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Capacitive transducer eliminates adverse effects of temperature and humidity; it is especially suited for measuring pressure changes in high-temperature environment. Transducer basically is three-electrode device.
Capacitive strain gage and signal conditioning system measures stress-induced strain and cancels thermal expansion strain at temperatures to 1,500 F (815 C). Gage does not significantly restrain or reinforce specimen.
The thinning characteristics of five fluids were studied by measuring film thickness as a function of time. The mercury squeeze film capacitance technique was used. All tests were performed at room temperature. The synthetic hydrocarbon plus a nematic liquid crystal, N-(p-methoxybenzylidene)-p-butylaniline, thinned according to a Newtonian model and retained its bulk viscosity. The synthetic hydrocarbon plus a phosphonate antiwear additive and the synthetic hydrocarbon plus n-hexadecanol produced residual thick films. The synthetic hydrocarbon base fluids and the synthetic hydrocarbon plus a paraffinic resin displayed viscosity increases during thinning, but no residual films were formed.
The characteristics of a 1500 F capacitive strain gage and an associated new type of signal conditioner are presented. Response of the system to strain and temperature and to other influences such as bending, torsion, misalignment, shock and vibration are discussed.
Proposed connector consisting of twin metal films separated by thin layers of insulating material transmits digital pulses capacitively. There is no direct contact between metal films; therefore, there is no ohmic contact drop and no wear when connections are changed. Since metal films are sealed in insulating material, there is no corrosion from exposure to atmosphere.
High temperature pressure transducers capable of continuous operation while exposed to 650 C were developed and evaluated over a full-scale differential pressure range of + or - 69 kPa. The design of the pressure transducers was based on the use of a diaphragm to respond to pressure, variable capacitive elements arranged to operate as a differential capacitor to measure diaphragm response and on the use of fused silica for the diaphragm and its supporting assembly. The uncertainty associated with measuring + or - 69 kPa pressures between 20C and 650C was less than + or - 6%.
The ion optics electrodes of low specific impulse (3000 sec) mercury electron bombardment ion thrusters are vulnerable to short circuits by virtue of their relatively small interelectrode spacing (0.5 mm). Metallic flakes from backsputtered deposits are the most probable cause of such 'shorts' and 'typical' flakes have been simulated here using refractory wire that has a representative, but controllable, cross section. Shorting wires can be removed by capacitive discharge without significant damage to the electrodes. This paper describes an evaluation of 'short' removal versus electrode damage for several combinations of capacitor voltage, stored energy, and short circuit conditions.
Bias resistors with large voltage swings are replaced by transistorized current sources and bias currents are reduced to level where beta of devices is accceptable. Innovation has other applications in circuits driving pulsed capacitive loads.
Capacitive pressure transducer operates continuously at temperatures as high 1,2000 F, and has been evaluated over full-scale differential pressure range of + or - 10 psi (69 x 1000 N/sq m).
One and two ohm-cm solar cells irradiated with 1 MeV electrons at 30 C were studied using both EPR and transient capacitance techniques. In 2 ohm-cm cells, Si-G6 and Si-G15 EPR spectra and majority carrier trapping levels at (E sub V + 0.23) eV and (E sub V + 0.38) eV were observed, each of which corresponded to the divacancy and the carbon-oxygen-vacancy complex, respectively. In addition, a boron-associated defect with a minority carrier trapping level at (E sub C -0.27) eV was observed. In 1 ohm-cm cells, the G15 spectrum and majority carrier trap at (E sub V + 0.38) eV were absent and an isotropic EPR line appeared at g = 1.9988 (+ or - 0.0003); additionally, a majority carrier trapping center at (E sub V + 0.32) eV, was found which could be associated with impurity lithium. The formation mechanisms of these defects are discussed according to isochronal annealing data in electron-irradiated p-type silicon.
The rotor blade tip clearance measurement system consists of a capacitance sensing probe with self contained tuning elements, a connecting coaxial cable, and remotely located electronics. Tests show that the accuracy of the system suffers from a strong dependence on probe tip temperature and humidity. A novel inplace recalibration technique was presented which partly overcomes this problem through a simple modification of the electronics that permits a scale factor correction. This technique, when applied to a commercial system significantly reduced errors under varying conditions of humidity and temperature. Equations were also found that characterize the important cable and probe design quantities.
Fabrication on p-type GaAs of MOS structures in which the quality of the oxide is such that the surface can be driven into deep inversion by a voltage pulse is reported. The capacitance transients in such MOS capacitors as a function of step amplitude and temperature were measured and the transients were analyzed by an extension of a method for silicon. The oxides were produced by plasma oxidation on an LPE-grown p-type GaAs specimen with N sub A of 3x10 to the 17th power/cu cm. The capacitors were produced by depositing 50 microns-diameter gold dots over the native oxide and, therefore, the lifetime is localized to the area under the dot. The method permits extraction of both the bulk lifetime and the interface recombination velocity. These parameters on samples with different N sub A were measured and a correlation between tau sub g and N sub A was found.
It is known that capacitance-sensing, rotor-blade-tip-clearance measurement systems suffer from a strong dependency on probe tip temperature and humidity. A novel in-place recalibration technique partly overcomes this problem through a simple modification of the electronics that permits a scale factor correction. The technique is used to reduce the errors in a commercial system by more than 50 percent up to a temperature of 370 C (700 F). A probe design is proposed to further raise the maximum temperature capability of the measurement system.
Fluidized-bed chamber in which particles in bed are capacitively heated produces high yields of polycrystalline silicon for semiconductor devices. Deposition of unrecoverable silicon on chamber wall is reduced, and amount of recoverable silicon depositing on seed particles in bed is increased. Particles also have a size and density suitable for direct handling without consolidation, unlike silicon dust produced in heated-wall chambers.
It is shown that pulsed electric fields can be produced over extended volumes by taking advantage of the internal capacitances in a stacked array of electrodes. The design, construction, and performance of practical arrays are discussed. The prototype arrays involved fields of 100-1000 V/cm extending over several centimeters. Scaling to larger physical dimensions is straightforward.
The derivation of a simple expression for the capacitance C(V) associated with the transition region of a p-n junction under a forward bias is derived by phenomenological reasoning. The treatment of C(V) is based on the conventional Shockley equations, and simpler expressions for C(V) result that are in general accord with the previous analytical and numerical results. C(V) consists of two components resulting from changes in majority carrier concentration and from free hole and electron accumulation in the space-charge region. The space-charge region is conceived as the intrinsic region of an n-i-p structure for a space-charge region markedly wider than the extrinsic Debye lengths at its edges. This region is excited in the sense that the forward bias creates hole and electron densities orders of magnitude larger than those in equilibrium. The recent Shirts-Gordon (1979) modeling of the space-charge region using a dielectric response function is contrasted with the more conventional Schottky-Shockley modeling.
Rugged capacitive transducer measures thickness of film of liquid flowing over wind-tunnel model or other object. Transducer mounted flush with surface of model to preserve model outline, thus minimally disturbing wind-tunnel and film flows. Additional uses include thickness control of paint or nonmetallic solid films.
The frequency-modulated (FM) oscillator described is part of a blade tip clearance measurement system that meets the needs of a wide class of fans, compressors, and turbines. As a result of advancements in the technology of ultra-high-frequency operational amplifiers, the FM oscillator requires only a single low-cost integrated circuit. Its carrier frequency is 42.8 MHz when it is used with an integrated probe and connecting cable assembly consisting of a 0.81 cm diameter engine-mounted capacitance probe and a 61 cm long hermetically sealed coaxial cable. A complete circuit analysis is given, including amplifier negative resistance characteristics. An error analysis of environmentally induced effects is also derived, and an error-correcting technique is proposed. The oscillator can be calibrated in the static mode and has a negative peak frequency deviation of 400 kHz for a rotor blade thickness of 1.2 mm. High-temperature performance tests of the probe and 13 cm of the adjacent cable show good accuracy up to 600 C, the maximum permissible seal temperature. The major source of error is the residual FM oscillator noise, which produces a clearance error of + or - 10 microns at a clearance of 0.5 mm. The oscillator electronics accommodates the high rotor speeds associated with small engines, the signals from which may have frequency components as high as 1 MHz.