• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Precision Engineering Conference
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• 2011.06a
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• pp.535-536
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• 2011

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.397-402
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• 2018

Proper seat design is critical to the safety, comfort, and ergonomics of automotive driver's seats. To ensure effective seat design, quantitative methods should be used to evaluate the characteristics of automotive seats. This paper presents a system that is capable of simultaneously monitoring body pressure distribution and surface deformation in a textile material. In this study, a textile-based capacitive sensor was used to detect the body pressure distribution in an automotive seat. In addition, a strain gauge sensor was used to detect the degree of curvature deformation due to high-pressure points. The textile-based capacitive sensor was fabricated from the conductive fabric and a polyurethane insulator with a high signal-to-noise ratio. The strain gauge sensor was attached on the guiding film to maximize the effect of its deformation due to bending. Ten pressure sensors were placed symmetrically in the hip area and six strain gauge sensors were distributed on both sides of the seat cushion. A readout circuit monitored the absolute and relative values from the sensors in realtime, and the results were displayed as a color map. Moreover, we verified the proposed system for quantifying the body pressure and fabric deformation by studying 18 participants who performed three predefined postures. The proposed system showed desirable results and is expected to improve seat safety and comfort when applied to the design of various seat types. Moreover, the proposed system will provide analytical criteria in the design and durability testing of automotive seats.

• JSTS:Journal of Semiconductor Technology and Science
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• v.2 no.4
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• pp.280-287
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• 2002

We present technical issues involved in the development of actuators and sensors for applications to high-precision Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS). The technical issues include fabrication uncertainty and noise disturbance, causing major difficulties for MEMS to achieve high-precision actuation and detection functions. For nano-precision actuators, we solve the fabrication instability and electrical noise problems using digital actuators coupled with nonlinear mechanical modulators. For the high-precision capacitive sensors, we present a branched finger electrodes using high-amplitude anti-phase sensing signals. We also demonstrate the potential applications of the nanoactuators and nanodetectors to high-precision positioning MEMS.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.10 no.4
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• pp.266-272
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• 2001

A coil-type capacitive sensor on which the deterioration of the car engine oil can be in situ measured, has been developed. The sensor was designed to get over 10 pF at the limited space on the drain hole of the oil pan. The design factors for stable capacitance measurement such as coil diameter and winding condition, materials and configuration of the coil former, and shielding method, etc., were known by both computer simulation and experimental investigations. The dielectric properties measured by several sensors for an used sample oil were consisted within 0.25%. The sensor installed on the car having severe vibration, temperature and humidity fluctuation, even electromagnetic noise, has shown very distinguishable results.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.287-291
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• 2004

A capacitive type humidity sensor has been fabricated using a polyimide film without hydrophobic elements and its characteristics has been evaluated for hermeticity measurement of micro packages. For a highly sensitive humidity sensor, a polyimide film without hydrophobic elements has been synthesized and used instead of using a commercial one in which 7 group elements such as fluorine or chlorine are included. Sensitivity, stability and hysteresis has been performed to characterize the fabricated sensors. The sensitivity defined as normalized percent capacitance change was 0.3751%RH and hysteresis was 0.77% in the range of 10%RH to 90%RH. Maximum deviation from the average capacitance measured for 120 minutes at 50%RH was 0.25%. The proposed humidity sensor can be used for hermeticity measurement of micro packages.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society for Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference
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• 2013.10a
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• pp.799-804
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• 2013

The sensor/actuator active sensor diagnostics procedure, where the sensors/actuators are confirmed to be functioning properly during operation, is a critical component to successfully complete the structural health monitoring (SHM) process with large numbers of active sensors typically installed in a structure. The basis of this process is to track the changes in the capacitive value of piezoelectric materials, which shows up in measured admittance. Due to the temperature dependent nature of piezoelectric materials, we investigated the effects of temperature variations on sensor diagnostic process. The effect of temperature variations found to be remarkable, modifying the measured capacitive values significantly. In addition we analyzed the effect of bonding agents between a PZT patch and a host structure. This paper summarizes considerations needed to develop such sensor diagnostic processes, experimental procedures and results, and additional issues that can be used as guidelines for future investigations.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.54 no.8
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• pp.2871-2876
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• 2022

The sensitivity of polymer-based capacitive relative humidity (RH) sensors after irradiation with neutrons, electrons and protons was measured. Degradation consists of the decreasing of the upper RH limit that can be measured. At the same time, low RH-level sensitivity is almost stable. After 30 krad of absorption dose, RH cut off is equal to 85% of max value, after 60 krad-40%. Degradation reduces after annealing which indicates high radiation sensitivity of the internal circuit in comparison to RH-sensing polymer film.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.32 no.4
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• pp.219-222
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• 2023

Partial discharges (PD) have long been recognized as a major contributing factor to catastrophic failures in high-power equipment. As the demand for high voltage direct current (HVDC) facilities continues to rise, the significance of on-line and real-time monitoring of PD becomes increasingly prominent. In this study, we have designed, fabricated, and characterized a highly sensitive and cost-effective PD sensor comprising a pair of copper electrodes with different arc lengths. The key advantage of our sensor is its non-invasive nature, as it can be installed at any location along the entire power cable without requiring structural modifications. In contrast, conventional PD sensors are typically limited to installation at cable terminals or insulation joint boxes, often necessitating invasive alterations. Our PD sensor demonstrates exceptional accuracy in estimating PD location, with a success rate exceeding 95% in the straight sections of the power cable and surpassing 89% in curved sections. These remarkable characteristics indicate its high potential for realtime and on-line detection of PD.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.93-98
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• 2018

In this paper, an energy-efficient 11.49-bit successive approximation register (SAR) capacitance-to-digital converter (CDC) for capacitive sensors with a figure of merit (FoM) of 31.6 pJ/conversion-step is presented. The CDC employs a SAR algorithm to obtain low power consumption and a simplified structure. The proposed circuit uses a capacitive sensing amplifier (CSA) and a dynamic latch comparator to achieve parasitic capacitance-insensitive operation. The CSA adopts a correlated double sampling (CDS) technique to reduce flicker (1/f) noise to achieve low-noise characteristics. The SAR algorithm is implemented in dual operating mode, using an 8-bit coarse programmable capacitor array in the capacitance-domain and an 8-bit R-2R digital-to-analog converter (DAC) in the charge-domain. The proposed CDC achieves a wide input capacitance range of 29.4 pF and a high resolution of 0.449 fF. The CDC is fabricated in a $0.18-{\mu}m$ 1P6M complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) process with an active area of 0.55 mm2. The total power consumption of the CDC is $86.4{\mu}W$ with a 1.8-V supply. The SAR CDC achieves a measured 11.49-bit resolution within a conversion time of 1.025 ms and an energy-efficiency FoM of 31.6 pJ/step.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.35 no.11
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• pp.1147-1156
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• 2011

A contact-type area-varying capacitive displacement sensor, or CLECDiS, can measure displacements over millimeter ranges with nanometer resolution. However, a small changes in the contact condition due to the surface profile or friction, which are inherent characteristics of contact-type sensors, lead to significant distortion of the output signal. Therefore, ensuring reliable contact conditions during CLECDiS measurements is the most important area to be improved in their actual use. Herein, in order to design an instrument for ensuring reliable contact conditions, the contact condition is analyzed by characterizing the signal distortion, observing the pressure distribution between the contacting surfaces, and measuring the motional errors of the sensor using a laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV). The manufactured instrument enables a CLECDiS to be used in an ultraprecise positioning system with improved reliability.