CAPACITANCE TRANSDUCER FOR ANGULAR DISPLACEMENT

AIM: Study and calibration of capacitance transducer for angular displacement.

APPARATUS: capacitance trainer set up

THEORY: A capacitor comprises two or more metal plate conductors separated by an insulator. As
voltage is applied across the plates, equal and opposite electric charges are generated on the plates.
Capacitance is defined as the ratio of the charges to the applied voltage and for a parallel plate capacitor.

A capacitive pick up operates on the principle of a variation in capacitance produced by the physical
quantity being measured. The capacitance can be made to vary by changing the relative permittivity
(dielectric constant), the effective area, or the distance between the plates. The mechanical displacement
is generally measured by noting the change in capacitance brought about by change in area or by change
in distance between the plates. The change in dielectric is used to measure changes in liquid or gas
levels.
Two plates, one fixed to the base and the other moving over the fixed plate parallel with a small gap
between the two. The over lapping of the plate will act as a capacitor with air as dielectric media. The
parallel plate capacitor is used as a displacement sensor, which measure the displacement. The other
Capacitance transducer is used for measurement of angular displacement. Gang condenser is used to
measure the angular displacement. Here the thin aluminum plates are fixed to one pole between these
plate thin aluminum plates of same dimension overlap as the other pole on which the plates are mounted.
This will induce the capacitance between the plates which varies based on the area of overlapping of the
plates.

SPECIFICATION:
Sensor: Angular Plate capacitance.
Sensor Material: Aluminum plates
Dielectric Medium: Air
Displacement: 0-900
Accuracy: 5 to 10%
Display: 3.5 digit LED display to read +/- 1999 counts for +/- 200 mv FSD
Power: 230V +/- 10% 50 HZ
OPERATING PROCEDURE:
1. 3 pin mains cable is provided with the instrument connect 3 pin socket of 230V power supply to the
instrument.
2. Check the connections made and switch on the instrument by rocker switch at the front panel. The
display glows to indicate the instrument is ON.
3. Allow the instrument in ON position for 10 minutes for initial warm-up.
4. Adjust the ZERO potentiometer so that the display reads '000'.
5. Rotate the capacitance knob to 90°.
6. Adjust the potentiometer at the front panel so that the display reads 90
7. Move the capacitance knob to 0° till display on the front panel reads 0.
8. Bring the capacitance knob back to 90° (if not adjust the CAL knob on front panel till display reads
90).
9. Move the capacitance knob in the steps of 30°. Tabulate the reading, capacitance knob reading will be
actual reading and the display will give the indicator reading.

TABLE:
C
B
A INDICATOR
ACTUAL SCALE ERROR
READINGS % ERROR
Sno READINGS (B-C)
CAPACITANCE
( DEG)
( DEG)

RESULT: study and calibration of capacitance transducer for angular displacement was performed.