I&M TC-9

Subcommittee on Capacitive Sensors

Technical Committee TC-9 on Sensors Technology

IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society


The aims of the Subcommittee on Capacitive Sensing are to:

  • develop, promote and support capacitive sensor-related technologies, user applications;

  • develop new methods to meet industry's need for cost efficient, robust, reliable and accurate sensors;

  • review capacitive sensors and their applications in the user community, government and industry;

  • provide forums such as workshops and symposia where such technologies can be discussed;

  • maintain liaison with other societies and organizations working in the same or related areas.

 

People


Chair: Prof. Dr. Georg Brasseur, Insitute of Electrical Measurement and Measurement Signal Processing, Graz University of Technology


Co-Chair: Prof. Gerald C. M. Meijer, Electronic Instrumentation Laboratory Delft University of Technology, Delft University of Technology

Research Institutes

 

A Short Introduction to Capacitice Sensing

 

Capacitive SensorsCapacitive sensors are capable to determine measurands that, in some way, affect the coupling capacitance between two or more sensing electrodes. The simplicity of the sensor elements is unparalleled: They consist of two or more conductive areas. Despite this simplicity, capacitive sensing technology is very versatile due to a plurality of applicable (either conductive or dielectric) materials. With the availability of small and fairly low cost monolithic sensor interfaces, the acceptance of capacitive technology has constantly increased during the last years. Typical applications are position sensing, material property monitoring such as moisture content or oil quality, proximity switching, occupancy detection, fill level detection etc. Also, capacitive sensing is common in biomedical and chemical applications.


The aim of the subcommittee of I&M TC-9 is to promote capacitive sensing technology as a versatile, powerful yet cost efficient method to assess various parameters.
Major aspects are:
  • Modeling of polarization mechanisms and interaction of matter and the electric field
  • Simulation tools such as Finite Element Analysis or the Boundary Element Method to model sensor front-ends and improve understanding of coherences
  • Design of electronic measurement cirucitry
  • Capacitive sensors in automotive applications
  • Capacitance-based determination of angle, deformation, pressure, force etc.
  • Process parameters like flow rate, moisture, and fill level
  • Digital signal processing techniques ranging from simple detectors to elaborate systems to solve inverse problems like in Electrical Capacitance Tomography (ECT)
  • Sensor fusion of capacitive technology and other sensor technologies such as ultrasound, eddy current and optical sensors.

Research Institutes

 

Electronic Instrumentation Laboratory, Delft University of Technology, Nederlands

Massey University, New Zealand, Prof. Subhas Mukhopadhyay

Measurement and Instrumentation Laboratory, IIT Madras

Capacitive Sensors @ EMT, Graz University of Technology, Austria


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