DEPARTMENT OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION

ANDHRA PRADESH
Name of the staff : Sri N .Khaja meeran
Designation : Lecturer
Branch : AEIE
Institute : S.G.P.R Govt polytechnic,Kurnool
Year/Semester : III Semester
Subject : Process Instrumentation-I
Subject code : AEI-305
Topic : Displacement and position
measurement
Sub-Topic : Linear potentiometer
Duration : 50 min
Teaching Aids : PPT, Animations, Photographs.
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 Objectives

Upon the completion of this topic you will be able

to know about

• Displacement
• Principle and operation of Linear potentiometer

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 Displacement

• It is defined as the change of position of a body with

respect to a reference
• It may be a

• Linear motion

• Rotational motion

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 Displacement measurement range

• For linear displacement

A few microns to few centimeters

For angular displacement

A few seconds to 360 º

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 Linear potentiometer

Fig.1
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 Principle
• It converts linear displacement into an electrical output
• The resistance of a wire is given as
R=ρl/a
Where
• R = resistance of wire
• ρ = specific resistance
• l = length of the wire
• a = area of cross section of wire

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 Principle

• Resistive displacement transducer are commonly

termed as potentiometer or ‘pot’

• As the wiper moves the resistance changes which in

turn changes the output voltage

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 Operation

• A pot is an electromechanical device containing an

electrically conductive wiper that slides against a fixed
resistive element according to the position

• An output voltage is generated as shown in fig

• The output voltage is proportional to the displacement of

the wiper

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 Equation

e0= (ei /xi )L

xi= (e0/ei)L

where eo=output voltage in volts

ei= d.c input voltage in volts

xi=displacement of slider from its zero position

L=total length of the potentiometer

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 Practical potentiometers

Linear potentiometer Angular potentiometer

Fig.2

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Fig.3

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Practical potentiometers

Fig.4

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Advantages and disadvantages

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Specifications

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 Summary

In this class we have discussed about

• Displacement

• Linear potentiometer operation

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 Quiz

1.Linear potentiometer is used to measure

(a) Temperature

(b) Pressure

(c) Flow

(d) Displacement

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 Frequently Asked Questions

1.Describe the principle of Linear potentiometer.

2. Explain the operation of Linear potentiometer with

neat diagram.

3. Define displacement

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