Measurement Technology › Fundamentals › Characteristic Curves

Continuity

In mathematics, a continuous function has no jump. The same applies to characteristic curves. The following figure shows a characteristic that is not continuous. The measurement system only responds above a minimum measured quantity that is greater than 0. At very large values, it no longer changes its output value, even though the physical value continues to rise.

Discontinuous characteristic with jumps at the beginning and end of the measuring range — Ausgabe = output · Physikalischer Wert = physical value

These effects cannot be corrected, because the information in the measurement system is not unambiguous. Several (small) values of the physical quantity lead to the measured value 0. The system can only distinguish those values of the physical quantity for which the measurement system outputs unambiguous measured values that differ from all other measured values. All physical quantities on a line parallel to the x-axis result in the same output on the y-axis.

The solution here lies in informing the user. The measuring range of the system is restricted in the data sheet. In this case, the measurement system could only be used for the range between the first and the fifth vertical dashed line.