Experimental analysis of a new strain-gage signal conditioner based on a constant-current method

A strain-gage signal-conditioning scheme, which appears to be innovative, has been proposed. It is based on a potentiometric circuit with twin constant-current supplies. From the experimental tests carried out on our prototype, the following have been highlighted: a satisfying sensitivity (congruent to 1 mu m m(-1)), a calibration curve that might be considered linear (non-linearity errorless than 1 mu m m(-1)),low values of zero-shift (< 1 mu m m(-1)) throughout 60 hour test, and, finally, a global temperature coefficient that can be considered negligible (0.1 mu m m(-1)degrees C-1).