Capacitive transducer feedback-controlled by means of electrostatic force and method for controlling the profile of the transducing element in the transducer

• US 5,531,128 A
• Filed: 08/19/1994
• Issued: 07/02/1996
• Est. Priority Date: 08/20/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Vaisala OY
• Original Assignee: Vaisala OY
• Inventors: Ryhanen, Tapani
• Primary Examiner(s): Chilcot, Richard
• Assistant Examiner(s): BIEGEL, RONALD L
• Application Number:
  US08/293,463
• Time in Patent Office: 683 Days
• Field of Search: 73/718, 73/724, 73/517 B, 73/862.626, 73/514.18, 73/514.21, 73/862.622
• US Class Current: 73/862.623
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 5/2417 by varying separation
• CPC Class Codes: G01L 11/008 electrostatic or electromagnetic counterbalancing forces
• CPC Class Codes: G01P 15/131 with electrostatic counterbalancing means

Abstract

The invention is related to a capacitive transducer feedback-controlled by means of electrostatic force and a method for controlling said transducer. The transducer comprises a body part (8) supporting a dynamically moving transducing element sensitive to the variable being measured, said transducing element being, e.g., a diaphragm (9) or a reference mass (36) supported by a bending beam (37), said element further being at least on its surface electrically conductive to the end of forming a first electrode (9, 36) of the transducer, and the transducer further comprising at least two second, planar electrodes (5, 6) which are placed on the same side with regard to the transducing element (9, 37). According to the invention, the second electrodes (5, 6) have at least essentially equal effective areas to the end of measuring the profile of the transducing element (9, 37) and controlling the same to an exactly defined geometric state.

Claims

1. A capacitive transducer, feedback-controlled by electrostatic force, comprising:

a transducing element sensitive to a variable being measured and being at least on its surface electrically conductive to form a first electrode of the transducer, and

at least two second electrodes having substantially equal effective areas which are aligned essentially parallel to a longitudinal axis of said transducing element and placed on the same side with respect to said first electrode wherein said second electrodes measure a profile of the transducing element, and

a controller controlling said second electrodes to maintain the profile of said transducing element.

2. A transducer as defined in claim 1, wherein said first electrode comprises an essentially planar diaphragm sensitive to the difference of pressure applied to the two sides of said diaphragm wherein said second electrodes are concentrically arranged.

3. A transducer as defined in claim 1 wherein said second electrodes have substantially equal areas.

4. A transducer as defined in claim 1 wherein said second electrodes are constituted by a circular center electrode and at least one concentrically arranged annular electrode.

5. A transducer as defined in claim 1, wherein said second electrodes comprise a square center electrode which is surrounded by at least one square-frame-shaped electrode.

6. A transducer as defined in claim 1, wherein said second electrodes further comprising a circular center electrode surrounded by at least one electrode with a circular inner perimeter and square outer perimeter.

7. A transducer as defined in claim 1 wherein said second electrodes are placed on both sides with respect to said first electrode.

8. A transducer as defined in claim 1, said transducing element further comprising a reference mass supported by a flexible cantilever beam such that said flexible cantilever beam is sensitive to an acceleration imposed on said reference mass, wherein said second electrodes are arranged substantially symmetrical relative to and along a longitudinal center axis of said reference mass.

9. A transducer as defined in claim 8 wherein said second electrodes are aligned on both sides of said beam and said reference mass.

10. A transducer as defined in claim 1, wherein said second electrodes are further comprised of a multiple element matrix organized into at least two sets of subelectrodes having substantially equal effective areas.

19. The capacitive transducer of claim 1, wherein said controller further comprises means for controlling a pulse voltage by modulating the amplitude, width and/or frequency of the pulse voltage.

20. The capacitive transducer of claim 1, wherein said transducing element is a dynamically moving transducing element.

11. A method for controlling the geometric profile of a movable transducing element in a capacitive transducer comprising the steps of:

measuring the geometric profile of the movable transducing element with at least two second electrodes which are aligned essentially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the movable element and are placed on the same side with respect to the movable transducing element,

generating an electric transducer potential in the movable transducing element,

applying an opposed electric potential to the at least two second electrodes to generate an electric field between the movable transducing element and the two second electrodes, and

controlling the geometric profile of the movable transducing element using at least one of the second electrodes by varying the electric transducer potential in relation to the opposed electric potential.

12. A method as defined in claim 11, further comprising keeping the movable transducing element in a nondeviated state by measuring the profile of the movable transducing element with the second electrodes and then using the profile measurement information in the control step for controlling the electric field imposed by the at least two second electrode.

13. A method as defined in claim 11, further comprising adapting the second electrodes to have a plurality of second electrodes which have equal areas, measuring the mutual capacitances formed between the second electrodes and the movable transducing element, and controlling the capacitances to attain equal values by means of feedback-controlling the electrostatic forces imposed between the movable transducing element and the second electrodes.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the electric transducer potential indicates a sensed pressure.

15. The method of claim 11, wherein the electric transducer potential indicates a sensed acceleration.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising the steps of providing a plurality of second electrodes having substantially equal effective areas and concentrically arranging said second electrodes.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising the step of providing a plurality of second electrodes and utilizing a multiple element matrix of sub-electrodes for each of said second electrodes.

18. The method of claim 11, wherein the step of applying an opposed electric potential further comprises controlling said opposed electric potential by modulating the amplitude, width and/or frequency of a pulse voltage.