Thermal Drift Compensation Research Articles

Characterization of Magnetoresistive Shunts and Its Sensitivity Temperature Compensation.

The main purpose of the paper is to show how a magnetoresistive (MR) element can work as a current sensor instead of using a Wheatstone bridge composed by four MR elements, defining the concept of a magnetoresistive shunt (MR-shunt). This concept is reached by considering that once the MR element is biased at a constant current, the voltage drop between its terminals offers information, by the MR effect, of the current to be measured, as happens in a conventional shunt resistor. However, an MR-shunt has the advantage of being a non-dissipative shunt since the current of interest does not circulate through the material, preventing its self-heating. Moreover, it provides galvanic isolation. First, we propose an electronic circuitry enabling the utilization of the available MR sensors integrated into a Wheatstone bridge as sensing elements (MR-shunt). This circuitry allows independent characterization of each of the four elements of the bridge. An independently implemented MR element is also analyzed. Secondly, we propose an electronic conditioning circuit for the MR-shunt, which allows both the bridge-integrated element and the single element to function as current sensors in a similar way to the sensing bridge. Third, the thermal variation in the sensitivity of the MR-shunt, and its temperature coefficient, are obtained. An electronic interface is proposed and analyzed for thermal drift compensation of the MR-shunt current sensitivity. With this hardware compensation, temperature coefficients are experimentally reduced from 0.348%/°C without compensation to -0.008%/°C with compensation for an element integrated in a sensor bridge and from 0.474%/°C to -0.0007%/°C for the single element.

Management of thermal drift of bolometric infrared cameras: limits and recommendations

ABSTRACT In this article, the authors propose a general framework for checking the calibration of the A325sc camera and then minimizing the temperature measurement errors due to thermal drift. Thermal drift and non-uniformity affect the measurement accuracy of infrared bolometric cameras and remain a major problem for the reproducibility and repeatability of radiance quantification. Any thermal camera is pre-calibrated at the factory to correct for thermal drift. This pre-calibration was done for specific case temperatures, and variations in these temperatures are a major source of uncertainty. To improve the accuracy of the camera measurements, it’s important to control the housing temperatures. To this end, a cold box was build up. The effectiveness of the thermal drift compensation was examined over the two ranges of the camera. In the [-20°C; 120°C] range, the thermal drift compensation is efficient up to 110°C. The range [0°C; 350°C] highlights two behaviors: for an emitting temperature within [65-225] °C, the thermal drift compensation is made difficult by the self-heating of the measurement chain due to the intensity of the source. Above 225°C, the self-heating of the optics is significant, as it becomes more absorbent. A correction of the thermosignal is suggested.

Investigating focal spot position drift in a mobile imaging system equipped with a monobloc-based x-ray generator.

Misalignment or double-contouring artifacts can appear in high-resolution 3D cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) images, potentially indicating geometric accuracy issues in the projection data. Such artifacts may go unnoticed in low-resolution images and could be associated with changes in the focal spot (FS)position. High-resolution 3D-CBCT imaging by a mobile imaging device with a large gantry clearance offers more versatility for clinical workflows in image-guided brachytherapy (IGBT), intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT), and spinal, as well as maxillofacial surgery. However, misalignment or double-contouring artifacts hinder workflow advancements in these domains. This paper introduces intrinsic calibration and geometrical correction methods as extensions to a well-established technique for addressing geometrical deviations resulting from factors such as gravity or mechanical inconsistencies. These extensions cover shifts and drifts of the FS depending on FS size selection, temperature, tube current, and tube potential. The proposed methods effectively mitigate artifacts in high-resolution CBCT images stemming from geometrical inaccuracies in projection data, without requiring additional equipment like a pinholedevice. Geometrical offsets and drifts of the x-ray tube FS were characterized on a mobile multi-purpose imaging system, the ImagingRing-m. A pinhole-like experiment was simulated by adjusting the movable collimation unit to a small rectangular aperture within the FS size range. The influence of filament selection, that is, FS size, temperature, the relatively low tube currents, as well as tube potential settings have been studied on two different monobloc types sharing the same x-ray tube insert. The Catphan 504 and an Alderson head phantom were used to assess resulting imageartifacts. Switching the FS size to one different from what was used for geometrical (gravitation, mechanical variations) calibration induced the most notable position changes of the x-ray FS, resulting in double-contouring artifacts and blurring of high-resolution 3D-CBCT images. Incorporating these shifts into a geometrical correction method effectively minimized these artifacts. Thermal drifts exhibited the second largest geometrical changes, comparable to FS size shifts across the thermal operating conditions of the x-ray system. The proposed thermal drift compensation markedly reduced thermal drift effects. Tube current and potential had little impact within the range of available tube currents, eliminating the need for compensation in currentapplications. Augmenting the geometrical calibration pipeline with proposed FS drift compensations yielded significant enhancements in image quality for high-resolution reconstructions. While compensation for thermal effects posed challenges, it proved achievable. The roles of tube current and potential were found to benegligible.

Amplitude modulated feed-forward thermal drift compensation for linear and nonlinear current sensors

The linear and nonlinear temperature responses restrict the application of Hall current sensors operating in thermal power plants and industries. The rise in temperature of electron device-based measurement causes a significant error, leading to undesirable consequences for plant operation and relay coordination. This paper investigates four Hall current sensor types with linear and nonlinear temperature responses. The Hall current sensor, which receives the magnetic excitation from the permanent magnet, exhibits a linear temperature response, and the wire-wound design exhibits a nonlinear temperature response in the temperature range of 306–376 K. The solution scheme with amplitude modulation and thermal sensor integration with interdigitated electrode design having graphene and ZnO–KMnO4 compounds as the dielectric is also proposed. The use of amplitude modulation achieves input frequency immunity with a 0.03% K−1 improvement in the temperature response of the capacitive thermal sensor. Experimental observations confirm the validity of the thermal drift compensation scheme with a 20%–99% reduction of thermal drift error with a suitable choice of a thermal sensor.

Vision-based thermal drift monitoring method for machine tools

A method is presented to measure machine tool thermal drift for error compensation. A wireless microscope within a tool holder in the spindle is used to capture videos of image targets attached to the worktable. For each target, one video is captured during spindle rotation orthogonal to the worktable and another video is captured during axis translation orthogonal to the worktable. Data are collected periodically so that the three-dimensional thermal error at each target location is determined via image analysis. Experiments verify that the method measures micrometer-level tool-to-workpiece thermal drift for error model development and thermal drift compensation.

Thermal drift compensation of load cell reading using linear regression in weighing lysimeters

The official journal of Agricultural Sciences published by the Faculty of Agriculture, Eastern University, Chenkalady, Sri Lanka.AGRIEAST publishes research information of broad practical significance pertaining to both tropical and subtropical Agriculture.

Characterization and compensation of thermal bias drift of a stiffness-tunable MEMS accelerometer

This paper presents characterization and compensation of the thermal bias drift of a MEMS accelerometer whose effective stiffness is electrostatically tuned to a low value with the help of the single-sided parallel plates (SSPPs) capacitors. A temperature drift model for the proposed accelerometer is built and the temperature effect on the mechanical stiffness and the circuit gains is characterized. The characterization reveals that the variations of the feedforward coefficient including the mechanical stiffness and the readout gain due to the temperature change play a significant role in the bias drift of output of the proposed closed-loop accelerometer. On the other hand, the variations of both feedback gain and tuning gain as a function of temperature are one-order-of-magnitude less than that of the feedforward coefficient. To calibrate the feedforward coefficient, an excitation signal as a form of AC reference displacement is introduced to drive the proof mass and the readout response is demodulated to calibrate the variance of the feedforward coefficient correspondingly. An open-loop compensation scheme for the temperature-induced bias drift using the variance of the calibrated response is proposed accordingly. Alternatively, the calibrated response can be controlled to a preset value by a new proportion integral derivative (PID) controller by the adjustment of the SSPP tuning voltage. The output of the PID controller is used for the calibration of the introduced bias from the electrostatic tuning force. Therefore, a closed-loop compensation of the thermal bias drift is achieved by remaining the feedforward coefficient while eliminating the calibrated bias. Experiments under a temperature cooling process and different tuning voltages are carried out to verify two proposed compensation schemes. The temperature drift coefficients (TDCs) of both compensated outputs exhibit at least one-order-of-magnitude reduction in response to the temperature change. When the effective stiffness of the accelerometer is tuned to about 4.19 N m−1, the TDC of the compensated output using the proposed open-loop or closed-loop compensation schemes is reduced to about 0.1136 or 0.0391 mg °C−1, respectively and meanwhile, the Allan bias instability is slightly increased to 48.63 or 56.14 μg, respectively.

Self-Calibration Technique with Lightweight Algorithm for Thermal Drift Compensation in MEMS Accelerometers.

Capacitive MEMS accelerometers have a high thermal sensitivity that drifts the output when subjected to changes in temperature. To improve their performance in applications with thermal variations, it is necessary to compensate for these effects. These drifts can be compensated using a lightweight algorithm by knowing the characteristic thermal parameters of the accelerometer (Temperature Drift of Bias and Temperature Drift of Scale Factor). These parameters vary in each accelerometer and axis, making an individual calibration necessary. In this work, a simple and fast calibration method that allows the characteristic parameters of the three axes to be obtained simultaneously through a single test is proposed. This method is based on the study of two specific orientations, each at two temperatures. By means of the suitable selection of the orientations and the temperature points, the data obtained can be extrapolated to the entire working range of the accelerometer. Only a mechanical anchor and a heat source are required to perform the calibration. This technique can be scaled to calibrate multiple accelerometers simultaneously. A lightweight algorithm is used to analyze the test data and obtain the compensation parameters. This algorithm stores only the most relevant data, reducing memory and computing power requirements. This allows it to be run in real time on a low-cost microcontroller during testing to obtain compensation parameters immediately. This method is aimed at mass factory calibration, where individual calibration with traditional methods may not be an adequate option. The proposed method has been compared with a traditional calibration using a six tests in orthogonal directions and a thermal chamber with a relative error difference of 0.3%.

Estimation of temperature detection delay in a fiber optic gyroscope sensing coil

The use of algorithmic temperature compensation requires that the external temperature sensor data and the thermal response of the fiber optic sensor should be synchronized. The paper considers an approach to estimate the temperature detection delay for the external temperature sensor in a sensing coil assembly of a fiber-optic gyroscope. The delay estimation is based on a cross-correlation of temperature data from an external temperature sensor and temperature data of an optical fiber segment obtained by distributed temperature measurement based on optical frequency reflectometry. The results include the estimation of temperature detection delay between the sensing coil and the temperature sensor. The described approach allows evaluating temperature detection delay in a sensing coil assembly of a fiber-optic gyroscope. In case of using multiple temperature sensors, the delay for each temperature sensor can be estimated and taken into account to improve the efficiency of the thermal drift compensation of the fiber optic gyroscope.

Improved Stability and Performance of Surface Acoustic Wave Nanosensors Using a Digital Temperature Compensation

Surface Acoustic Waves (SAW) sensors are known to be an excellent choice for the measurement of a small concentration of analytes in gas mixtures. The use of this type of sensor has been limited until now in the industrial environment due to the sensitivity of its response to temperature variations. To overcome this problem, thermal stabilization of equipment is normally used. We propose here a simple procedure of compensation of thermal drift in SAW sensors, allowing the measurements to be performed in temperature intervals of up to 20 degrees without any thermal stabilization of the sensitive element of a sensor. By monitoring the temperature of the key points of the sensor and applying the proposed polynomial compensation, it is possible to reduce the influence of thermal instabilities of the ambient temperature to the response more than four times. The method is illustrated by a temperature compensated SAW humidity sensor with a graphene oxide nanofilm as water molecules’ sensitive element. The results show enhanced performance of the sensor over a large temperature interval.

A Thermal Drift Compensation Method for Precision Sensors Considering Historical Temperature State

This article proposes a compensation method for precision sensors considering historical temperature states, which can significantly reduce the thermal drift of the sensors during rapid temperature change process. A typical differential eddy current sensor (ECS) measuring displacement is used as an example to explain the principle. By analyzing the source of thermal drift of the ECS, it is proved that time history of temperature change will also affect the output of the ECS. In this article, the temperature response characteristics of the sensing head of the ECS are obtained by the lumped capacitance method, and the output of the ECS is compensated by convolution operation. Experimental results show that the temperature coefficient of the ECS during a temperature change process is depressed from 34.62 to 1.64 nm/°C with this method, and it is also less than 1/4 of 7.70 nm/°C which is obtained with direct compensation using current temperature value. Furthermore, this method is expected to function efficiently for any precision sensor in complex and harsh temperature environments.

Automatic compensation of thermal drift of laser beam through thermal balancing based on different linear expansions of metals

Abstract We present a technique for compensating laser beam up-shifting induced by the hot air with temperature-gradient in a 2D-scaning laser radar for monitoring the intruder in the railway system, in which the laser beam is scanning at a height only a few centimeters above the railway tracks so that any object with a size of 5 cm × 5 cm × 5 cm or larger can be detected. It is found that when the laser beam is traveling in the hot air with a temperature gradient, the direction of the laser can be up-shifted. The up-shifted laser beam may miss the obstacle lies on the railway track and fail to detect and report the accidence and it may eventually result in a disaster. The compensation of the upward shifting is necessary to insure the normal operation of the radar system and it can be done by using the difference in linear thermal expansion between metals, which produce an additional elongation when the temperature changes. The temperature dependent elongation is used to drive a rotational stage, which rotates the laser in the opposite direction against the up-shifting. The rotation of the stage compensates the change of angle of the laser beam induced by the temperature gradient of the air. A prototype device is constructed to test the idea. Without thermal compensation, the laser thermal shift can reach up to 15 mm when temperature changes 14 °C from 30 °C to 44 °C above the hot surface after the laser beam travels 30 m and such a shift can be reduced to about 8 mm at the same distance when the compensator system is used. The experimental data agrees very well with the theoretical calculation.

Instrumentation-level improvements in shear-force near-field acoustic microscopy

The recently introduced Shear-force Near-field Acoustic Microscopy (SANM) brings a new sensing mechanism to the scanning probe microscopy family. SANM’s ability to simultaneously monitor, in real time, several physical sample’s responses presents some challenges for ensuring optimal operation; namely, avoid “cross-talk” among the multiple signals, address the compensation of thermal drift to ensure reproducibility of the measurements, and measuring the typical low-level signals obtained from nanometer-sized tested regions. Here, several improvements relevant to SANM, but valid for SPM in general, are addressed. i) The probe’s coarse approach is performed via stepper motors, which are controlled either by a computer software interface, or simply by a user-friendly RF remote control. ii) The inherent mechanical drift of the stage is evaluated first (by monitoring the feedback voltage that acts on the sample to maintain the probe-sample distance constant), and then automatically compensated (via linear interpolation) in the immediate subsequent probe’s approach/retraction measurements. iii) To determine the absolute position of the substrate relative to the probe, the probe-substrate contact current is measured with circuitry properly shielded from eventual electrical ground loops. Buffer amplifiers are used to drive the quartz tuning fork (that holds the probe) and to measure the AC and DC tunneling currents between the tip and sample. iv) To improve the signal to noise ratio, a Kalman filter is implemented into the SANM’s field-programmable gate array board, which processes the signals in real time. Finally, v) to simplify the operation of the microscope, an intuitive LabVIEW host program is developed to control the whole system and offer the user a visualization of the data in real time.

Direct Determination of 3D Distribution of Elemental Composition in Single Semiconductor Nanoislands by Scanning Auger Microscopy.

An application of scanning Auger microscopy with ion etching technique and effective compensation of thermal drift of the surface analyzed area is proposed for direct local study of composition distribution in the bulk of single nanoislands. For GexSi1 − x-nanoislands obtained by MBE of Ge on Si-substrate gigantic interdiffusion mixing takes place both in the open and capped nanostructures. Lateral distributions of the elemental composition as well as concentration-depth profiles were recorded. 3D distribution of the elemental composition in the d-cluster bulk was obtained using the interpolation approach by lateral composition distributions in its several cross sections and concentration-depth profile. It was shown that there is a germanium core in the nanoislands of both nanostructure types, which even penetrates the substrate. In studied nanostructures maximal Ge content in the nanoislands may reach about 40 at.%.

Signal processing algorithm for thermal drift compensation in high-temperature down-hole instrumentation systems

Down-hole oil and gas industry requirements for measuring thermodynamic and geophysical parameters, for instance pressure, temperature, vibration and multiphase flow, are challenging. Accomplishing these necessities requires a complete signal communications chain of high-performance components and effective signal processing communication techniques to provide system reliability. Nevertheless, noise interference, cable attenuation and thermal drift of the front-end passive electronic elements can lead to poor signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and possibly loss of the communication link. This paper describes a signal processing algorithm implemented in a bidirectional communication system that exchanges data from a down-hole high pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) measurement tool to the surface installation. The communication channel is a multi-conductor coaxial logging cable also used as a power supply transmission line. The instrumentation system consists of a proprietary down-hole measurement tool, composed of an HPHT sensor and a high-temperature digital signal processor (DSP)-based electronic device; located in the surface installation is a data-acquisition equipment. The system employs a signal processing algorithm, based on the frequency domain SNR characterization of the whole communication chain, which determines in real time the optimal carrier frequency that is automatically implemented in the selected modulation/demodulation technique. The obtained laboratory test results of the down-hole tool, using changes in temperature from 25° to 185°C, provide a firm basis for testing and evaluating the system in the field.

Compensating thermal drift of hybrid silicon and lithium niobate ring resonances.

We present low-power compensation of thermal drift of resonance wavelengths in hybrid silicon and lithium niobate ring resonators based on the linear electro-optic effect. Fabricated devices demonstrate a resonance wavelength tunability of 12.5 pm/V and a tuning range of 1nm. A capacitive geometry and low thermal sensitivity result in the compensation of 17°C of temperature variation using tuning powers at sub-nanowatt levels. The method establishes a route for stabilizing high-quality factor resonators in chip-scale integrated photonics subject to temperature variations.

Impact of measurement procedure when error mapping and compensating a small CNC machine using a multilateration laser interferometer

This paper deals with the accuracy of compensation of machine tools using a tracking interferometer using the multilateration method. The measurement strategy and thermal drift compensation of the measurements are studied. It shows that most effects of temperature are accurately compensated by the laser tracking interferometer software. However, thermal drifts of accessories are not taken into account, and are therefore not corrected. To validate the robustness of procedures, the geometrical errors of the same machine tool were measured by five measurement strategies using the same equipment. Each strategy is devised and carried out independently by a different person from several institutions. For each strategy, the geometrical compensations were applied to a set of nominal tool path points. The difference, between the nominal points and the compensated or uncompensated points was calculated. This criterion was used to discuss the procedures employed by the participants.

Thermally induced volumetric error modeling based on thermal drift and its compensation in Z-axis

Traditional thermally induced volumetric error modeling requires 21 geometric error components at different temperatures. Taking thermal drift errors into account, 30 geometric errors are described to model volumetric error in this paper. The main sources of thermally induced volumetric error are positioning errors of each axis and thermal drift errors. An experiment on milling and boring machine is carried out, which shows that volumetric error in Z-axis is affected significantly. To compensate volumetric error of Z-axis, a model of positioning error is proposed based on nut temperature. A finite elements analysis of headstock thermal characteristic is carried out, and error chain is established, which shows the main source of thermal drift of Z-axis is ram expansion. Thermal drift compensation system of Z-axis is developed based on Invar metal and thermal error compensation module of Siemens CNC system. Therefore, the positioning error and thermal drift of Z-axis are compensated. The thermally induced volumetric error in Z-axis is reduced by 80 % after compensation.

Optimizing single DNA molecules manipulation by AFM

Recent progress in single DNA manipulation with atomic force microscope has proved its potential in analysing genetic information at the molecular level instead of macro ensemble approach. However, current manipulation of DNA is mainly carried out by manual operations, which is labour-intensive and time-consuming, thus limits the further applications in other fields. In this paper, an optimized DNA manipulation method is successfully established. An image correlation technique is introduced to realize automatic thermal drift compensation. Combined with elaborately designed tip movement control for different manipulation purposes, accurate and efficient DNA manipulations such as dissection, folding and picking are realized. The efficiency has been improved for an order of magnitude compare to manual manipulations, whereas the performance is demonstrated to be the same. This newly developed method has shed light on high-efficiency nanomanipulation of small molecules with complex structures, and thus provides the possibility of deeply understanding the intrinsic properties of single biomolecules.

A Non-Invasive Thermal Drift Compensation Technique Applied to a Spin-Valve Magnetoresistive Current Sensor

A compensation method for the sensitivity drift of a magnetoresistive (MR) Wheatstone bridge current sensor is proposed. The technique was carried out by placing a ruthenium temperature sensor and the MR sensor to be compensated inside a generalized impedance converter circuit (GIC). No internal modification of the sensor bridge arms is required so that the circuit is capable of compensating practical industrial sensors. The method is based on the temperature modulation of the current supplied to the bridge, which improves previous solutions based on constant current compensation. Experimental results are shown using a microfabricated spin-valve MR current sensor. The temperature compensation has been solved in the interval from 0 °C to 70 °C measuring currents from −10 A to +10 A.