A simple differential capacitive sensor is provided in this paper to measure the absolute positions of length measuring systems. By utilizing a shield window inside the differential capacitor, the measurement range and linearity range of the sensor can reach several millimeters. What is more interesting is that this differential capacitive sensor is only sensitive to one translational degree of...

Differing from the structure of traditional parallel plate capacitive sensor a semi cylindrical capacitive sensor has been introduced in this present work to measure the soil moisture conveniently. Here, the numerical analysis method to evaluate the capacitance from the semi-cylindrical capacitive sensor is analyzed and discussed. The changes of capacitance with the variation of soil moisture o...

In this paper, design and construction of a tactile sensor for measuring contact-force is presented. Mechanism of measuring contact-force in this tactile sensor is based on impedance changing of piezoelectric crystal and voltage of different points in circuit as a result of applying force on the crystal. By considering a specific point in the circuit and recording the changes of its voltage, ma...

Based on a capacitive angle and angular rate sensor, a sensor measuring the relative angle between two rotating shafts has been developed. Two rotatable electrodes are placed between two sensor plates. The relative angle between the two rotors and the absolute position of the rotor blades are calculated from measurements of the capacitive coupling between different transmitting stator segments ...

In this paper we investigate a short range capacitive proximity sensor as complementary sensor system in situations, where conventional optical based sensor systems have short comings, e.g., due to space requirements. In the presented collision avoidance scenario it can be used even without any vision or Lidar based sensor system. Our sensor is capable of detecting humans and objects made of co...

Three-layered electrode structures are often employed in multiple-electrode capacitive position sensors. Even when advanced algorithms and well-designed guarding electrodes are used, the electric-field-bending effect is still one of the major contributors to the nonlinearity of capacitive position sensors. In this paper, the effects of electric-field bending on linearities of five capacitive li...

This paper reports a micromachined capacitive pressure sensor that does not use the traditional cavity and diaphragm, and its use in aqueous environment. The device is fabricated with two micromachined plates of stainless steel and an intermediate polymer layer that is soft enough to deform in the target pressure range. A polyurethane room-temperature-vulcanizing liquid rubber of 38-μm thicknes...

Touch Sensing This is the detection and measurement of a contact force at a defined point. A touch sensor can also be restricted to binary information, namely touch, and no touch. Tactile Sensing This is the detection and measurement of the spatial distribution of forces perpendicular to a predetermined sensory area, and the subsequent interpretation of the spatial information. A tactile-sensin...