The difference between sensors and transducers is one of the most confusing and ever discussed question among instrumentation students. the reason behind rising such confusion is that, both sensors and transducers are highly related and some people use these as synonyms. here i would like to explore some definitions and differences explained by experts.
the below explanation is by john wiley & sons in “Sensors and Signal Conditioning, 2nd. Ed.”:
“A transducer is a device that converts a signal from one physical form
to a corresponding signal having a different physical form. Therefore, it is an
energy converter. This means that the input signal always has energy or power,
i.e. signals consist of two component quantities whose product has energy or
power dimension. But in measurement systems, one of the two components of the
measured signal is usually so small that it is negligible, and thus only the
remaining component is measured.
Since there are six different kinds of signals—mechanical, thermal,
magnetic, electric, chemical and radiation (corpuscular and electromagnetic,
including light)—any device converting signals of one kind to signals of a
different kind is a transducer. The resulting signals can be of any useful
physical form. Devices offering an electric output are called sensors. Most
measurement systems use electric signals, and hence rely on sensors."
another explanation by Ian R. Sinclair in "sensors and transducers 3rd edition" is given below as an image
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| difference between sensor and transducer |
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