MTI Instruments has introduced a third-generation digital capacitance displacement gauge with lower noise and greater resolution. The Digital Accumeasure DSeries Gen 3 provides up to 0.01% full scale range linearity and is designed for measuring gap, vibration, and positioning
Since it is immune to magnetic fields, it can be particularly suitable for acquiring these measurements in the presence of high magnetic fields. It is already being used to measure the armature gap in a wind turbine, noted Don Welch, director of engineering. It could also be used to measure vibration where high magnetic fields exist. Other applications have included measuring displacement in experimental magnetic applications where the probes must exhibit no permeability or residual magnetic field, said Welch.
In both analog and digital systems, noise is an unwanted disturbance that distorts or interferes with a desired electrical signal, notes Welch. The new unit is a lower-noise amplifier than the companys Gen 2 and features sub-nanometer resolution for highly-precise measurements. It converts a highly-reliable capacitive electric field measurement (displacement) directly into a highly-precise 24-bit digital reading. Quadrature encoder input provides positional information simultaneously with the displacement signal. Its amplifier converts probe capacitance directly to target gap (distance). This direct conversion approach eliminates errors that traditional analog amplifiers experience because of filtering, linearization, range extension, and the summing of channels to obtain thickness or step measurements.
For more information, see www.mtiinstruments.com.
