Design and Development of a Pressure Transmitter Using Modified Inductance Measuring Network and Bellow Sensor

• Main Authors: Venkata Lakshmi Narayana K., Bhujanga Rao A.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: IFSA Publishing, S.L. 2013-03-01
• Series: Sensors & Transducers
• Subjects: Bellow; LabVIEW; Inductance measurement; Differential amplifier; Virtual Instrument; Pressure Transmitter; Linearization
• Online Access: http://www.sensorsportal.com/HTML/DIGEST/march_2013/P_1153.pdf

In this paper, a pressure transmitter using a modified op-amp based network for inductance measurement using a bellow as sensor has been proposed to measure the pressure and to convert pressure changes in to an electrical current which can be transmitted to a remote indicator. The change in inductance due to change in pressure is measured by an improved modified operational amplifier based network. The proposed network permits offset inductance compensation of sensing coil and also minimizes the stray capacitance between sensing coil and ground using dummy inductor whose value equal to zero level inductance of sensing coil and op-amps with high input impedance. In the first part of experiment, a modified op-amp based inductance measuring circuit has been simulated using LabVIEW (Laboratory Virtual Instrument Engineering Workbench) and studied with test inductance, and in the second part, the experimentation was done by replacing the test inductance with a sensing coil fitted to bellow by means of ferromagnetic wire for the measurement of pressure. It has been observed that the variation in gauge pressure from 0 to 70 psi having linear relationship with output ac voltage in the range of 0 to 85.0 mV. Corresponding to pressure variations, the ac output voltage further converted into an electric current of 4 to 20 mA for remote indication and control purpose. The investigations have been performed to sense air pressure of pressure tank fitted with pump piston. The experimental results are found to have good linearity of about ± 0.1 % and resolution.