Electric and magnetic

sensors and actuators

Chapter 5

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 Introduction
 Electric and magnetic sensors is the broadest by far of all other classes
 In numbers and types of sensors
 In variety within each type.
 Reasons:
 Sensors often exploit the electrical properties of materials
 There are many electrical effects
 The requisite output is almost always electric
 Some electric/electromagnetic sensors not discussed here:
 (Thermocouples, optical, ultrasonic sensors, antennas etc.)
 These are discussed separately
 Most actuators are either electric or, more commonly, magnetic.
 This is particularly true of actuators that need to provide considerable
power.
 We will limit ourselves here to the following types of sensors and
actuators:

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 Introduction (cont.)
 Sensors and actuators based on electric/electrostatic
principles.
 include MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical sensors), which are
most often based on electrostatic forces (also in Chapter 10)
 capacitive sensors (proximity, distance, level, material properties,
humidity and other quantities such as force, acceleration and
pressure may be sensed) and related field sensors.
 Magnetic sensors and actuators based on static and quasi-
static magnetic fields.
 Inductive sensors
 motors and valves for actuation,

 magnetic field sensors (hall element sensors, inductive sensors

for position, displacement, proximity and others),
 magnetostrictive sensors and actuators and more.

 Voltage and current sensors.

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 Definitions
 Electric field: Force per unit charge. Units: Volt/meter (V/m)
 exists in the presence of charges or charged bodies.
 electric field may be static when charges do not move or move at constant velocity
 time dependent if charges accelerate and/or decelerate.
 Moving charges (C) in conducting media or in space cause currents
Currents (A) produce magnetic fields.
 Magnetic fields are either static – when currents are constant (dc) or:
 Time dependent when currents vary in time (AC).
 If currents vary in time: both an electric and a related magnetic field are
established.
 This is called the electromagnetic field (will be discussed in Chapter 9).
 Electromagnetic field implies that both an electric and a magnetic field exists.
 It is OK to call all electric and magnetic fields by that name since, for example an
electrostatic field may be viewed as a time independent electromagnetic field with
zero magnetic field.
 All fields are described by Maxwell’s equations - will not be discussed

4
 Definitions (cont.)
 Resistance [R]: ratio between voltage and current. Unit: Ohm (Ω).
 Electric permittivity [ε]: a property of electric materials. Unit: Farad per meter (F/m)
 Magnetic permeability [µ]: a property of magnetic materials. Unit: Henry per meter
(H/m)
 Electric conductivity [σ]: a measure of how well a material conducts electrical current.
Unit: Siemens per meter (S/m)
 Resistivity [ρ]: the reciprocal of conductivity – a measure of how resistive a medium is.
Unit: ohm*meter (Ω.m)
 Capacitance [C]: the ratio between charge and voltage. Unit: Farad (F)
 Electric field intensity [E]: Unit: Volt per meter (V/m)
 Electric flux density [D] (: the product of permittivity and electric field intensity . Unit:
Coulomb/meter2 (C/m2)
 Electric flux [Φ]: the integral of the electric flux density over an area. Unit: Coulomb (C)
 Magnetic field intensity [H]: Units: Ampere/meter (A/m)
 Magnetic flux density [B]: Units: Tesla (T)
 Magnetic flux [Φ]: the integral of magnetic flux density over an area. Unit: Weber (Wb)
or Tesla*m2 (Tm2)
 Inductance [L]: the ratio between magnetic flux and current. Unit: Henr = weber per
ampere (Wb/A)=(H)
 Magnetic reluctance [R]: a property of all materials but particularly useful in magnetic
materials. Analog of electric conductivity for magnetic properties. Unit: 1/Henry [1/H]
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Electric quantities and units

6
 Sensing strategies
 Anything that influences one of these quantities may be
sensed through the electromagnetic field.
 Electromagnetic actuators are based on one of the two
basic forces;
 the electric force (best understood as the attraction between opposite
polarity charges or repulsion between like polarity charges)
 the magnetic force. The latter is the repulsion of current carrying
conductors with currents in the same directions or attraction of current
carrying conductors with currents in opposite directions.

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 Electric Field – Capacitive Sensors and
Actuators
 Electric field sensors and actuators
 operate on the physical principles of the electric field and its effects
(capacitance, charge, stored energy)
 The primary type: capacitive device.
 Some sensors such as charge sensors are better explained in terms of
the electric field
 On the whole, discussion of capacitance and its use in sensing and
actuation covers most aspects necessary for a thorough understanding of
these types of sensors without the need to study the intricacies of the
electric field behavior.

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 Capacitance
 Capacitance: the ratio between charge and potential
of a body
 Measured in coulombs/volt. This unit is called the
farad [F].
 Capacitance is only defined for two conducting
bodies, across which the potential difference is
connected.
 Body B is charged by the battery to a positive
charge Q and body A to an equal but negative
charge –Q.
 Any two conducting bodies, regardless of size,
shape and distance between them have a
capacitance

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 Parallel plate capacitor
 Parallel plate capacitor (Eq. (5.2)):
 Assumes d is small,
 ε0 is the permittivity of vacuum,
 εr the relative permittivity (dielectric constant) of the medium
between plates,
 S the area of the plates and
 d the distance between the plates.
 ε0 is a constant and equal to 8.854x10−12 F/m
 εr is the ratio between the permittivity of the medium to that of free
space (see Table 5.2).
 available as part of the electrical properties of materials.

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 Capacitors - cont.
 Any of the quantities in Eq. (5.2) affect the capacitance
 Changes in these can be sensed.
 A wide range of stimuli including
 displacement and anything else that can cause displacement (pressure, force),
proximity, permittivity (for example in moisture sensors)
 a myriad of other effects are related to capacitance.
 Eq. (5.2) describes a very specific device
 Was obtained by assuming that the electric field between the two
plates does not leak (fringes) outside the space between the plates.
 In the more general case, when d is not small, or:
 Plates are arranged in a different configuration
 we cannot calculate the capacitance directly
 but we can still write the following:

Examples of
parallel plate
capacitors
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Capacitive position sensors

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 Capacitive position, proximity
and displacement sensors
 Position and displacement can be sensed in three fundamental
ways:
 (1) By allowing a plate to move relative to the other (figure a).
 A number of variations are possible:
 the sensor is made of a single plate while the second plate is a conductor to
which the distance (proximity) is sensed
 Requires connection to the sensed object
 The moving plate can move away from the fixed plate or sideways

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 Position sensing relative to a fixed
conductor
 A schematic position sensor is shown below
 One plate is fixed while the other is pushed by the moving device.
 The position of the moving device causes a change in position of the dielectric and this
changes the capacitance. C
 Capacitance is inversely proportional to the motion
 As long as the distances sensed are small, the output is linear.

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 Sensing by moving the
dielectric
 (2) The plates remain fixed but the
dielectric moves in or out as in Figure b.
 Practical for some applications.
 For example, the dielectric may be connected to a float
which then senses the fluid level or
 It may be pushed by a device to sense end of travel or
position.
 Advantages: linearity, range of motion can be rather large
and can equal the width of the capacitor.

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 Sensing by moving the whole capacitor
 (3) by keeping the plates fixed as in Figure c and sensing the distance to a surface.
 This is a more practical arrangement since the sensor is self contained and requires no
mechanical contact to sense distance or position.
 The surface can be conducting or nonconducting
 Most capacitive sensors are a variation of this arrangement

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 Practical proximity sensors
 Typically, a hollow cylindrical conductor forms one plate of the
sensor as in Figure 5.4b.
 The second plate of the sensor is a disk at the lower opening of the
cylinder, isolated from the cylinder.
 The whole structure may be enclosed with an outer conducting
shield or may be encased in a cylindrical plastic enclosure. The
Capacitance of the device is C0 based on dimensions, materials and
structure.
 When any material is present, effective permittivity seen by the
sensor increases and capacitances increases - indicates distance
 Senses distances to conducting or nonconducting bodies of any
shape but output is not linear.
 the smaller the sensed distance d, the larger the
sensitivity of the sensor.
 dimensions of the sensor makes a big difference in
span and sensitivity.
 large diameter sensors will have a larger span while
small diameter sensor will have a shorter span.
Fig. 5.4b
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 Proximity sensors - cont.

 Other methods:
 Example: Two fixed plates and one moving plate.
 When the plate is midway, its potential is zero since C1=C2.
 As the plate moves up, its potential becomes positive.
 When it moves down it is negative.
 More linear than the previous sensors
 Motion must be small or the capacitances will be very small and difficult
to measure.

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Other capacitive position, displacement,
proximity sensors:
 Rotary (angular) position sensors
 Linear displacement sensors:
 Integrated comb-like sensors (c) and (e)

 Sideways sliding plates (a)

 Plunger type sensors (b) and (d)

Rotary position sensor
 Others
Capacitive proximity sensors

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 Example: Capacitive fluid level
sensors
 Fluid level:
 may be sensed by any of the position or proximity sensors
discussed in the previous slides
 by sensing the position of the fluid surface directly

 or through a float which then can change the capacitance of a

linear capacitor or a rotary capacitor.
 Direct sensing through capacitance: the fluid is the dielectric
The fluid portion and the empty portion capacitances:

The total capacitance of the sensor:

Capacitance is linear with fluid level h:

The parallel plate capacitor may be replaced with a coaxial capacitor
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Co-axial fluid level sensor

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Example: Co-axial fluid level sensor
 A coaxial capacitor is made of two concentric
cylinders establishing a capacitance C0.
 Capacitance of a coaxial capacitor of length d,
inner radius a and outer radius b is:
 If the fluid fills the capacitor to a height h,
capacitance is:

 Sensitivity of the sensor is:

 Output is linear (see (b)

 Very good gauge but the

fluid must be non-conducting

(oil, fuels, distilled water)

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Capacitive sensors - comments
 Simple and rugged sensors
 Useful in many other applications (pressure, acoustic
sensors, etc.)
 In practical sensors, capacitances are small and
changes in capacitance even smaller.
 Require special methods of transduction.
 Often part of LC (or RC) oscillator (measure frequency instead
of measuring capacitance) – to be discussed in Chapter 11
 Others use an AC source (measure impedance rather than
capacitance)

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 Capacitive actuators
Capacitive actuation is simple:
 Potential is connected across the two plates of a capacitor

 Plates acquire opposite charges.

 These charges attract each other based on Coulomb’s law

 Force tends to pull the plates together.

 Force developed is proportional to:

Capacitance:
Distance between plates:
Potential across plates
Forces are typically small (ε is very small)
 Mechanical motion of the plates is possible - constitutes actuation

 In a parallel plate capacitor the attraction force between the two

plates is:
 For other configurations: no exact relation but:

 Same general behavior 24

 Capacitive actuators
 Lateral and circular motions also possible
 If the plates are displaced laterally, there is also a lateral force
 This force tends to move the plates back to reduce this force
 In addition to the vertical attraction between the plates
 The lateral force (see Fig. 5.15a) is:
 This force is independent of the area
of the plates
 Depends on the width of the plates
 The same applies to the force in circular actuators (Fig. 5.15b)

Fig. 5.15
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 Basic capacitive actuators
Linear actuator: (electrostatic speaker, ultrasonic generator)
Upper plate is attracted or repelled by lower, fixed plate
Motion may be used for positioning or for voice reproduction

Rotary actuator: Upper plate moves relative to lower plate in response

to applied voltage across the plate in response to attraction of
opposite polarity charges
Force is proportional to position (capacitance changes)
Useful for small, low force applications.
Force is lateral, rotates the upper plate relative to
the lowerplate
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Electrostatic actuators - comments
 Motion is usually small (except loudspeakers)
 Very simple
 Voltages are high
 Force is low
 Usually accurate and linear
 Very common in MEMs, less common in other areas

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