ABSTRACT
Sensors and transducers are useful in a variety of engineering applications. Numerous examples are found in transit systems, computing systems, process monitoring and control, energy systems, material processing, manufacturing, mining, food processing, service sector, forestry, civil engineering structures and systems, and so on. In Chapter 5, we studied analog sensors and transducers. In the present chapter, we study digital transducers and some other innovative sensing methodologies. Our primary focus here is on transducers in mechatronic systems including motion sensors. As noted in Chapter 5, by using a suitable auxiliary front-end sensor, other measurands, such as force, torque, temperature, and pressure, may be converted into a motion and subsequently measured using a motion transducer. For example, altitude (or pressure) measurements in aircraft and aerospace applications are made using a pressure-sensing front-end, such as a bellows or diaphragm device, in conjunction with an optical encoder (which is a digital transducer) to measure the resulting displacement. Similarly, a bimetallic element may be used to convert temperature into a displacement, which may be measured using a displacement sensor.
