Ephemeral electric potential and electric field sensor

• US 9,804,199 B2
• Filed: 11/19/2014
• Issued: 10/31/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: United States Of America As Represented By The Administrator Of The National Aeronautics And Space Administration
• Original Assignee: The United States of America As Represented By The Secretary of Agriculture
• Inventors: Generazio, Edward R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Tung X
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alejnikov, Jr., Robert P
• Application Number:
  US14/547,390
• Publication Number:
  US 20150137825A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,077 Days
• Field of Search: 324547
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 13/0218 Circuits therefor
• CPC Class Codes: G01R 29/12 Measuring electrostatic fields or voltage-potential

Abstract

Systems, methods, and devices of the various embodiments provide for the minimization of the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic leakage electrical currents enabling true measurements of electric potentials and electric fields. In an embodiment, an ephemeral electric potential and electric field sensor system may have at least one electric field sensor and a rotator coupled to the electric field sensor and be configured to rotate the electric field sensor at a quasi-static frequency. In an embodiment, ephemeral electric potential and electric field measurements may be taken by rotating at least one electric field sensor at a quasi-static frequency, receiving electrical potential measurements from the electric field sensor when the electric field sensor is rotating at the quasi-static frequency, and generating and outputting images based at least in part on the received electrical potential measurements.

Claims

1. An ephemeral electric potential and electric field sensor system, comprising:

at least one electric field sensor, wherein the electric field sensor is a field effect transistor (“

FET”

) in a floating gate electronic configuration; and

a rotator coupled to the electric field sensor and configured to rotate the electric field sensor at a quasi-static frequency.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a display; and

a processor connected to the display, the electric field sensor, and the rotator, wherein the processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations comprising;

controlling the rotator to rotate the electric field sensor at the quasi-static frequency;

receiving electrical potential measurements from the electric field sensor while the electric field sensor is rotating at the quasi-static frequency;

generating images based at least in part on the received electrical potential measurements; and

outputting the images on the display.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the images include one or more elements selected from the group consisting of electrical potential images, electric field spatial vector component indications, electric field vector indications, and electric field magnitude indications.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the rotator is mounted to a support structure having brackets that are all tribo-electrically neutral, low electric susceptibility, and non-conducting brackets.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the rotator is further configured to rotate the electric field sensor in more than one axis of rotation.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the electric field sensor is configured to move along at least one linear axis.

7. The systems of claim 6, wherein the processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations such that receiving electrical potential measurements from the electric field sensor while the electric field sensor is rotating at the quasi-static frequency comprises receiving electrical potential measurements from the electric field sensor while the electric field sensor is rotating at the quasi-static frequency and moving along the linear axis.

8. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a conveyor configured to move an object to be measured relative to the electric field sensor.

9. The system of claim 2, further comprising a trigger control connected to the processor,

wherein the processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations further comprising receiving a trigger signal from the trigger control, and

wherein the processor is configured with processor executable instructions to perform operations such that receiving electrical potential measurements from the electric field sensor while the electric field sensor is rotating at the quasi-static frequency comprises receiving electrical potential measurements from the electric field sensor while the electric field sensor is rotating at the quasi-static frequency based at least in part on the trigger signal.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein:

the rotator comprises;

a rotation stage; and

a shaft coupled to the rotation stage; and

the electric field sensor is mounted to the shaft.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the electric field sensor is mounted to the shaft on the axis of rotation of the shaft or off the axis of rotation of the shaft.

12. The system of claim 1, wherein the electric field sensor is an array of electric field sensors.

13. An ephemeral electric potential and electric field measurement method, comprising:

rotating at least one electric field sensor at a quasi-static frequency, wherein the electric field sensor is a field effect transistor (FET) in a floating gate electronic configuration;

receiving, at a processor, electrical potential measurements from the electric field sensor while the electric field sensor is rotating at the quasi-static frequency;

generating, at the processor, images based at least in part on the received electrical potential measurements; and

outputting, from the processor, the images on a display.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the images include one or more elements selected from the group consisting of electrical potential images, electric field spatial vector component indications, electric field vector indications, and electric field magnitude indications.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein rotating at least one electric field sensor at a quasi-static frequency comprises rotating at least one electric field sensor at a quasi-static frequency using a rotator mounted to a support structure having brackets that are all tribo-electrically neutral, low electric susceptibility, and non-conducting brackets.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein rotating at least one electric field sensor at a quasi-static frequency further comprises rotating the electric field sensor in more than one axis of rotation, the method further comprising moving the electric field sensor along at least one linear axis while receiving the electrical potential measurements from the electric field sensor.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising moving an object to be measured relative to the electric field sensor while receiving the electrical potential measurements from the electric field sensor.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising receiving, at the processor, a trigger signal from a trigger control, wherein receiving, at the processor, electrical potential measurements from the electric field sensor while the electric field sensor is rotating at the quasi-static frequency comprises receiving, at a processor, electrical potential measurements from the electric field sensor while the electric field sensor is rotating at the quasi-static frequency based at least in part on the trigger signal.