MEASUREMENTS FOR AUTOMATION AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION

The course aims at analyzing, designing, and using Automatic Test Equipment (ATE), with applications in Factory Automation. Lessons are given in English. Experimental sections will be organized and students will work in groups.

Knowledge and understanding - The addressed topics are: Transducers, Conditioning circuits, Instrumentation for industrial applications, Software, and Connectivity for Instrumentation.

Applying knowledge and understaning - The student will be able to design and realize a typical ATE. He will be able to experimentally investigate and characterize an ATE.

Making Judgements - The student will be able to analyze the performance and the metrological characteristics of a measuring sytsem. He can design new mesuring systems with the aim of improving its perfomences. Thic capabiliy is gained thanks to laboratory activities.

Communication skills - The student can describe, both in oral and written forms, ATEs, their working principles and performance. He can write technical reports on the metrological characterization of measuring systems. This competence is obtained thanks to laboratory sections that require written reports.

Learning skills - The student can read technical books and reports dealing with ATEs. He can use handbooks of measuring equipment. This competence is gained thanks to class collaborative execises and laboratory sections.

This course is organized in classroom lectures, numerical exercises, and lab experiences. Lectures will provide the theoretical understanding of ATEs working and characterization. Numerical exercises and lab experiments will be useful develop specific skills in ATE design, realization and metrological characterization. Students will be divided into groups for the lab experiments.

Students will develop soft skills because of group activities. Written reports will be required.

Should teaching be carried out in mixed mode or remotely, it may be necessary to introduce changes with respect to previous statements, in line with the programme planned and outlined in the syllabus.

Unit 1. Automatic Measurement Systems

*Automatic Measurement Systems, *LabVIEW.

Unit 2. Transducers

Motion sensors (*strain gages, capacitive sensors , inductive sensors, *LVDTs), *thermistors.
Generating sensors: *termocouples and *piezoelectric sensors.
*Seismic sensors, *Encoders.

Unit 3. Smart Sensing Systems

Smart sensors and wireless sensor networks.
MEMS and Power harvesting.

Unit 4. Conditioning Circuits

Conditioning circuits: *DC Wheatstone deflection bridge, Linearized Wheatstone bridge, *Instrumentation amplifier.

Unit 5. Software and connectivity for Instruementation

Data acquisition systems, Serial and parallel interface systems: RS-232, USB, *IEEE488, VME, VXI.

Unit 6. Laboratory

(*) minimum required competencies

1) E. O. Doebelin, Strumenti e metodi di misura, McGraw-Hill

2) E. O. Doebelin, Measurement systems, McGraw-Hill

3) Ramon Pallàs-Areny John G.Webster, Sensors and Signal Conditioning, Wiley Inter-Science

4) Technical handobooks provided during the lessons