EKT212/4 - PRINCIPLE OF MEASUREMENT

AND INSTRUMENTATION

Introduction to Measurement

Semester II
Academic session 2016/2017

School of Computer and Communication Engineering

Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP)
Email: said@unimap.edu.my
Outline

Terminology

Measurement

Standard

Errors in Measurement
Terminology

I Instrumentation – application of instrument that is used for

physical quantity measurement and control.
I Measurement – the process of determining the amount,
degree or capacity by comparison with the accepted standards
of the system units being used.
I Instrument – a device for determining the value or magnitude
of a quantity or variable.
I Electronic instrument – device based on electrical or
electronic principles for its measurement functions.
Measurement

I Definition of measurement:
I Determination of magnitude of a given quantity by comparison
between quantity and standard value.
I Measurement is a process of translating the physical
parameters into numerical value.
I Numerical must accompanied with unit to identify the
property and the characteristics of measurand.
Measurement
Methods

I Indirect Method
I Measurand is determined by measuring other functionally
related quantities and calculating the desired quantity.
I Direct Method
I Measurand is directly compared against a standard.
I Most widely used in engineering practice.
Standard

I A standard is a known accurate measure of physical

quantity.
I Standards are used to determine the values of other physical
quantities by the comparison method.
I All standards are preserved at the International Bureau of
Weight and Measures (BIMP), Paris.
I Four categories of standard:
I International Standard
I Primary Standard
I Secondary Standard
I Working Standard
Standard

I International Standard
I Defined by International Agreement.
I Represent the closest possible accuracy attainable by the
current science and technology.

I Primary Standard
I Maintained at the National Standard Lab (different for every
country).
I Function: the calibration and verification of secondary
Standard.
I Each lab has its own secondary Standard which are periodically
checked and certified by the National Standard Lab.
I For example, in Malaysia, this function is carried out by SIRIM.
Standard
I Secondary Standard
I Secondary standards are basic reference standards used by
measurement and calibration laboratories in industries.
I Each industry has its own secondary standard.
I Each laboratory periodically sends its secondary standard to
the National standards laboratory for calibration and
comparison against the primary standard.
I After comparison and calibration, the National Standards
Laboratory returns the secondary standards to particular
industrial laboratory with a certification of measuring accuracy
in terms of a primary standard.

I Working Standard
I Used to check and calibrate lab instrument for accuracy and
performance.
I For example, manufacturers of electronic components such as
capacitors, resistors and many more use a standard called a
working standard for checking the component values being
manufactured.
Standard
Units

I The International System of Units (SI)

I Base units
I Length – meter (m)
I Mass – kilogram (kg)
I Time – second (s)
I Electric current – ampere (A)
I Temperature – kelvin (K)
I Luminous intensity – candela (cd)
I Amount of substance – mole (mol)
Standard
Units

I Derived units
I Electric charge – coulomb (C)
I Electric potential difference – volt (V)
I Electric resistance – ohm (Ω)
I Electric capacitance – farad (F)
I Electric inductance – henry (H)
I Energy – joule (J)
I Force – newton (N)
I Magnetic flux – weber (Wb)
I Power – watt (W)
Errors in Measurement

I Errors can occurred whenever an instrument was used to

measure electrical quantities.
I Deviation of measured value from true value.
I Usually expressed in percentage.
e Yn − Xn
%E = × 100 = × 100
Yn Yn
where e is absolute error, Yn is expected value and Xn is
measured value.
I Error can also be expressed in the form of relative accuracy, A.
 
 Yn − Xn 
A = 1 −  
Yn 

and a percentage of accuracy is given by a = A × 100

Errors in Measurement
EXAMPLE
The expected value of the voltage across a resistor is 80V. However,
the measurements gives a value of 79V. Calculate (i) absolute error,
(ii) percentage of error, (iii) relative accuracy, and (iv) percentage of
accuracy.

(i) absolute error

e = Yn − Xn = 80 − 79 = 1V
(ii) percentage of error
e 1
%E = × 100 = × 100 = 1.25%
Yn 80
(iii) relative accuracy
   
 Yn − Xn 
 = 1 −  80 − 79  = 0.9825
 
A = 1 − 
Yn   80 
(iv) percentage of accuracy
a = A × 100 = 0.9825 × 100 = 98.25%
Errors in Measurement
Category

I Errors in measurement can be broadly defined in three

categories;
I Gross errors
I Systematic errors
I Random errors
Errors in Measurement
Gross Errors

I Errors occur because of the human mistakes.

I Improper or incorrect installation or use of measurement
instrument.
I Failure to eliminate parallax during reading or recording the
measurement.
I Cannot be remedied mathematically.
Errors in Measurement
Systematic errors

I Errors occur constantly.

I Maybe due to the aging of the instruments or environmental
effects.
I Two types of systematic errors;
I Instrumental errors – Inherent in the instrument due to their
mechanical structure, calibration or operation.
I Environmental errors – Unpredictable due to the using an
instrument at different locations or conditions.
Errors in Measurement
Random errors

I Occur when different results in magnitude or sign obtained on

repeated measurement of one or the same quantity.
I The effect can be minimised by taking the measurement many
times.
I This error can be handle mathematically.
Errors in Measurement
Source of errors

I Other factors that contribute to error beside the instrument

failure can be listed as follows;
I changes or not enough information regarding process
parameters.
I poor design or its limitations
I bad maintenance
I operators of the instrument
Errors in Measurement
Statistical Analysis

I This is important as it can be used to determine the

uncertainty of the test results.
I The analysis require a large number of measurements (data)
to be taken.
I Since this analysis of data cannot eliminate the bias causing
by systematic errors, this type of errors needs to be as
minimized as possible.
Errors in Measurement
Statistical Analysis ...continued
I Arithmetic mean
I can give best approximation when the number of
measurements or data of the same quantity is large.
Pn
xn
x̄ = n=1
n
I x̄ is arithmetic mean, xn is the nth data taken and nth is the
total of data or measurement.
I Deviation from mean
I basically a difference between the individual data with the
arithmetic mean.
I deviation can be expressed as follows;
dn = xn − x̄
where dn is the deviation of the nth data with the arithmetic
mean.
I the deviation can be positive or negative but the summation of
deviation for all data should be zero.
Errors in Measurement
Statistical Analysis ...continued

I Average deviations, Dav

I can defined as the sum of absolute values of deviation divided
by the number of data available.
P
|dn |
Dav =
n
I this indicate the precision of the instrument used, lower value
of average deviation specify a highly precise instruments.
I Standard deviation, σ
I important factor in statistical analysis of measurement data
and it can be expressed as follows;
rP
d2n
σ=
n
I small value of standard deviation means that the
measurements is improve.
Errors in Measurement
Limiting Errors

I Instrument usually comes with the manufacturer specified

percentage of accuracy during full scale reading.
I This specification is called limiting errors which mean that at
full scale reading of measurements, it is guaranteed that the
data is within the specified percentage of accuracy.
I But, as the measurement is taken below full scale deflection,
this limiting error is increase.
Errors in Measurement
Limiting Errors
EXAMPLE

A 600V voltmeter is specified to be accurate within 2% at full

scale. Calculate the limiting error when the instrument is used
to measure a voltage of 250V.

Magnitude of limiting error is 0.02 x 600 = 12V

This give limiting error at 250V is given by
12
elimiting = × 100 = 4.8%
250
Errors in Measurement
Limiting Errors
EXAMPLE

Given for certain measurement, a limiting error for voltmeter at

70V is 2.143% and a limiting error for ammeter at 80mA is
2.813%. Determine the limiting error of the power.

The limiting error for the power = 2.143 + 2.813 = 4.956%

Errors in Measurement
Limiting Errors
EXERCISE

A voltmeter is accurate 98% of its full scale reading.

a. If the voltmeter reads 200V on 500V range, what is the
absolute error?
b. What is the percentage error of the reading in (a).