Earticle

To establish the national standard of capacitance, four main electrodes of the cross capacitor which were evaluated to linearity and roundness less the $\pm 1 \mu m$ respectively have to be adjusted symmetrically in an inner cylinder. Four LM shafts with diameter of 5 mm were installed between main electrodes of the cross capacitor, and the electrodes were adjusted, as the first step, by means of the measured capacitance. In the second step, the symmetrical adjustment up to $\pm 1.2\mu m$ was performed by using a ball sensor, ball-type movable sensor, non-contacting capacitive sensor and upper guard sensor which were developed in this project.

This paper discusses numerically and experimenally several design parameters for the plate- type capacitive displacement sensor. The influenences of shape of this sensor on the sensitivity are numerically analyzed with the charge density method. Using many test sensor plates of different shape for verifing the validity of this method can not guarantee the repetibility of experiments. Therefore we made specially the test sensor plate so that experiments of effects of shape of this sensor on sensitivity can be done with only that plate. Results from these experiments agree well with those from numerical analysis.

The capacitive sensors can be divided into two categories depending on their performance and intended use. First, high resolution sensors are commonly used in displacement and position monitoring applications where high precision, high stability, and low temperature drift are required. Often these sensors are used in process monitoring and closed loop feedback control systems. Second, proximity capacitive sensors are much cheaper and generally used for sensing the presence of parts or for counting applications. The following paper describes characteristics of capacitive sensor and application to the PZT nano and ball screw stage.

본 연구는 선박 추진 축계의 무선 센서 시스템(WSS) 응용을 위한 용량성 무선 전력 전송(C-WPT) 시스템을 제시한다. 커플링 커패시터 양쪽의 단일 Q 팩터 및 회로에서 무효 전력제거를 위해 양면 LCLC 컨버터 및 변압기 토폴로지가샤프트에서 WSS용 회전식 C-WPT 시스템을 구동하도록 설계되었습니다. 170pF의 용량을 갖는 병렬 연결된 평행판 회전 커패시터가 설회전축의 C-WPT 시스템용으로 설계 및 구현된다. 실험 결과 C-WPT 시스템은 3mm 거리 및 1 MHz 작동 주파수에서 7.8 W 출력 전력으로 66.67 %의 전송 효율을 달성했다. 따라서 제작된 C-WPT 시스템은 회전축의 WSS에 전원을 공급할 수 있음을 증명하였다.

In this work, a capacitive wireless power transfer (C-WPT) system is presented for wireless sensor system (WSS) applications in marine propulsion shafts. For a single Q factor on both sides of the coupling capacitor and reactive power removal from the circuit, a double-sided LCLC converter and transformers topology are designed to drive the rotary C-WPT system for WSS on the shaft. Parallel-connected parallel plate rotating capacitors with a capacitance of 170 pF are designed and implemented for the C-WPT system on a snow rotating shaft. In the experimental results, the C-WPT system achieved a transmission efficiency of 66.67% with 7.8 W output power at 3 mm distance and 1 MHz operating frequency. Therefore, it was proved that the fabricated C-WPT system can supply power to the WSS of the rotating shaft.

This paper proposes a fingerprint sensor cell and its structure using pseudo-direct scheme. The fingerprint sensor cell uses an internal transmitted (Tx) plate instead of using an external bezel as a contact for direct signal driving to finger. It uses an active output voltage feedback (AOVF) integrator and multiple integration scheme to maximize the sensitivity and improve signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as well. The circuit models of combined fingerprint and Tx electrode were analyzed and simulated using MATLAB. And the proposed fingerprint sensor were designed and simulated with standard 0.35μm CMOS technology. Simulations verified that the proposed fingerprint sensor using pseudo-direct scheme can be effectively used as a personal authentication method especially in mobile applications.

This paper proposes a pipelined scan driver architecture for a fingerprint sensor based on an integrator. The proposed pipelined scan driver secures enough time to integrate sensor signals of a fingerprint sensor because a fingerprint sensor based on an integrator requires a large number of clocks to get sensor signals of reasonable SNR. Therefore, the proposed pipelined scan driver reduces an overall image capture time effectively without performance degradation by integrating the sensor signals for several sensor cells simultaneously. A prototype 88x2 array fingerprint sensor combined with the proposed pipelined scan driver were designed in this paper. The implemented pipelined scan driver was simulated with Verilog HDL for the functional verification. The 88x2 fingerprint sensor with a synthesized pipelined scan driver were implemented and simulated using a standard 0.18μm CMOS technology. The simulation results were presented and analyzed in this paper.

The work carried out in this paper aims to present a model based on elderlies daily activities to determine their wellness status. A wellness function is delineated to estimate the health condition of the aged individuals while carrying out their day-to-day routine. The proposed model can also be used to monitor the mobility parameters, such as entry and exit of a room and bed occupancy of an elderly. Simple sensors such as capacitive sensors are equipped into their homes to monitor their behaviour and identify their daily activities via non-contact means. The device will allow extracting daily behavioral patterns of the elderly person. Thus the device will help in providing information to build behavioral model of the person which can foresee the anomalies in their behaviour. In case the elderly is distressed, an alarm can be sent to a receiver unit. The cost effectiveness of the device will ultimately lower the total cost of wellness monitoring of an elderly person. A prototype of the device can be fabricated and broadly tested for extracting precise results.

Recently, interesting about RFID sensor tag technology which can obtain information on the external environment to smart card is increasing worldwide. In case of sensor tag, most of sensor tag has been developed as resistive type sensor tags. Resistive type humidity sensor requires temperature revision as the influence of temperature and there are special environment to detect low humidity of 15% or less. To solve this problem, circuit was composed that capacitive sensor is interlocked to resistive type sensor tag. The composed circuit is a capacitive humidity sensor which is connected to resistive sensor tags. Using the CVC circuit, capacitive humidity sensor change is output voltage. The output voltage connects with resistive sensor tag. Implemented system's sensor value storage or real time monitoring experiment result was able to determine the usefulness. Also, developed humidity sensor tag is applied to the smart refrigerator.

In this paper we focused on mathematical formulation for capacitive pressure sensor. The most important parameter of every sensor are deflection on the application of applied pressure, variation of capacitance on deflection and sensitivity. Here we mathematically drive equation for every parameter. This article help researcher to develop MEMS based capacitive pressure sensor for particular application. For that purpose we also vary the thickness of sensing diaphragm. Our study in this article is mainly consider only case of pressure sensor in normal mode. Mostly researcher use FEM method for design and simulation of capacitive pressure sensor but using these equation they can easily design any sensor by changing the parameter of equation. The material for diaphragm is Si and for insulation layer is SiO₂ is taken in this article.

In this paper, modified architecture of CMOS capacitive fingerprint sensor readout circuit is presented for general type of a switched capacitive integrator scheme. The proposed architecture supports wide and flexible operation range without ADC. It also operates faster than a typical integrator scheme for one frame image capture. The circuit includes an analog comparator in each pixel and counters. The referenced analog voltage of each sensor cell is controlled by an external or internal bias.

This paper proposes 128x8 array swipe type fingerprint sensor with a capacitive-sensing technique for image enhancement. The circuit of one pixel includes a pixel level charge-sharing and charge pump to replace an ADC. The circuit also adopts the circuit technique that improves quality of dry finger image captured with capacitive fingerprint sensor LSIs. The proper operation is validated by HSPICE for one-pixel and RTL simulation including logic synthesis for a full chip design on condition of 0.35μm typical CMOS process and 3.3V power. The layout is performed by full custom flow for one-pixel and auto P&R for a full chip. The area of a full chip is 0.161mm2 (9013μm x 1781μm) and the gate count is 303,329. The area of one-pixel is 58 x 58 μm2. Pitch is 60 μm and image resolution is 423dpi.

Capacitive pressure sensor는 Piezo type sensor에 비해 온도의 영향이 적어 공업계측, 전기용품 등 그 용도가 다양하여 폭넓게 사용되어지고 있지만, 측정값의 비선형성이 존재하여 측정값에 대한 신뢰도가 떨어지는 단점이 있다. 본 연구에서는 기존 capacitive pressure sensor의 비선형적 output을 개선하기 위한 방법으로 touch mode capacitive pressure sensor를 제안하였다. 또한, 실제 Device제작에 앞서 FEM 해석을 수행하였다. 2mm X 2mm 크기의 diaphragm, $25{\mu}m$의 두께, $20{\mu}m$의 gap을 갖는 Sensor를 Simulation하였으며 설계 변수를 추출하여 각각의 설계변수에 대한 해석을 실시하였다. 그 결과 15.2psi${\sim}$31psi의 영역에서 8.58pF${\sim}$54.31pF의 capacitance가 선형적으로 나타나는 sensor임을 확인하였다.

Measurement of liquid level in storage and processing vessels, tanks, wells, reservoirs and hoppers is commonly needed. The several different ways to measure the liquid level of oil or water tank have been provided such as an electrostatic capacity, a supersonic waves and an optical science etc. In the study, we have constructed the stable and efficient measurement system to measure the level of liquid at real-time and to get accurate measurement of the maximum and minimum level of the tank. For this purpose, we suggest double sensing methods by adopting both capacitive and optical sensing. The experimental results, presented in this paper, illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method under different sensing methods.

In this paper, a low-power CMOS interface circuit is designed and demonstrated for capacitive sensor applications, which is implemented using a standard 0.35-${\mu}m$ CMOS logic technology. To achieve low-power performance, the low-voltage capacitance-to-pulse-width converter based on a self-reset operation at a supply voltage of 1.5 V is designed and incorporated into a new interface circuit. Moreover, the external pulse signal for the reset operation is made unnecessary by the employment of the self-reset operation. At a low supply voltage of 1.5 V, the new circuit requires a total power consumption of 0.47 mW with ultra-low power dissipation of 157 ${\mu}W$ of the interface-circuit core. These results demonstrate that the new interface circuit with self-reset operation successfully reduces power consumption. In addition, a prototype wireless sensor-module with the proposed circuit is successfully implemented for practical applications. Consequently, the new CMOS interface circuit can be used for the sensor applications in ubiquitous sensor networks, where low-power performance is essential.

Intravenous(IV) drip therapy is extensively used for all kinds of treatments. It works by delivering medicine directly into the vein. When the medicine has been fully dispensed, a dangerous situation occurs since air in the IV drip bag could enter the patient's vein, which is hazardous to the patient’s safety. In this paper, using capacitive sensors to detect the residual quantity of a plastic IV drip pack is proposed. A simulation model of this technology was shown by a finite elements analysis(FEA) program to find out its feasibility and analyze the proper geometrical dimension of a capacitive sensor. According to the FEA simulation, 3 kinds of capacitive sensors were attached to the bottom surface of the plastic IV drip bag to detect the residual quantity in the experiment. Experimental data showed an agreement with the FEA simulation model estimation and confirmed that the sensor works.

Partial discharges (PD) have long been recognized as a major contributing factor to catastrophic failures in high-power equipment. As the demand for high voltage direct current (HVDC) facilities continues to rise, the significance of on-line and real-time monitoring of PD becomes increasingly prominent. In this study, we have designed, fabricated, and characterized a highly sensitive and cost-effective PD sensor comprising a pair of copper electrodes with different arc lengths. The key advantage of our sensor is its non-invasive nature, as it can be installed at any location along the entire power cable without requiring structural modifications. In contrast, conventional PD sensors are typically limited to installation at cable terminals or insulation joint boxes, often necessitating invasive alterations. Our PD sensor demonstrates exceptional accuracy in estimating PD location, with a success rate exceeding 95% in the straight sections of the power cable and surpassing 89% in curved sections. These remarkable characteristics indicate its high potential for realtime and on-line detection of PD.

A simple array of metal-insulator-metal capacitive elements was proposed for a potential application in humidity sensing platforms. We fabricated meso-scale sensors with different sizes(large-size: $2.7{\times}2.7mm^2$ ; mid-size: $1.5{\times}1.5mm^2$ ; small-size: $0.7{\times}0.7mm^2$) and characterized the performance of each design. Polyimide films were utilized as a humidity-sensitive layer. Capacitance changes of the polyimide layer were measured with respect to water absorption. The device showed sensitivity in the full range of relative humidity (RH) with excellent linearity(correlation coefficient > 0.994). This array structure exhibits unique advantages including easy fabrication process, high batch productivity, and high structural compatibility with various substrate materials. It is anticipated that this device structure will be potentially useful in unique applications including mapping spatial humidity variations over a meso-scale area and implementing flexible humidity sensing element arrays.

In case, sensor system performs where it is difficult to access physically and it is in the poor environment, it is limited to communicate by using wire and installing power module in sensor system. In this paper, it suggests how information is obtained from telemetry sensor by means of inductive coupling without battery. Comparing with the telemetry sensor system of inductive coupling by the power supply, this system estimates the capacitance of sensor with high precision in using RLSE, not the process of modulation and demodulation. In order to activate this system, inductive model is used and in case of time variant parameter, telemetry sensor system which has got high rate in accuracy is implemented by using the forgetting factor.

In this paper, we designed HW / SW interfaces for processing the signals of capacitive sensors like Electric Potential Sensor (EPS) to detect the surrounding electric field disturbance as feature signals in motion recognition systems. We implemented a smart light control system with those interfaces. In the system, the on/off switch and brightness adjustment are controlled by hand gestures using the designed and fabricated interface circuits. PWM (Pulse Width Modulation) signals of the controller with a driver IC are used to drive the LED and to control the brightness and on/off operation. Using the hand-gesture signals obtained through EPS sensors and the interface HW/SW, we can not only construct a gesture instructing system but also accomplish the faster recognition speed by developing dedicated interface hardware including control circuitry. Finally, using the proposed hand-gesture recognition and signal processing methods, the light control module was also designed and implemented. The experimental result shows that the smart light control system can control the LED module properly by accurate motion detection and gesture classification.