At Delta C we pride ourselves on being an industry leader in capacitive sensing technology. No one invented capacitance – it’s a force of nature, just like gravity. And like gravity’s effects can be measured with the use of a scale or load cell, capacitance can be measured using capacitive sensing technology.
There is no right or wrong way to use a scale, and no standard definition of the usefulness of knowing something’s weight. Whether you’re trying to brew the perfect cup of coffee, or determine if an industrial elevator is loaded within a safe operating capacity, the same core principle is being measured. The same can be true of capacitance. There are as many different ways to use capacitive measurement technology as there are to use a scale. What you put on that scale is up to you.
The primary purpose of our technology is to detect minute changes in a substance’s composition by using the principal of capacitance.
Capacitance refers to a system’s ability to store an electrical charge – and this is generally done through the use of a capacitor. Capacitors are incredibly common, and can be found in some form or another on the vast majority of electronic circuits. Every one of these capacitors is made up of two pieces of conductive material – the electrodes – separated by a piece of non-conductive material – the dielectric.
The Delta C Capacitive Sensor operates under this principle – incorporating a coaxial capacitor into its design. Just like a standard capacitor, our capacitive measurement cell consists of three parts: two electrodes, and one dielectric. While most capacitive electrodes take the form of parallel metal plates, ours are designed to form a cylindrical chamber with space for a liquid to flow through the center. The liquid that flows through the chamber acts as a dynamic dielectric, which depending on the properties of the liquid, allows the capacitor to store a variable charge. It is by measuring and analyzing this variation in charge that a Delta C Capacitive Sensor is able to quickly and accurately detect minute changes in fluid composition.
Every substance has its own unique dielectric properties, so whether the chamber is filled with air, water, oil, or anything else, it will result in a unique, and often drastically different dielectric signature. It is by detecting and analyzing changes in this dielectric signature that the Delta C Capacitive Fluid Sensor is able to offer unrivaled insight into fluid composition and process control.