Sensor Circuit Research Articles

Self-Powered Potentiometric Sensor with Relational Operation Function to Capture Concentration Excursions.

Self-powered potentiometric sensors spontaneously respond to activity changes of target species without the need for an external power source. Here, a self-powered potentiometric sensing approach is described that may store concentration perturbations that occur before the sensor readout through a combination of capacitors and diodes. Two channels, termed "more than" and "less than" operators, are utilized as memory modules in the sensor circuit to record positive and negative concentration excursions, respectively. Each channel is constructed with a capacitor-diode pair in which each diode is connected to a capacitor in the opposite direction to prevent unwanted capacitor discharge. With this design, only potential variations that agree with the polarity of the diode may pass and be stored in the capacitor. A limitation of the principle is that the conductivity of the diode is very small if the voltage across it diminishes over time as it approaches the equilibrium value. To address this, the forward voltage is increased by about 1 V by switching from an initial Ag/AgCl reference electrode (RE) to a Zn/Zn2+ element. The device may be used to monitor whether a concentration excursion has occurred in the time leading up to the signal readout in a semiquantitative manner. The approach also differentiates pH excursions of different durations (20, 40, 60 min). As an example, four different pH excursions of 20 min duration were successfully distinguished in river water samples with amplitudes of 1 to 4 pH units relative to the case without pH perturbation.

DEVELOPING AN ELECTRONIC PEN NEEDLE HOLDER USED IN MICROSURGERY

The concept of electrical integrated with surgical instruments (EISI) was first introduced by one of the authors of this paper. It aims to add electronic chips to classical surgical instruments to facilitate the surgeon's work during operation. Another concept called Penization is also utilized to redesign the instruments into pen-like ones to have 360° control by the surgeons' hands. This concept results in the production of the so-called pen needle holder. We tried to add an electrical chip to this innovative needle holder design to solve the problem of passing the needle through hard tissues in delicate microsurgical work, especially in neurosurgery. Method: A hybrid electronic circuit was added to the newly designed needle holder. We designed a circuit with built-in motors to facilitate the pen needle holder's work on tough tissue. The design respects the so-called tunnel principle, which states that we can add any material or devices within the surgical instrument that are not in contact with the organic tissue. The system depends on a pressure sensor circuit located just beneath the index tip of the surgeon so that whenever he has tough tissue, the pressure on the sensor through his index finger will increase to a certain amount; it will stimulate uni-direction vibrators, which will push that tip of the needle holder Onwards. The electrical motors will stop spontaneously whenever resistance stops as the needle passes through the tissue; ten neurosurgeons use this integrated surgical instrument. They answered a special questionnaire designed to compare the use of this pen needle hoarder with the electronic vibrators and without it, and the results were encouraging. Conclusion: The newly designed pen needle holder with an integrated electronic chip is approved to facilitate the surgeon's work, especially with hard tissues. It creates an opportunity to develop further innovations by integrating these electrical chips with other surgical instruments.

Spiking Neural Network Pressure Sensor.

Von Neumann architecture requires information to be encoded as numerical values. For that reason, artificial neural networks running on computers require the data coming from sensors to be discretized. Other network architectures that more closely mimic biological neural networks (e.g., spiking neural networks) can be simulated on von Neumann architecture, but more important, they can also be executed on dedicated electrical circuits having orders of magnitude less power consumption. Unfortunately, input signal conditioning and encoding are usually not supported by such circuits, so a separate module consisting of an analog-to-digital converter, encoder, and transmitter is required. The aim of this article is to propose a sensor architecture, the output signal of which can be directly connected to the input of a spiking neural network. We demonstrate that the output signal is a valid spike source for the Izhikevich model neurons, ensuring the proper operation of a number of neurocomputational features. The advantages are clear: much lower power consumption, smaller area, and a less complex electronic circuit. The main disadvantage is that sensor characteristics somehow limit the parameters of applicable spiking neurons. The proposed architecture is illustrated by a case study involving a capacitive pressure sensor circuit, which is compatible with most of the neurocomputational properties of the Izhikevich neuron model. The sensor itself is characterized by very low power consumption: it draws only 3.49 μA at 3.3 V.

Passive wireless multi-parameter LC sensing system for in situ health monitoring of bearings

The health condition of bearings is crucial for the safe operation of equipment. In situ, multi-parameter monitoring of the rotating components of bearings facilitates accurate assessment and diagnosis of bearing health. Based on the previous research on LC (Inductor-Capacitor) strain sensor for bearings, a passive wireless multi-parameter LC sensor suitable for in situ monitoring of bearings is proposed. The LC sensor uses dual resonance frequencies together with one quality factor to simultaneously monitor three parameters of bearing. Theoretical derivation and simulation analysis indicate that, due to the adoption of a symmetrical circuit structure, the two resonant frequencies of the LC sensor are independent and do not interfere with each other. Furthermore, the asymmetric analysis shows that under significant parameter asymmetry, the two resonant frequencies still maintain excellent independence. According to the installation position of the bearing, the sensor coil and the sensor circuit are designed to be conformal to the bearing. The acceleration, strain and temperature response curves of the LC sensor are measured by installing it on a circular steel disc that simulates the environment of a bearing. Finally, the LC sensor is successfully demonstrated on a bearing test platform.

A column bus self-acceleration circuit for large array CMOS image sensor

A column bus self-acceleration circuit for large array CMOS image sensor

An Energy‐Efficient Fully On‐Chip CMOS Temperature Sensor for Portable Applications With an RFoM of 2.79 pJ.K2

ABSTRACTThis article describes an energy‐efficient, low‐power CMOS temperature sensor suitable for portable applications. The sensor's front‐end circuitry is designed with a reference voltage (V), complementary to absolute temperature (CTAT) voltage (V), and ramp voltage generators. The ramp voltage (V) is produced by utilizing a current reference circuit. The ramp voltage is compared with independent and temperature‐dependent voltages to perform the voltage‐to‐frequency conversion. Conversion from frequency to digital output is achieved through an asynchronous counter with an on‐chip oscillator. The proposed design is realized in a 0.18‐m CMOS technology and attains a power usage of 604.4 nW at 27°C with an operating voltage of 0.5 V. Furthermore, it obtains an inaccuracy of +0.71/−0.73°C over −40°C to 125°C temperature range with an active area of 0.025 mm2. Moreover, the designed sensor circuit offers a resolution of 0.17°C with an energy conversion of 96.7 pJ.

A CMOS front-end circuit for capacitive sensors with zero adjustment

A front-end circuit with measurement zero adjustment was designed using 180nm CMOS technology for capacitive sensors. A series-switched capacitor composed of capacitor under test and MOSFETs is controlled by a clock signal to convert capacitance to current. The minimum output current at fixed capacitance can be adjusted by applying different voltage to realize zero adjustment. The test shows that the output current has a monotonic linear relationship with the measured capacitance, with capacitance detection range reaches 50pF-3000pF and an output current range of 0.59mA-22.2mA. The maximum span of multiple measurements was lower than 8.37uA. The stable time is less than 23ms and sensitivity is 19.8uA/pF. This circuit is suitable for long-distance and wide-range capacitance detections.

A novel cryogenic acoustic microscope to evaluate electronic components

Abstract Electronics to operate at cryogenic temperatures is key to many areas of science, including space exploration and in particle physics. Ensuring circuit functional reliability is mission critical. One system that will use tens of thousands of custom designed application specific integrated circuits (ASIC) is the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment (DUNE), which will have sensor circuits operating in liquid argon (87 K) for decades. Both functional and nondestructive testing are being used to ensure circuit quality and reliability. Part of this work involves design, testing and data analysis using a cryogenic acoustic microscope operating at frequencies up to 50 MHz. Image analysis and correlations are used to compare differences seen before and after cryogenic cycling. Data are reported that were collected at room temperature (300 K) and when cooled using liquid nitrogen (77 K).

Design of multi-component gas measurement system based on STM32

Abstract To detect the concentration of toxic and harmful gases in the environment in a timely and effective manner, this article designs a multi-component gas measurement system based on the STM32 processor, which can effectively detect three toxic and harmful gases (CO, NO2, and SO2), a gas detection terminal for the concentration of two greenhouse gases (CO2 and CH4) and an inhalable particulate matter (PM2.5), and a handheld display terminal that can display the measured gas concentration in real-time. A practical application circuit for electrochemical sensors has been designed, simplifying the design of driving amplification circuits. Finally, the feasibility of the system was verified through automobile exhaust experiments.

Wearable flexible eddy current instruments for defect inspection of curved surfaces

ABSTRACT The utilisation of curved structural components is prevalent, despite their proneness to degradation over time. This research introduces a wearable and flexible electromagnetic non-destructive testing instrument that is furnished with an eddy current sensor, multi-channel excitation and acquisition circuits, amplifiers, as well as signal processing circuits. A unique design for the flexible Eddy Current Testing (ECT) sensor is suggested to ensure its suitability for diverse curved surfaces. By combining the sensor with gloves, it facilitates wearable inspection. Leveraging the self-developed instrument system, this sensor can detect defects with a minimum depth of 0.1 mm while also being capable of identifying crack orientation accurately. Furthermore, it quantitatively determines the depth of defects on curved surfaces with high signal-to-noise ratios. The instrument system exhibits high portability, flexibility, and efficiency, rendering it readily adaptable for various applications.

High-Sensitivity Differential Sensor for Characterizing Complex Permittivity of Liquids Based on LC Resonators.

This paper proposes a high-sensitivity microstrip differential sensor for measuring the complex permittivity of liquids. The prototype of the differential sensor was formed by cascading two LC resonators on a microstrip transmission line based on stepped impedance. A strong electric field was found to be distributed in the circular patch of the LC resonator; therefore, a cylindrical micropore was set in the center of the circular LC resonator to measure the dielectric sample, which maximized the disturbance of the dielectric sample on the sensor. By optimizing the size of the circular LC resonator, a high-sensitivity sensor circuit was designed and manufactured. The complex permittivity of the test sample was calculated by measuring the transmission coefficient of different molar concentrations of ethanol-water solutions. The experimental results show that the designed differential sensor can accurately measure the complex permittivity of liquid materials with an average sensitivity of 0.76%.

Flame intensity sensor based on the resistive and memory properties of spintronic memristor

A flame intensity sensor based on the resistive and memory properties of spintronic memristor is proposed. The sensor circuit mainly consists of the infrared radiation conversion module, the spintronic memristor array module, the amplifier and current limiting resistor. In order to verify the designed sensor, experiments were conducted under no flame, constant and gradually increasing flame combustion temperature, and the effects of the number of parallel memristor arrays, current limiting resistors, measurement distance and radiation wavelength on the sensor were analyzed. The experiments results demonstrate that the designed flame intensity sensor based on the resistive and memory properties of spintronic memristor can quantitatively measure the flame intensity. When the temperature change rate of flame combustion is 1℃/s, the sensor measurement range is 0–3.1 mW/cm2, and the sensitivity is 4.516kΩ/(mW/cm2). The rate of change in the resistance of the spintronic memristor array may be affected by the changes in flame intensity, but this does not affect the measurement range of the sensor.

An offset calibration scheme for on-chip thermal profiling with differential temperature sensors

This paper introduces an on-chip analog calibration method tailored for differential temperature sensors in thermal monitoring applications. A three-step calibration process is proposed within a two-stage high-gain instrumentation amplifier to compensate for the output voltage offset due to device mismatches and on-chip temperature gradients. The calibration circuits were designed in a standard 65 nm CMOS process for simulation. Results indicate that an input-referred offset with a mean of 0.2 μV can be achieved after calibration, through which the standard deviation is greatly reduced from σ = 880.3 to σ = 5086 μV. Furthermore, the proposed analog offset calibration scheme has negligible impact on the sensitivity of the complete temperature sensor circuit, as shown by Monte Carlo and process-temperature corner simulation results.

Hybrid Organic-Si C-MOSFET Image Sensor Designed with Blue-, Green-, and Red-Sensitive Organic Photodiodes on Si C-MOSFET-Based Photo Signal Sensor Circuit.

The resolution of Si complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistor (C-MOSFET) image sensors (CISs) has been intensively enhanced to follow the technological revolution of smartphones, AI devices, autonomous cars, robots, and drones, approaching the physical and material limits of a resolution increase in conventional Si CISs because of the low quantum efficiency (i.e., ~40%) and aperture ratio (i.e., ~60%). As a novel solution, a hybrid organic-Si image sensor was developed by implementing B, G, and R organic photodiodes on four n-MOSFETs for photocurrent sensing. Photosensitive organic donor and acceptor materials were designed with cost-effective small molecules, i.e., the B, G, and R donor and acceptor small molecules were Coumarin6 and C_60, DMQA and MePTC, and ZnPc and TiOPc, respectively. The output voltage sensing margins (i.e., photocurrent signal difference) of the hybrid organic-Si B, G, and R image sensor pixels presented results 17, 11, and 37% higher than those of conventional Si CISs. In addition, the hybrid organic-Si B, G, and R image sensor pixels could achieve an ideal aperture ratio (i.e., ~100%) compared with a Si CIS pixel using the backside illumination process (i.e., ~60%). Moreover, they may display a lower fabrication cost than image sensors because of the simple image sensor structure (i.e., hybrid organic-Si photodiode with four n-MOSFETs).

Oil wear debris sensor with temperature compensation

In this paper, in response to the problem that oil temperature changes will affect the detection results of the inductive wear debris sensor, a Wheatstone bridge-type oil wear debris sensor was designed using two two-wire helical tube coils, precision potentiometers, precision resistors, and a conditioning circuit with differential, phase-locked, and amplification functions were designed. Through practical tests, 72–400 μm iron particles were detected under the water bath's heating condition from 20℃ to 70℃. It proves that the designed Wheatstone bridge sensor and conditioning circuit can detect ferromagnetic particles in multiple temperature oil. The de-signed sensor and conditioning circuit effectively solves the problem of temperature drift of the detected signal under high-temperature conditions, improving the signal-to-noise ratio of wear debris detection under multiple temperatures. The sensor is suitable for lubricant detection systems with varying or constant high oil temperatures. The work presented in this paper provides significant reference value for the practical operation of oil sensors in real-world environments.

Methane (CH4) Detection System Using The TGS2611 Sensor and MQ-4 Sensor

Abstract This research focused on cow dung digesters as measurement samples, utilizing the TGS2611 and MQ-4 sensors, both known for their affordability. The objective was to develop a low-cost gas sensor system for monitoring methane gas concentrations through a straightforward web-based data acquisition platform. The DHT11 sensor was employed to measure air temperature and humidity. The electronic sensor circuit in this research utilized a voltage divider circuit. Testing the performance of the low-cost gas sensor involved integrating it with an anaerobic digestion system. For both the TGS2611 and MQ-4 sensors, the graph illustrating the relationship between sensor voltage (volts) and methane gas concentration (ppm) formed a logarithmic or non-linear pattern. The measurement range for the system was around 4700 ppm to 6300 ppm for TGS2611 and 4000 ppm to 5100 ppm for MQ-4. The sensor sensitivity was determined as 0.5433 Volts/ppm for TGS2611 and 0.5639 Volt/ppm for MQ-4. The TGS2611 sensor exhibited a higher response to changes in methane gas concentration, while the MQ-4 sensor successfully detected methane gas within its designated range. Interestingly, the TGS2611 sensor accurately detected methane gas concentrations above its specified range. The gas sampling procedure involved automatic gas sampling in a vacuum chamber for measurement, a strategy potentially enhancing sensor robustness. This research successfully amalgamated sensor advantages, circuit control, and data analysis to realize an economical yet reliable monitoring system.

26‐1: Embedded a‐Si Photo‐Transistor Sensors Integration in Remote Optical Touch‐input Panel Using Four‐Mask Process Architecture Technology

An optical type touch‐input flat panel is designed. The driving system is based on the passive pixel sensor (PPS) array with amorphous silicon (a‐Si) TFT technology. The embedded sensing structure of the optical sensor is using the a‐Si TFT phototransistor and four‐mask process architecture technology. This paper presents a primary optical pixel sensor circuit that utilizes hydrogenated amorphous silicon photo‐transistor sensor. The a‐Si TFT phototransistor sensor is high reliability by using Multi‐N+ layer in the a‐Si TFT structure.

MONITORING AND MANAGEMENT OF ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE BATTERY SYSTEMS

Some problems that often occur with electric motorbike batteries include overcharge, overdischarge and overheat. To avoid these problems, it is necessary to regulate or monitor the battery, which is called a Battery Management System (BMS). The BMS in this research is focused on the use of PSDKU Kediri electric motors. With this BMS design, it is hoped that it can be used as a reference in battery system management so that the battery lasts longer. In this study, 112 batteries were used, consisting of 14 series and 8 parallel. The voltage sensor circuit is made to determine the battery cell voltage so that overvoltage and undervoltage protection can be carried out. Measurements can be made using a multimeter by adjusting the reading position on the voltage. The maximum voltage produced is around 57.7 volts with a charging time of 7 hours

Multifunctional laser-induced graphene circuits and laser-printed nanomaterials toward non-invasive human kidney function monitoring

Faced with the increasing prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD), portable monitoring of CKD-related biomarkers such as potassium ion (K+), creatinine (Cre), and lactic acid (Lac) levels in sweat has shown tremendous potential for early diagnosis. However, a rapidly manufacturable portable device integrating multiple CKD-related biomarker sensors for ease of sweat testing use has yet to be reported. Here, a portable electrochemical sensor integrated with multifunctional laser-induced graphene (LIG) circuits and laser-printed nanomaterials based working electrodes fabricated by fully automatic laser manufacturing is proposed for non-invasive human kidney function monitoring. The sensor comprises a two-electrode LIG circuit for K+ sensing, a three-electrode LIG circuit with a Kelvin compensating connection for Cre and Lac sensing, and a printed circuit board based portable electrochemical workstation. The working electrodes containing Cu and Cu2O nanoparticles fabricated by two-step laser printing show good sensitivity and selectivity toward Cre and Lac sensing. The sensor circuits are fabricated by generating a hydrophilic-hydrophobic interface on a patterned LIG through laser. This sensor recruited rapid laser manufacturing and integrated with multifunctional LIG circuits and laser-printed nanomaterials based working electrodes, which is a potential kidney function monitoring solution for healthy people and kidney disease patients.

Weight‐Reconfigurable Neuromorphic Computing Systems for Analog Signal Integration

AbstractOwing to the necessity of high computation amounts has emerged, interest in a neuromorphic computing system has significantly increased as a compelling alternative to conventional CMOS technology. This paper presents a neuromorphic hardware algorithm to finely reconfigure multi‐input signal processing, which can be implemented as an advanced processor for diverse external information, and the hydrogen explosion risk assessment system is demonstrated as a proof of concept. Hydrogen concentration and temperature are used as sensory inputs for the signal integration and the precise values of them are determined by offsetting the effect of temperature on the electrical signal from the hydrogen sensor through a sensor circuit. Each signal is then updated by the weight control circuit and converted into a postsynaptic current to represent the hydrogen explosion risk using a multi‐input artificial synapse. This simplicity of the circuitry renders the fabrication of all components and circuits compatible with simple inkjet printing methods, enabling cost‐effective and high‐throughput manufacturing. Additionally, the real‐time demonstration of the neuromorphic computing system is successfully conducted, offering insights into the practical application of neuromorphic computing.