CCB 3072

PROCESS INSTRUMENTATION & CONTROL LAB

EXPERIMENT 8: PRESSURE MEASUREMENT
GROUP 6
GROUP MEMBERS:
LIM YA CHING
RATANASHANGKARI A/P CHANDRAN
MUHAMMAD ADAM AKMAL BIN RAMON
ZAHEDIN
KUEK YEE RUI
LAB INSTRUCTOR:

DATE OF EXPERIMENT:
15th October 2015

20278
18123
18344
18053

1.0 SUMMARY
The main objective of the experiment is to:
(i)
Draft UUT Calibration of EJA430A Pressure Transmitters.
(ii)
Determine hysteresis of the pressure measurement devices.
(iii)
Five-point calibration of pressure transmitters.
In this study 3 different types of experiments related to experimental error has been
performed. These are the selection of the MSU based on the Draft Calibration, hysteresis of the
instrument and 5-point calibration of the instrument. Three different types of instruments, that
is, a pressure gauge which is an analog instrument, digital manometer as an example of digital
instrument and two different types of electronic transmitters have been studied.
The draft UUT calibration experiment was performed in two different ways: fix the UUT
value and change the MSU value to coincide with the required UUT value and vice versa. It was
found that by fixing the UUT value would result in higher accuracy since MSU has a higher
resolution than UUT.
Hysteresis experiment was conducted by increasing the MSU reading in steps and later
decreasing the reading. A graph of hysteresis phenomena was drawn to compare both readings.
However, the hysteresis occurs with just a slight difference.
Finally, for the five-point calibration of pressure transmitter, the span of the UUT is
divided into five equal parts low range and high range. The output error is low which indicate
that the accuracy of UUT is high.

2.0 INTRODUCTION
Theory of pressure measurement
Pressure is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over
which that force is distributed (Nave, n.d.). Pressure is measured in Pascal (Pa) as its SI unit,
and other most commonly used such as N/m2, Torr, Psi, and bar.
There are three different kinds of pressure reported in the literature (John, 2011):

Absolute pressure is measured relative to absolute zero on the pressure scale, which is
a perfect vacuum.

Gauge pressure is measured relative to the local atmospheric pressure. Gauge pressure
is thus zero when the pressure is the same as atmospheric pressure. Gage pressure is
indicated by pg, and is related to absolute pressure as follows: pg = p - pa, where pa is
the local atmospheric pressure.

Vacuum pressure is also measured relative to the local atmospheric pressure, but is
used when the gage pressure is negative, i.e. when the absolute pressure falls below
the local atmospheric pressure. A positive vacuum pressure means that the gage
pressure is negative. Vacuum pressure is indicated by p vacuum, and is related to absolute
pressure as follows: pvacuum = pa - p, where pa is the local atmospheric pressure.

Other than solely measuring the pressure of an enclosed vessel, pressure can also be
used to measure the flow rate by measuring pressure at two different points called the
differential pressure. Differential pressure signifies the difference in pressure between two
points. Differential pressure measurement is useful for measuring flow or level. This is done by
placing device like venturi or orifice to create the pressure difference and hence the flow rate
can be obtained. Other than that, the difference in pressure can also be used to identify the
height of tank.

Figure 1: Relationship between absolute, gauge and vacuum measurements

In order to measure pressure, a mechanical transducer is needed. When pressure is
exerted onto the mechanical element of a transducer, deflection of the mechanical element
occurs corresponding to the pressure applied. This mechanical deflection is then translated to
an electrical signal to show the pressure reading (John, 2011).

3.0 RESULTS
Draft UUT Calibration of the Pressure Transmitters
Method 1:
UUT = EJA430A Pressure Transmitter Range 0 - 200kPa, MSU = Model 767355 Digital
No
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11

kPa
Reading
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200

MSU Reading
kPa
tolerance
1st
2nd
3rd
0.15
0.02
0.03
0.03
0.15
20.03
20.03
20.03
0.15
40.04
40.03
40.04
0.15
60.06
60.03
60.03
0.15
80.04
80.03
80.04
0.15
100.04
100.2
100.03
0.15
120.04
120.02
120.04
0.15
140.03
140.02
140.03
0.15
160.02
160.02
160.02
0.15
180.02
180.02
180.02
0.15
200.03
200.03
200.03
Table 1: Draft Calibration of EJA430A Pressure Transmitter by Method 1

Average
0.03
20.03
40.04
60.04
80.04
100.09
120.03
140.03
160.02
180.02
200.03

MSU Reading (kPa) vs UUT Reading (kPa)

250.00
200.00

MSU Reading (kPa)

150.00

MSU Reading

100.00

Linear (MSU Reading)

50.00
0.00
0

50 100 150 200 250

UUT Reading (kPa)

Graph 1: Graph of MSU Reading versus Reading of UUT

Method 2:
UUT = Model EJA430A Pressure Transmitter Range 0-200 kPa, MSU = Model 767355 Digital
UUT Output
MSU
kPa
No
value
tolerance
1st
2nd
3rd
Average
1
0
0.15
4.04
4.03
4.04
4.04
2
20
0.15
5.63
5.63
5.64
5.63
3
40
0.15
7.23
7.24
7.23
7.23
4
60
0.15
8.83
8.84
8.83
8.83
5
80
0.15
10.44
10.44
10.43
10.44
6
100
0.15
12.04
12.03
12.03
12.03
7
120
0.15
13.64
13.63
13.63
13.63
8
140
0.15
15.24
15.23
15.23
15.23
9
160
0.15
16.84
16.23
16.23
16.43
10
180
0.15
18.44
18.43
18.43
18.43
11
200
0.15
20.05
20.04
20.01
20.03
Table 2: Draft Calibration of EJA430A Pressure Transmitter by Method 2

MSU Reading (kPa) vs UUT Reading (kPa)

25.00
20.00
MSU Reading (kPa)

15.00

MSU Reading

10.00

Linear (MSU Reading)

5.00
0.00
0

50 100 150 200 250

UUT Reading (kPa)

Graph 2: Graph of UUT Output versus MSU value

DETERMINATION OF RESOLUTION OF UUT

Resolution for EJA430A Pressure Transmitter
UUT = Pressure Transmitter EJA430 range 0 ~~ 200kPa
MSU = Model 767355 Digital Manometer
Change in MSU for
UUT
1st UUT
2nd UUT
UUT
No
Value
Reading
Reading
to change one digit
1
0
4.03
4.04
0.01
2
20
5.63
5.64
0.01
3
40
7.23
7.24
0.01
4
60
8.83
8.84
0.01
5
80
10.44
10.44
0
6
100
12.04
12.04
0
7
120
13.64
13.64
0
8
140
15.24
15.24
0
9
160
16.84
16.85
0.01
10
180
18.44
18.45
0.01
11
200
20.05
20.05
0
Table 3: Resolution for EJA430A Pressure Transmitted

Resolution
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.005
0.005
0.005

Hysteresis
UUT = Model EJA430A pressure Transmitter range 0 ~~ 200 kPa
MSU = Model 767355 Digital Manometer
UUT Output (mA)
Decrease
4.03
4.04
4.83
4.83
5.63
5.64
6.43
6.44
7.23
7.24
8.03
8.04
8.83
8.85
9.63
9.64
10.43
10.44
11.24
11.24
12.03
12.03
Table 4: Hyteresis in EJA430A Pressure Transmitter

MSU Applied Value (kPa)

0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100

UUT Output (mA) Increase

Hysteresis in EJA430A Pressure Transmitter

30
UUT Output (mA)

20

UUT Output Increase

10

UUT Output Decrease

0
0

50

100

150

200

250

MSU Applied Value (kPa)

Graph 3: Increasing and Decreasing MSU Applied Value

Five-Point Calibration of Pressure Transmitter

No
(%)
0
25
50
75
100

MSU Applied Desired Output of UUT

Actual Output of UUT
Output Error
0
4
4.04
0.009901
50
8
8.04
0.004975
100
12
12.04
0.003322
150
16
16.04
0.002494
200
20
20.05
0.002494
Table 5: Five Points Calibration of EJA430A Pressure Transmitter

Output Error vs Actual Output Reading

0.015000
0.010000
Output Error (%)

0.005000

Output Error
f(x) = - 0x + 0.01
R = 0.77

Linear (Output Error)

0.000000
2 4 6 8 10121416182022
Actual Output Reading

Graph 4: Graph of Output error versus Actual output reading

4.0 DISCUSSION
Draft UUT Calibration of the Pressure Transmitters
In this part of the experiment, we are focusing on the calibration of the transmitter. There
are two different methods on how we can perform draft calibration. The first method was to fix
the UUT value and change the MSU value till it reaches the required UUT value. The second
method was to fix the MSU value and change the UUT value till it reaches the required MSU
value. In the first method, when we increase our UUT with increment of 20 from 0 to 200, we
can observe that the MSU value increases linearly with the UUT value. In the second method,
the UUT output increases linearly with the MSU value. From the data, it was found that Method
1 has a better accuracy than Method 2 as its MSU had a higher resolution. So it gives a better
change in value which enables the reading to be obtained easily. MSU is Pneumatic Pressure
Standard Model 767402 and Digital Manometer Model 767355 has a higher accuracy, long-term
stability due to the facility that are able to directly transfer data signals without having to use A/D
conversion. This makes Method 1 more advantageous than Method 2.
Hysteresis
For this part, we want to study hysteresis on pressure measurement device. First and
foremost, hysteresis is a property of instrument where a particular value the output of the
instrument when the variable is increasing is not the same as output of the instrument at the
identical value of input variable decreasing. The experiment was conducted to determine the
hysteresis of the pressure measurement device. It was found out that as the value of MSU
increases the UUT output increases linearly and when the MSU decreases the UUT output
decreases with it. Very small differences were observed when comparing the increase and
decrease trend. The hysteresis occurs but in a very small value. The hysteresis can be caused
by stick-slip friction, backlash in gears and saturation in electronic devices. However, in this
experiment, we cannot observe the hysteresis and we can conclude that the pressure
measuring device is good in condition.
Five Point Calibration of Pressure Transmitter
In this part of the experiment, the pressure transmitter was set at 5 different point of
pressure 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100. At these points, the UUT output was obtained and compared
with the theoretical value of the points and the differences will be the error. In this part of the
experiment, it was found that there was no significant change between the experimental value
and the theoretical value. The output error obtained was very low. This is because there is a
very slight variation between the experimental value and the theoretical value. The pressure
measuring device has the accuracy of only one decimal place so it could not display the
difference between both values.

Error
1 The MSU and UUT reading are slightly different from the fixed value during the experiment.
2 Human error during the experiment especially for adjusting the value of pressure for each
device.
3 The experiment was conducted in open air condition which temperature of surrounding
might affect to the wires resistance and giving slightly different error.
Recommendation
1 To get more accurate results from the experiment, we should get 3 values for each condition
and measure the average.
2 Before recording the value, make sure that the indicator has stabilized the value to be taken.
3 Recheck the wires that are connected correctly and properly to all devices.

5.0 CONCLUSION
From the experiment, we are able to draft UUT Calibration of EJA430A Pressure
Transmitters, determine hysteresis of the pressure measurement devices and conduct a fivepoint calibration of pressure transmitters. Based on experiment 1, Method 1 has a better
accuracy than Method 2 as its MSU had a higher resolution. So it gives a better change in value
which enables the reading to be obtained easily. While in experiment 2, the value of MSU
increases the UUT output increases linearly and when the MSU decreases the UUT output
decreases with it. Very small differences were observed when comparing the increase and
decrease trend. Experiment 3 shows that there was no significant change between the
experimental value and the theoretical value. The output error obtained was very low.

6.0 REFERENCES
Nave, R. (n.d.). Mechanic fluids. Retrieved October 15, 2015 from http://hyperphysics.phyastr.gsu.edu/hbase/press.html#pre
John. (2011). Pressure transducer. Retrieved October 15, 2015 from
http://www.instrumentationtoday.com/pressure-transducer/2011/09/