Vol. 112, Issue 1, January 2010, pp. 107-117

Design and Development of an Embedded System for Testing the Potentiometer Linearity

¹Raghavendra Rao KANCHI, ²Nagamani GOSALA

¹Department of Physics, ² Department of Electronics

Sri Krishnadevaraya University

Anantapur-515055, Andhra Pradesh, India

E-mail: drkrr@rediffmail.com

Received: 5 October 2009   /Accepted: 22 January 2010   /Published: 29 January 2010

Abstract: Component testing is one of the most important tasks before it is put to use in any application. In this direction linearity of potentiometer plays an important role, especially the multi turn rotary potentiometers. This is because; such potentiometers are used in vital applications such as in aircrafts for the maintenance of certain pressure systems and as rotary position sensors. Testing for linearity is an important task in such a scenario. Testing of components calls for an analog to digital converter for converting analog information into digital domain. The main aim of the present work is to design and develop an embedded system to test the linearity of such a potentiometer. Such a system is portable. The hardware makes use of a stepper motor, a Darlington driver IC ULN 2003 and a small jig to attach the potentiometer to a stepping motor. Philips ARM LPC 2103-mixed signal controller controls the entire assembly. Software is developed to acquire data from potentiometer, to store the data on the on-chip memory, to display it on LCD, and to send the same to PC on serial lines using MAX-232. The linearity plot is displayed on the system monitor.

Keywords: Position sensor and transducer, Multiturn potentiometer, LPC 2103 ARM processor, Keil µVision3

Click <here> or title of paper to download the full pages article (836 Kb)

1999 - 2010 Copyright ©, International Frequency Sensor Association (IFSA). All Rights Reserved.

Home - News - Links - Archives - Tools - Standardization - Patents - Marketplace - Projects - Wish List - Subscribe - Search - Membership - Submit Press Release

 Members Area -Sensors Portal -Training Courses - S&T Digest - For advertisers - Bookstore - Forums - Polls - Sensor Jobs - e-Shop - Site Map