Contactless Transmission of Measurement Information Between Sensor and Conditioning Electronics

In many cases, contactless transmission can be a solution to applications where the measurement environment has characteristics that are unsuitable for the classical cable transmission. In this paper, the contactless transmission problem is analyzed when the distance between the readout and the sensor circuits changes. A model of the system, which considers the effect of the parasitic capacitance and the change of coupled and leakage fluxes, is proposed. A simulation of the theoretical analysis on the developed model shows that one frequency is more sensitive to the transducer capacitance and has no dependence on stray capacitance. A parameter that has very little sensitivity to sensing capacitance and high sensitivity to distance is identified. The measurement method has been tested in the laboratory, and the relative experimental results are reported.     

Determination of effective mobilities and chiral separation selectivities from partially separated enantiomer peaks in a racemic mixture using pressure-mediated capillary electrophoresis

A new measurement principle has been developed for the rapid determination of the effective mobilities of enantiomers from their partially separated peaks. The method involves (i) partial separation of the enantiomers of a racemic sample by electrophoresis, (ii) pressure mobilization of the partially separated band by the detector, (iii) calculation of the effective separation distance between the enantiomer centroids from the observed band width and the extent of theoretical band broadening, and (iv) calculation of the effective mobilities of the enantiomers (and the separation selectivity) from the effective separation distance. Experimental conditions that lead to negligible nonideal ionic contributions to the band width are outlined. The proposed method eliminates the error caused by the changing electroosmotic flow, yields complexation constant and ionic mobility values that are more precise than the conventionally obtained ones, and reduces the measurement time by 80-90%. The equations required for the calculations are presented in a simple, ready-to-use spreadsheet format.     

Measurement Automation to Implement Evaluation Procedure of Four-Terminal-Pair Capacitance Standards Using S-Parameters

The evaluation procedure of four-terminal-pair capacitance standards using S-parameters is very complex as it involves the measurement of different parameters by multiple instruments. It also involves complex computation of effective capacitance as a function of frequency and its associated uncertainty in measurement. The reported paper presents the development of measurement automation program to implement evaluation procedure of four-terminal-pair capacitance standards of values varying between 1 and 1000 pF up to 30 MHz. The measurement automation increases the functionality with a comprehensive and flexible tool set for data acquisition, analysis, reporting and representation of results. The sequence of operations performed by the developed measurement automation program is described in detail. The program configures and measures S-parameters, converts S-parameters into corresponding impedance and admittance parameters, determines series and parallel resonance frequencies. Thereafter, it determines residual capacitive and residual inductive parameters and finally computes the effective value of each capacitance standard as a function of frequency along with the associated uncertainty in measurement. Measurement automation has provided precise and efficient way for the implementation of evaluation procedure of capacitance standards.     

同面阵列电容成像传感空/满场设定方法研究

同面阵列电极电容成像技术应用于工件缺陷无损检测时,因电极布置在同一平面内,若采用常规的单一介质作为空场或满场时,往往导致测量精度不高等问题。提出了一种空场/满场的相对设定方法,同时采用空气和被测材料两种介质作为空场和满场设定条件,通过分别改变两种介质的空间位置和大小,实现空场/满场可调节且不唯一;阐述了同面阵列电容传感器的工作原理,并以隔热材料和环氧树脂作为测量物场,通过有限元仿真获取了灵敏度矩阵。针对空场和满场的设定方法进行了电容成像实验研究,结果表明该方法可改善成像效果,能够反映出被测物体中缺陷的平面位置信息,验证了该方法的有效性。     

表面波电磁声换能器及电声学特性的研究

电磁超声换能器的非接触、信号重复性好等特点使得其在高温自动检测、材料特性测量等领域有着广泛的应用前景。利用电磁超声技术激发表面波更是行之有效的方法,论文着重于理论分析,对表面波电磁声换能器的物理结构、电声学特性作了较为全面和深入的研究,并用等效电路模型探讨了阻抗匹配的方法。结果表明,电磁声换能器为感性负载,不同于压电器件的容性负载特性,因此对换能器的设计和优化也有着独自的特性;随着提离距离的增大,相应的换能效率也将急剧下降;阻抗匹配对于提高信号的输出强度,抑制谐波分量有着重要的作用,而采用电容并联匹配相比串联匹配,能够提供更高的转换效率。     

Capacitance-based liquid holdup measurement of cryogenic two-phase flow in a nearly-horizontal tube

Liquid holdup measurement of cryogenic fluids is an area of considerable significance because of its inevitable occurrence in LNG transportation, rocket propellant delivery and superconducting equipment cooling, etc. To measure the liquid holdup of cryogenic two-phase flow, a capacitance sensor was carefully designed, which consists of a pair of optimized concave-electrode form with the electric circuit for the small capacitance detection. Four flow patterns were realized to evaluate the performance of the sensor in visualization experiments with liquid nitrogen and vaporous nitrogen. An image method was employed to calibrate the capacitance sensor, which led to a mathematical relationship between the capacitance and the liquid holdup. The results indicated that the obtained correlation between liquid holdup and capacitance satisfactorily coincided with the measured data.     

Non-contact skin moisture measurement based on near-infrared spectroscopy

Non-contact skin moisture measurement based on near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy is proposed in the spectral range from 1300 to 2000 nm. A gap is introduced between the optical fiber probe and the skin surface in order to avoid occluding surface vapor. In vitro and in vivo experiments for measuring the water content of skin are implemented. The measured absorbance spectra are processed by multivariate analyses. Processed results are compared with the water content values obtained by a capacitance method. The correlations between the optical method and the capacitance method obtained by partial-least squares regression are higher than those obtained by multiple linear regression. In addition, a Monte Carlo simulation is implemented to evaluate measurement depths of the optical methods. It is presented that the measurement depth of the optical method depends largely on the water absorption. The simulation result also shows that the measurement depth of the optical method is much deeper than the depth of the capacitance method, especially in the spectral range where water absorption is relatively weak.     

Facile control of DNA-templated inorganic nanoshell size

We elaborated a facile method to control the size of CdS nanoshells obtained by DNA assisted "double templating" approach. By changing the concentration of NaCl in solution to vary the extent of DNA electrostatic deposition on cationic silica beads, we succeeded to control the density of DNA adsorbed on the beads, and further the density of CdS material grown on DNA. Further dissolution of the silica core triggers shrinking of CdS shell to a different extent depending on the CdS shell density and results in formation of CdS nanoshells of different sizes from ca. 100 nm to ca. 400 nm. Therefore, the main advantage of the proposed method is that it can be used to synthesize hollow nanoshells of various sizes, from ca. 25% to ca. 75% size of the primary template (silica bead), by using only one single primary template.     

基于FCM优化的平面阵列电容成像算法

为提高平面阵列电容成像系统的成像精度,提出了一种基于FCM数据优化的成像算法。根据平面阵列电极电容数据的特点,为减小电容测量误差对介电常数的影响,利用FCM算法对测量电容值的不断收敛以实现数据优化的作用,在减弱噪声的同时提高电容值数据的稳定性。在此基础上,对一种隔热材料胶层进行缺陷检测实验,使重建图像的相关系数得到了提高,减小了图像重建误差。实验结果表明:图像重建结果的优化算法可获得更加稳定、有效的电容数据,胶层缺陷图像重建精度具有较大提升。     

Reference trimmer disc capacitor for frequencies up to 200 Mc

Conclusions The above disc capacitor can be used for various purposes as a reference single-valued effective capacitance, or as a many-valued capacitance set at will to any value within its range, for testing or research purposes.The KVCh-8M capacitors are particularly convenient for determining the frequency characteristic of effective capacitances of other capacitors by the substitution method. In this method the measured capacitor is replaced at the high frequency by the KVCh-8M capacitor, which is set to the appropriate value by adjusting the distance between its plates.The preliminary adjustment is made with the capacitor screen removed, and the final adjustment through the opening in the screen.The actual capacitance of the disc trimmer is then calculated from (4) having measured its capacitance on a low-frequency bridge. Such a method of checking capacitors is very simple, since it does not require any accurate high-frequency capacity measuring devices. It is quite sufficient to have any type of Q-meter.     

Layout design in fractal organizations

Today's complex, unpredictable and unstable marketplace requires flexible manufacturing systems capable of cost-effective high variety–low volume production in frequently changing product demand and mix. In fractal organizations, system flexibility and responsiveness are achieved by allocating all manufacturing resources into multifunctional cells that are capable of processing a wide variety of products. In this paper, various fractal cell configuration methods for different system design objectives and constraints are proposed. These parameters determine the level of interaction between the cells, the distribution of different product types among the cells and the similarity of cell capabilities. A tabu-search-based method is proposed to optimize the product distribution to the cells and the arrangement of machines and cells on the shop floor. This optimization is performed for different fractal cell configuration methods and cell quantities. The quality of the resulting shop floor layouts is measured in terms of resource requirements and material movements. The results indicate that in fractal layouts, a trade-off is required between machine quantities and material travelling distance. It was generally possible to reduce travelling distances by increasing the degree of optimization on machine layout and product distribution for a specific product demand and mix.     

C-V calculations in CdS/CdTe thin films solar cells

Polycrystalline thin film CdS/CdTe heterojunction solar cells are important candidates for large scale photovoltaic applications. In this work we use a C-V (capacitance vs. voltage) theoretical method for the determination of the interface charge density σ and band discontinuity ΔEv of the CdS/CdTe heterojunction. The methodology is based on three cardinal equations: i) line up of the bands relative to the common Fermi level (at equilibrium) or the quasi-Fermi level (when voltage is applied), ii) charge neutrality and iii) the total capacitance of the heterostructure. We used CdS/CdTe solar cells, grown in our laboratory by the chemical bath deposition (for CdS film) and the close space vapor transport (for CdTe film) techniques. The interface parameters σ, and ΔEv are determined from C-V fitting between the calculated and the measured curve. The methodology presented in this study is general and can be applied to semiconductor-semiconductor and semimetal-semiconductor heterojunctions.     

经验模态分解和空间滤波在两相流速度测量中的应用

在利用空间滤波和电容传感器测量两相流速度时,需要准确测量电容传感器输出信号的带宽.针对此问题提出一种利用经验模态分解算法来测量传感器带宽的方法.文章首先介绍电容传感器的空间滤波效应和经验模态分解的基本原理,并给出固体速度和电容传感器输出信号带宽之间的关系.然后将经验模态分解和平滑滤波器结合对测量信号进行平滑处理,测量处...     

Imaging of temperature-change distribution in the brain phantom bymeans of capacitance measurement

The final purpose of this study is to realise a noninvasive imaging system of temperature-change distribution in the human head. Human tissue can be generally electrically characterized using resistance and capacitance measurement. Capacitance is related to permittivity with the temperature characteristic. In our method, capacitance is measured using many small electrodes arranged on the surface of the human head. Using their values, the permittivity distribution is reconstructed, and then, the change of their images is replaced by temperature-change distribution using the permittivity-temperature characteristic. In this paper, the reconstruction of temperature-change distribution in the brain phantom by means of the capacitance measurement method has been obtained with the phantom. As a result, although improvement in the measurement system and reconstruction algorithm is needed, the pattern of temperature-change could be presented     

Three-dimensional Displacement Analysis by Windowed Phase-shifting Digital Holographic Interferometry

Abstract:  Phase-shifting digital holography is a new method for measuring the displacement distribution on the surface of an object. The authors previously proposed a windowed phase-shifting digital holographic interferometry (windowed PSDHI). This method provides accurate displacement distributions by decreasing the effect of speckle patterns. In this study, the method is extended to analyse three-dimensional displacement components in a microscope. Three object laser beams in the optical system are used. Four phase-shifted holograms are recorded for each object laser beam. The complex amplitude of each reconstructed light at the object is calculated by the Fresnel diffraction integral of the complex amplitude of the hologram. The reconstructed distance is obtained at the point with the maximum of the standard deviation of the intensities of the object reconstructed with changing the reconstruction distance. The three phase-difference values between before and after deformation provide the three-dimensional displacement components. Theoretical treatment and experimental results of three-dimensional displacement measurement using this method are shown.     

Implications of the negative capacitance observed at forward bias in nanocomposite and polycrystalline solar cells

Four different types of solar cells prepared in different laboratories have been characterized by impedance spectroscopy (IS): thin-film CdS/CdTe devices, an extremely thin absorber (eta) solar cell made with microporous TiO2/In(OH)xSy/PbS/PEDOT, an eta-solar cell of nanowire ZnO/CdSe/CuSCN, and a solid-state dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) with Spiro-OMeTAD as the transparent hole conductor. A negative capacitance behavior has been observed in all of them at high forward bias, independent of material type (organic and inorganic), configuration, and geometry of the cells studied. The experiments suggest a universality of the underlying phenomenon giving rise to this effect in a broad range of solar cell devices. An equivalent circuit model is suggested to explain the impedance and capacitance spectra, with an inductive recombination pathway that is activated at forward bias. The deleterious effect of negative capacitance on the device performance is discussed, by comparison of the results obtained for a conventional monocrystalline Si solar cell showing the positive chemical capacitance expected in the ideal IS model of a solar cell.     

On-line measurement of material properties for composite wing structures

Structures will encounter degradation of material properties in changing service environments. To improve structural safety and prevent accident, it is necessary to examine material properties of structures in nondestructive ways. Although several nondestructive evaluation techniques have been developed in the literature, most of them detect local damages not global material properties. In this paper, an on-line and real-time detection system is developed through the concept of inverse analysis. In this system, the detectors are selected to be natural frequencies and static strains whose relations with material properties can be obtained from analytical solution or commercial finite element software or experimental data. Transferring their relations into training patterns of artificial neural networks, the elastic properties of composite wing structures can be determined on-line with frequency and strain sensors embedded into structures. To illustrate this on-line measurement system, an example of NACA 2412 composite wing is provided in this paper. This example shows that the material properties determined through this on-line system well agree with the values obtained from the conventional testing methods. The difference is that the present method determines the properties on-line and real-time without cutting any specimen on the structures and testing specimens in the laboratory.     

柔性极板电容式液位传感器的研究和应用

目的 为了解决传统硬质极板电容式液位传感器在曲面容器上性能不佳的问题.方法 从寄生电容的基本原理出发,研发一种可以包覆于圆柱面容器的柔性极板电容式液位传感器,建立液位与电容量间的数学关系,完成相应的软、硬件设计,通过STM32与柔性极板电容式液位传感器之间的I2C通信,实现液位传感器的在线水位检测,完成传感器性能测试实验,包括线性度、重复性、迟滞特性,并提出一种基于该传感器的流量测量方法.结果 该传感器工作稳定,具有良好线性度,重复性误差为2.70％,在有效测量范围的迟滞特性参数都小于1.69％.结论 该柔性极板电容式液位传感器安装使用便捷、与容器外壁贴合度较好,且测量结果不受容器水平横截面积、待测液体成分的限制,可以实时监测连续液位的变化.制作的传感器可以用在直径20 mm和更小的待测容器上,也可用作微小流量测量.     

粗略不相似度量及其在层次聚类中的应用

局部结构特征在数据分析过程中具有重要的作用.为获得简单有效的数据集局部结构化特征检测方法,本文结合重采样误差分析和传统的近邻选择方法提出了一种检测局部结构特征的方向一致性度量—粗略不相似性度量.该度量是一种优化的近邻选择方法,不仅考虑了传统的欧氏距离排序,而且考虑了局部方向结构特征.因其计算和存储复杂度小以及具有优越的结构检测性能,可应用于无监督学习形成一种层次化的子图聚类算法—RDClust,与经典聚类算法相比,其优势在于:一是计算复杂度较小,是近似线性算法;二是无需对类的形状和分布形式做任何的假设,可自动体现数据集的局部结构;三是有一个近邻参数,且该参数对结果较鲁棒.在人工和真实数据集上的实验显示了新的度量方式应用于新算法的优越性能.     

Online Voidage Measurement of Two-Phase Flow Based on the Ant System Algorithm

Based on the 12-electrode electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) system and the ant system algorithm (ASA), a new method was proposed for online voidage measurement of oil-gas two-phase flow. In practical voidage measurement, based on the 66 measurement capacitances obtained from the ECT system, the real-time flow pattern of oil-gas two-phase flow was first identified. Then, according to the flow pattern identification result, an appropriate measurement model was selected, and the measurement voidage value was calculated. The measurement models related to the flow pattern were developed in advance using the ASA. Static and dynamic experimental results show that the proposed voidage measurement method is effective. Moreover, the real-time performance and measurement accuracy are satisfactory.