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Concept
Transducer
Summary
A transducer is a device that converts energy from one form to another. Usually a transducer converts a signal in one form of energy to a signal in another.
Transducers are often employed at the boundaries of automation, measurement, and control systems, where electrical signals are converted to and from other physical quantities (energy, force, torque, light, motion, position, etc.). The process of converting one form of energy to another is known as transduction.
Mechanical transducers, so-called as they convert physical quantities into mechanical outputs or vice versa;
Electrical transducers however convert physical quantities into electrical outputs or signals. Examples of these are:
a thermocouple that changes temperature differences into a small voltage;
a linear variable differential transformer (LVDT), used to measure displacement (position) changes by means of electrical signals.
Transducers can be categorized by which direction information passes through them:
A sensor is a transducer that receives and responds to a signal or stimulus from a physical system. It produces a signal, which represents information about the system, which is used by some type of telemetry, information or control system.
An actuator is a device that is responsible for moving or controlling a mechanism or system. It is controlled by a signal from a control system or manual control. It is operated by a source of energy, which can be mechanical force, electrical current, hydraulic fluid pressure, or pneumatic pressure, and converts that energy into motion. An actuator is the mechanism by which a control system acts upon an environment. The control system can be simple (a fixed mechanical or electrical system), software-based (e.g. a printer driver, robot control system), a human, or any other input.
Bidirectional transducers can convert physical phenomena to electrical signals and electrical signals into physical phenomena.
Official source
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