Instrumentation and Product testing

Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Pre-Laboratory Exercise
Laboratory Two:
Calibration of a Precision Polygon Using Two Auto-collimators
1. Describe the fundamental difference between the basic length standard meter
and that of the angle?
Answer:
The definition of basic length standard meter from The International System of Units
(SI) The meter is the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time
interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second.
The angle which is Non-SI unit but accepted for use with the International System of
Units have three common names of unit:
Degree () 1 = (/180) rad
Minute () 1 = (1/60)o = (/ 10 800) rad
Second () 1 = (1/60) = (/ 648 000) rad
Or the gon that is an alternative unit of angle to the degree, defined as (/ 200) rad. The
distance from the pole to the equator of the earth is approximately 10 000km. 1 meter on
the surface of the earth subtends an angle of 1/ 100000 gon at the centre of the earth.
2. What is meant by Base sixty system of angle measurements?
Answer:
Basic Sixty is a numeral system with sixty as the base that is for measuring time, angles,
and geographic coordinates. For example, 1 degree equal to 60 minutes and 1 minute
equal to 60 seconds.
3. Why calibration is important in instrumentation?
Answer:
The purpose of instrument calibration is to ensure that the measuring accuracy is known
over the whole measurement range under specified environmental conditions for
calibration. It is the process of configuring an instrument to provide a result for a sample
within an acceptable range. Eliminating or minimizing factors that cause inaccurate
measurements is a fundamental aspect of instrumentation design.

4. Describe the working principle of the auto-collimator and what is its relative
position in the spectrum of angle measuring instruments?
Answer:
The auto-collimator projects a beam of collimated light. An external reflector reflects all
or part of the beam back into the instrument where the beam is focused and detected by a
photo-detector. The auto-collimator measures the deviation between the emitted beam
and the reflected beam. Because the auto-collimator uses light to measure angles, it never
comes into contact with the test surface.
The following Fig. from Prof. Tang Power Point:

R1

S + S

R2

Auto-collimator 2
gives R2

Auto-collimator 1
gives R1

S ( R2 R1 )

R2 R1
n

5. Describe the difference(s) between an ordinary auto-collimator and a photoelectric one.

Answer:
Photo-electric auto-collimator uses an electronic photo-detector to detect the reflected
beam; but ordinary auto-collimator relies on the operators eye to act as the photodetector.
The detector in Photo-electric auto-collimator sends a signal to the digital controller
which digitizes and processes the signal using proprietary DSP-based electronics, and the

processing creates a calibrated angular output which is traceable to the U.S. National
Institute of Standards and Technology; but the human eye acts as the photodetector when
use ordinary auto-collimator, resolution will vary among operators.

6. Describe what are the practical forms of angle standards and what is the order of
errors expected in them?
Answer:
The following table is practical form of angle standards and the order of errors:
For example (from Prof. Tang Power Point):
Face
minute second minute
second minute second second
0-45
5
31.5
8.0
47.7
3.0
16.2
2.8
45-90
4
16.3
7.0
34.8
3.0
18.5
5.1
90-135
3
17.7
6.0
30.0
3.0
12.3
-1.1
135-180
4
52.4
8.0
7.5
3.0
15.1
1.7
180-225
4
4.0
7.0
10.7
3.0
6.7
-6.7
225-270
4
32.9
7.0
51.0
3.0
18.1
4.7
270-315
2
16.8
5.0
25.3
3.0
8.5
-4.9
315-0
5
19.9
8.0
31.7
3.0
11.8
-1.6
(R2-R1)
25.0
47.2
(R2-R2)/8
3
13.4

Reference:
http://www.bipm.org/utils/common/pdf/si_brochure_8_en.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexagesimal
http://www.micro-radian.com/Principles.html
Instrumentation and Product Testing Learning Portfolio 2009/2010 - Prof. C.Y. Tang
Prof. C. Y. Tang PowerPoint