DEVELOPMENT OF A 3-PLATES CAPACITIVE PRESSURE SENSOR

Abstract

International Journal of Computational Engineering ScienceVol. 04, No. 03, pp. 613-616 (2003) Poster PapersNo AccessDEVELOPMENT OF A 3-PLATES CAPACITIVE PRESSURE SENSORWOEI-WAN TAN, PEI GE, FRANCIS ENG-HOCK TAY, and AI-POH LOHWOEI-WAN TANNational University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119260, Singapore Search for more papers by this author , PEI GENational University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119260, Singapore Search for more papers by this author , FRANCIS ENG-HOCK TAYNational University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119260, Singapore Search for more papers by this author , and AI-POH LOHNational University of Singapore, 10 Kent Ridge Crescent Singapore 119260, Singapore Search for more papers by this author https://doi.org/10.1142/S1465876303001885Cited by:2 PreviousNext AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsRecommend to Library ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail AbstractThis paper describes a micro capacitive pressure sensor for hydrostatic tank gauging (HTG), an emerging way to accurately gauge liquid inventory and to monitor transfers in tank farms. Since industrial storage vessels are huge, the sensing element must be sufficiently thick to withstand the large pressure inside the tanks. However, a thick diaphragm is insensitive to the relatively small pressure changes brought about by variations in the fluid head. To detect small pressure changes in the presence of a high constant load, a novel three-plates structure that introduces an additional plate between the two electrodes of a parallel plate capacitive pressure is proposed. A boss ring etched below the thick top plate, which serves as the sensing element, will come into contact with the middle pate and cause it to deflect when the applied pressure crosses a pre-determined threshold. Pressure is measured by monitoring the change in capacitance between the middle plate and the insulated substrate. As the middle plate is constructed as a cantilever, it magnifies the small deflections in the diaphragm and thus enabling small changes in pressure to be detected. Simulation results indicate that the sensitivity of the proposed structure is comparable to conventional parallel plate capactive pressure sensors.Keywords:capacitive pressure sensorhydrostatictank gauging References C. Ajluni C, Electronic Design 44, 59 (1996). Google ScholarW. S. Czarnocki and J. P. Schuster, Sensors 16, 64 (1999). Google ScholarG. Vass, Sensors 17, 55 (2000). Google ScholarP. Del Vecchio and J. Rowe, InTech 38, 24 (1991). Google ScholarR. H. Grace, Sensors 17, (2000). Google Scholar P. Ge, Microelectromechanical Capacitive Pressure Sensor for Hydrostatic Tank Gauging, Ph. D. Qualifying Report, National University of Singapore (2003) . Google Scholar FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited By 2A continuous-time capacitance to voltage converter for microcapacitive pressure sensorsShao Lichun, Moorthi Palaniapan and Tan Woei Wan25 April 2006 | Journal of Physics: Conference Series, Vol. 34Theoretical Model of A Three Plates Capacitive Pressure Sensor Pei Ge, Woei Wan Tan and F. Tay Recommended Vol. 04, No. 03 Metrics History Keywordscapacitive pressure sensorhydrostatictank gaugingPDF download