Glossary
G-10
ni.com
STC strain gauge
Self-Temperature Compensating strain gauge—Has a resistive temperature
coefficient that counteracts the thermal expansion coefficient of the
material to which the gauge is bonded; thus, makes the system insensitive
to changes in temperature.
strain
The fractional deformation of a body under an applied force; is usually
given in the units of microstrain, where one microstrain represents a
deformation of 10
–6
, or 0.0001%.
system noise
A measure of the amount of noise seen by an analog circuit or an ADC
when the analog inputs are grounded.
T
tensile strain
Strain that results from an object being stretched; has a positive value.
typ
Typical.
U
UL
Underwriters Laboratory.
V
V
Volts.
VDC
Volts, direct current.
VI
Virtual Instrument—(1) A combination of hardware and/or software
elements, typically used with a PC, that has the functionality of a classic
stand-alone instrument.
(2) A LabVIEW software module (VI), which consists of a front panel user
interface and a block diagram program
virtual channels
Channel names that can be defined outside the application and used without
having to perform scaling operations.
voltage excitation
A source that supplies the voltage needed by a sensor for its proper
operation.
V
r
V
CH
V
EX
----------
STRAINED
V
CH
V
EX
----------
UNSTRAINED
–