Analog interface based on capacitance multiplier for capacitive sensors and application to evaluate the quality of oils

Vasileios Delimaras; Kyriakos Tsiakmakis; Argyrios T. Hatzopoulos; Vasileios Delimaras; Kyriakos Tsiakmakis; Argyrios T. Hatzopoulos

doi:10.3934/electreng.2023015

AIMS Electronics and Electrical Engineering

2023, Volume 7, Issue 4: 243-270. doi: 10.3934/electreng.2023015

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Research article

Analog interface based on capacitance multiplier for capacitive sensors and application to evaluate the quality of oils

Department of Information and Electronic Engineering, International Hellenic University (IHU), Sindos, Thessaloniki, 57400, Greece

Academic Editor: Fanny Spagnolo

Received: 16 August 2023 Revised: 26 September 2023 Accepted: 07 October 2023 Published: 17 October 2023

Currently, interdigital capacitive (IDC) sensors are widely used in science, industry and technology. To measure the changes in capacitance in these sensors, many methods such as differentiation, phase delay between two signals, capacitor charging/discharging, oscillators and switching circuits have been proposed. These techniques often use high frequencies and high complexity to measure small capacitance changes of fF or aF with high sensitivity. An analog interface based on a capacitance multiplier for capacitive sensors is presented. This study includes analysis of the interface error factors, such as the error due to the components of the capacitance multiplier, parasitic capacitances, transient effects and non-ideal parameters of OpAmp. A design approach based on an IDC sensor to measure the quality of edible oils is presented and implemented. The quality relates to the total polar compounds (TPC) and consequently to relative electrical permittivity $ {\varepsilon }_{r} $ of the oils. A measurement system has been implemented to measure the capacitance of the IDC sensor, which depended on $ {\varepsilon }_{r} $. The simulation and experimental results showed that, for a capacitance multiplication factor equal to 1000, changes of 3.3 µs/100 fF can be achieved with an acceptable level of noise, which can be easily measured by a microcontroller.
- analog interface,
- capacitive sensors,
- quality of oils,
- total polar compounds,
- interdigital capacitor,
- capacitance multiplier,
- capacitance-to-time converter
Citation: Vasileios Delimaras, Kyriakos Tsiakmakis, Argyrios T. Hatzopoulos. Analog interface based on capacitance multiplier for capacitive sensors and application to evaluate the quality of oils[J]. AIMS Electronics and Electrical Engineering, 2023, 7(4): 243-270. doi: 10.3934/electreng.2023015

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Abstract

Currently, interdigital capacitive (IDC) sensors are widely used in science, industry and technology. To measure the changes in capacitance in these sensors, many methods such as differentiation, phase delay between two signals, capacitor charging/discharging, oscillators and switching circuits have been proposed. These techniques often use high frequencies and high complexity to measure small capacitance changes of fF or aF with high sensitivity. An analog interface based on a capacitance multiplier for capacitive sensors is presented. This study includes analysis of the interface error factors, such as the error due to the components of the capacitance multiplier, parasitic capacitances, transient effects and non-ideal parameters of OpAmp. A design approach based on an IDC sensor to measure the quality of edible oils is presented and implemented. The quality relates to the total polar compounds (TPC) and consequently to relative electrical permittivity $ {\varepsilon }_{r} $ of the oils. A measurement system has been implemented to measure the capacitance of the IDC sensor, which depended on $ {\varepsilon }_{r} $. The simulation and experimental results showed that, for a capacitance multiplication factor equal to 1000, changes of 3.3 µs/100 fF can be achieved with an acceptable level of noise, which can be easily measured by a microcontroller.

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