Capacitive Transducer

Principle of operation
• Capacitance transducer works on the principle of change in capacitance in
response to a physical quantity.
• Displacements, velocity, acceleration, force, pressure, vacuum, flow, fluid
level, audio sound field, and relative humidity can be measured using
capacitive transducers.
• Principle operation of Capacitance transducer based on the equation

Farad

Where A= overlapping Area

d = distance between plates
= permittivity of dielectric materials
A change in capacitance can be by varying any
of the following parameters
Changing the distance between the two
parallel electrodes d.

Changing the dielectric constant,

permittivity, of the dielectric medium

Changing the overlapping area of the

plates A

These changes can be done by applying force,

pressure displacement etc. change in the
capacitance can be measured by bridge circuit
 Capacitive transducer based on Change in
C=

Area =

Fig shows a parallel plate capacitor

From the eq Capacitance is directly proportional to overlapping area A. as shown
from the fig one plate is fixed and one plate is movable. By applying a linear
displacement movable plate displaced from its position as shown in fig.
C = εA/d = ε l w/d
W= width of plates
l= length of overlapping plates
Thus, C is proportional to l and l is proportional to displacement hence C is
directly proportional to displacement.
•Sensitivity of parallel plate capacitor transducer

Thus sensitivity is constant and there is a linear relationship between capacitance and
displacement.
Capacitive transducer for angular
displacement measurement
• The basic principle of change in area can also
be used for rotational measurement

• One plate is fixed and the other is movable

• The angular displacement to be measured is

applied to the movable plate. The angular
displacement changes the effective area of
plates and thus the capacitance.

• Capacitance will maximum when two

plates overlapped completely i.e. for
θ=180°
 The transducer using the change in distance
between the plates
• The capacitance of the transducer is inversely proportional to the distance between the
plates. The one plate of the transducer is fixed, and the other is movable. The
displacement which is to be measured links to the movable plates.

• The capacitance is inversely proportional to the distance because of which the capacitor
shows the nonlinear response. Such type of transducer is used for measuring the small
displacement. The phasor diagram of the capacitor is shown in the figure below.
 S=

• Sensitivity of transducer
• S=

• Sensitivity is not constant. Sensitivity will be high for small

displacement.
• As shown in figure capacitive transducer exhibits a nonlinear
characteristics. Linearity can be increased by using materials
having dielectric constant.
 Measurement of linear displacement using
capacitive transducer
• As shown fig 1 below when a displacement is applied to cantilever spring
plate it moves towards fixed plate and distance between plates reduces
and it will increase capacitance.
 Measurement of pressure
• As shown in fig 2 two silver quartz plates form a parallel plate
capacitor. Due to applied pressure plate move and
capacitance changes
 Capacitance Transducers Based on
Differential Arrangement
•Differential capacitance transducers are used for precision displacement
measurement

•Let C1 and C2 be the capacitances of the two plates that are fixed.

•Plate m is midway between the two plates. An alternating voltage E is applied across
the plates P1 and P2 and the potential difference is measured.
 Change in the capacitor due change in
dielectric material
•The principal is , change in capacitance caused by change in dielectric
constant of the separating material. Fig shown below is an arrangement for
measurement of linear displacement based on above stated principle.
 Advantage of Capacitive Transducer

• The following are the major advantages of capacitive

transducers.
• It requires an external force for operation and hence
very useful for small systems.
• The capacitive transducer is very sensitive.
• It gives good frequency response because of which it
is used for the dynamic study.
• The transducer has high input impedance hence they
have a small loading effect.
• It requires small output power for operation
 Disadvantages of capacitive Transducer

• The metallic parts of the transducers require

insulation.
• The frame of the capacitor requires earthing for
reducing the effect of the stray magnetic field.
• Sometimes the transducer shows the nonlinear
behaviours because of the edge effect which is
controlled by using the guard ring.
• The cable connecting across the transducer
causes an error.
 Uses of Capacitive Transducer

• The capacitive transducer uses for measurement of both the linear and
angular displacement. It is extremely sensitive and used for the
measurement of very small distance.
• It is used for the measurement of the force and pressures. The force or
pressure, which is to be measured is first converted into a displacement,
and then the displacement changes the capacitances of the transducer.
• It is used as a pressure transducer in some cases, where the dielectric
constant of the transducer changes with the pressure.
• The humidity in gases is measured through the capacitive transducer.
• The transducer uses the mechanical modifier for measuring the volume,
density, weight etc.
• The accuracy of the transducer depends on the variation of temperature
to the high level.