1、毕业设计（论文）外文翻 译 Capacitive Sensor Operation Part 1: The Basics Part 1 of this two-part article reviews the concepts and theory of capacitive sensing to help to optimize capacitive sensor performance. Part 2 of this article will discuss how to put these concepts to work. Noncontact capacitive sensors m
2、easure the changes in an electrical property called capacitance. Capacitance describes how two conductive objects with a space between them respond to a voltage difference applied to them. A voltage applied to the conductors creates an electric field between them, causing positive and negative charg
3、es to collect on each object Capacitive sensors use an alternating voltage that causes the charges to continually reverse their positions. The movement of the charges creates an alternating electric current that is detected by the sensor. The amount of current flow is determined by the capacitance,
4、and the capacitance is determined by the surface area and proximity of the conductive objects. Larger and closer objects cause greater current than smaller and more distant objects. Capacitance is also affected by the type of nonconductive material in the gap between the objects. Technically speakin
5、g, the capacitance is directly proportional to the surface area of the objects and the dielectric constant of the material between them, and inversely proportional to the distance between them as shown.: In typical capacitive sensing applications, the probe or sensor is one of the conductive objects
6、 and the target object is the other. (Using capacitive sensors to sense plastics and other insulators will be discussed in the second part of this article.) The sizes of the sensor and the target are assumed to be constant, as is the material between them. Therefore, any change in capacitance is a r
7、esult of a change in the distance between the probe and the target. The electronics are calibrated to generate specific voltage changes for corresponding changes in capacitance. These voltages are scaled to represent specific changes in distance. The amount of voltage change for a given amount of di
8、stance change is called the sensitivity. A common sensitivity setting is 1.0 V/100 m. That means that for every 100 m change in distance, the output voltage changes exactly 1.0 V. With this calibration, a 2 V change in the output means that the target has moved 200 m relative to the probe. Focusing
9、the Electric Field When a voltage is applied to a conductor, the electric field emanates from every surface. In a capacitive sensor, the sensing voltage is applied to the sensing area of the probe. For accurate 毕业设计（论文）外文翻 译 measurements, the electric field from the sensing area needs to be containe
10、d within the space between the probe and the target. If the electric field is allowed to spread to other itemsor other areas on the targetthen a change in the position of the other item will be measured as a change in the position of the target. A technique called guarding is used to prevent this fr
11、om happening. To create a guard, the back and sides of the sensing area are surrounded by another conductor that is kept at the same voltage as the sensing area itself. When the voltage is applied to the sensing area, a separate circuit applies the exact same voltage to the guard. Because there is n
12、o difference in voltage between the sensing area and the guard, there is no electric field between them. Any other conductors beside or behind the probe form an electric field with the guard instead of with the sensing area. Only the unguarded front of the sensing area is allowed to form an electric
13、 field with the target. Definitions Sensitivity indicates how much the output voltage changes as a result of a change in the gap between the target and the probe. A common sensitivity is 1 V/0.1 mm. This means that for every 0.1 mm of change in the gap, the output voltage will change 1 V. When the o
14、utput voltage is plotted against the gap size, the slope of the line is the sensitivity. A systems sensitivity is set during calibration. When sensitivity deviates from the ideal value this is called sensitivity error, gain error, or scaling error. Since sensitivity is the slope of a line, sensitivi
15、ty error is usually presented as a percentage of slope, a comparison of the ideal slope with the actual slope. Offset error occurs when a constant value is added to the output voltage of the system. Capacitive gauging systems are usually zeroed during setup, eliminating any offset deviations from th
16、e original calibration. However, should the offset error change after the system is zeroed, error will be introduced into the measurement. Temperature change is the primary factor in offset error. Sensitivity can vary slightly between any two points of data. The accumulated effect of this variation
17、is called linearity erro. The linearity specification is the measurement of how far the output varies from a straight line. To calculate the linearity error, calibration data are compared to the straight line that would best fit the points. This straight reference line is calculated from the calibra
18、tion data using least squares fitting. The amount of error at the point on the calibration line furthest away from this ideal line is the linearity error. Linearity error is usually expressed in terms of percent of full scale (%/F.S.). If the error at the worst point is 0.001 mm and the full scale r
19、ange of the calibration is 1 mm, the linearity error will be 0.1%. 毕业设计（论文）外文翻 译 Note that linearity error does not account for errors in sensitivity. It is only a measure of the straightness of the line rather than the slope of the line. A system with gross sensitivity errors can still be very line
20、ar. Error band accounts for the combination of linearity and sensitivity errors. It is the measurement of the worst-case absolute error in the calibrated range. The error band is calculated by comparing the output voltages at specific gaps to their expected value. The worst-case error from this comp
21、arison is listed as the systems error band. In Figure 7, the worst-case error occurs for a 0.50 mm gap and the error band (in bold) is 0.010. Gap (mm) Expected Value (VDC) Actual Value VDC) Error (mm) 0.50 10.000 9.800 0.010 0.75 5.000 4.900 0.005 1.00 0.000 0.000 0.000 1.25 5.000 5.000 0.000 1.50 1
22、0.000 10.100 0.005 Figure 7. Error values Bandwidth is defined as the frequency at which the output falls to 3 dB, a frequency that is also called the cutoff frequency. A 3 dB drop in the signal level is an approximately 30% decrease. With a 15 kHz bandwidth, a change of 1 V at low frequency will on
23、ly produce a 0.7 V change at 15 kHz. Wide-bandwidth sensors can sense high-frequency motion and provide fast-responding outputs to maximize the phase margin when used in servo-control feedback systems； however, lower-bandwidth sensors will have reduced output noise which means higher resolution. Som
24、e sensors provide selectable bandwidth to maximize either resolution or response time. Resolution is defined as the smallest reliable measurement that a system can make. The resolution of a measurement system must be better than the final accuracy the measurement requires. If you need to know a meas
25、urement within 0.02 m, then the resolution of the measurement system must be better than 0.02 m. The primary determining factor of resolution is electrical noise. Electrical noise appears in the output voltage causing small instantaneous errors in the output. Even when the probe/target gap is perfectly constant, the output voltage of the driver has some small but measurable amount of noise that would seem to indicate that the gap is changing. This noise is inherent in electronic components and can be minimized, but never eliminated.
