Significance: Signal conditioning means manipulating an analog signal in such a way that it meets the requirements of the next stage for further processing. Signal inputs accepted by signal conditioners include DC voltage and current, AC voltage and current, frequency and electric charge.
Sensor inputs can be accelerometer, thermocouple ,thermistor, resistance thermometer, strain gauge or bridge and LVDT or RVDT. Specialized inputs include encoder, counter or tachometer, timer or clock, relay or switch, and other specialized inputs. Outputs for signal conditioning equipment can be voltage, current, frequency, timer or counter, relay, resistance or potentiometer, and other specialized outputs.
It is primarily utilized for data acquisition, in which sensor signals must be normalized and filtered to levels suitable for analog-to-digital conversion so they can be read by computerized devices. Other uses include preprocessing signals in order to reduce computing time, converting ranged data to Boolean values, for example when knowing when a sensor has reached certain value.
Isolator: Signal isolation must be used in order to pass the signal from the source to the measurement device without a physical connection so that input will not load next stage .optical isolator may be used.
Filter: To filter out noise due to environment or any other reason like EmI, or 50 Hz noise
Amplifier: Signal amplification performs two important functions: increases the resolution of the input signal, and increases its signal-to-noise ratio. For example, the output of an electronic temperature sensor, which is probably in the milli volts range, is probably too low for an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) to process directly
Data Converter: To convert data into particular form as required by the load. They may be of following type analog-to-digital converters, digital-to-analog converters, frequency converters or translators, voltage converters or inverters, frequency-to-voltage converters, voltage-to-frequency converters, current-to-voltage converters, current loop converters, and charge converters.