Catalog Description: Laboratory exercises exploring a variety of electronic transducers for measuring physical quantities such as temperature, force, displacement, sound, light, ionic potential; the use of circuits for low-level differential amplification and analog signal processing; and the use of microcomputers for digital sampling and display. Lectures cover principles explored in the laboratory exercises; construction, response and signal to noise of electronic transducers and actuators; and design of circuits for sensing and controlling physical quantities.

Units: 3

Formats:
Spring: 2 hours of lecture and 3 hours of laboratory per week
Fall: 2 hours of lecture and 3 hours of laboratory per week

Grading basis: letter

Final exam status: Written final exam conducted during the scheduled final exam period

Also listed as: BIO ENG C145L

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Class homepage on inst.eecs

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Department Notes:

Course objectives:

• To be able to amplify signals from sensors that have low-level, differential, high impedance outputs
• To learn about noise sources and how to use shielding, grounding, and analog filtering to enhance the signal-to-noise ratio
• To learn the properties of a number of useful sensors for measuring position, temperature, strain, force, light, ionic potentials, biological signals, ionizing radiation, etc.
• To be able to design instrumentation that senses desired quantities, transduces to an electrical signal, and amplifies and filters that signal for interfacing to a microcomputer
• To be able to design simple analog control systems, using sensors, amplification, filtering, controller circuits, power amplifiers, and actuators
• To make analog circuits work (design and debugging)
• To write clear, concise, informative laboratory reports

Topics Covered:

• Properties of the ideal and the realistic op-amp
• Op-amp properties: Open-loop Bode plot, gain-bandwidth product, risetime, slewing rate
• Amplifier circuits using the op-amp and negative feedback: inverting, non-inverting, buffer, differential, current summing, low-level rectification; Bode plot, risetime
• Instrumentation amplifier circuit and properties: common mode and differential gains
• Isolation amplifiers- electromagnetic and optical
• Gaussian curve of error and error propagation
• Johnson and shot noise- combined amplifier noise
• Interference, grounding, and shielding
• Analog filtering using op-amps and negative feedback: gain and phase shift vs. frequency- simple filters and multi-pole Butterworth and Bessel filters
• Notch filter and analysis
• Power op-amp
• Introduction to A/D and D/A conversion- data acquisition using the microcomputer
• Definition, general characteristics, and examples of sensors and actuators
• Position and angle sensors: resistive, Piezoelectric, and optical
• Gray and binary codes
• Position actuators: Piezoelectric, solenoid, and stepper motor
• Thompson, Peltier, and Seebeck emfs
• Thermocouple properties and electronic ice points
• Thermistor properties and optimized bridge readout; self-heating
• Platinum resistance and solid state temperature sensors
• Infrared sensing and imaging
• Thermoelectric heat pump- thermal efficiency and heat transfer equations
• Strain gauge sensors, bridges, and force transducers
• Piezoelectric properties and measurement of force, acceleration, pressure
• Production and measurement of vacua
• Silicon photodiode: construction, properties, and uses
• Production of light: incandescent, fluorescent, lasers
• Electrochemical reactions and the Ag(AgCl) skin electrode
• The characteristics and detection of alpha, beta, x-ray, and gamma radiation, and practical applications in industry and medicine
• Electrical safety: accident scenarios; grounding, isolation transformers and amplifiers, ground fault interrupters, circuit breakers, surge protectors
• Signals from the human heart: electrocardiogram, phonocardiogram, blood pressure
• Skeletal muscle and the electromyogram
• The electrooculogram and the mechanics of eye motion
• Analog control systems: sensors, instrumentation amplifiers, controller circuits, power amplifiers, and actuators; on-off, proportional, PID controllers

Related Areas:

• Biosystems & Computational Biology (BIO)