Capacitance Element
Another common method to convert diaphragm displacement to a measurable signal is a capacitance sensor. One version uses a thin metallic diaphragms as one plates of a capacitor paired with a fixed plate to complete the capacitor. The diaphragms is exposed to process. When pressure changes, so as to deflect the diaphragm, the gap between the plates changes, which causes a change in capacitance.
To illustrate this, a transducer using this method is depicted in Figure 9.13. The capacitance C developed between two parallel plates separated by average gap t is determined by Where the product ∁ϵ is the permitting of the material between the plates relative to a vacuum (ϵ=8.85×〖10〗^(-12) F/m; c=dielectric constant), and A is the overlapping area of the two plates. The dielectric constant depends on the material in the gap, which for air is c=1 but for water is c=80. The capacitance responds to an instantaneous change in the area-averaged plates gap separation from which the time-dependent pressure is determine. However, the capacitance change is small relative the capacitance pressure transducer has the attractive features of other diaphragm transducers , including small size and a wide operating range . Many common and inexpensive pressure transducers use this measuring principle and are suitable for many engineering measurement demands , including a niche as the on-board car tire pressure sensor of choice .However , the principle is sensitive to temperature changes and has a relatively high impedance output . If attention is paid to these shortcoming, an accurate and stable transducer can be made.