1

4
Loading effects
2
Impedance Characteristics
What is impedance ?
The term impedance is a general expression which can be
. current the flow of impedes applied to any electrical entity which
, a resistance Thus this expression could be used to denote a
, or as is most likely in the real world, a complex reactance pure
combination of both reactance and resistance.
Inductive Reactance
XL = 2 * pi * f * L
f = frequency in hertz and
L = inductance in Henries
Capacitive Reactance XC = 1 / (2 * pi * f * C)
f = frequency in hertz and
C = capacitance in Farads
3
Z = R jX |Z| = (R
2
+ X
2
)

= tan
-1
(X/R) Y = 1/Z
Impedance Calculation
M" is the mutual
inductance between
inductors.
"" is frequency in
radians/second, and
is equal to 2 times
frequency in
cycles/second.
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Impedance Calculation
5
Impedance Calculation
6
Example:
Assume you have available these 4 items on your bench:
(a) A series of eight fresh AA type 1.5 volt cells to create a total
of 12 volts supply.
(b) A 12 volt heavy duty automotive battery - fully charged.
(c) a small 12v bulb (globe) of very, very low wattage. and;
(d) a very high wattage automotive high-beam headlight.
loading effect:
Now if we connect the extremely low wattage bulb to the series
string of AA cells we would expect all to work well. Similarly if
we connect the high wattage, high-beam headlight to the heavy
duty automotive battery all will be well. Well for a time anyway.
Both of these sets are "sort"of matched together. Light duty to
light duty and heavy duty to heavy duty.
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Now what do you think would happen if we connect the
high beam head light to the series AA cells and conversely
the low wattage bulb to the automotive battery?.
loading effect:
In the first case we could imagine the high beam headlight
would quickly trash our little tiny AA cells.
In the second case our min-wattage bulb would glow quite
happily at its rated wattage for quite a long time. Why
The heavy duty battery is capable of delivering
relatively large amounts of power (low impedance source )
but the series string is capable of delivering only relatively
minimal power (high impedance source).
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loading effect:
On the other hand the high beam headlight is capable of
consuming relatively large amounts of power (low
impedance load )
but the miniature bulb is capable of consuming only minimal
amounts of power ( high impedance load)
9
loading
Also inserting a thermometer at room temperature into a
hot water to measure its temperature changes the
temperature of the water which leads to error in the
temperature measurement.
inserting an ammeter into a circuit to measure the current
changes the value of the current due to the ammeters own
resistance which changes the total resistance of the circuit.
Examples:
When components such as sensors and transducers
interconnected with signal conditioning hardware it is
necessary to match impedances properly , One adverse
effect of improper impedance matching is the loading effect.
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Thevenins Theorem
An active network having two terminals A and B to
which an electrical load may be connected, behaves
as if the network contained a single internal source
E
Th
in series with a single internal impedance Z
Th
as
shown in the figure, network have been replaced by
their internal impedances.
the equivalent Thevenin circuit
Active network
11
Electrical loading
Connecting a load Z
L
across the output terminals of an active
network is equivalent to connecting Z
L
across the equivalent
Thevenin circuit, as in shown in the figure.
The current i through Z
L
is thus
L Th
Th
Z Z
E
i
+
=
12
The potential difference across the load V
L
is given by
Th
L Th
L
L L
E
Z Z
Z
iZ V
+
= =
Th L
E V <
The effect of connecting the load across the network is to
change the potential difference from E
Th
to V
L
Discussion:
The value of V
L
will approach that of E
Th
when Z
L
>>Z
Th
.
Therefore, the condition for maximum voltage transfer is
to select Z
L
to be too much grater than Z
Th
.
The condition for maximum power transfer is that
Th L
Z Z =
Prove this at home!
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Therefore, the effect of connecting a load across the
network yields a loading error of magnitude
L Th
V E = Error Loading
|
.
|

\
|
+
=
L Th
L
Th
Z Z
Z
E 1
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Loading a voltmeter
Assume that a voltmeter of resistance R
m
is connected
across the shown active circuit to measure the voltage
between terminals A and B.
R
m
Active
network
Voltmeter
Therefore, the reading indicated
by the instrument (voltmeter) is
Th
Th m
m
m
E
R R
R
V
|
.
|

\
|
+
=
Voltage before the meter
was connected
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This means that the error in the reading is
m Th
V E = Error
|
.
|

\
|
+
=
m Th
m
Th
R Z
R
E 1
and the accuracy of the voltmeter is
% 100 Accuracy =
Th
m
E
V
% 100
|
.
|

\
|
+
=
m Th
m
R Z
R
Note that if R
m
is very large, the error goes to zero and the
accuracy goes to 100%
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Loading a potentiometer
If the potentiometer track has a
uniform resistance per unit length,
then the open loop circuit voltage
between terminals A and B (Thevenin
voltage) is
( )
S Th
V L x E =
To find the Thevenin impedance, we set V
S
to be zero
(make short circuit) and calculate the impedance
between A and B as shown
p p Th
R L x L R L x R ] / ) [(
1
) / (
1 1

+ =
where R
p
is the total track resistance
R
p
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The previous equation yields
( ) L x
L
x
R R
p Th
= 1
Now
R
p
i
The current in the circuit is given by
L p
S
L Th
Th
R L x L x R
V L x
R R
E
i
+
=
+
=
) 1 )( / (
) (
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This yields that the potential difference across the load is
L p
S L
L L
R L x L x R
V L x R
iR V
+
= =
) 1 )( / (
) (
1 ) 1 )( / )( / (
) (
+
=
L x L x R R
V L x
L p
S
This is nonlinear relationship between V
L
and x. Therefore the
effect of the loading is to give a non-linearity error, such that
L Th l
V E e =
(

+
=
1 ) 1 )( / )( / (
1
1 ) / (
L x L x R R
V L x e
L p
S l
Non-linearity error:
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(

=
1 ) 1 )( / )( / (
) 1 )( / )( / (
) / (
L x L x R R
L x L x R R
V L x e
L p
L p
S l
If R
L
>>R
p
, the above equation approximates to
| | ) 1 )( / )( / ( ) / ( L x L x R R V L x e
L p S l
=
| |
3 2
) / ( ) / ( ) / ( L x L x R R V
L p S
=
The maximum value of this error occurs when
0 =
c
c
x
e
l
3
2
) / ( = L x
( ) ) / ( 148 . 0
max
L p S l
R R V e =
i.e., we can reduce the error by selecting R
L
to be too much
greater than R
p
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Loading of a Wheatstone bridge
The Thevenin voltage for a Wheatstone
bridge is the open circuit voltage when
I = 0 (there is no load). This means that
V
S
: Supply voltage
) (
2 1 1
R R I V
S
+ =
) (
4 3 2
R R I V
S
+ =
Also
) (
2 1
1
R R
V
I
S
+
=
) (
4 3
2
R R
V
I
S
+
=
Therefore,
AD BA Th
V V E + =
4 2 1 1
R I R I =
(

+
=
4 3
4
2 1
1
R R
R
R R
R
V
S
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The Thevenin Resistance between B and D
can be obtained by setting V
S
to be zero (i.e.,
make short circuit between A and C)
=
(

+
+
+
=
4 3
4 3
2 1
2 1
R R
R R
R R
R R
R
Th
Now, if there is a load resistance across
the circuit, then
) (
Th L Th
R R I E + =
Th L
Th
R R
E
I
+
=
B
D
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Now we are interested in the potential difference across the
load V
L
(this is the output of the Wheatstone bridge)
Th L
L Th
L L
R R
R E
IR V
+
= =
)] /( ) /( [
)] /( ) /( [
4 3 4 3 2 1 2 1
4 3 4 2 1 1
R R R R R R R R R
R R R R R R V R
L
S L
+ + + +
+ +
=
4 3 2 1 4 3 2 1
4 2 3 1
) )( (
)] [
R R R R R R R R R
R R R R V R
L
S L
+ + + +

=
Note that if R
L
is very large in comparison to R
Th
, then it can
be seen from equation (**) that the output voltage becomes
(**)
Th L
E V ~
(the error goes to zero)
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Loading of elements in a measurement system
Consider the measurement
system consisting of a
transducer, an amplifier and
an indicator. The transducer
has an open circuit output
voltage of V
t
and a
resistance R
t
. The amplifier
has an input resistance R
in

which represents a load
across the transducer
in t
in t
in in
R R
R V
R I V
+
= =
1
The potential voltage difference across the load is
(As dial gauge)
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Loading of elements in a measurement system
I out
I in
I I
R R
R GV
R I V
+
= =
2
Assume that the amplifier has
a transfer function of G, then
the open circuit output from
the amplifier is GV
in
.
Since the amplifier has an output resistance of R
out
, and the
indicator has a resistance of R
I
, the output potential
difference from the indicator (reading of the indicator) is
) )( (
I out in t
I in t
R R R R
R R GV
+ +
=
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t I
GV V =
Note that if the amplifier and the indicator has very large
input resistances (R
in
and

R
I
are large) , then the previous
equation yields
Which means that the output (V
t
) is proportional to the input
signal (V
I
). And there is no need to know the values of the
resistances.
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Impedance Matching
From the analysis given in the preceding section, it is clear
that the signal-conditioning circuitry should have a
considerably large input impedance in comparison to the
output impedance of the sensor-transducer unit in
order to reduce loading errors.
Usually an impedance matching amplifier (impedance
transformer) would be needed between the two components.
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When connecting a device to a signal source, loading
problems can be reduced by making sure that the device
has a high input impedance.

Unfortunately, this will also reduce the level (amplitude,
power) of the signal received by the device. In fact, a high
impedance device may reflect back some harmonics of the
source signal. A termination resistance may be connected in
parallel with the device in order to reduce this problem.
Impedance Matching
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Consider a dc power supply of voltage Vs and output
impedance (resistance) Rs. It is used to power a load of
resistance Rl, as shown in Figure 4.3. What should be the
relationship between Rs and Rl if the objective is to
maximize the power absorbed by the load?
Impedance Matching Example:
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Impedance Matching Example:
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Impedance Matching Example:
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Impedance Matching Example:
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Impedance Matching Example:
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Impedance Matching in Mechanical Systems
The concepts of impedance matching can be extended to
mechanical systems and to mixed and mechatronic
systems in a straightforward manner. The procedure follows
from the familiar electro-mechanical analogies
Electrical
Quantity
Mechanical Analog I
(Force-Current)
Mechanical
Analog II
(Force Voltage)
Voltage, e Velocity, v Force, f
Current, i Force, f Velocity, v
Resistance, R
Lubricity, 1/B
(Inverse friction)
Friction, B
Capacitance, C Mass, M
Compliance, 1/K
(Inverse spring
constant)
Inductance, L
Compliance, 1/K
(Inverse spring
constant)
Mass, M
Transformer,
N1:N2
Lever, L1:L2 Lever, L1:L2
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electro-mechanical analogies
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electro-mechanical analogies
36
Electrical to Mechanical 1 (Force-Current).
electro-mechanical analogies
The important relationship when converting from a circuit to
the Mechanical 1 analog is that between Kirchoff's Current
Law and D'Alemberts Law (with inertial forces included)
One deficiency in this analogy is that it only works easily for
capacitors that are grounded.
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Procedure for Conversion from Electrical to
Mechanical 1
The conversion from an electrical circuit to a mechanical 1
analog is easily accomplished if capacitors in the circuit are
the process results in a mechanical If they are not, grounded.
, and system where positions must be chosen very carefully
the process can be much more difficult.
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Example:
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Example Visual Method:
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Example The capacitor is not grounded:
. analogous quantities We can rewrite the equations using
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