Abstract
This thesis covers the development of a capacitive sensor system which measures the geometry of knife bands in
order to determine their sharpness. In this case the sharpness is defined by the blade angle and the blade height
under the assumption of an infinitely small cutting edge radius. These parameters uniquely determine the
capacitance density in the developed sensor system. The computation of the geometry parameters from discrete
measured capacitance density values involves the solution of an inverse electrostatic problem. In order to obtain a
solution which is valid for a large range of knife band geometries an analytic closed form solution based on a
parameter model is required.
The sensor system is modelled using the conformal mapping method. This method yields the field equation describing
the electric field between the knife band and the sensor electrodes in terms of the geometry parameters. The field
equation is the basis for a parameter model which uniquely links the capacitance density and the geometry
parameters.
In general this parameter model cannot be inverted due to the complex functions involved and the geometry
parameters cannot be directly expressed as a function of the capacitance density. Thus, no solution of the inverse
problem exists in closed form, but optimization methods can be used to obtain a solution. The selected optimization
method uses the parameter model to construct an objective function and computes the unique combination of
parameters which corresponds to the discrete measured capacitances. The computed parameters determine the sharpness
of the knife band sufficiently well.
The developed method accurately determines the knife band geometry and can be used to determine many similar knife
band geometries in good approximation. The described modelling and evaluation methods were successfully used to
design and to characterize a sensor prototype.
| Translated title of the contribution | Application of conformal mapping methods to solve planar inverse problems in instrumentation and measurement |
|---|---|
| Original language | German (Austria) |
| Publication status | Published - Mar 2014 |
Fields of science
- 202012 Electrical measurement technology
- 202039 Theoretical electrical engineering
- 203016 Measurement engineering
JKU Focus areas
- Mechatronics and Information Processing