Measurement in agriculture

Subject description

introduction to experimental research work: basic steps in process of experimentation; influence factors on experimental process
basics of statistical design of experiments: classic and statistically designed experiments; basic concepts of experimental design; particularities and limitations of factorial designed experiments.
measurement process as source of experimental information: influence factors; basic metrological terms; organization of metrological infrastructure; assurance of metrological traceability
measurement signal as a carrier of information about measurand: analog and digital, periodic and aperiodic, deterministic and random measurement signals; noise in measurement signals; acquisition and conversion of measurement signals.
sensors for electrical measurements of mechanical quantities: main types of sensors and their metrological, static and dynamic characteristics and limitations (piezoelectric, piezoresistant, thermoelectric, resistant, magnetoresistant, inductive, potentiometric, optical, ultrasonic, Hall sensors).
direct and indirect methods for measurements of: mechanical stress, forces, moments and deformations; displacements and distance; rotation angle and mechanical power; mechanical vibrations and acceleration; rotational speed and frequency; pressure; temperature; fluid velocity and flow rate.
application of software in experimental work: basics of digital processing of measurement signals; virtual instrumentation and other software; validation of software.
metrological evaluation of measurement system and experimental process: analysis of measurement uncertainty (standard, combined and expanded measurement uncertainty); evaluation and presentation of measurement results.
Seminar: team work related to design of experiments, development and validation of various measurement systems for mechanical quantities, and evaluation of measurement results.
Laboratory practice: design of experiments and measurement systems, experimental practice focused on selected measurements and experiments.

The subject is taught in programs

Objectives and competences

The fundamental goal of the course is to familiarise students: with basic concepts of design of experiments and metrological analysis and evaluation of results of experimental work, with physical and theoretical background of modern measurement technologies, with acquisition, processing and display of measurement quantities, with measurement of basic mechanical quantities that are common for agricultural engineering and mechanization, with well-known measurement methods, with fundamentals of virtual instrumentation and digital signal processing.

Teaching and learning methods

Lectures, including solving and discussion on selected theoretical and practical cases. Interactive lectures, team work, virtual experiments.

Expected study results

With the acquired knowledge during the course, the student will be able to autonomously deal with the following topics: design of experimental process;

selection of appropriate measurement equipment and configuration of measurement systems; use of different standardized or other well established measurement methods; perform measurements of basic mechanical quantities that are common for agricultural engineering and mechanization; metrological evaluation of experimentally obtained results.

Basic sources and literature

Doebelin, E. O.: Engineering experimentation – Planning, execution, reporting. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1995.

Montgomery, D. C.: Design and analysis of experiments. John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2001.
Bentley, J. P.: Principles of measurement systems. Pearson Education, Harlow, 2005.
Busch-Vishniac, I. J.: Electromechanical sensors and actuators. Springer, 1999.
JCGM 200:2012 – International vocabulary of metrology – Basic and general concepts and associated terms.
JCGM 100:2008 – Evaluation of measurement data – Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement.