Strain Gauge Amplifier

The circuit provides bridge voltage excitation and strain (!R) sensing on a single compact board. The
circuit is powered by +5V only. It is designed to be used with a 120" full bridge. This document
provides only a brief overview of the circuit design and layout. For further information, see the
manufacturers data sheets listed in the reference section.
1 Circuit Schematic
A schematic of the circuit is shown as Figure 2, and consists of two sub-circuits: bridge voltage
excitation and bridge sensing. Table 3 gives a bill of materials.
1.1 Bridge Excitation
The strain gauge bridge (not shown in Figure 1) is provided with a constant voltage excitation
of 2.500V. This voltage is provided by a Linear Technology LT1009CZ precision shunt
voltage regulator diode. Important characteristics for bridge excitation are precision, low
temperature sensitivity, and low voltage drift with time. The LT1009CZ has a precision of
0.1% (5mV), temperature sensitivity less than 25 ppm/C, and drift that does not exceed
20 ppm/kHr. The regulated voltage may be trimmed by 5% (i.e. from 2.375V to 2.625V)
using the 10K potentiometer VR1.
The 2.500V reference voltage is applied to the non-inverting input of U2, a Texas Instruments
TLC272 (ex Burr-Brown) single-supply precision operational amplifier. U2A is configured as
a unity-gain follower, and provides feedback from the bridge excitation voltage at connector
X1.1 and the reference voltage. U3 is a TS921 high output current operational amplifier from
STMicroelectronics. The TS921 can source 80mA into a 32" load, and so can provide the
20mA at 2.5V that is required to drive the 120" bridge. U3 is also configured as a unity-gain
follower.
1.2 Bridge Sensing
Since the resistance changes across a strain gauge bridge are very small, care must be taken in
design of the bridge output amplifier. Sensitivity and zero point stability are important, as is a
high common-mode rejection ratio (CMRR), since the bridge output is typically a few tens of
millivolts on a 5V common mode level.
Here, the bridge output is amplified by U4, an Analog Devices AD623AN instrumentation
amplifier. The 178" resistor R4 sets the gain of the instrumentation amplifier to 563.
The output of U4 is filtered by R5 and C3, a passive low-pass filter with a cut off frequency
1/RC of 45Hz. U2B is configured as a non-inverting amplifier, and provides an adjustable-
gain output stage. VR3 is used to adjust the full-scale voltage.
1.3 Bridge Null
Any strain gauge bridge must be nulled that is, the output brought to zero when no load is
applied. The potentiometer VR2 allows for this, by altering the effective resistance in the legs
of the bridge. Resistor R3 limits the amount of effective resistance change. In some cases,
such as where a strain gauge is mounted on a load element that has subsequently suffered
plastic deformation, a large zero shift may be needed. In that case, R3 may be replaced by a
lower-value resistor or even a 0 " link.
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2 Printed Circuit Board
Although the circuit is quite simple, a four-layer circuit board, with internal +0V and +5.0V
planes is used. This choice simplifies track routing and provides good protection against
induced noise. Tracks are 10 mil (0.25 mm), with 10 mil clearance. Vias (through-board
connections) are 40 mil (1.0 mm), with 20 mil (0.50 mm) holes.
Pin 1 of all components is signified by a square pad this is an industry convention. In
addition, pin 1 of the processor U2 is marked by a small arrow, and pin 1 of each connector is
marked by a small triangle on the silkscreen layer. The PCB component overlay is shown in
Figure 1.

Figure 1: Circuit board component overlay, top side.
2.1 Mechanical Dimensions and Mounting
The circuit board measures 33.045.0 mm and is provided with four diameter 3.5 mm
mounting holes at 23.035.5 mm centres. The pads around these holes are diameter 6.0 mm,
and are electrically isolated.
To reduce the noise induced in the bridge excitation and sensing leads, the circuit board is
mounted on the column of the cantilever load beam, immediately adjacent to the strain gauges.
2.2 Power and Connectors
All connections to the circuit are through 0.1 inch-grid header pins. Power supply at +5.0 V
(regulated) is on connector X2.3 at the right side of the board. This connector is a 4-pin SIL
header strip. Bridge output is available across X2.1 and X2.2. Bridge excitation and sense
leads are soldered directly into X2.
The connections are shown in tables 1 and 2 below.

Table 1: Bridge connector X1 (left)
Pin Signal
1 +Excitation
2 -Excitation
3 +Sense
4 -Sense

Table 2: Power and output connector X2 (right)
Pin Signal
1 +Bridge output
2 +0.0 V output
3 +5.0 V input
4 +0.0 V input


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3 Adjustment Procedure
There are two adjustments available in the circuit: bridge excitation and sense output. The
bridge excitation should be adjusted before the sense output.
3.1 To Adjust Bridge Excitation
With the bridge excitation and sense leads connected, and the circuit powered by a regulated
+5V supply, adjust VR1 give 2.500V at test point TP1
3.2 To Adjust Bridge Sense Output
A two-stage procedure is needed to adjust the bridge sense output.
1. With the bridge (beam) unloaded, adjust VR2 until the voltage at TP2 just moves off
its noise floor. This voltage will be of the order or 10 to 20mV, and cannot be made
smaller. When VR2 is used to decrease the voltage at TP2, a point will be reached
where further change of VR2 no longer reduces the voltage. You need to stop just
before this point.
2. Apply a full load of 1.0 to 1.2kg to the beam, and adjust VR3 to give the desired full-
scale voltage at TP2. Full-scale output will be of the order of 3V, depending on the
beam, gauges and applied load. Note that the output of U2 will saturate at about 3.8V
the manufacturer guarantees a maximum output of only 3.2V with a +5V supply.
3. Repeat 2 and 3 until adjustment is satisfactory.

4 References
. AD623 Data Sheet. Analog Devices, 1999.
. LT1009 Data Sheet. Linear Technology, 1985.
. TCL272 Data Sheet. Texas Instruments, 2002.
. TS921 Data Sheet. STMicroelectronics, 1998.
Horowitz, P & Hill, W. The Art of Electronics. Cambridge University Press, 2ed., 1989.
Williams, J. Bridge circuits. Linear Technology Application Note 43, June 1990, 48pp.



David Rye
18 May 2004.
Revised 1 June 2004.



Figure 2: Strain gauge amplifier board schematic.


Table3: Bill of Materials
Designator Part Type Description Footprint Supplier Price
C1 100n Capacitor CAP Farnell 750-980 $0.21
C2 10u 16V Capacitor, Tantalum AXIAL-0.2 Farnell 416-4271 $1.13
C3 220n Capacitor AXIAL-0.2 Farnell 108-956 $2.26
C4 100n Capacitor CAP Farnell 750-980 $0.21
C5 10u 16V Capacitor, Tantalum AXIAL-0.2 Farnell 416-4271 $1.13
R1 3K6 Resistor, carbon film AXIAL~0.3 Farnell 770-681 $0.07
R2 10K Resistor, carbon film AXIAL~0.3 Farnell 509-280 $0.07
R3 301K 1% Resistor, metal film precision AXIAL~0.3 Farnell 640-578 $1.02
R4 178R 1% Resistor, metal film precision AXIAL~0.3 Farnell 303-2711 $1.02
R5 100K Resistor, carbon film AXIAL~0.3 Farnell 509-401 $0.07
R6 3K65 1% Resistor, metal film precision AXIAL~0.3 Farnell 303-3340 $1.02
R7 10K0 1% Resistor, metal film precision AXIAL~0.3 Farnell 303-3557 $1.02
U1 LT1009CZ Operational Amplifier TO-92 Farnell 246-578 $7.42
U2 TLC272 Operational Amplifier DIP8 Farnell 401-754 $3.79
U3 TS921 Operational Amplifier DIP8 Farnell 332-6263 $2.46
U4 AD623 Instrumentation Amplifier DIP8 Farnell 283-642 $14.04
VR1 10K Trim Pot, 12 Turn 3266W Farnell 347-656 $7.65
VR2 10K Trim Pot, 12 Turn 3266W Farnell 347-656 $7.65
VR3 10K Trim Pot, 12 Turn 3266W Farnell 347-656 $7.65
X1 BRIDGE SIL header SIL4 Farnell 181-9800 $0.54
X2 USER SIL header SIL4 Farnell 181-9800 $0.54
TOTAL $60.97