Capacitive proximity sensors

Claim 2

A sensing system arranged to sense the proximity of jet engine turbine blades to their housing, comprising: a capacitive proximity sensor comprising a non-conductive substrate, and two spaced conductive regions on the substrate and having opposed edges defining therebetween a narrow gap across which electric flux lines fringe outwards from the substrate when a potential is applied between the regions; a high frequency source connected to supply an alternating potential to one said sensor conductive region; and a signal conditioner remotely located from the sensor, and cabling connecting the other said conductive region of the sensor to the conditioner input, said signal conditioner comprising means for maintaining an input of the conditioner at virtual ground, and means for amplifying and outputting a signal fed to the conditioner input, whereby the magnitude of a current signal feed to the conditioner input is dependent on the proximity of a flux-shielding body to the sensor, and independent of cabling capacitances due to virtual grounding of the conditioner input, and wherein the sensor is mounted within the turbine housing in alignment with a set of turbine blades, and wherein each of the turbine blades serves as a flux-shielding body.

Claim 3

A system according to claim 1, in which said means for maintaining the conditioner input at virtual ground and said amplifier means are combined and comprise a high gain amplifier connected in a feed back arrangement.

Claim 4

A system according to claim 1, including means connected to receive and demodulate the signal outputted from the signal conditioner whereby to obtain a d.c. signal dependent on the proximity of the body to the sensor gap.

Claim 5

A system according to claim 1, in which the gap is of the order of 0.01 inches.

Claim 6

A torque measurement system for measuring the torque transmitted by a shaft, comprising first and second electrically conductive regions of varied radius spaced along the shaft, first and second capacitive proximity sensors non-rotatably mounted opposite the first and second regions of varied radius, respectively, and each comprising a non-conductive substrate and two spaced conductive regions on the substrate having opposed edges defining therebetween a narrow gap across which electric flux lines fringe outwards from the substrate into the path of the corresponding varied radius region when a potential is applied between the conductive regions, high frequency source means connected to supply an alternating potential to one said non-conductive region of each sensor, first and second signal conditioners connected to the other said conductive region of the first and second sensors, respectively, whereby to produce respective output signals modulated in dependence upon the degree of shielding of the flux lines extending between the conductive regions of their corresponding sensors by the varied radius regions associated with those sensors, each said signal conditioner being remotely located from its associated sensor and comprising means for maintaining said other region of the sensor at virtual ground, whereby to eliminate errors due to cabling capacitance between the sensor and signal conditioner, and comparator means connected to receive and compare said modulated output signals, whereby to produce a signal indicative of the relative phase of the modulated signals, said relative phase being a function of the shaft twist between said varied radius regions and thereby representative of the torque transmitted by the shaft.

Claim 7

A torque measurement system for measuring the torque transmitted by a shaft, comprising first and second electrically conductive regions of varied radius spaced along the shaft, first and second capacitive proximity sensors non-rotatably mounted opposite the first and second regions of varied radius, respectively, and each comprising a non-conductive substrate and two spaced conductive regions on the substrate having opposed edges defining therebetween a narrow gap across which electric flux lines fringe outwards from the substrate into the path of the corresponding varied radius region when a potential is applied between the conductive regions, high frequency source means connected to supply an alternating potential to one said non-conductive region of each sensor, first and second signal conditioners connected to the other said conductive region of the first and second sensors, respectively, whereby to produce respective output signals modulated in dependence upon the degree of shielding of the flux lines extending between the conductive regions of their corresponding sensors by the varied radius regions associated with those sensors, each said signal conditioner being remotely located from its associated sensor and comprising means for maintaining said other region of the sensor at virtual ground, whereby to eliminate errors due to cabling capacitance between the sensor and signal conditioner, and comparator means connected to receive and compare said modulated output signals, whereby to produce a signal indicative of the relative phase of the modulated signals, said relative phase being a function of the shaft twist between said varied radius regions and thereby representative of the torque transmitted by the shaft.