Capacitive sensor for relative angle measurement

Abstract

Based on a capacitive angle and angular rate sensor, a sensor measuring the relative angle between two rotating shafts has been developed. Two rotatable electrodes are placed between two sensor plates. The relative angle between the two rotors and the absolute position of the rotor blades are calculated from measurements of the capacitive coupling between different transmitting stator segments and a single receiving electrode. A prototype of this sensor has been developed with a range of the relative angle of /spl plusmn/7.5/spl deg/ with a resolution of 0.1/spl deg/.