What is a Capacitive Sensor?

A capacitive sensor is a proximity sensor that detects nearby objects by their effect on
the electrical field created by the sensor. Simple capacitive sensors have been
commercially available for many years, and have found a niche in nonmetallic object
detection, but are limited to short ranges, typically less than 1 cm.

Capacitive sensors have some similarities to radar in their ability to detect conductive
materials, while seeing through insulating materials such as wood or plastic. In
practice, the differences are considerable; When compared to radar, capacitive
sensors:

Are simpler, so are potentially smaller, less expensive and less power-hungry.
Are proximity sensors, rather than range sensors. They do not give a direct
indication of how far away the detected object is. A more distant strong target
can give the same response as a nearby weak target.
Are non-directional and have a short range.

When used for detecting objects all around a vehicle, some of the disadvantages of the
capacitive sensor are less problematic. A practical system has many sensors regularly
spaced around the outside of the vehicle. This means that there is always a sensor
close by, so no great range is required, and objects can be roughly localized by which
sensor they are detected in. Non-directional response is actually desirable, since it can
detect objects that are between sensors but very close to the vehicle.

What Can it Detect?

Due to its non-directional nature, the capacitive sensor measures some capacitance
from objects in the environment that are always present and therefore not
interesting. When mounted on a car, the sensor detects the car itself and the
ground. Unknown objects are detected as increases in this background capacitance.

Commercial capacitive sensors typically operate at ranges of 1 cm or less. At these

ranges the object capacitance approaches the background capacitance. However, at 1
meter the capacitance change is orders of magnitude smaller, and much less than the
background capacitance. It is necessary to determine what this background
capacitance is so that it can be subtracted from the measurement.

Since the background capacitance is large compared to the object capacitance, and is
also subject to drift, it is much easier to use the sensor to detect change in the
environment than to detect the absolute presence or absence of an unknown
object. The amount of background capacitance change depends on how stable the
environment is. In a relatively poorly controlled environment such as the outside of a
car, absolute presence detection of a person is probably limited to 30cm or less.

In this change detector mode, the sensor is not so much a presence detector as a
change-of-presence detector, somewhat like a passive infrared motion detector
(PIR.) However, because of its intrinsically short range, a capacitive motion detector
can be used in situations where a PIR detector would falsely respond to apparent
background changes. This is true in the suggested vehicle safety application, where
motion of the vehicle causes changes in the thermal background.

Spread Spectrum:

The spread spectrum operating concept is widely used in modern communication

systems because it has numerous advantages over traditional narrow-band
communication systems. The approach discussed here is direct sequence spread
spectrum, where a pseudo-random noise (PN) code is transmitted, and then the
presence of the code is detected by the correlation between the received signal and the
known code sequence. Application of direct sequence spread spectrum to capacitive
sensors is particularly simple because the transmitter and receiver are located in the
same place, so synchronization of the transmit and receive code is trivial.

There is a great deal of good introductory material on the web which I will not
duplicate. Here are some links: The ABCs of Spread Spectrum, Spread Spectrum
(SS) - Introduction , Spread Spectrum Techniques.

A key property of a spread spectrum system is the processing gain, which is a

measure of how spread the spectrum is. The processing gain is the ratio of the
bandwidth of occupied spectrum of the spread signal to the actual signal
bandwidth. In RF communication systems, processing gains of 10's to 1000's are
typical. In this system, the bandwidth into the demodulator is approximately 100 kHz,
and the output bandwidth is 1.5 Hz, so the processing gain is 67,0000, or 96 dB.

For capacitive sensors, spread spectrum has three major advantages:

1. Substantial immunity to narrow-band interfering signals. Any narrow band

signal is attenuated by the processing gain, 96 dB. In a narrow-band sensor, a
 narrow band interferer that happens to land in the passband is not attenuated at
all.
2. Automatic sharing of bandwidth between multiple users, with no coordination
required for channel allocation. In particular, a spread-spectrum sensor can
operate in the presence of other similar spread-spectrum sensors without
requiring tuning to distinct frequencies.
3. Very narrow and sharp effective bandwidths can be easily achieved using only
a low frequency low-pass filter at the output of the demodulator. This
improves manufacturability because narrow-band RF filters are not
required. The entire circuit could be fabricated on a single chip. (This is a
benefit of synchronous demodulation or baseband processing, rather than
spread spectrum per-se.)

Bibliography
Baumer. (n.d.). Capacitive sensors measure all media highly accurately. Retrieved from
http://www.baumer.com/us-en/products/presence-detection/capacitive-sensors/

MacLachlan, R. (n.d.). What is a Capacitive Sensor? Retrieved January 2017, from

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~ram/capsense/intro.html

Applications for Capacitive Sensors

Capacitive Sensors are able to sense both metallic and non-metallic materials and are a important component
in industrial automation applications. Rechner has been producing capacitive sensors since 1965 and have the
widest range of capacitance products of any manufacturer.

Below are application examples for the different product lines within Rechners range of capacitive sensors. If
you would like more information, please get in touch with your nearest distributor through the contact page.

Norm Line Capacitive Sensors

 The Norm Line Capacitive Sensor range is comprised of sensors designed for
use in everyday applications such as level monitoring of plastic pellets. They
meet all international standards and are manufactured to the same standard
as Rechners more advanced sensors.

Applications

Level Control of Liquids

Level Control of Solids
Pile-up Control

Examples (Click to Expand)

Coming Soon

Coming Soon

High Performance Capacitive Sensors

Rechners High Performance range of sensors is comprised of sensors with

special properties. These include sensors with high temperature ratings,
longer sensing distances, EMC protection and IECEx certification. Also
available are sensors designed for use in the food and pharmaceuticals
industries.

Applications

Hazardous Area Environments

High Temperature Environments
High Pressure Wash-down Environments

Examples (Click to Expand)

Level Monitoring in a Hazardous Area

Coming Soon

Series 95 Capacitive Sensors

The 95 Series has been developed for automation applications the

agricultural industry. They are multi-voltage sensors with relay outputs with
optional timer and or on/off delay functionality. The design of this sensor
allows them to be used independently of logic controllers such as PLCs with
loads of up to 1A.

Applications

Feed Hopper Level Monitoring

Small Vessel Pump Control
Suitable for use in Environments with Inconsistent Power Supplies
 Examples (Click to Expand)

Coming Soon

Coming Soon

Series 26 Capacitive Sensors

The 26 Series was originally developed to maximise performance in the

detection of adhesive products. However, the unique rounded tip sensor has
proved to be extremely reliable and accurate in many other applications.
They are often used in the chemical, pharmaceutical and food industries for
level control of liquid and solid materials.

Applications

Grease Level Monitoring

Pharmaceuticals Manufacturing
Suitable for Use with Chemicals

Examples (Click to Expand)

Coming Soon

Coming Soon

Mini Sensors

Rechners Mini sensors have been designed to be used in applications where

size is important. The technology was originally developed 25 years ago due
to customer demand and has grown into a successful product range.

Applications

Small Size Allows Use in Confined Spaces

Available with Hazardous Area Outputs

Examples (Click to Expand)

Coming Soon

Coming Soon

Leak Sensors
 Leak Sensors are used to detect leaks in liquid processes and are available
with IECEx certification. These sensors are extremely sensitive which is a
critical feature for early detection of leaks.

Applications

Pipeline Leak Detection

Vessel Leak Detection

Examples (Click to Expand)

Coming Soon

rechner.com.au/applications/capacitive-sensors

Coming Soon

Liquid level monitoring of return flow tanks in laboratory automation

Fast and easy sensor installation outside of tanks

Long service life thanks to robust housing
Several self-definable monitoring areas thanks to easy cascading

Ink level detection in offset printing machines

Level detection in direct contact with the liquid

Dirt and drop retention is suppressed by the sensor
 Easy and safe functional principle

Wafer detection in solar cell manufacturing facilities

Reliable wafer detection thanks to large sensing distances

Flush mounting possible thanks to flat design
Detection regardless of transparency and brightness of the objects

Granule level detection in injection molding plants

Robust design protects the sensors from mechanical wear

Surface-independent detection
Fast and easy installation

Level monitoring in bottling plants

Detection through packaging

Quality control of closed packaging at the end of the process possible
Color-independent detection increases process safety
http://www.baumer.com/us-e n/products/presence-detection/capacitive-sensors/