INTRODUCTION

This experiment involves measuring small linear displacements to compare the

sensitivity, linearity and the useful range of different transducers, particularly a
photonic transducer, a capacitive proximity sensor and an inductive proximity
sensor. Generally, a transducer converts a signal in one form of energy to another
form of energy. A Photonic transducer is a device that converts light (which carries
encoded information) into electrical energy. It is composed of two sets optical fibers;
one acts as a steady light source, while the other has a photocell detector which
captures the reflected light. This transducer reaches its maximum sensitivity in
displacement change when the reflected light intensity is the greatest, such as at
short distances. However, as displacement increases and the transducer approaches
maximum sensitivity, the output of the detector decreases according to an inverse
square law with respect to distance

-1.00
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
9.00
10.00
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
Voltage Output (V)
Displacement (mm)

Transducer Response
Photonic Transducer
Capacitive Proximity Sensor
Inductive Proximity Sensor

-1.00
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00

5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
9.00
10.00

0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00

12.00
Voltage
Output
(V)
Displace
ment

(mm)

Phot
onic

Trans
ducer
Photonic
(V)

Potential
usable
range

-0.08
-0.06
-0.04
-0.02
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
Deviation [V]
Displacement [mm]

Photonic Measurments' Deviation

Photonic
photonic linear response

y = -0.3185x + 1.7846
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
1.40
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
Voltage Output (V)

Displacement
(mm)

Capacit
ive
Proximi
ty
Sensor
Capacitive
Potential
usable range
-0.02
-0.01
0.00
0.01

0.02
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
Deviation [V]
Displacement [mm]

Capacitive
Measurements'
Deviation
Capacitive
Capacitive Linear Response

y = 1.8559x - 9.1394
0.00
0.50
1.00
1.50
2.00
2.50
3.00
3.50
0.00
2.00
4.00
6.00
8.00
10.00
12.00
Voltage Output (V)
Displacement (mm)

Inductive

Proximi
ty
Sensor

Inductive
Reading
Potential usable
range
y = -0.0283x +
0.1753
-0.04
-0.03
-0.02
-0.01
0.00
0.01
0.02
0.03

0.04
5.20
5.40
5.60
5.80
6.00
6.20
6.40
6.60

Deviation[V]
Displacement [mm]

Inductive
measurements'
deviation
Inductive
inductive linear response
Linear (inductive linear response)

Inductive proximity sensors use mutual inductance between a known inductor and a
conductive material to measure displacement. Reluctance measures the amount of
magnetic flux in a coil in a circuit. As the metal surface moves, there is a change in
the magnetic flux in the coil and the current generated as a result also changes.
Additionally, the flow of the AC current creates alternating magnetic flux. Despite the
change in the magnetic flux and the AC current generated, the voltage is given by

= cos ()
where max is the maximum current amplitude, is the angular frequency of the
current and L is the inductance of the coil. The transducer works in accordance with
the equation given below:

where d/dt is the rate of change of current with respect to time.

Capacitive transducers are capacitors with variable capacitance which are mainly
used for the measurement of displacement, pressure etc. The capacitive transducer
used in this experiment is a proximity sensor. Therefore, it detects the presence of an
immediately adjacent metallic and changes its capacitance by changing the distance
between two plates while keeping its dielectric area constant. The capacitance
changes according to the following equation

Where
0 is the absolute permittivity
r the relative permittivity
A is the area of the plates
d is the distance between the plates.

METHOD AND PROCEDURE

We are provided with the following equipment:
One X-Y sliding table equipped with micrometers with a flat plate mounted on it.
One capacitive displacement transducer BC10-G30-Y0X.
One inductive displacement transducer BI10-G30-Y1.
One Photonic system.
All transducers are mounted on a fixed support.
Power supply.
One DVM.
Three signal conditioners (Photonic: 3B11, Capacitive: 3B31, Inductive: 3B41).
LabVIEW virtual digital voltmeters.
Initially, we verify that the transducers are properly connected to their control boxes
and power supplies, and then record the model and gain of each signal conditioner.
Then, the power supply, the back panel and the photonic controller are all switched
on. Next, the power supply is measured and recorded using a digital voltmeter. We
are provided with an already set-up LabVIEW program that records incoming voltage
from the three transducers simultaneously. Therefore, the minimum and maximum
values are set -1 and 10 respectively. From the drop down menu found to specify
channels, we select the channels 10, 12, and 14 such that Physical channels box
displayed DEV1/ai10, DEV1/ai12, and DEV1/ai14, corresponding to the photonic
system, the capacitive displacement transducer, and the inductive displacement
transducer respectively.
To proceed with the experiment, the x-axis micrometer is set to zero such that the
flat plate barely touches the transducers. Then at each displacement, we run the
program once in LabVIEW, and the voltage readings from the program are copied to
the excel file and recorded in their respective columns. The procedure is repeated for
different displacements (approximately 70 readings). After, the experiment is over,
the power supply, the photonic controller and the back panel are turned off carefully.

4.85
5.00
5.15
5.30
5.45
5.60
5.75
5.90
6.00
Displacement
(mm)
6.50
0.00
The table
below shows
7.00
0.03
displacements.
7.50
0.05
8.00
0.08
8.50
0.10
9.00
0.13
9.50
0.15
10.00
0.18

4.53
0.25
0.65
4.38
0.25
0.69
4.24
0.25
0.75
4.10
0.25
0.84
3.97
0.25
1.00
3.84
0.25
1.23
3.72
0.25
1.50
3.59
0.25
1.82
3.52
0.25
2.03
Photonic
Reading (V) Capacitive
Reading (V) Inductive
Reading (V)
3.15
0.25
2.92
-0.12
1.23
0.43
the
voltage output
of three transducers
for different
2.83
0.25
2.99
-0.02
0.02
0.43
2.54
0.25
3.02
0.03
1.22
0.43
2.29
0.25
3.03
0.18
1.22
0.43
2.06
0.25
3.02
0.29
1.22
0.43
1.86
0.25
3.03
0.47
1.22
0.43
1.68
0.25
3.04
0.62
1.22
0.43
1.52
0.25
3.04
0.75
1.23
0.43

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

0.20
0.91
0.23
1.27
0.25
1.47
Figure 1 below shows the
graph for
0.28
1.77
used increments
ranging1.97
from 0.02
0.30
0.33
2.29
for adjusting
the micrometer.
0.35
2.50
0.38
2.82
0.40
3.02
0.48
3.84
0.55
4.55
0.63
5.24
0.70
5.70
0.78
6.38
0.85
6.74
0.93
7.14
1.00
7.41
1.13
8.23
1.25
8.65
1.40
8.78
1.55
8.72
1.70
8.56
1.85
8.41
2.00
8.22
2.15
8.05
2.30
7.75
2.45
7.62
2.60
7.43
2.75
7.13
2.90
7.03
3.05
6.68
3.20
6.53
3.35
6.31
3.50
6.07
3.65
5.93
3.80
5.69
3.95
5.55
4.10
5.42
4.25
5.19
4.40
5.00
4.55
4.84
4.70
4.68

Figure 1

1.22
0.43
1.22
0.43
1.22
0.43
the response of the all
the transducers used. We
1.22
0.43
mm 1.21
to 0.50 mm over0.43
a displacement of 10mm
1.21
0.43
1.21
0.43
1.21
0.43
1.21
0.43
1.21
0.43
1.21
0.43
1.21
0.43
1.23
0.43
1.20
0.43
1.20
0.43
1.20
0.43
1.20
0.43
1.19
0.43
1.20
0.43
1.14
0.43
1.11
0.43
1.08
0.43
1.05
0.43
1.03
0.43
1.01
0.43
0.96
0.43
0.94
0.43
0.90
0.43
0.85
0.43
0.84
0.43
0.77
0.43
0.73
0.44
0.69
0.45
0.64
0.46
0.66
0.47
0.56
0.48
0.52
0.49
0.49
0.50
0.43
0.55
0.38
0.56
0.33
0.59
0.28
0.62

Following this are 2 types of graphs for each transducer. The first type of graph
shows the usable ranges of the graphs superimposed on the actual plot. The second
type is a residual plot from the calibration data.
PHOTONIC TRANSDUCER
This is the usable linear range superimposed on the actual plot of voltage output
versus displacement.

The graph above shows the deviation of the photonic measurements and therefore is
the residual plot.

CAPACITIVE TRANSDUCER

INCDUCTIVE TRANSDUCER

Transducer Usable
Sensitivity Linearity
Accuracy
displaceme [V/mm]
[%]
Limits [%]
The table below summarizes the overall results of our static calibration:
nt Range
[mm]
Photonic
99.20
0.112
-0.786
As the above(0.25,0.55)
table points 10.093
out, the linearity
for all three
transducers
is above the
Capacitive
(3.95,4.85)
-0.3185
98.35
1.65
-1.24
specified requirement of 90%. The accuracy also lies between +/- 5% of the Full
Inductive
(5.45,6.50)Therefore
1.8559the calibration
98.27 is acceptable
1.15
-1.72 the
Scale of our readings.
and fulfills
specifications of the instrument.
The table above summarizes the linearity, sensitivity and the usable ranges for the
three transducers used in our experiment. Based on our calculations and
computations, the most sensitive transducer turns out to be the photonic transducer,
with a sensitivity of about 10V/mm and its the most suitable for very small
displacements as suggested by comparing the usable ranges. However, the usable
range of the photonic transducer is very small compared to the capacitive sensor.
The range of the capacitive transducer would be higher with the exclusion of a few
erroneous points which could be due to laboratory conditions and limitations of
LABView. The inductive sensor is more sensitive than the capacitive sensor however
the Inductive sensor has a relatively larger usable range than the capacitive
transducer.
The gaps in the ranges of the displacements while adjusting the micrometer are not
within the usable ranges of the transducers and can be improved by certain means.
These gaps could be minimized by increasing the usable ranges of the transducers.
For example, the inductance of the inductive transducer can be increased by
increasing the number of turns of coil which would then give us a larger range of
displacements that can be measured. Similarly the the capacitive transducer
depends upon the surface area of the plates and the distance between the plates.
Since our target is to measure the displacement, a change we can make to the
capacitive transducer is to increase the surface area of its plates to get a higher
capacitance and therefore a longer range.

CONCLUSION
This experiment allowed us to find the static sensitivity, linearity and linear range of
all three transducers by looking at the useful range part of the three transducers.
We found that the photonic transducer has the greatest sensitivity, but over a small
range and the inductive transducer has the widest useful linear range. So, the
inductive transducer can be used over a large range, however, it has a slower static
sensitivity.
All transducers were relatively linear over the useful range, with the photonic
transducer being slightly more linear than the other two.