The other end is open for applying the process pressure and fixed at the socket as shown in fig 7.28(a) When the pressure is applied at the open end, the tube tends to straighten out because the internal and outer radii of the bourden tube are different. So the tube takes different areas for the pressure. The non-linear pressure is converted into linear motion or displacement by means of a pointer and calibrated scale(deflection) arrangement. Necessary link, lever gear and pinion attachment is provided to the deflection system. thus the applied pressure is measured by means of deflection over linear scale. SPIRAL BOURDON TUBE: Spiral bourdon tube is made by winding the elliptical flattened tube into spiral form of 2 or 3 windings around the same axis as shown in fig 7.28 (b).one end of the tube is sealed and the other is open

When a pressure is applied to a spiral bourdon tube When a pressure is applied to a spiral bourdon tube. It tends to uncoil and produces the deflection and displacement at the free end. This displacement is used for indication transmission. The produced displacement is applied to the pointer and scale arrangement. The displacement is more, so there is no need of magnification elements i.e. mechanical amplification. Due to this the gear and pinion arrangement is eliminated while increases the accuracy. Spiral bourdon tube has following advantage: It has more accuracy. There is no friction because there is no gear and pinion arrangement. It has higher sensitivity because there is no friction and loss of motion. HELICAL BOURDON TUBE: Figure 7.28(c) shows a helical bourdon tube. By winding a elliptical flattened tube into a helical (helix) form, this tube is manufactured. This tube provides high movement of the free end. Mechanical movement or displacement of helical bourdon tube more than that of spiral bourdon tube.

A shaft is connected at the centre of the helical winding and a pointer is attached at the sealed end using proper connecting link . As the applied pressure changes, the helical winding provides a circular displacement, which is indicated by the pointer connected to the shaft. Helical bourdon tube has following advantage: It provides satisfactory operation over continuous fluctuating pressure signals. It has higher capacity to handle the over range pressures. There is no necessity of mechanical amplification gear and pinion arrangement.

Pressure range of a bourdon tube depends upon diameter of the coil, thickness of the tube, proportional material used and number of helical coil/tube. For low-pressure measurements, coils are used whereas for high pressure measurements, 16 to 20 coils can be used. Bourdon tube depends upon the diameter of tube, design quality, materials used calibration arrangement. It is +-0.5 to +-2%.