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    Capacitive Sensor PDF 2

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    poonam_bhatia01
    This document discusses capacitive sensors and provides examples of their applications. It begins with an introduction of capacitive sensing and examples such as motion detection, pressure sensing, and touch interfaces. It then describes the basics of capacitive sensing using a capacitor and electronics. The document provides case studies of using capacitive sensing for head gap measurement in hard disk drives and dynamic blood pressure measurement. It covers sensor design strategies such as using AC or DC excitation and measuring charge or voltage. Overall, the document outlines the versatility, scalability, low cost, and precision of capacitive sensors.

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    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Capacitive Sensor PDF 2

    Uploaded by

    poonam_bhatia01
    203 views20 pages
    This document discusses capacitive sensors and provides examples of their applications. It begins with an introduction of capacitive sensing and examples such as motion detection, pressure sensing, and touch interfaces. It then describes the basics of capacitive sensing using a capacitor and electronics. The document provides case studies of using capacitive sensing for head gap measurement in hard disk drives and dynamic blood pressure measurement. It covers sensor design strategies such as using AC or DC excitation and measuring charge or voltage. Overall, the document outlines the versatility, scalability, low cost, and precision of capacitive sensors.

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    This document discusses capacitive sensors and provides examples of their applications. It begins with an introduction of capacitive sensing and examples such as motion detection, pressure sensing, and touch interfaces. It then describes the basics of capacitive sensing using a capacitor and electronics. The document provides case studies of using capacitive sensing for head gap measurement in hard disk drives and dynamic blood pressure measurement. It covers sensor design strategies such as using AC or DC excitation and measuring charge or voltage. Overall, the document outlines the versatility, scalability, low cost, and precision of capacitive sensors.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    203 views20 pages

    Capacitive Sensor PDF 2

    Uploaded by

    poonam_bhatia01
    This document discusses capacitive sensors and provides examples of their applications. It begins with an introduction of capacitive sensing and examples such as motion detection, pressure sensing, and touch interfaces. It then describes the basics of capacitive sensing using a capacitor and electronics. The document provides case studies of using capacitive sensing for head gap measurement in hard disk drives and dynamic blood pressure measurement. It covers sensor design strategies such as using AC or DC excitation and measuring charge or voltage. Overall, the document outlines the versatility, scalability, low cost, and precision of capacitive sensors.

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    Capacitive Sensors

    Mark Weber Comprehension Engineering


    Comprehending your problems and solutions.

    Summary
    Audience and Expectations Case studies

    Head gap measurement Dynamic blood pressure

    Sensor Basics Capacitive sensor strategies Case studies in detail Conclusion

    www.ComprehensionEngineering.com

    Audience and expectations


    Audience

    Electrical Engineer Not familiar with sensors May need to integrate a sensor

    Expectations

    Understand the diversity of applications Understand some strategies Not all the necessary detail

    www.ComprehensionEngineering.com

    General Capacitive sensor


    Quantity to sense *
    Motion 1e-14 meters Pressure Acceleration Rotation Fluid composition Touch switches Stud locations PC touch pad Flow rate Liquid level Thickness Ice detection Position and angle encoding * See references
    www.ComprehensionEngineering.com 4

    Capacitor

    Electronics

    Low Cost Precise

    Case study head gap measurement


    Need to measure gap Head to media Need to control gap to 1% Affects performance and safety Temperature changes air viscosity Control system - Change

    vertical force on arm to keep gap constant


    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Hard_disk_head.jpg
    www.ComprehensionEngineering.com 5

    Case study Dynamic blood pressure


    AC blood pressure measurement Used to judge heart function Microphone for the blood stream Long term stability not important Scale factor stability moderate High linearity requirement

    www.ComprehensionEngineering.com

    Sensor basics
    Big three
    14 12 10
    output - volts

    Noise Scalefactor (sensitivity)

    Others
    ideal actual

    8 6 4 2 0 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 input - jeffs 0.8 1 1.2

    Linearity Bandwidth Environmental sensitivities

    Bias (offset)

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    Capacitance sensors Measuring C or delta C


    q CV
    Capacitor charge Constant C

    dV iC dt

    dq dCV dt dt

    Derivative of charge is current Constant V

    dV dC iC V dt dt

    General case Constant Q

    dC i V dt

    dV dC 0C V dt dt
    8

    www.ComprehensionEngineering.com

    Capacitance sensor strategies

    Apply AC voltage Slow motion AC charge DC voltage fast motion DC charge

    Measure charge voltage charge voltage

    comments good high impedance - noisy good leaky and high impedance

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    Head gap measurement

    Capacitance gap

    Arm supporting head


    Head

    Rotating media

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    10

    Basic circuit
    Csimilar about the same size

    as Cgap

    Large output voltages Small <10pF

    What about bias current?

    Vout VAC
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    C gap Csimilar
    11

    Biasing Op Amp
    Rbias is large

    Bias current must be small Bias current times Rbias is offset Rbias and Csimilar set lower Cgap bandwidth

    Rbias

    Csimilar

    + AC Cparasitic

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    12

    Convert to DC
    Simple switch demodulator and low pass filter Frequency of excitation important

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    13

    What about noise


    Largest noise should be

    Op Amp input noise Parasitic capacitance holds input node

    Vnoiseout Vnoisein

    C gap C para Csimilar

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    14

    Dynamic blood pressure

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    15

    Circuit basics
    Constant voltage

    Vout Vout
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    Vbias dC gap dt Csimilar dt Vbias C gap Csimilar


    16

    Need bias currents


    Rbias is large Rbias and Csimilar set bandwidth
    Rbias

    Csimilar

    Cgap + DC bias

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    17

    Noise
    Same as before

    Vnoise out Vnoise in


    www.ComprehensionEngineering.com

    C gap C para C similar


    18

    References
    www.capsense.com

    Capacitive Sensors, Larry K. Baxter, IEEE

    Press, NJ 1997, ~300pp Summary article http://www.capsense.com/capsense-wp.pdf


    www.ComprehensionEngineering.com 19

    Conclusions
    Capacitor sensors

    Versatile Scalable Low cost Precise

    Design principles

    Constant voltage constant charge

    Have fun

    www.ComprehensionEngineering.com

    20

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