Bubble sensors are used to detect the presence of bubbles in fluid-filled tubes. They play a vital role in many fields, including medical technology, process control, pharmaceuticals, and the petroleum industry. The most common type of sensors used are ultrasonic or capacitor based.
Ultrasonic sensors use two techniques to detect bubbles, one method involves transmitting sound waves from a transducer through the fluid to a second transducer that detects the waves. A second method involves pulse-echo, sound waves are transmitted to the fluid, reflected and received by the same transmitter that sent it. In both of these methods bubbles will have an effect on the velocity, attenuation and the scattering of the sound, thus they are easily detected. [1]
Capacitive sensors due to their ease of fabrication and minimization capability have found uses in a number of industries, they can be efficiently designed on a printed circuit board. [2] A capacitor consist of two parallel electrodes with a capacitance computed as,
C =εA/d (1)
Where ε is the permittivity of the dielectric medium, A is the cross sectional area of the electrodes and d is the distance between them. Liquids have a higher dielectric constant than gas; when an air bubble is in a fluid-filled tube the capacitance is reduced and the output voltage rises. [3] The size of the bubble is inversely related to the measured capacitance. Table 1 shows a characteristics of capacitive sensor from research. [4]
| Capacitance (nF) | Air Bubble Diameter (mm) | Output Voltage (mV) |
|---|---|---|
| 43.50 | 0 | 18.60 |
| 42.63 | 0.82 | 20.30 |
| 42.54 | 1.00 | 22.01 |
| 41.07 | 2.97 | 40.50 |
| 40.44 | 3.55 | 43.70 |
| 39.38 | 4.00 | 47.90 |
Table 1 Characteristics of Capacitive Sensors
In various medical treatments that use Extracorporeal Blood Circuits (ECBC) the detection of air bubbles in the blood is vital for the patient safety. [5] An air bubble in an artery that supplies blood to the heart or brain can cause serious injury or death. In an ECBC the bubble sensor is placed on the arterial pump that is supplying the blood to the heart. Depending on the size of the bubble detected the pump will respond in different ways. The sensors allow the operator to set a size threshold for the size of the bubbles to detect. If the bubbles are below the threshold it is displayed to the user as microbubble activity. When a bubble equal to or greater than the threshold is detected an audio and visual alarm is generated and the arterial pump is stopped, this effectively terminates the cardiopulmonary bypass. The operator must identify and remove the bubble before bypass can be re-instated. [6]
The relative permittivity is the permittivity of a material expressed as a ratio with the electric permittivity of a vacuum. A dielectric is an insulating material, and the dielectric constant of an insulator measures the ability of the insulator to store electric energy in an electrical field.
Capacitance is the capability of a material object or device to store electric charge. It is measured by the charge in response to a difference in electric potential, expressed as the ratio of those quantities. Commonly recognized are two closely related notions of capacitance: self capacitance and mutual capacitance. An object that can be electrically charged exhibits self capacitance, for which the electric potential is measured between the object and ground. Mutual capacitance is measured between two components, and is particularly important in the operation of the capacitor, an elementary linear electronic component designed to add capacitance to an electric circuit.
In electrical engineering, partial discharge (PD) is a localized dielectric breakdown (DB) of a small portion of a solid or fluid electrical insulation (EI) system under high voltage (HV) stress. While a corona discharge (CD) is usually revealed by a relatively steady glow or brush discharge (BD) in air, partial discharges within solid insulation system are not visible.
A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input and output (display) device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an electronic device.
A variable capacitor is a capacitor whose capacitance may be intentionally and repeatedly changed mechanically or electronically. Variable capacitors are often used in L/C circuits to set the resonance frequency, e.g. to tune a radio, or as a variable reactance, e.g. for impedance matching in antenna tuners.
Capacitors are manufactured in many styles, forms, dimensions, and from a large variety of materials. They all contain at least two electrical conductors, called plates, separated by an insulating layer (dielectric). Capacitors are widely used as parts of electrical circuits in many common electrical devices.
Level sensors detect the level of liquids and other fluids and fluidized solids, including slurries, granular materials, and powders that exhibit an upper free surface. Substances that flow become essentially horizontal in their containers because of gravity whereas most bulk solids pile at an angle of repose to a peak. The substance to be measured can be inside a container or can be in its natural form. The level measurement can be either continuous or point values. Continuous level sensors measure level within a specified range and determine the exact amount of substance in a certain place, while point-level sensors only indicate whether the substance is above or below the sensing point. Generally the latter detect levels that are excessively high or low.
A capacitor is an electronic device that stores electrical energy in an electric field by accumulating electric charges on two closely spaced surfaces that are insulated from each other. It is a passive electronic component with two terminals.
Ultrasonic transducers and ultrasonic sensors are devices that generate or sense ultrasound energy. They can be divided into three broad categories: transmitters, receivers and transceivers. Transmitters convert electrical signals into ultrasound, receivers convert ultrasound into electrical signals, and transceivers can both transmit and receive ultrasound.
An electromagnetic diaphragm is a form of capacitive sensor used on an electronic stethoscope. The diaphragm is coated with a conductive material. A conductive plate is positioned behind and parallel to the diaphragm, so that the two conductive elements form a capacitor. Capacitance is a function of plate area, dielectric properties of the space between the conductors, and the distance between the conductors. It is this latter parameter which is modulated by vibration such that the capacitance varies with the distance between the electromagnetic diaphragm and the plate, forming an acoustic sensor.
Capacitance sensors use capacitance to measure the dielectric permittivity of a surrounding medium. The configuration is like the neutron probe where an access tube made of PVC is installed in the soil; probes can also be modular (comb-like) and connected to a logger. The sensing head consists of an oscillator circuit, the frequency is determined by an annular electrode, fringe-effect capacitor, and the dielectric constant of the soil. Each capacitor sensor consists of two metal rings mounted on the circuit board at some distance from the top of the access tube. These rings are a pair of electrodes, which form the plates of the capacitor with the soil acting as the dielectric in between. The plates are connected to an oscillator, consisting of an inductor and a capacitor. The oscillating electrical field is generated between the two rings and extends into the soil medium through the wall of the access tube. The capacitor and the oscillator form a circuit, and changes in dielectric constant of surrounding media are detected by changes in the operating frequency. The capacitance sensors are designed to oscillate in excess of 100 MHz inside the access tube in free air. The output of the sensor is the frequency response of the soil’s capacitance due to its soil moisture level.
Electroacoustic phenomena arise when ultrasound propagates through a fluid containing ions. The associated particle motion generates electric signals because ions have electric charge. This coupling between ultrasound and electric field is called electroacoustic phenomena. The fluid might be a simple Newtonian liquid, or complex heterogeneous dispersion, emulsion or even a porous body. There are several different electroacoustic effects depending on the nature of the fluid.
In electrical engineering, capacitive sensing is a technology, based on capacitive coupling, that can detect and measure anything that is conductive or has a dielectric constant different from air. Many types of sensors use capacitive sensing, including sensors to detect and measure proximity, pressure, position and displacement, force, humidity, fluid level, and acceleration. Human interface devices based on capacitive sensing, such as touchpads, can replace the computer mouse. Digital audio players, mobile phones, and tablet computers will sometimes use capacitive sensing touchscreens as input devices. Capacitive sensors can also replace mechanical buttons.
Capacitors have many uses in electronic and electrical systems. They are so ubiquitous that it is rare that an electrical product does not include at least one for some purpose. Capacitors allow only AC signals to pass when they are charged blocking DC signals. The main components of filters are capacitors. Capacitors have the ability to connect one circuit segment to another. Capacitors are used by Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM) devices to represent binary information as bits.
Capacitive displacement sensors are "non-contact devices capable of high-resolution measurement of the position and/or change of position of any conductive target". They are also able to measure the thickness or density of non-conductive materials. Capacitive displacement sensors are used in a wide variety of applications including semiconductor processing, assembly of precision equipment such as disk drives, precision thickness measurements, machine tool metrology and assembly line testing. These types of sensors can be found in machining and manufacturing facilities around the world.
A capacitive micromachined ultrasonic transducer (CMUT) is a relatively new concept in the field of ultrasonic transducers. Most of the commercial ultrasonic transducers today are based on piezoelectricity. CMUTs are the transducers where the energy transduction is due to change in capacitance. CMUTs are constructed on silicon using micromachining techniques. A cavity is formed in a silicon substrate, and a thin layer suspended on the top of the cavity serves as a membrane on which a metallized layer acts an electrode, together with the silicon substrate which serves as a bottom electrode.
A biotransducer is the recognition-transduction component of a biosensor system. It consists of two intimately coupled parts; a bio-recognition layer and a physicochemical transducer, which acting together converts a biochemical signal to an electronic or optical signal. The bio-recognition layer typically contains an enzyme or another binding protein such as antibody. However, oligonucleotide sequences, sub-cellular fragments such as organelles and receptor carrying fragments, single whole cells, small numbers of cells on synthetic scaffolds, or thin slices of animal or plant tissues, may also comprise the bio-recognition layer. It gives the biosensor selectivity and specificity. The physicochemical transducer is typically in intimate and controlled contact with the recognition layer. As a result of the presence and biochemical action of the analyte, a physico-chemical change is produced within the biorecognition layer that is measured by the physicochemical transducer producing a signal that is proportionate to the concentration of the analyte. The physicochemical transducer may be electrochemical, optical, electronic, gravimetric, pyroelectric or piezoelectric. Based on the type of biotransducer, biosensors can be classified as shown to the right.
Double-layer capacitance is the important characteristic of the electrical double layer which appears at the interface between a surface and a fluid. At this boundary two layers of electric charge with opposing polarity form, one at the surface of the electrode, and one in the electrolyte. These two layers, electrons on the electrode and ions in the electrolyte, are typically separated by a single layer of solvent molecules that adhere to the surface of the electrode and act like a dielectric in a conventional capacitor. The amount of charge stored in double-layer capacitor depends on the applied voltage.
Electrical capacitance volume tomography (ECVT) primarily known as three-dimensional electrical capacitance tomography (3D-ECT) is a non-invasive 3D imaging technology applied primarily to multiphase flows. Was introduced in the early 2000s as an extension of the conventional two-dimensional ECT. In conventional electrical capacitance tomography, sensor plates are distributed around a surface of interest. Measured capacitance between plate combinations is used to reconstruct 2D images (tomograms) of material distribution. Because the ECT sensor plates are required to have lengths on the order of the domain cross-section, 2D-ECT does not provide the required resolution in the axial dimension. In ECT, the fringing field from the edges of the plates is viewed as a source of distortion to the final reconstructed image and is thus mitigated by guard electrodes. ECVT exploits this fringing field and expands it through 3D sensor designs that deliberately establish an electric field variation in all three dimensions. In 3D tomography, the data are acquired in 3D geometry, and the reconstruction algorithm produces the three-dimensional image directly, in contrast to 2D tomography, where 3D information might be obtained by stacking 2D slices reconstructed individually.