THE DEVELOPMENT OF A PRESSURE TRANSDUCER FOR USAGE IN HIGH PRESSURE AND VIBRATION ENVIRONMENTS

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DEVELOP A HIGH-ACCURACY, LOW RANGE PRESSURE TRANSDUCER WHICH IS SUITABLE FOR MEASUREMENT IN ENVIRONMENTS WHERE HIGH VIBRATION, HIGH TEMPEATURE AND VARYING LINE PRESSURE CREATE PROBLEMS FOR PRESENTLY AVAILABLE TRANSDUCERS. THE PRIMARY SENSOR IS AN ELASTIC METAL MEMBRANCE WHICH FORMS ONE PLATE OF A CAPCITOR. AN ELECTRONIC CIRCUIT CONVERTS THE MEMBANE DEFLECTIONS INTO VOLTAGE VARIATIONS WHICH ARE SAMPLED BY A MICROPROCESSOR. DUE TO THE SMALL OSCILLATING MAS OF THE MEMBRANE, THE TRANSDUCER HAS A HIGH NATURAL FREQUENCY AND IS LARGELY INSENSITIVE TO EXTERNALLY INDUCED VIBRATIONS. THE CAPACITIVE TRANSDUCER CONCEPT OFFERS AN UNUSUAL AMOUNT OF DESIGN FLEXIBILITY AND CAN WITHSTAND LARGE OVERLOADS.