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Dissertation Lai PDF
Dissertation Lai PDF
vorgelegt von
Yuqing Lai
2005
To yongfeng
CONTENTS
1
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 1
Zusammenfassung ....................................................................................................103
Bibliography ..............................................................................................................105
Abbreviations and symbols .....................................................................................109
ii
1 Introduction
Eddy current non-contact measuring systems have been widely used for more than
30 years for measurement of position, displacement, vibration, proximity, alignment,
and dimensioning, as well as parts sorting applications [1-5]. In this work, the novel
low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) technology was applied to a planar
displacement eddy current sensor in order to improve the performance of the sensor
for displacement measurements in high temperature environments. The improved
sensor can be used as a blade tip sensing probe within a health monitoring system
for rotary instruments, such as aero-engines, gas turbine engines, steam turbines or
turbocharges.
To date, prediction of displacements in aerodynamic systems has been difficult due
to the lack of computational fluid dynamics fidelity, structural modeling accuracy,
instrumentation effects and insufficient characterization of instrumentation
installation effects. Therefore, to improve the lifetime and performance of
conventional displacement sensors, such as eddy current sensor or strain gages, and
transforming them for engine health monitoring applications has become very
important [6]. Especially for a turbo-machinery system, the working environment is
very harsh and the movements of blades are complicated (see Figure 1.1). Incipient
failure of rotor blades and disks can be anticipated by detecting a damage signature
early on, and detecting incipient failures in advance can avoid or prevent further
damages [7].
Figure 1.1 Illustration of turbine blades and an example of their vibrations analyzed by finite elements
method.
1 Introduction
when the blades are passing the probes. The changing vibration characteristics are
analyzed according to acquisition timing data. Further more, the related blade's
fatigue life and the health condition of the turbine are evaluated. In such an on-line
blade monitoring system, non-contact displacement sensors play an important role.
Several physical principles are possible for non-contact measurements. Among these,
eddy current, optical reflection and capacitive sensors have good properties. But in
harsh environments, eddy current sensors are superior to other types of sensors and
have become the best choice because they are inherently immune to nonmetallic
materials, e.g. plastic, opaque fluid or transparent fluid and dirt [13].
The sensor coil is the main component of an eddy current sensor. In this work the
manufacturing technique of the sensor coil was changed in order to meet the
requirement that such a sensor works at high temperature. The novel LTCC
technology was applied to fabricate these eddy current sensors.
Low temperature co-fired ceramics (LTCC) are multilayer glass-ceramic composites
that can bear high temperatures up to the melting point of the conductor metal. Its
typical advantages are as follows [14,15]:
Temperature stability
Because of these advantages, an LTCC application for sensors and actuators was
developed recently rendering a technology suitable for micro-system technology
(MST) [16,17]. The objective of this work is to apply LTCC technology to a planar
eddy current sensor in order to improve the feasibility and reliability of displacement
measurements in harsh and high temperature environments.
1 Introduction
For sensors with a new packaging, their sensitivities and feasibilities must be
controlled and evaluated. In this work, the design of the sensor was first optimized .
A set of calculating methods were built using analytic analysis for electric parameters
of a planar film coil, such as unloaded impedance, skin depth and self-resonant
frequency. Various properties of eddy current sensors were evaluated by finite
elements method (FEM) analysis such as the optimal mounting position, optimum
structure and materials. The FEM analysis involves three aspects: modal,
electromagnetic and thermal mechanical analysis. According to the results of analytic
and FEM analyses and combining them with the LTCC fabrication guidelines, a
comprehensive optimization flow chart was developed, and a corresponding
optimization layout was designed and implemented. With the realized LTCC sensor
examples, experimental characterization was carried out. In addition, the influence of
temperature on the properties of the eddy current sensor was evaluated. It was found
that the change of the resistance of the sensor with the change of the target
displacement follows the same trend at different temperatures up to 600 oC. Also the
values of inductance below 1 MHz bear little temperature dependence. Therefore, it
was justified that LTCC eddy current sensors are feasible at high temperatures.
Finally, a rotating system consisting of a motor, a rotor with blades, a testing circuit,
and a data acquisition system was built. This equipment was used to simulate the
rotation displacement of blades. The testing signals represent the rotating speed of
the motor up to 3000 rpm, clearance between sensor and blade tip, and changes of
the blade geometry correctly. Thus, the capability of the LTCC eddy current sensor
to measure displacements of rotary blades was proved. All stages of the development
of our work are illustrated in Figure 1.2.
In this thesis, chapter 2 describes the literature and addresses the state of the art for
the blade tip timing technique. Several conventional displacement sensor and
packaging technologies are introduced. Chapter 3 elaborates on the aim of this
project. The basic principles of eddy current sensors and LTCC technology are also
presented. Chapter 4 is concerned with the design optimization of the LTCC eddy
current sensor. The analytic and numerical calculations and empirical work have
been done to design a novel LTCC eddy current sensor for the measurement of rotor
blade tips. The layout for an optimal sensor structure is obtained for LTCC
fabrication. In Chapter 5, the set-up of the experimental system and the related
calculation method for data processing are introduced. It comprises the instruments
for the characterization of the sensor and the measurement of temperature dependent
properties, and the system integration including motor, rotor with eight blades, sensor
and its supporting frame, as well as the electronic measurement and data acquisition
system etc. Chapter 6 displays the experimental results and corresponding discussion.
Finally, Chapter 7 summarizes the work and gives the conclusions and the prospect
for possible improvements as well as further applications.
3
1 Introduction
2.1
2.2
(a)Eddy current
(b) Inductive
(d) Capacitive
(e) Optical
Magnetic sensor: This includes magnetic field sensors, magnetic switches and
instruments measuring magnetic fields and/or magnetic fluxes by evaluating a
6
If a nonmagnetic conductive target material is introduced into the coil field, eddy
currents are induced in the target's surface. These currents generate a secondary
magnetic field, inducing a secondary voltage in the sensor coil. The result is a
decrease in the coil's inductive reactance. The coil-target interaction is similar to the
field interaction between the windings of a transformer. Eddy current sensors work
most efficiently at high oscillation frequencies. This type of system is also known as
variable impedance because of the significance of the impedance variations in
defining its complex nature. Ferromagnetic target materials can also effectively
decrease the coil's inductive reactance if there is sufficient eddy current flow to
counteract the increased field strength resulting from a higher permeability of the
target (>1). For high-precision measurements, however, preferable applications
should make use of nonmagnetic conductive target materials for reasons discussed
later [1]. Eddy current sensors can be used whether access to the blade is available or
not (i.e., they can see through the case, and are unaffected by the presence of oil
and other contaminants [19]).
The sensor comprises a coil, a coil core and a permanent magnet. The coil core and
the magnet are magnetically coupled. This generates a permanent magnetic flow
inside the coil. A ferromagnetic substance that influences the field of the magnet can
cause changes in the magnetic flow. This change in flow induces a voltage inside the
coil. The magnitude of the induced voltage depends on the magnitude and the speed
of the change in flow [29].
In a differential Hall sensor, two Hall generators are arranged close to each other.
The individual Hall generators operate along the same principle as the magnetic field
dependent semi-conductor in single Hall sensors. Both Hall elements of the sensor
are biased with a permanent magnet [29].
Strain gage: An ideal strain gage would change resistance only due to the
deformations of the surface to which the sensor is attached. It belongs to the contact
sensors and must be mounted directly on the surface of the tested object.
Contact
sensor:
Strain gage
Noncontact sensor:
Eddy current sensor
capacitive sensor
optical sensor
Figure 2.2.2 Mounting illustration of several displacement sensors on a turbine wheel [6].
The mounting method for strain gauge and non-contact sensors is shown in Figure
2.2.2. Non-contact position measurement devices offer several advantages over
contact-type sensors. They provide higher dynamic response with higher
measurement resolution, have lower or no hysteresis, and can measure small, fragile
parts. There is no risk of damaging delicate structures by the probe, and they can
operate in highly dynamic processes and environments [31]. A detailed comparison
of the four kinds of sensors concerning their advantages and disadvantages is
provided in Table 2.1.
2.3
Sensor type
Advantage/disadvantage
Eddy current
Capacitive
Optical
Strain gage
2.4
In this section, several planar coil technologies are introduced briefly and compared
to the novel LTCC technology. These are high temperature cofired ceramic (HTCC),
thick film and printed circuit board (PCB) technologies. Details are listed in Table
2.2.
10
Technology
HTCC
Thick film
LTCC
PCB
11
The aim of this research is to develop a novel eddy current sensor with sufficient
sensitivity to match the requirements of displacement measurement under given
working environments and testing objects. In our work, the working environment is
harsh and is full of non-metallic impurities such as oil drops, steam, dirt, etc. In
addition, high temperatures above the Curier temperature of ferrite magnets are
another limit to a sensor. The testing objects are rotating turbine blades of highconductivity and non-magnetic metals such as Ti alloys, or stainless steel. Because of
these requirements, it was our research aim to develop an eddy current sensor with
LTCC technology [37-39].
Among several possible sensors for blade tip timing systems, only magnetic sensors
are suitable for harsh environments because they are inherently immune to
nonmetallic materials. But for magnetic inductive sensors and Hall sensors, their
testing objects must include ferrite magnet or permanent magnet. In addition,
because inductive sensors and Hall sensors must contain permanent magnetic
materials according to their working principle, it is impossible that they work at high
temperatures. Therefore, eddy current becomes the only option for our research.
Then, the novel packaging technology of LTCC is applied to the sensor fabrication
because it provides better heat-resistant properties and other advantages such as a
better TCE match between the conductor and the substrate, etc. The design of the
LTCC sensor has been optimised to obtain a better sensitivity for the measurement of
the blade's rotating displacement. The purpose of the experimental testing is to justify
the feasibility of the sensor for working at high temperatures, and to evaluate the
capability of the sensor for the measurement of the rotating displacement at
laboratory level. Of course, the final aim of our work is to apply this LTCC sensor as
a tip probe for practical rig testing in turbomachinery or other fields.
3.2
The eddy current sensor belongs to the group of inductive sensors [40]. In the past it
has been used mainly in the proximity probes application. Recently it was developed
also as a diagnostic and prognostic tool for turbomachinery in terms of a blade tip
12
In 1831, Faraday and Henry discovered that a moving magnetic field induces a
voltage in an electrical conductor proportional to the rate of change of the exciting
current for magnetic field. In 1879, Hughes recorded changes in the properties of a
coil when placed in contact with metals of different conductivity and permeability.
However, it was not until the Second World War that these effects were put to
practical use for testing materials. Much work was done in the 1950's and 60's,
particularly in the aircraft and nuclear industries. Eddy current testing is now a
widely used and well-understood technique for crack inspection or position sensing
[41-43].
Eddy current sensors applied for position or displacement measurement have their
d B
, where is
origins based on Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction: =
dt
induced emf (electromotive force), and dB/dt is the rate of change of the magnetic
flux. The physical model of measurements (see Figure 3.2.1) consists of the target
object and the main component of the sensor that is an induction coil. When an
alternating voltage or current is applied to the stranded coil, it generates an
oscillating magnetic field, which induces eddy currents on the surface of the
conductive target, according to the principle of eddy current induction [8]. Eddy
currents circulate in a direction opposite to that of the coil, reducing the magnetic
fluxes in the coil and thereby its inductance. Eddy currents also dissipate energy, and
therefore lead to an increase in the resistance of the coil [44].
(a)
(b)
Figure 3.2.1 Physical principle of an eddy current sensor: (a) target with large surface [45] (b) target with
narrow surface.
Consider a coil of wire wound in a helical shape with an air core. Low resistive
nonferrous material is typically used in inductive sensor coils to avoid magnetic
13
I2
R1
R2
~
U
L1
L2
(a)
(b)
Figure 3.2.2 Equivalent circuit model of an eddy current sensor with air core as a transformer (a)with a
coupling coefficient that depends on standoff . (b) The simplified model of an inductor and resistor that
both depend on standoff x.
According to Kirchhoff s Law, the circuit model of a transformer (Figure 3.2.2 (a))
can be expressed in Equation (3.1).
R1 I 1 + jL1 I 1 jM I 2 = U
j M I + R I + j L I = 0
1
2 2
2 2
loop1 :
loop2 :
(3.1)
It is evident that:
I1 =
R1 +
M R2
2
R 2 + 2 L2
2
+ j ( L1
(3.2)
2 M 2 L2
R 2 + 2 L2
2
14
Z = R + j L = R1 +
2 M 2 R2
R 2 + 2 L2
2
R = R1 +
L = L1
Q=
L
R
+ j ( L1
2 M 2 L2
R 2 + 2 L2
2
(3.3)
2 M 2 R2
R 2 + 2 L2
2
(3.4)
2 M 2 L2
R 2 + 2 L2
2
( L1
=
R1 +
(3.5)
2 M 2 L2
R 2 + 2 L2
2 M 2 R2
2
R 2 + 2 L2
2
)
(3.6)
where R1 and L1 are the resistance and self-inductance of the sensor coil depending
on the material and structure of the coil; R2 and L2 are the equivalent resistance and
self-inductance of the target depending on the eddy current path, resistivity and
permeability of the target; is the exciting angular frequency of the power source,
proportional to frequency f; and M is the mutual inductance between the sensor coil
and the target depending on the relative position x between sensor and target.
With the change of relative position x between the sensor coil and target, Z, L, R and
Q change with mutual inductance M. Following the equation above, Z, L, R and Q
can be derived using x, , and the exciting frequency . Whereby
Z, L, R or Q = (x, , , )
(3.7)
When sensor coil, target and exciting frequency are given, a one-variable function is
obtained for displacement measurement. That is:
Z, L, R or Q = (x)
(3.8)
When the surface of the target is infinitely large as in Figure 3.2.1(a), x is the
standoff between sensor and target in vertical direction. Whereas, when the surface
of the target is narrow as shown in Figure 3.2.1(b) and the standoff between sensor
and coil is given, x is the horizontal displacement of the target referring to the
15
According to the measuring principle, the eddy current sensors are suitable to be
applied to monitoring movements of turbine blades. In a rotating system, the sensor
is mounted directly above the tip of the blades with its surface normal to the direction
passing through the rotating centre as illustrated in Figure 3.2.3 (a). When a
conductive blade comes below the eddy current sensor, the impedance or other
related parameters of the sensor coil change. Through a suitable circuit, a positive or
negative voltage peak corresponding to the arrival of a blade can be measured. All
blade movements can be inferred by the measurements of their elapsed time.
Comparing the arrival time and the amplitude of these voltage peaks, the movement
of blades can be derived.
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 3.2.3 Testing principle for movement of turbine blades: (a) illustration of mounting for sensor (b)
arrival time of every blade (c) clearance between sensor and tip of blade.
For example, Figure 3.2.3 (b) shows the arrival time difference t between two
voltage peaks. This kind of signal indicates the interval time between two blades and
offers information on rotating speed, and on anomalous horizontal displacements
including vibration signals. Figure 3.2.3 (c) illustrates different amplitudes of blades.
This kind of signal can reflect the change of clearance between sensor coil and the tip
of blade and can offer the information on the creep through long-term trend of
turbine blade length, FOD (Foreign Object Damage) of the blade, and shifts in
resonance etc. By analysing both types of the output signal from the eddy current
sensor, one can diagnose the incipient failure. So, it becomes possible to take some
improvements in time to avoid larger loss and enhance the reliability of the whole
system.
16
3.3
3.3.1
The Low Temperature Cofired Ceramic (LTCC) technology can be defined as a way
to produce multilayer circuits with the help of single tapes, which are to be used to
apply conductive, dielectric and resistive pastes on. These single sheets have to be
laminated together and fired in one step. Because of the low firing temperature of
about 850C it is possible to use the low resistive materials silver or gold with
melting points of 960 oC and 1100 oC instead of molybdenum and tungsten used in
conjunction with the HTCC [46]. The LTCC technology is especially well suited for
RF applications, and for products where a high integration level and/or a high
reliability are needed.
LTCC technology is a very novel technology beginning from the 80s. The first
publication on LTCC can be found by INSPEC in 1984 [47]. Because low
temperature cofired ceramic tape technology displays excellent properties for
packaging, interconnection and passive component integration, it has been widely
used in the last twenty years for high reliability applications in military, avionics and
automotive areas, as well as in MCM's (Multi Chip Modules) for
telecommunications and computer applications. Recently, its application has been
expanded to the sensor and actuator area, rendering a technology suitable for microsystem technology (MST) at the meso-scale level from fifty microns to several
millimetres because its material system is compatible with hybrid microelectronics,
suitable for thermal, mechanical and electrical properties, and easy to fabricate and
inexpensive to process [14,16]. LTCC technology can match all the requirements of
micro-systems such as: small size, low costs, short response time, corrosion resistant
materials, low power consumption, and high temperature operation.
During fabrication every single layer can be inspected and in the case of inaccuracy
or damage it can be replaced before firing. This prevents the need of manufacturing a
whole new circuit. The advantages of the LTCC are: cost efficiency for high volumes,
high packaging density, reliability, integrated and embedded passives component
(capacitors, inductors and resistors) in the LTCC, good dielectric thickness control,
high print resolution of conductors and low K dielectric material.
3.3.2
LTCC are glass-ceramic composites in the form of tapes. They are also called green
ceramic tapes because they are manipulated in the green stage before firing and
sintering. Tapes are easily machined while still in the green stage before firing. They
are soft, pliable, and easily abraded, so it is possible to use mechanical CNC,
punching machines or laser methods. Once the material is fired and fully sintered, it
17
Figure 3.3.1
18
4.1
During the process of sensor design, different factors that influence the properties of
the sensor such as the structure, mounting position and material of the sensor
measurement system are analyzed and compared. The optimization objective is that
the optimal parameters of the whole sensor system should achieve the best sensitivity
under a given environment with stability and feasibility. These factors, which affect
the properties of the sensor significantly, and some guidelines of design are sorted in
three types as follows [49,50].
The factors of the first type are determined by the coil itself and are as follows:
Mounting position of the sensor relative to the target
Geometric parameters of the coil such as thickness, turns, etc.
Inductance and resistance of the sensor coil. The requirement for a standard
design is that the unloaded quality factor Q is over 15 [13].
The factors of the second type come from the target itself, they are:
The geometric factors such as area, flatness, and thickness of the target
The material properties of the target, especially conductivity and magnetic
permeability of the target. For example, high-conductivity, nonmagnetic metals
such as aluminum or copper are the best targets because of the greater
conductivity of the material, and the greater flow of the eddy currents on the
surface [13]. Therefore, our optimization only takes into account good
conductive metals as target material with a constant relative permeability close to
1.
Skin depth of eddy current: If the lateral dimensions of the target are less than
twice of the sensor diameter, the eddy current distribution is difficult to predict
19
4.2
4.2.1
As chapter 1 introduces, the design of a LTCC planar sensor was selected as one of
the main research objectives of this thesis. The central component of our eddy
current sensor is a planar LTCC coil. In this chapter, the structural details of the
planar coil will be determined and its main parameters will be analyzed by an
analytic method.
According to its working principle, eddy current sensors belong to the group of
inductive sensors. The requirements of the coil are high inductance, low capacitance
and low resistance. The structure of the coil must be designed in a way to match
these requirements.
Most of the conventional geometries for planar coils of single layer (see Figure 4.2.1
(a) (b)) are meander-types or spiral-types [51,52]. A meander-type inductor is simple
to fabricate but it suffers from low overall inductance because of the negative turnto-turn mutual inductance. A spiral type coil has a relatively high inductance but its
size is large compared to other coil types with the same number of turns. Due to the
20
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 4.2.1 (a) Simplified schematic of a meander-type inductor; (b) a spiral-type inductor; (c) a solenoid
multiplayer coil.
Analytic calculations can provide electric parameters of a LTCC sensor coil. These
include inductance, self-capacitance, resistance, self-resonant frequency (SRF), skin
depth and so on. These parameters are essential for the design of a LTCC coil. The
model structure used for the analytic calculation is illustrated in Figure 4.2.1 (c). In
this model, the conductor is composed of many spiral-like thin rectangular films in
three dimensions and its material is the metal compatible with LTCC fabrication.
Therefore, some special formulas for inductance calculation of strips are used which
are different from those for normal solenoid coils. The limitation of an analytic
calculation is that it can evaluate only the static parameters of the sensor coil itself.
As for the properties of sensor coils which are concerned with frequency and
temperature dependence, we will utilize the finite elements method (FEM) using the
software ANSYS because of the complexity of the sensor structure and the difficulty
of solving the equations of an analytic calculation. For all the calculations of
parameters the influences of via fill were neglected because its geometric size is very
small compared to the thin strip in a planar coil.
4.2.2
Inductance calculations
Firstly, the inductance of the sensor coil is calculated. The inductance is a peculiar
property of a coil which only relates to its structure. This parameter is the most
21
Self-inductance
Lself = 2l(ln
2l
w + t nH
+0.5+
)
w+t
3l
cm
(4.1)
where Lself is the self-inductance in nH; l is the length of the conductor in cm; w is
the width of the conductor in cm; and t is the thickness of the conductor in cm.
Because the thickness t and width w is the same for every strip of the coil, we only
need to input different lengths of strip from lo to li in x direction and from wo to wi in
y direction with the number of turns N to the Greehouses formula (Equation (4.1))
for different strips. Here, N describes the number of turns of the coil in one layer. By
summing up these separate values, about half self-inductance of coil in one single
layer (see. Figure 4.2.3) was obtained. In fact we neednt input different lengths of
the strip individually because there is a regulation between them. This regulation is:
ln=li+(n-1)P,
where n=1, 2, , N, and means nth turn; P is twice of the sum of pitch pt between
two strip and the width of the strip.
22
Figure 4.2.3 Top view of the LTCC coil which is designed and fabricated (see section 4.4.3).
We assume that the coil has mirror symmetry and the patterns are the same in each
layer. Therefore, to multiply the sum of above by the number for symmetry and the
number of layers K, the total self-inductance of one whole coil is obtained from the
equation shown as follows,
N
(4.2)
i =1
where i is the number of the turn; N describes N pieces of strips in long side and wide
side of the coil respectively.
Using the design shown in Figure 4.2.3 as an example, the numerical parameters can
be found in Table 4.15, which are K=12, N=16, w=pt=131.7 m, t=10 m, lo=15.8
mm, wo=8.76 mm. Using all the values and the equation above, the final total selfinductance of the whole coil Ltotal-self is 15.370 H.
4.2.2.2
The basic theory of the calculation of mutual inductances is the formula for
calculating the mutual inductance between two single strips in the same layer or
between different layers. Two formulae are used and compared. One is Hoers
formula, and another is Grovers formula. The main difference between them is
whether it takes the thickness of the strip into account or not. We will introduce them
individually.
23
l2
Conductor 1
Conductor 2
ll
Dx
Dz
Dy
Figure 4.2.4 3D geometric model of two strips for Hoers formula.
0.008 y 2 z 2 y 4 z 4
Lh =
2 2
w t 4
4
4
x + x2 + y2 + z2
x ln
y2 + z2
z2x2 x4 z4
+
4
4
4
y + x2 + y2 + z2
y ln
z2 + x2
x2 y2 x4 y4
+
4
4
4
z + x2 + y2 + z2
z ln
x2 + y2
( x 4 + y 4 + z 4 3x 2 y 2 3 y 2 z 2 3z 2 x 2 ) x 2 + y 2 + z 2
60
xy
tan 1
2
2
2
6
z x +y +z
xyz 3
xy 3 z
xz
tan 1
2
2
2
6
y x +y +z
l
x yz
yz
( x) ( y ) ( z )
tan 1
2
2
2
+
+
6
x
x
y
z
0
0
0
w
24
(4.3)
2
2
2
s1
r1
q
where f ( x, y , z ) ]q12 ( x ) r ( y ) ( z ) ( 1) i + j + k +1 f ( qi , r j , s k ) .
2
s2
i =1 j =1 k =1
We will then use this formula to calculate the mutual inductance in the three
situations referred to before. In the first step, we calculate the mutual inductance
between two strips in one layer which means Dx=0. The mutual inductance exists in
signed positive and negative values. When current flows in two strips are the same,
the value of the mutual inductance is positive, whereas, when the current flows are
opposite, the value is negative.
Figure 4.2.5 Illustration of a spiral coil with mark for direction of current flow.
When it was assumed that the calculating sequence is from out side to inside,
positive mutual inductance reads M+= M1,5+M3,7+M2,6+M4,8 in y-z plane, and the
negative mutual inductance reads M-=-M1,7-M1,3-M5,7-M5,3-M5,7-M2,4-M2,8-M6,4-M6,8,
where Mi,j means the mutual inductance between ith turn and jth turn.
The number of positive mutual inductances is 2N(N-1), and the number of negative
mutual inductance is 2N2. Summing up M+ and M- and multiplying the result by the
number of layers K, the mutual inductance of the whole coil due to the interaction of
strips on the same layer was obtained.
With the same method, we can calculate the mutual inductance due to the interaction
of the strips on different layers illustrated in Figure 4.2.6. When we exclude the
interaction of two strips having the same number of turn such as the interaction
between the 1st turn in the top layer and the 1st turns in the 2nd layer, the calculation
sequence and the numbers of positive and negative mutual inductances for the strips
on two layers are the same as that for the calculation of one layer case but with Dx 0.
In the x direction being the normal direction of the layers, all mutual inductances for
different assemblies of two layers must be calculated. For example, the 1st layer can
be connected to 2nd layer, 3rd layer, until the Kth layer, and the (K-1)th layer only can
be connected to Kth layer. The number of calculations of two layers is K(K-1)/2. The
25
Finally, we calculate the case of two strips in the same turn but in different layers. In
respect of this situation, the mutual inductance between two strips is always positive,
and the number of individual values is 2NK(K-1).
Summing up all the values for the three situations, the total mutual inductance of the
whole coil is obtained. Because the basic formula is complicated and the calculation
number is large, a program under the software Mathematica is used for computer
calculation.
Using the same model (see Figure 4.2.3) as that in the last section and one new
parameter Ph=96,36 m, which is the pitch between two layers, we obtained the total
mutual inductance of this coil which Mtotal is 232 H.
Method 2Grovers formula (for filament structure)
For Grovers formula, the geometric model is shown in Figure 4.2.7. The thickness
and the width of the strip were neglected so that the strip is regarded as a filament.
For the two strips in one layer, it is d=0. When two strips are parallel but not in the
same layer and turn, d is the absolute distance between two centers of the strips.
When two strips are in the same turn but in different layers, d is the perpendicular
distance of the two layers. Especially, is always negative with the value of
(l1+l2)/2.
26
Figure 4.2.7 General position of two conductors (filament) for Grovers formula.
(4.4)
+d + +d + +d +d ]
2
where
sinh-1(x)=ln(x+ x 2 + 1 ), =l+m+, =l+, =m+.
ote that in the case when the two conductors are overlapped then is negative.
With the same calculation procedure as for Hoers formula, the total mutual
inductance of the same coil is obtained: Mtotal= 194 . Of course, the parameters w
and t are dispensable.
Finally, the self-inductance and mutual inductance are summed up for the total
inductance of the coil. The value of the inductance is as follow:
Table 4.1 The inductances calculated by three formulas
Lself (H)
Greenhouse: 15.37
Mtotal (H)
Ltotal (H)
Hoer:
232
247.37
Grover:
194
209.37
Comparing the two formulae for calculation of the mutual inductance, the Hoers
formula achieves a better precision but is more complicated and needs more
computation time.
27
An ideal inductor coil would have no resistance and no capacitance. For a planar coil,
the resistance is relatively large, because the cross sections for current flow are very
narrow. The resistance of the coil is a very important factor affecting the quality
factor Q of the coil. It also can lead to energy dissipation of electromagnetic field.
The basic equation for the resistance calculation of a conductor is as follows:
R=
l
l
=
A
wt
(4.5)
where
l = total length of the coil windings; = resistivity of the coil material;
w = width of trace of a coil ; t = thickness of traces in a coil .
According to the coil model used in Figure 4.2.3, the length of the strip on one layer
is Lsingle = (lo+li+wo+wi)N=0.523 m. Therefore, the total length of the strip in the
whole coil (l) is equal to lsingleK, which is 6.27 m. The conductor material of this
LTCC coil is silver, and =1.610-8 m. Then the resistance of a single layer is
Rsingle=6.4 , and the resistance of the total LTCC coil is R=76.6 .
Compared to the value offered by the manufacturer of this LTCC coil that is 6.5
per single layer and 83 in total, the analytical value is close to this reference values.
The difference in the total resistance mainly comes from the contribution of via fills
because the analytical value of the resistance in a single layer is better matched with
the measured one than that of the total coil.
4.2.4
Capacitance calculation
28
When a single layer inductor works, a lead wire is required to connect the
inside end of the coil on the top layer to the outside, which introduces an
The third kind of capacitance is between two conductor strips of the coil itself
on the same layer or on different layers.
According to the LTCC coil model used before, the conductor is a thin metal
strip and the structure is a spiral coil of multiple layers without a ground metal
plane. The LTCC substrate is a material of low dielectric constant and
permittivity and good insulation properties. Because of the special structure and
material properties, the separate lead wire does not exist because it is only a part
of the conductor on the bottom layer, and the influence of substrate or ground is
also not existent. So, the first two kinds of capacitance for coils which are
induced by the interaction of conductor-to-lead wire and layer-to-substrate or
ground are neglected and the third type of stay capacitance is focused on
In fact the capacitance between two turns on the same layer also can be neglected.
The reason can be explained by a physical model for the capacitance of this
LTCC coil shown in Figure 4.2.8.
Figure 4.2.8 Equivalent physical model for calculation of the stray capacitance
between conductor strips shown in the cross-sectional direction of a coil.
29
C=
0 r A
d
0 r lwe
d
(4.6)
where
r = relative dielectric constant, namely relative permittivity (a dimensionless number;
4.2 for FR-4 PC board, 7.8 for LTCC at 10 MHz ),
0 = dielectric constant of free space (8.8542 10-12 F/m),
d = distance between the center of two planar conductor surface (meters),
A= effective interacting area (m2),
l= length of strip; we= effective width of strip.
The capacitance is direct proportional to the effective area of two conductors and
inverse proportional to their distance. With this equation, the capacitance of two
turns on the same layer such as Turn1 and Turn2 in Figure 4.2.8 is much less than
that of two turns on different layers such as Turn1 and Turn4 because the interacting
width t=10 m of Turn1 and Turn2 is about 7% of that w=150 m of Turn1 and
Turn4, and the distance pt=150 m between Turn1 and Turn2 is about 1.5 times of
that ph=100 m between Turn1 and Turn4. Therefore, the capacitance between two
conductors on the same layer can be neglected by setting Ct =0 for simplification of
its physical model. Further more, the resistance R connecting two turns on the same
layer is small, and R=0 is assumed for simplification of the physical model.
With these assumptions, the physical model can be converted to a PSPICE electronic
circuit model shown in Figure 4.2.10. In the DC electronic circuit with passive
components consisting of pure capacitors or resistors, the serial and parallel relation
for two resistors is the inverse of that for two capacitors. The symbol of capacitance
between two different layers can be described as resistor, but the inverse of the
resistance value is the final value of capacitance, that is C~1/R in the unit F. The
30
V16
R16
R + R16
V16
R16
software PSPICE. V16 is equal to 15.13 pV and the capacitance of the whole coil Ctotal
is 15.13 pF according its converting relation with V16.
R32
R33
605.5mV
173.92m
R1
173.87m
R7
R3
173.87m
R11
R14
R22
174m
174m
174m
18.27m
173.92m
R2
R8
R9
18.27m
18.27m
R10
R13
18.27m
18.27m
R12
R25
174m
174m
729.4mV
R4
173.87m
R23
R15
18.27m
R19
R21
R28
174m
174m
174m
337.3mV
R6
173.87m
R29
174m
R20
R26
R5
173.87m
R24
174m
R17
R18
173.87m
R31
270.6mV
464.5mV R30
173.87m
173.87m
173.87m
171.2mV
1.000V
R34662.7mV
828.8mV
R35
394.5mV
535.5mV
173.92m
R36
173.92mR37
173.92m
V1
173.92m
R38
R39
173.92m
173.92m
R16
0V
15.13pV
1Vdc
1p
Figure 4.2.10 Simplified electronic circuit model for the stray capacitance of the whole coil with N=12
layers.
31
L
sensor
C
4.2.5
4.2.5.1
The quality factor of an inductor coil is the ratio of its ability to store energy to the
total sum of all energy losses within the component.
Q = Q( x) =
L ( x )
R( x)
(4.7)
where
Q is the quality factor (no units),
is the operating frequency of the coil in radians per second,
L is the inductance of the coil (in H),
R is the total resistance associated with energy losses (in Ohms).
Q depends on the standoff x between the sensor and the target, because both L and R
are functions of the displacement. The higher the value of Q is, the stronger the effect
of inductance is and the weaker the effect of resistance is. A high Q leads to high
accuracy and stability.
For example, in the coil with geometric sizes shown in Table 4.15, its inductance is
247 and the resistance is 83 . We find that the unloaded quality factor Q is 19.9
at 1 MHz according to the equation above. This Q matches the requirements [28] that
the unloaded Q must be over 15 for a typical design of the eddy current sensor. It
means that the design of this coil is qualified for the requirement of electronic
parameter Q.
32
Skin depth
Skin depth is defined as the characteristic penetration distance which a plane wave
travels through a conducting medium. For the eddy current measurement system, the
depth that eddy currents penetrate into the target is affected by the frequency of the
excitation current and the electrical conductivity and magnetic permeability of the
specimen. The depth of penetration decreases with increasing frequency and
increasing conductivity and magnetic permeability. The depth at which the eddy
current density has decreased to 1/e or about 37% of the surface density, is called the
standard depth of penetration (see Equation (4.8)) [13,41].
(4.8)
where
: skin depth (meters),
: radian frequency (radians/second),
: magnetic permeability (H/m), e,g. non-magnetic metal, =0r=1.2610-6H/m,
: conductivity (Siemens/meter),e.g. coppers is 5.78107S/m.
Table 4.2 Skin depth for various metals and frequencies
Conductivity
(106 S/m)
Resistivity
(10-8m)
Copper
58
Aluminum
Titanium Alloy
Metal
100 kHz
1 MHz
10 MHz
1.73
660
210
66
21
38
2.6
820
260
82
26
0.59
16.9
6600
2100
660
210
The skin depths for several nonmagnetic metals at various frequencies are listed in
Table 4.2. For example, the skin depth of copper at 10 kHz is roughly 0.66 mm.
Although the whole eddy currents in target penetrate deeper than one standard depth
of penetration, they decrease rapidly with the depth of the target (see Figure 4.2.12).
Therefore, the effective part of target for the measurement by the eddy current sensor
is only the tip of the target. When we build a simulation model with an exciting
frequency of over 10 kHz for a copper target, 50 times of skin depth tip should be
enough. That is about 30 mm.
33
Figure 4.2.12 Illustration of skin depth for inductive eddy current [41].
4.2.5.3
As shown before, any inductor exhibits stray a capacitance between windings. This
capacitance in conjunction with the inductance forms a "self resonant frequency" for
the loop or inductor. The frequency where the inductance peaks is called the selfresonant frequency (SRF). It is defined as [13]
SRF =
1
2 L(Ccable + Ciwc )
(4.9)
where Ciwc is the inter-winding capacitance or stray capacitance of the coil, and
Ccable is capacitance per unit length from the cable length and the manufacturer's
specification.
For example, in the coil (see Figure 4.2.3) that is the example for LRC calculations,
having an inductance of 247.37 and a capacitance of 15.13 pF, we find that the
SRF is 2.60 MHz. The exciting frequency must be below this frequency for an
inductive eddy current sensor.
34
4.3
4.3.1
100
Resistance /
80
Modal Simulation
60
40
20
0
-80
-60
-40
-20
20
40
60
80
Horizontal distance / mm
0.9
0.8
0.7
0.6
0.5
0.4
0.3
0.2
0.1
8.2
8.4
8.6
8.8
9.2
9.4
9.6
9.8
x 10
-4
4.3.2
In this section, the object of modal simulation analysis is the vibration of the target
blades. From the optimization point of view, the mounting position of sensor must be
decided first. Because we want to monitor the movement including the vibration of
the blades, the sensor should be mounted at the position where it can detect the
largest vibration amplitudes of the blades. The vibration of a blade is very complex,
but it can be composed of many basic vibrational modes at different frequencies.
Therefore the mode shapes are analyzed by modal analysis for different resonance
frequencies in order to find a proper position where the amplitude is large for many
36
Figure 4.3.2 FEM model of blade with two different end shapes.
Figure 4.3.3 shows the results of mode shape. The colour labels describe the scale of
deformation and the text offers the information on various natural frequencies
corresponding to the number of the sub-step. According to these results, for most
modes of vibration of the blade, the largest deformation occurs in the point that lies
at the end of the blade tip. Therefore it can be concluded that the reasonable
mounting position of a sensor should be just over the sharp end of the turbine blade
as shown with a red arrow in Figure 4.3.3. For the shark shape, there is only one
optimal mounting position for the sensor, and for a rectangular shape there are two
optimal positions because of the mirror symmetry of the blade. This conclusion is
very important for the situation that the width of the blade is far longer than the size
of the sensor coil. The whole rotor integrating individual vibration mode of blades
shown in Figure 1.1 also can be obtained using its cyclic symmetry.
37
sub=1
f = 4.846
sub=14
f = 331.8
sub=3
f = 35.006
sub=2
f = 34.778
sub=6
f = 101.85
sub=6
f = 110.12
sub=10
f = 238.13
sub=5
f = 79.858
Figure 4.3.3 Vibration modes of the blade at different natural frequencies in Hz, (note: figures with blue
border show the blades with tip of rectangle shape, the rest show the blades with tip of shark shape).
38
2D simulation
The 2D electromagnetic analysis is applied in the case of axial symmetry. For the
eddy current measurement system, two situation with target and without target can be
investigated for the horizontal displacement evaluation. The relation between the
sensitivity of the sensor and some influence factors for 2D simulation can be
investigated. In addition, the relation between the impedance of the sensor and the
clearance between the sensor and the target is obtained.
First, we build a reference structure according to some simple evaluations (see Table
4.3). Then, the influence factors are changed and the resulting sensitivity is compared
with that of the reference model so that one can get the optimal parameters for the
influence factors. Finally, a detailed relationship between impedance and the
clearance is obtained.
Table 4.3 Simulation parameters and their results
Material
part
material
(108 m)
Ag
1.60
Cu
1.73
coil
target
Geometry
coil
ro (mm)
ri (mm)
Height h (mm)
fill factor
turns
0.2
1/20
200
target
l/2 (mm)
thickness (mm)
gap (mm)
2.5
Electrical conditions
f=1 MHz
Results
R0() L0(H)
Rs()
voltage=5 V
Ls(H)
R s R0
R0
43.56
127.43
48.76
112.82
(%)
11.9
L s L0
L0
(%)
11.5
Q0
18.38
39
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 4.3.4 (a) results of 2D flux when there is a target; (b) 2D EM model; (c) ) results of 2D flux without
target when target material was set as air.
For the calculation of the impedance of the sensor coil, ANSYS can offer an
inductance Ls and an unloaded resistance R0 calculated by its geometric structure.
Also, ANSYS can provide the real part Re(I) and imaginary part Im(I) of the current
through the coil. Hence, we can obtain the inductance and the resistance of the whole
system through electric circuit equation because the voltage applied to the coil is
fixed. The related calculation principles are as follows:
Current I=Re(I)+jIm(I), Impedance Z=Rs+jLs
Because of Z=V/I=V/ [Re(I) +jIm(I)], = tg-1[(Im(I)/Re(I))], the loaded impedance
values of sensor coil can be obtained as:
Rs=
V
2
Re( I ) + Im(I)
cos ,
Ls=
V
2
Re( I ) + Im(I) 2
sin
At the same time, the sensitivity of the sensor in the case of target existence was
define as:
40
R s R0
R0
L s L0
L0
Results
Reference conditions
f=2 MHz f=0.5 MHz U=10 v U=1 v
f=1 MHz,Voltage U=5 v
f=1 M f=1 M
R0()
43.56
43.56
43.56
43.56
43.56
L0(H)
127.43
127.43
127.43
127.43
127.43
Rs()
48.76
51.24
47.13
48.76
48.76
Ls(H)
112.82
112.57
113.17
112.82
112.82
11.9
17.6
8.19
11.9
11.9
11.5
11.7
11.19
11.5
11.5
R s R0
R0
L s L0
L0
(%)
(%)
According to these comparisons, some conclusions about the exciting source are
obtained. The sensitivity of the resistance and the inductance both increase with
exciting frequency increasing. Higher exciting frequency can obtain better sensitivity.
Whereas, they have no relation with the amplitude of exciting source, therefore, we
can choose any voltage value according to the data acquisition requirement.
In the next step, the structure and material of the target become the comparing
objects. The results are shown in Table 4.5. Comparing the change of sensitivity
because of different target material, some conclusions about the influence of
resistivity of the material can be obtained. The loaded resistance and inductance of
the sensor coil increase with the target material resistivity, but their changes are not
proportional to the change of resistivity. For example, when resistivity is 1.5 times
and 23 times to the reference value, the resistance changes 2% and 30% respectively,
and the inductance changes only 0.17% and 3%. The resistivity influence on the
resistance of eddy current sensor coils is much larger than the influence on the
inductance, but all the change is far smaller than the change of resistivity itself.
41
Results
R0()
L0(H)
Rs()
Ls(H)
R s R0
R0
L s L0
L0
(%)
Refer. condition
Cu-=1.7310-8 m
43.56
127.43
48.76
112.82
11.9
Al-=2.610-8 m
Ti-=4010-8 m
43.56
127.43
49.82
113.01
14.3
43.56
127.43
63.46
116.05
45.7
11.5
11.3
8.93
(%)
In this part, the geometry of the target is also considered. The thickness of a target
does not influence the impedance of the sensor when it meets the requirement that
the thickness of the target must be over 50 times of the skin depth as discussed in
section 4.1. This point can be identified by the results on the 2D flux. The width of
the target will influence sensitivity seriously. The relation between the width of the
target and the sensitivity of the sensor coil is shown in Figure 4.3.5. When the size of
target is smaller than twice of the size of the sensor coil, the sensitivity of inductance
decreases with the decrease of the width of the target quickly. For the sensitivity of
the resistance, the influence of the width of the target is less than that of the
inductance, but when the width is smaller than 1.6 times of the size of the sensor, the
sensitivity change of the resistance of the sensor is also very large. Therefore, for the
displacement measurement of a narrow blade, evaluation of its sensitivity before the
fabrication is very important.
30
R e s is ta n c e
s e n s tiv ity
in d u c ta n c e
s e n s tiv ity
28
26
24
22
Sensitivity / %
20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2
10
12
14
16
18
W id th o f ta rg e t / m m
Figure 4.3.5 The relation between width of target and sensitivity of sensor coil.
Next, the parameters concerning the sensor coil are investigated. These parameters
include coil fill factor, turns, the width and thickness of conductor film, and the
width and thickness of the whole coil. In fact, these structural parameters interact
with each other. For example, when the thickness of the coil is constant, the change
of the coil fill factor leads to a change of the width and thickness of the conductor
42
87.12
127.43
92.31
112.82
6.0
Turns300
Fill=3/40
thin layer
narrow film
65.34
286.72
77.03
253.85
17.9
Turns100
Fill=1/40
thick layer
wide film
21.78
31.86
23.08
28.20
6.0
11.5
11.5
11.5
11.5
36.76
9.19
27.57
3.39
Results
Reference
turns=200
fill=1/20
Fill1/10
Fill1/40
R0()
L0(H)
Rs()
Ls(H)
43.56
127.43
48.76
112.82
11.9
21.78
127.43
26.97
112.82
23.8
11.5
18.38
R s R0
R0
L s L0
L0
(%)
(%)
Q0
According to Table 4.6, we know that the size of the conductor film such as its
thickness and width cannot influence the inductance sensitivity of the sensor, but
changes the resistance sensitivity of the sensor much. When the number of turns of
the coil increases, resistance and inductance both increase, but the sensitivity of
inductance does not change. Therefore, the conclusion can be drawn that the changes
in a coil such as size of the conductor film or the number of layers can not affect the
sensitivity of inductance although the absolute values of the inductance and the
resistance are changed much when the outer size of the whole coil is given.
Table 4.7 The influence on impedance and sensitivity of sensor when height of coil changes
Results
R0()
L0(H)
Rs()
Ls(H)
R s R0
R0
L s L0
L0
Q0
(%)
(%)
Refer. conditions
h=1 mm,fill=1/20,
turns=200
43.56
127.43
48.76
112.82
11.9
H=1.5 mm
Turns=300
H=.5 mm
Turns=100
65.34
265.7
74.64
239.39
14.2
21.78
34.56
23.43
29.94
7.5
H=0.5 mm
Fill=1/10
thin layers
43.56
138.24
50.17
119.74
15.2
11.5
9.9
13.4
13.4
18.38
25.55
9.97
19.9
43
Results
R0()
L0(H)
Rs()
Ls(H)
R s R0
R0
L s L0
L0
Q0
(%)
(%)
Refer. conditions
ro=5 mm,
ri=0.2 mm
ri=1 mm
43.56
127.43
48.76
112.82
11.9
ro =6 mm
Wide film
ro =4,
small coil
ro =6 mm
ri =1.2
60.32
177.46
67.44
157.39
11.80
42.99
154.89
48.36
139.09
12.6
44.45
100.11
48.96
87.98
10.14
60.32
218.62
67.71
196.91
12.24
11.5
11.3
10.2
12.12
9.93
18.38
18.48
22.63
14.15
22.77
narrow
film
According to Table 4.8, a big coil cannot bring good sensitivity of inductance. This
conclusion is the same as that comes from Figure 4.3.5. The sensor coil with the size
similar to that of the target has better sensitivity of inductance than the one having
bigger size than that of target. In addition, smaller inner radius of sensor can bring a
better sensitivity of the inductance and resistance. Therefore, the sensor coil should
be as small as possible and be filled as full as possible in area of whole sensor for the
good sensitivity of inductance.
In respect of the coil material, the change of resistivity can change the resistance of a
coil but cannot change the unloaded inductance of the coil. According to the
principle of electromagnetic induction, it does not change the exciting field, and the
inductive field also does not change for the same target. Hence, the loaded
inductance of the sensor does not change, but the resistance and its sensitivity change.
Table 4.9 identifies this analysis.
44
Coil/
R0()
L0(H)
Rs()
Ls(H)
R s R0
-8
10 m
R0
(%)
L s L0
L0
(%)
Q0
Ag
1.6
43.56
127.43
48.76
112.82
11.9
11.5
18.4
Au
2.2
59.90
127.43
65.09
112.82
11.5
11.5
13.37
Pt
10.6
1.8
11.5
2.77
Finally, the clearance between sensor and target is evaluated. Figure 4.3.6 shows the
resistance and inductance of a sensor coil dependent of the clearance between sensor
coil and target. Except the parameter of clearance, all other parameters and
conditions are the same as those of the reference model shown in Table 4.3. These
curves can demonstrate the measurement principle of eddy current sensor for
proximity of target. When the proximity changes, the inductance and resistance of
coil both change. The change tendencies of inductance and resistance are opposite
and the change rate of the inductance is larger than that of the resistance.
800
Resistance /
Inductance L
700
Resistance
Inductance
600
80
60
40
20
0
0,5
1,0
1,5
2,0
2,5
3,0
Figure 4.3.6 Resistance and inductance of sensor coil dependent of proximity between sensor coil and
target.
3D simulation
For the 2D simulation, there are some limitations for application. For example, when
the structures of the coil and the target do not possess axis symmetry and a
displacement measurement in horizontal direction is evaluated, a 3D EM analysis
must be used although the calculation effort increases very much [58].
Like the 2D model, the 3D FEM model is also composed of coil, turbine blade, near
field air and far-field infinite air, but it has no symmetric constrains and loads
because neither of the coil nor blade possesses axial symmetry. According to the
conclusions from modal analysis, the sensor is mounted over the sharp end of the
blade. For simulating the movement of shark shape blade, the blade is rotated 45o
and is put onto static individual horizontal positions in order to simulate the passage
movement. Firstly, a rectangle or racetrack shape for the coil is brought out
according to the long and narrow structure of the target. A solid sphere and a hollow
sphere describe the near field air and the infinite field air. For the loads application,
the definition of current flow must use a local coordinate system. Because the real
constant of the current direction only can be defined as one value, the local
coordinate system must be rotated and moved so that the current flow in related parts
possesses the same direction value. The whole model is given in Figure 4.3.7. All the
parameters and conditions are listed in Table 4.3.
Figure 4.3.7 Model of EM simulation for the measurement system of eddy current sensor in 3D EM
analysis composed of the target in shark shape, coil in racetrack structure, and air in sphere model.
46
Material
part
coil
target
Geometry
coil
lo(mm)
material
Ag
Ti
li(mm)
6
w(mm)
2.5
target
wo
4
L(mm)
30
( 108 m)
1.6
40
1
1
turns
lo
150
gap(mm)
0.7
Conditions
f=5 MHz
Voltage=20 v
(a)
(b)
Figure 4.3.8 The eddy current distribution with movement of positions (a) just over; (b) away 2 mm.
140
100
130
80
Resistance /
inductance / H
120
110
100
40
20
90
80
-40
60
-20
Horizontal distance / mm
20
40
0
-40
-30
-20
-10
10
20
30
40
Horizontal distance / mm
Figure 4.3.9 The relationship between horizontal displacements and the resistance/inductance of the system.
47
48
Rs()
L0(H) R0()
R s R0
L s L0
R0
L0
(%)
Qs
Racetrack
53.1
50.63
60.5
5.04
9.05
12.23
32.9
Round
21.66
19.46
24.39
2.48
6.85
11.19
34.9
Square
25.85
22.61
29.20
2.93
6.72
11.47
35.9
According to the Table 4.11 above, we find that the sensitivity of the resistance and
the inductance for the coil with rectangle shape is better than that of the round and
the square shape. Therefore, the rectangle shape of the sensor coil is optimal for the
displacement measurement of the blade. Then, for the rectangle shape, its width, area,
and fill rate can be evaluated according to the conclusion. For example, in the
direction of the long side of the coil, we consider that the longer the long side of
rectangle is, the better the sensitivity is, because rectangle shape is better than the
square shape. Of course, the side cannot be too long because it must be over the part
of blade with the largest vibration. Then, for the wide side of rectangle shape, the
sensitivity is better with more narrow side according to the results of 2D analysis (see
section 4.3.3.1). But, we must emphasize that this side cannot be too narrow because
when the blade is too wide and passes under the sensor, the change of impedance is
too small when the effective surface area of the blade is twice of the size of the coil.
Therefore, it is reasonable that the size of the coil is bigger than the size of the target
because the requirement for change of impedance is not only a big change of
absolute value between two situations of with and without target, but also the curve
of impedance exists a sharp peak when the blade pass the centre of the sensor.
In summary, 3D EM analysis can offer a clear display of the distribution of eddy
current density in the whole blade. The impedance change detail for the horizontal
movement of the blade was obtained. This signal can be used to evaluate sensitivity
of the sensor in testing the movement of blade. The sharper the curve and the bigger
the change rate is, the better the sensitivity is. The 3D structure of the coil is
investigated and rectangle shape is found to be the optimal shape and its related
optimal size was discussed. This kind of optimal sensor can be transferred to the
49
Thermo-mechanical FE analysis
For the LTCC process, the stress and strain around one via hole are bigger than in
other parts. Therefore, we focused on this part and built a detailed model (see. Figure
4.3.10), that we use to evaluate different conductor materials in order to achieve
better thermo-mechanical properties. The FEM model reflects a bilayer structure.
The material of the substrate is the green tape, and that of thin film is the comparison
object in this section.
Figure 4.3.10. The element model of the detail parts around the connecting via.
Pt (Platinum)
Temperature
0.2% offset
o
( C)
Yield Stress 0.2
(MPa)
50
Ultimate Tensile
Stress (UTS) u
(MPa)
Youngs Modulus E
(105 MPa)
10-6/oC
TCE
20
49.03
137.29
1.697
9.0
250
39.23
107.87
1.640
9.3
500
29.42
76.49
1.559
9.4
750
19.61
43.15
1.383
9.5
Ag (Silver)
20
29.42
147.10
8.04
18.89
250
24.52
117.68
7.25
20.69
500
19.61
78.45
6.02
23.75
750
16.67
44.13
4.85
26.25
The meaning of 0.2 can be explained by the stress-stain curve shown in Figure
4.3.11. The yield point corresponds to the point where the material begins to have
unrecoverable deformation. When some materials have no distinct yield point like in
Figure 4.3.11 (b), a 0.2% offset is used to obtain an approximate yield point in order
to replace the well-defined yield region (see Figure 4.3.11 (a)). The 0.2% offset point
is determined by drawing a line parallel to the linear region of the curve starting from
point 0.002 on the strain axis. The intersection of this line and the stress-strain curve
defines the 0.2% yield point. In addition, the curve shown in Figure 4.3.11 (a) is not
suitable for FE simulation.
(a)
(b)
Figure 4.3.11 The illustration of strain-stress curve for yield point: (a) a well-defined yield region which
not suitable for FE simulation (b) definition of the 0.2% yield point.
When stress is below p1 and strain is below p1, the stress is linearly related to
the strain, i.e., the curve is a linear straight line through zero point, and its slope is the
value of Youngs Modulus E. The end point of this region is the proportional limit,
i.e., the point where the stress-strain curve begins to become nonlinear. When the
stress is between p1 and y and the strain is between p1 and y, the curve is
nonlinear. The total 0.2% offset yield strain (0.2) is (0.2/E)+0.002, and the stressstrain relationship close to the 0.2% offset yield point satisfies the empirical function
= k . Assuming one point near the 0.2% offset yield point with a difference of
strain of 0.01%, its stress can be calculated: 1 = k 0.2 0.0001 . Meanwhile, it
is 0.2 = k 0.2 . Therefore,
51
1 =
0.2
0.2
0.2 0.0001
y
Figure 4.3.12 The simplified stress-strain curve for whole range.
The curve is linear in every region. The regions A1 and A2 are called elastic region,
and A3 is called plastic region. Then, the slope t1 of region A2 can be described: t1=
(0.21)/0.0001. For the proportional limit point pl, it is the intersection of A1 and
A2.
pl = E pl
0.2 pl = t1 ( 0.2 pl )
for region A1
for region A2
pl =
According to the related equation and assuming the strain corresponding to the
ultimate stress being 15%, all the values for three points can be obtained. The stressstrain curves at four different temperatures for materials of platinum and silver
shown in Figure 4.3.13 are analysed by ANSYS, respectively.
52
160
20 C
o
250 C
o
500 C
o
750 C
140
120
120
100
Stress / MPa
Stress / MPa
100
80
60
40
80
60
40
20
20
0
-20
-0,02
20 C
o
250 C
o
500 C
o
750 C
140
0,00
0,02
0,04
0,06
0,08
0,10
0,12
0,14
0,16
-20
-0,02
0,00
0,02
0,04
Strain
(a)
0,06
0,08
0,10
0,12
0,14
0,16
Strain
(b)
Figure 4.3.13 Stress-strain curve as input of material properties for FEM analysis (a) conductor is Platinum
(b) conductor is silver.
Figure 4.3.14 Equivalent stress distribution comparison between Ag and Pt as conductive metal after a
temperature cycle (a) Platinum m= 182 MPa (b) Silver m = 239 Mpa.
Figure 4.3.14 shows that the maximum stress values of silver are somewhat higher
than those of platinum. So, in prototype fabrication, platinum should be the better
material than silver to be selected as the conductive material with respect to the
thermo-mechanical reliability. Whereas in respect of the cost, the price of Pt is about
60 times of the price of silver. In addition, the resistivity of Pt is about 6.6 times of Si.
The coil using Pt will have too high resistance. Therefore, the cost and the properties
of the conductor must be considered comprehensively according to different
application fields.
53
4.4
Dupont 951 green tape material system was used for fabrication of our sensor. Its
material properties are shown in Table 4.13. The Dupont 951-AT tape is chosen as
the material of substrate for our sensor coil, because the thickness of sensor should
be as thin as possible. According to 2D EM simulation, a thinner sensor coil can
result in a better sensitivity and a thinner substrate can implement more layers in a
given thickness of whole sensor coil.
Table 4.13 Material properties of Dupont 951 green tape [61]
Unfired Properties
System Capability
Via Diameter Resolution 100 m
Line/space Resolution
Maximum Layer Count
100 m/100
m
>80 layers
Thickness
951-AT
951-A2
114 m 7%
165 m 7%
951-AX
Shrinkage
254 m 7%
(x,y)
(z)
12.27%0.3%
15% 0.5%
Tensile Strength
1.7 MPa
Young's Modulus
152 GPa
54
For the Dupont 951 green tape material system, the fabrication capability complies
the limit for the size of line and via as shown in Table 4.14.
Table 4.14 System Capability of Dupont 951 green tape material system [61]
System Capability
100 m
Line/space Resolution
100 m/100 m
>80 layers
These guidelines for LTCC fabrication were used as the limit condition and attend
the optimization design flow shown in Figure 4.4.1. This design flow concerns with
all the conclusions of simulation, analytic calculating method and limit of LTCC
guidelines. The final design size and geometric parameter of optimisation are listed
in Table 4.15.
Table 4.15 Geometric parameter for LTCC fabrication
Unfired
Fired
5050
43.743.7
Lines Width/space(m )
150
131
Layers
12
12
Turns
16
16
Via (m)
286
250
Padstack (m)
400
350
Drill (mm)
1.15
1.0
Solder (mm)
2.29
2.0
Border (mm)
Outer Size (mm)
55
Figure 4.4.1 A complete optimization design flow for LTCC eddy current sensor.
4.4.3
Layout design
The layout design software CAM350 demo was used. It reads fabrication rules into
the PCB design domain (compatible with LTCC) and presents them in a way that is
understood by the designer. It can offer a complete flow, from design through
fabrication, which streamlines the transition of engineering data into successful
physical fabrication. The format of CAM350 is *.pcb or *.cam. Layout files in
Gerber format are used for practical fabrication. These Gerber files must include all
56
(a)
(b)
Figure 4.4.2 CAM350 design graph (a) top layer with board line, drill and scribe lines (b) the second layer
with solder pad.
57
100m
58
5.2
Sensor characterization
The principle of the eddy current sensor is the impedance change of the coil with the
relative displacement between the sensor and the conductive object. Therefore, its
main characters involve impedance influenced by factors of exciting frequency,
temperature of environments, displacement of the sensor in vertical and horizontal
directions relative to the object, surface area and material properties of measurement
target. Through the characterization of the relation between the impedance of the
sensor and the influencing factors, the sensitivity, stability and feasibility of sensors
under harsh environments can be evaluated.
5.2.1
L
sensor
C
Resistance and inductance of the sensor at low frequency without object were
measured by HP/Agilent LCR meter 4263B. The data can be compared with analytic
calculations. Normally, the values of analytic calculations are a little smaller than the
real value because the analytic calculation neglects the details of the corner parts of
every layer and filled parts in through-holes. As for the capacitance value, we
measured an approximated value at the maximum frequency of impedance analyser
Solartron1260, which is 20 MHz. The equivalent circuit of the sensor coil is a
capacitor in parallel with a resistor of large resistance.
5.2.2
In fact, the influences of eddy current on the impedance of the sensor coil are very
different between the vertical proximity direction and the horizontal passage
direction. We will test them separately.
59
Proximity testing
As shown in Figure 5.2.2, a linear stage in 3 directions, a supporting frame for the
sensor, a sensor, a copper target plate with a width of 30mm and a thickness of 1mm
and an impedance analyser constitute the testing system. The exciting frequency was
fixed to a constant value of 1 MHz. The proximity distance was changed from 0.1
mm (near sensor surface) to 4.5 mm (far away from sensor surface).
5.2.2.2
The frequency of the exciting source affects the sensor behavior greatly as seen in the
last section. In this section, we study the influence of frequency on the behavior of
the sensor by testing the sensor with a wide frequency range of the exciting source.
High frequency
test m odul
HP IB
Com pute r
Labview
Control solartron
Data acquisition
Zwick
R,L,Phase,Z,
measuring
60
Movement
and adjust temperature
Y=
1
R + jL
+ jC =
R jL
R 2 + (L) 2
+ jC =
resonant =
5.3
R
R 2 + (L) 2
L
R 2 + (L ) 2
1
LC
+ j[C
L
R 2 + (L) 2
= 0 . It deduces
R2
2
(5.1)
Experimental system
As for electronic measurement systems, a current source and a voltage meter were
used for the measurement of resistance at DC condition. A constant DC source was
applied on the sensor and, the voltage between the two ends of the sensor was
measured. The four-wire measurement method, more commonly known as Kelvin
measurement, was utilized because the resistance of the cables in the oven will
change largely with the increase of the temperature. The test lead or test interface
wiring was automatically nulled out due to the use of the four-wire technique. The
61
L0
sensor
C0
R-cable
R-cable
A
IAc or IDc
Meter AMP
Meter VOLT
Two ovens were used in this experiment to offer different temperature environments.
One chamber furnace is from company Carbolite and can be heated from room
temperature up to 600oC. Another one is from company Binder with a maximum
temperature of 300oC.
Thermistor
62
= T
(5.2)
5.4
dR 1
dT Rs
(5.3)
The dynamical testing system is composed of three main parts, a rotating system, an
electronic signal measurement and acquisition system and the testing objects. Figure
5.4.1 demonstrates the construction diagram and Figure 5.4.2 shows a photograph of
the testing system. The detail of every subsystem will be introduced in the following
sections.
63
Adjustable
clearance
LTCC
Sensor
Testing Circuit
Multifunction,
self-designed
Oscilloscope
Tektronix
TDS2014
GPIB Interface
HP-IB ISA
Labview
for data acquisition
DC power supply
Computer
AC Motor
Siemens 1LA7
Metal rotor
Speed controller
Siemens
Micromaster 410
Software
STARTER
5.4.1
RS 485
Starter/ drivermonitor
Power 230V/50Hz
Micromaster 410
5.4.2
The testing circuit plays a very important role in this system. This circuit has two
separate functions: Current source for voltage measurement directly, voltage source
for response of resonant status changes. The principle is illustrated in Figure 5.4.4.
As for the current function, a current source with constant amplitude and frequency
is an exciting source. The output signal V-output is the multiplication of the exciting
current and the impedance of the sensor. The amplitude of the output voltage
includes the information on change of blade in approximate direction and the time
interval of two peaks of the signal reflects the movement of blade when it passes the
sensor.
65
I1
V1
V-output
R1
R0
sensor
C0
C1
L1
sensor
L0
R1
2k
2
1
V-output
As for the voltage function (see Figure 5.4.4 (b)), a voltage source with constant
amplitude and frequency is the exciting source. The constant frequency here must be
adjusted to keep the sensor and the capacitor C of the circuit in resonant status. The
output signal V-output is the product of the current passing through the sensor and the
reference resistance R1.
Compared to the voltage function, the current function can obtain the testing signal
including clear information on the clearance between the sensor and the blade tip, but
the voltage function cannot get this kind of information. However, the voltage
function is more sensible for the initial resonant position of the blade and the peak of
the signal reflecting the arrival of the blade is sharper.
The main component of the generator in the circuit is the Maxim038. This system
was manufactured by the electronics service center of the IMTEK.
The oscilloscope Tektronik TDS2014 with 1260 byte memory and Agilent 54622D
with 2M bytes memory was chosen as waveform display and only the latter was used
as date acquisition device because of its large memory. According to the Nyquist
Theorem, the highest frequency that can be accurately represented is less than onehalf of the sampling rate. Based on the analysis in the last chapter, we select about 1
MHz as exciting frequency. Therefore the sampling rate must be 2 MHz at least. If
the rotating speed of the motor is 1200 rpm, which corresponds to 20 Hz, and we
want to record 2 periods of the motor rotations that is 100 milliseconds, the
requirement for memory is to multiply the sampling rate by the record time that
equals to 100k bytes at least. This is the reason why we select the Agilent 54622D as
data acquisition device. A programme written with Labview reads the data into
66
Test objects
The movement of blades in the rotating rotor were our testing targets. Two rotors
were fabricated with the same geometrical structure (see Figure 5.4.5 (a)), but in
different materials. One of them is made of copper and another of Aluminum. The
diameter of the rotors is 100 mm and the thickness is 30 mm. The length of the
blades is 25 mm and their width is 5 mm. There are 8 pieces of blades on one rotor.
50
100
25
(a)
(b)
Figure 5.4.5 Testing objects (a: The geometric size of rotor; b: picture for mount of sensor and rotor).
The sensor was mounted in a ceramic support. This kind of ceramic Duratec 750
material can be mechanically fabricated and can bear high temperatures up to 1000
o
C. It possesses good thermal and electric insulation properties, and therefore does
not influence the electromagnetic field and testing signal. The related vertical
position and the clearance between the tip of the blades and the surface of the sensor
can be adjusted by a linear stage.
67
6.1.1
Firstly, the basic resistance, inductance and capacitance of the sensor without target
were obtained. The measurement results are shown in Table 6.1 and correspond to
the electronic model of the sensor shown in Figure 5.2.1.
Table 6.1 Unloaded impedance (L, C, R) of sensor coil
Frequency (Hz)
L (H)
R ()
50
295-365(not stable)
81.56
100
256
81.53
200
261
81.51
500
262
81.52
1k
264
81.51
10k
264
81.51
100k
263
82.20
Frequency (Hz)
C(pF)
R ()
20M(with target)
15.5
2.3k
20M(without target)
16.0
2.5k
L(uH)
R ()
100(with target)
242
81.9
100(without target)
239
82.0
Solartron 1260
Analytic value DC
At low frequencies, the influence of the target on the inductance of the sensor coil is
very limited. Similarly, at high frequencies, the influence of the target on the
capacitance of the sensor coil is also very small. These parameters can be compared
with related parameters of analytic calculation. Both the values calculated by analytic
analysis and those measured by experiment are approximate. The correctness of
analytic calculations was verified by the experiments.
68
In fact, the influences of eddy current on the impedance of the sensor coil are very
different between vertical proximity direction and horizontal passage direction. We
tested them separately in this section.
6.1.2.1
Proximity testing
Figure 6.1.1 and Figure 6.1.2 show the values of L and R with different proximity.
The target surface widths are 30 mm and 1 mm, respectively. The exciting frequency
of the sensor is 1 MHz and the testing conditions corresponding these two curves are
shown in Figure 5.2.2 (a) and (b) respectively.
inductance
resistance
350
Inductance L / H
Resistance R /
300
250
200
150
vertical distance / mm
Figure 6.1.1 The relationship between resistance, inductance and proximity distance for copper target with
30mm surface width.
400
380
Inductance L / H
Resistance R /
360
inductance1/2
inductance1/4
resistance1/2
resistance1/4
340
170
160
150
140
0
vertical distance/mm
Figure 6.1.2 The relationship between resistance, inductance and proximity distance for copper target with
1mm surface width (The thin plate lies over the center and up of sensor coil).
The experimental results shown in Figure 6.1.1 and Figure 6.1.2 are in line with our
FE simulation results (see Figure 4.3.6). For the proximity measurement, when the
target surface area is bigger than that of the sensor, the change of inductance is
obvious, while the influence of the resistance can be neglected. On the contrary, if
the target surface area is smaller than that of the sensor, the narrow surface cuts the
69
The measurement system was the same as shown in Figure 5.2.2 (b), but movement
direction was changed to 90o of the horizontal passage direction. The gap between
the coil and the conductive object was kept constant at 1 mm. Figure 6.1.3 and
Figure 6.1.4 present the variations of the inductance and the resistance of a
rectangular coil at three frequencies. At 2 MHz, the resistance values are fitted with a
Gaussian curve because the measured resistance values are rather noisy.
1000
900
Inductance / H
800
700
L500k
L1Mhz
L2Mhz
600
500
400
300
0
10
15
20
25
Figure 6.1.3 The variation of the inductance of a rectangle coil at 500 kHz, 1 MHz and 2 MHz in the
distance range of 26 mm.
R500k
R1MHz
R2MHz
(Gauss fit)
200
Resistance /
180
160
140
120
100
0
10
15
20
25
30
Horizontal distance / mm
Figure 6.1.4 The variation of the resistance of a rectangle coil at 500 kHz, 1 MHz and 2 MHz (fitted curve)
in the distance range of 26 mm.
70
5mm
340
330
Inductance / H
320
310
300
290
280
270
260
0
10
15
20
25
30
35
Horizontal distance / mm
Figure 6.1.5 Inductance change when a 5 mm thickness target passes the sensor with 1 MHz exciting
frequency and 1.5 mm clearance to blade tip.
6.1.3
71
Z=R+jL=Aej
The resistance and the inductance are real and imaginary parts of a complex number.
80
L
R
60
inductance / x50H
Resistance / x1500
40
20
0
-20
-40
-60
-80
0
1M
2M
3M
4M
5M
Frequency / Hz
phase
|Z|
100
80
Phase /
Impedence / x1500
60
40
20
0
-20
-40
-60
-80
-100
0
1M
2M
3M
4M
5M
Frequency / Hz
Figure 6.1.7 Change of impedance amplitude and phase angle of sensor with frequency.
The frequency sweep curve can be explained by the equivalent electronic model of
the sensor. Because the sensor coil contains an inductor and a resistor, all the values
72
One copper plate and one aluminum plate with the same thickness of 5 mm are
chosen as targets. The clearance between the tip of plate and the surface of the sensor
is 1 mm. The main difference between the two materials is resistivity (). The
resistivities of copper (Cu) and aluminum (Al ) are 1.7310-8 m and 2.610-8 m,
respectively. The inductance and resistance of the sensor with targets of these two
materials and a reference curves without a target as a function of frequencies are
shown in Figure 6.1.8 and Figure 6.1.9.
According to the two figures, one finds that the influence of the target material on the
measured sensor inductance and resistance are weak, although there is a big
difference in the resistivity between the two target materials. Al is about 1.5 times
larger than Cu, but in the whole measured frequency range the difference of
resistance is smaller than 6% and the difference of inductance is smaller than 0.5%.
Combining with the results in Table 4.2, we know that the inductance of the sensor is
73
400
Cu
without Target
Al
1m
380
360
Inductance / H
500
340
Inductance / H
-500
-1m
320
300
280
260
1M
2M
3M
4M
5M
Frequency / Hz
240
220
200
200.0k
400.0k
600.0k
800.0k
1.0M
1.2M
1.4M
1.6M
Frequency / Hz
Figure 6.1.8 Inductance of the sensor as a function of frequency without target, with Cu target and with Al
target.
40,0k
Cu
without Target
Al
560
35,0k
480
25,0k
400
20,0k
Resistance /
Resistance /
30,0k
15,0k
10,0k
5,0k
320
240
0,0
0
1M
2M
3M
4M
5M
Frequency / Hz
160
80
0,0
200,0k
400,0k
600,0k
800,0k
1,0M
1,2M
1,4M
1,6M
Frequency / Hz
Figure 6.1.9 Resistance of the sensor as a function of frequency without target, with Cu target and with Al
target.
74
In this section, the same thin copper plate is put at five different positions as shown
in Figure 6.1.10. Then, the frequency sweep measurements are carried out
individually.
target
Far
.
.
.
U p 1 /4
coil
m id
D o w n 1 /4
.
.
.
D ow n
Figure 6.1.10 Illustration for testing position of target plate in testing system shown in Figure 5.2.2 (b).
440
Lfar
L-up1/4
Lmid
L-down1/4
Ldown
420
5,0m
2,0m
Inductance / H
3,0m
Inductance / H
400
Lfar
L14
Lmid
L41
Ldown
4,0m
1,0m
0,0
-1,0m
-2,0m
380
360
340
320
-3,0m
-4,0m
300
0,00
1,00M
2,00M
3,00M
4,00M
5,00M
280
500,0k
Frequency / Hz
600,0k
700,0k
800,0k
900,0k
1,0M
1,1M
1,2M
Frequency / Hz
(a)
(b)
1k
900
850
Inductance / H
800
Lfar
L-up1/4
Lmid
L-down1/4
Ldown
380
375
370
Inductance
950
750
700
650
365
360
600
355
550
-3
500
-2
-1
Horizontal distance
450
400
1,2M
1,3M
1,4M
1,5M
1,6M
1,7M
1,8M
1,9M
Frequency / Hz
(c)
(d)
Figure 6.1.11 Inductance of sensor with target at different positions. (a) whole frequency range; (b)
enlarged curve with frequency interval of 500 kHz to 1.2 MHz; (c) enlarged curve with frequency interval
of 1.2 MHz to 1.9 MHz; (d) illustration for change tendency when target passes by the sensor at 1 MHz.
75
180
170
160
f =1 MHz
147
146
140
145
Resistance
resistance /
150
Rfar
R-up1/4
Rmid
R-down1/4
Rdown
130
120
144
143
142
110
141
100
-3
-2
-1
Horizontal distance
90
500,0k
600,0k
700,0k
800,0k
900,0k
1,0M
1,1M
1,2M
Frequency / Hz
(a)
800
700
Rfar
R-up1/4
Rmid
R-down1/4
Rdown
f =1.5 MHz
340
500
Resistance
resistance /
600
400
300
200
320
-3
1,2M
1,3M
1,4M
1,5M
1,6M
1,7M
Frequency / Hz
(b)
76
1,8M
-2
-1
Horizontal distance
120000
100000
Rfar
R14
Rmid
R41
Rdown
120000
100000
80000
resistance /
resistance /
80000
Rfar
R14
Rmid
R41
Rdown
60000
40000
60000
40000
20000
20000
0
1,8M
1,9M
2,0M
2,1M
2,2M
2,3M
2,4M
0,0
2,5M
1,0M
2,0M
3,0M
4,0M
5,0M
Frequency / Hz
Frequency / Hz
(c)
(d)
Figure 6.1.12 Influence of target position on the frequency dependent sensor resistance. (a) resistance at
500 kHz-1.2 MHz and its change tendency within this frequency range illustrated at 1 MHz; (b) Resistance
at 1.2 MHz-1.8 MHz and its change tendency between 1.2 MHz and resonant frequency illustrated at 1.5
MHz; (c) Resistance at 1.8 MHz-2.5 MHz; (d)whole frequency range.
Impedance / k
3,0
2,5
Zfar
Z1/4
Zmid
Z-1/4
Zdown
(a)
2,0
1,5
1,0
500,0k
600,0k
700,0k
800,0k
900,0k
1,0M
1,1M
1,2M
frequency / Hz
12
Impedance / k
10
Zfar
Z1/4
Zmid
Z-1/4
Zdown
(b)
1,2M
1,3M
1,4M
1,5M
1,6M
1,7M
1,8M
1,9M
frequency / Hz
Figure 6.1.13 Amplitude of impedance of the sensor coil at frequencies from 500 kHz to 1.5 MHz.
77
-3
320
1,5x10
-3
Inductance / H
1,0x10
-4
Inductance
5,0x10
0,0
-4
-5,0x10
280
260
240
-3
-1,0x10
220
-3
-1,5x10
1x10
2x10
3x10
4x10
200
5x10
200,0k
Frequency / Hz
400,0k
600,0k
800,0k
1,0M
Frequency / Hz
Figure 6.1.14 Inductance as a function of sweep frequency for targets with different thickness.
160
35k
150
30k
140
25k
Thickness
1mm
4mm
5mm
far
Resistance /
130
Resistance /
20k
15k
10k
120
110
100
5k
90
0
80
-5k
0
1M
2M
3M
4M
5M
200.0k
Frequency / Hz
400.0k
600.0k
800.0k
Frequency / Hz
Figure 6.1.15 Resistance as a function of sweep frequency for targets with different thickness.
Impedance Amplitude /
30k
25k
Impedance Amplitude /
Thickness
1mm
4mm
1,2k
5mm
far
1,4k
35k
20k
15k
10k
5k
1,0k
800,0
600,0
400,0
200,0
1M
2M
3M
Frequency / Hz
4M
5M
200,0k
400,0k
600,0k
800,0k
Frequency / Hz
Figure 6.1.16 Impedance amplitude as a function of sweep frequency for target with different thickness.
79
6.2
In this section, thermal coefficient of resistance of the sensor coil and other
temperature influences on properties of the sensor are obtained. Further more, the
feasibility of the sensor working at high temperature up to 600 oC is evaluated.
6.2.1
140
Resistance /
120
100
80
60
40
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Temperature / C
Figure 6.2.1 shows a linear temperature (T) dependent DC Resistance (R) following a
o
20 C equals to 42.88 . Deducing from Equation (5.2), the DC temperature
coefficient of resistance is:
dR 1
= 0.00391( 1 )
dT Rs
-1
50 Hz) = 0.00384 K .
80
260
Rectangle sensor
240
Resistance(50Hz) /
220
200
180
160
140
120
100
80
60
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
Temperature / C
In this section, the sensors are tested in two ovens in succession. The first oven can
reach a maximum temperature of 300 oC. Thus, the soldering with lead alloy that is
able to sustain temperature over 350 oC was used for the interconnection between
sensor and lead. In this condition, we expect that the temperature disturbance to this
kind of interconnection is relatively smaller than that to the mechanical contacting
connection used for the sensor worked in the other oven with maximum temperature
of 600 oC. The sweeping frequency measurements of impedance were carried out to
evaluate whether the eddy current sensor of LTCC can work properly at high
temperature or not. Therefore, the properties of impedance of sensor at a high
temperature up to 600 oC were tested and compared with those obtained at room
temperature in order to elucidate whether the designed LTCC eddy current sensor
can also be applied at high temperatures or not. We have carried out this comparison
by considering two aspects. One is the absolute value of resistance and inductance of
the sensor, and the other one is the change rate and tendency of them. According to
this experiment, the testing principle of the eddy current sensor and the optimal
working frequency and testing signal for high temperatures are further identified.
6.2.2.1
500
5000
Resistance /
Resistance /
400
-5000
-10000
-15000
-20000
Only sensor
o
23 C
o
50 C
o
100 C
o
150 C
o
200 C
o
250 C
o
300 C
300
200
-25000
0
1M
2M
3M
4M
100
5M
Frequency / Hz
0
0,0
500,0k
1,0M
1,5M
Frequency / Hz
Figure 6.2.3 The resistance of the rectangular sensor without target at different frequencies and its detail
figure until 1.5 MHz at 7 different temperatures from 23 to 300oC.
1100
10Hz
1kHz
100kHz
464kHzMHz
1MHz
1.5MHz
1000
900
800
700
Resistance /
600
500
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
0
100
200
300
o
Temperature / C
Figure 6.2.4 The relation between resistance of the sensor without target and temperature at different
frequencies.
Only sensor
o
23 C
o
50 C
o
100 C
o
150 C
o
200 C
o
250 C
o
300 C
near blade
o
23 C
o
50 C
o
100 C
o
150 C
Resistance /
300
200
100
0,0
500,0k
1,0M
1,5M
Frequency / Hz
Figure 6.2.5 The resistance of a sensor with an aluminium target blade from room temperature to 150 oC
and the resistance of a sensor without target from room temperature to 300 oC. Tested as reference value in
the Binder oven with maximum temperature 300 oC.
As for the testing results from the oven with higher maximum temperature (shown in
Figure 6.2.6), the same phenomena can be found. The resistance increases with the
increase of temperature regardless if there is a target or not. But the relationship
between the resistance of the sensor with target and the one without target is not so
clear. We consider that this is due to the interconnection between sensor and wire
being the mechanical contact. In the oven with high temperature, the movement of
wire due to active fan of airflow in the oven influences the contact resistance and
causes the instability of measuring value of the resistance of the sensor. However,
according to the results, it is evident that the sensor can work properly at high
temperatures because the obtained resistance values are within the error limit during
in situ high temperature measurements and are exactly the same when retested at
room temperature after a high temperature experiment. The appearance and the
initial impedance of the sensor are the same as those before suffered high
83
Resistance /
600
500
Only sensor
o
200 C
o
300 C
o
400 C
o
500 C
near blade
o
200 C
o
300 C
o
400 C
o
500 C
400
300
200
100
500,0k
1,0M
1,5M
Frequency / Hz
Figure 6.2.6 The resistance of a sensor with an aluminium target blade from 200 to 500 oC and the
resistance of a sensor without target in same temperature range. Both were tested in the oven with
maximum temperature 600 oC.
6.2.2.2
The inductances at different temperatures were measured at the same time as the
measuring of the resistance of the sensor. The measurement conditions were the
same as described in the last section. Figure 6.2.7 showed that the inductance of
sensor suffers from far smaller influences from temperature than the resistance does
although it also increases with the increase of temperature. Below 500 kHz, the
changes of the inductance are less than 0.3%. As for the whole working frequency
range, the change rate of inductance increases with the increase of frequency, but the
change rate of inductance is far smaller than that of the resistance.
Like in the last section, the inductances of sensor in two ovens individually were
measured when one aluminium blade was near the sensor. According to the results
(Figure 6.2.8 and Figure 6.2.9), it is clear that the inductances of the sensor at
different temperatures decrease when a metal blade approaches the sensor. This
change of inductance is very similar to that at room temperature. Observing the data
tested in the oven with lower maximum temperature (Figure 6.2.8), the inductance of
sensor with target changes scarcely with temperature increasing when exciting
frequency was below 1 MHz. Even in the oven with higher temperatures (Figure
6.2.9), the change of inductance with temperature increasing is still very small. The
inductance of the sensor with the target below 1 MHz decreases with temperature
84
Only sensor
o
23 C
o
50 C
o
100 C
o
150 C
o
200 C
o
250 C
o
300 C
2,5k
2,0k
Inductance / H
1,5k
1,0k
500,0
0,0
-500,0
-1,0k
0
1M
2M
3M
4M
5M
Frequency / Hz
Figure 6.2.7 The inductance of the sensor itself at different frequency and at 7 different temperatures from
23 to 300oC
Inductance / H
600
400
Only sensor
o
23 C
o
50 C
o
100 C
o
150 C
o
200 C
o
250 C
o
300 C
near blade
o
24 C
o
50 C
o
100 C
o
150 C
200
500,0k
1,0M
1,5M
Frequency / Hz
Figure 6.2.8 The inductance of a sensor with an aluminium target blade from room temperature to 150 oC
and the inductance of a sensor without target from room temperature to 300 oC. Tested as reference value
in Binder oven with maximum temperature of 300 oC below 1.5 MHz.
85
700
o
Inductance / H
600
500
400
sensor-200 C
o
sensor-300 C
o
sensor-350 C
o
sensor-400 C
o
sensor-500 C
o
with rotor-200 C
o
with rotor-300 C
o
with rotor-400 C
o
with rotor-500 C
300
200
500,0k
1,0M
1,5M
2,0M
Frequency / Hz
Figure 6.2.9 The inductance of a sensor with an aluminium target blade from 200 to 500 oC and the
inductance of sensor without target in same temperature range. Both were tested in the oven with maximum
temperature 600 oC.
86
6.3
6.3.1
Real-time measurements
Response of the sensor to rotation of the rotor
The purpose of this experiment is to check whether the sensor can test rotating speed
of rotor or not. The experimental conditions are that the material of the rotor was
copper, the testing circuit was set in current function, and the clearance between the
tips of the rotor and the surface of the sensor was 1 mm. Firstly, ideal values of
frequency fideal of the rotating speed are calculated by Equation (6.1)
(6.1)
where
foutput: controlling frequency of converter (Hz) ;
Nblades: number of rotor blades (8 pieces);
nmax: rated maximum rotating speed (3000 rpm);
fmax: maximum controlling frequency for nmax (50 Hz).
(a)
(b)
Figure 6.3.1 The examples of waveform measured by the sensor. (a) when controlling frequency of
converter is 50 Hz; (b) when controlling frequency of converter is 20 Hz.
87
(6.2)
Comparing two frequencies of the ideal value and the testing value, the ability of
sensors to test the rotating speed up to 3000 rpm can be evaluated. Table 6.2 shows
all the values of the rotating rotor and the testing results. One finds that the testing
signal can reflect the rotating speed of rotor exactly (see column 2 and column 6 in
this table). Therefore, the function of sensor to test rotating speed of rotors was
identified.
Table 6.2 Initial values of rotor and testing results using the sensor
Ideal values
Motor Blades
speed
speed
(Hz)
(rpm)
600
1200
1800
2400
3000
6.3.2
80
160
240
240
400
Testing results
Acquisition
Number of
time (ms)
Peaks
25
25
25
25
25
2
4
6
8
10
Period
between
two peaks
(ms)
12.5
6.25
4.167
3.125
2.5
Frequency
(Hz)
80
160
240
240
400
In this section, the clearance between sensor surface and tip of blades was changed
from 1 to 5 mm with steps of 0.5 mm. The amplitude of peaks is the object we focus
on. As shown in Figure 6.3.2, the amplitude of the negative peak changes abruptly
with the clearance.
88
Amodul
Apeak
(a)
(b)
Figure 6.3.2 The waveforms of test signals at different clearance. (a) when the clearance is 1.5 mm; (b)
when the clearance is 3.5 mm.
S=100%|(Amodul-Apeak)|/ Amodul
(6.3)
89
Sensitivity of
sensor
(%)
6.91
Amplitude of
testing signal
pk-pk(v)
3.05
1.5
6.91
3.83
44.573
2.0
6.91
4.57
33.864
2.5
6.91
4.96
28.220
3.0
6.91
5.82
15.774
3.5
6.91
5.98
13.459
4.0
6.91
6.33
8.394
4.5
6.91
6.48
6.223
5.0
6.91
6.64
3.907
Clearance
(mm)
Amplitude of
modulation signal
pk-pk(v)
1.0
55.861
According to the results, the relation between the sensitivity of the sensor and the
clearance is shown in Figure 6.3.3. From this figure, some conclusions can be made.
The sensitivity decreases with the clearance. When the clearance is shorter than 2
mm, the change of sensitivity with the clearance is almost linear. Then with the
clearance increasing, the decrease of sensitivity slows down continuously and finally
the value of sensitivity tends to 0. Therefore, if we want to get higher and linear
sensitivity, the clearance should be set shorter than 2 mm.
0,7
0,6
0,5
sensitivity
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0,0
0
distance / mm
90
First, a 0.3 mm copper strip was covered on the surface of one blade of the copper
rotor. This modification for the blade can be considered to increase the length of the
blade. In other words, the tip of this blade moved close to the sensor surface,
therefore the clearance between blade and sensor is shortened. According to the
results in last section, the amplitude of signal peaks for this modified blade should be
lower than the others and the peak will appear one time in the signal every 8 peaks.
The testing waveform (see Figure 6.3.4) shows this modification for one blade. The
amplitude of the one peak in the signal was changed, but the frequency is the same.
Figure 6.3.4 The test waveform of a sensor for the copper rotor with one longer blade.
Then, more changes were made in the blades of that aluminum rotor in order to
evaluate the sensor performance. Some parts of blades were taken away to make
blades shorter and thinner. At the same time an aluminum film with a thickness of
0.3 mm also was covered to one blade and this blade was considered as a reference
blade, because its amplitude of the peak in the measurement signal should be the
lowest like Figure 6.3.4. The modification details of all the blades illustrate in Figure
6.3.5, and all the blades will pass the sensor along the sequence from left to right.
The corresponding testing signal of the sensor is shown in Figure 6.3.6. Not only the
amplitude of the peak is changed, but also the arrival times of the peaks for the
thinner blades are changed. The lowest peak marked with a red circle corresponds to
the reference blade. In this waveform, 1,249,996 data points in 50 milliseconds with
410-8 second increment of x-axis were contained. These data will be the input to an
extra mathematical software such as MATLAB for analysis. What we are interested
in are the amplitude and the arrival time of every peak in the waveform. Then, we
can check whether the signal reflects every modification correctly, and thereby the
working ability of sensor can be evaluated.
91
short
0.3mm
long
0.3mm
right thin
0.5mm
short
0.1mm
left thin
0.1mm
Figure 6.3.6 Test waveform of a sensor corresponding to the modification of the blades in Al rotor. The
peak marked by a cycle defines the signal for the longest blade.
The group of Systems Theory at IMTEK helps us to process the acquisition data of
the sensor. First, the acquisition data shown in Figure 6.3.7 are read in a programme
and the exact modulating frequency is obtain by FFT (Fast Fourier Transform). The
peak of the spectral power density appears at frequency 828.1 kHz. Then,
demodulation of waveform is done because the information what we are interested is
the peaks of signal. The complex Fourier coefficient of first grade for every 500
samples with modulating basic frequency are calculated and their average amplitudes
are obtained. The demodulation signal shown in Figure 6.3.8 is obtained by reploting
the average amplitudes. This demodulation method can release the noise which
different from the modulation frequency. Least square error fit is used to get the
coordinates of the 8 peaks. Figure 6.3.9 displays the figure with 8 peaks after the
smooth fit. The corresponding coordinates of 8 peaks are shown in Table 6.4.
According to these values, the peak intensity is defined as the reverse to the
voltage and is shown in Figure 6.3.10. Comparing these values to the real length
modification of blades shown in Figure 6.3.5, the right sequence of blades in the
92
Figure 6.3.7 The measured data of the sensor for changes of clearance between blade and sensor.
No. of
peak
T(s)
U(v)
93
94
Figure 6.3.10 Peak intensity of the signal compared to the length changes of blades above.
6.3.4
The testing signals have very close relation with the testing circuit. It can be applied
in two modes: in current function of the circuit, the impedance amplitude is chosen
as testing parameter, but in voltage function of the circuit, the inductance is the main
testing parameter. In this section the voltage function of circuit was adopted and
compared to the signal of current function.
Using voltage function, adjusting of exciting frequency is very important. Exciting
frequency must make the circuit composed of sensor and capacitor in resonant status.
Because the inductance of sensor is different when the blade is near the sensor or far
away from the sensor, different initial position of blade for the resonant status will
result in a different exciting frequencies and testing signal.
95
Figure 6.3.11 Voltage waveform for the rotor with one longer blade. The resonant status exists in a position
where normal blade is near sensor surface.
Figure 6.3.12 Voltage waveform for the rotor with one shorter blade. The resonant status exists in a
position where normal blade is near sensor surface.
96
Inductance
Shorter blade
P2
P1
P4
P3
Longer blade
Horizontal distance
Figure 6.3.13 Illustration of the inductance and position of peaks in testing signal.
Next, the resonant position was changed. In positions where the normal blade
without modification is far away from the sensor, the sensor circuit is set to be
resonant status by adjusting the exciting frequency. The corresponding signal for the
rotor with a longer blade is shown in Figure 6.3.14. The shape of signal here is very
similar to that using current function of the circuit because both functions choose the
position with maximum inductance as the position where the amplitude of testing
signal is highest, whereas the difference between two testing functions must be made
clear. The testing signal of the sensor with current function of circuit is
corresponding to the real value of inductance of sensor, while the testing signal with
voltage function of circuit is corresponding to not real value of inductance of sensor
but the value relative to resonant inductance.
97
Figure 6.3.14 Voltage waveform for the rotor with one longer blade. The resonant status exists in a position
where normal blade is far away the sensor surface.
To summarise this chapter, all the testing signals whether using current function or
voltage function can correspond to the displacement and to the change of structure of
blades in rotors rightly, hence the feasibility to monitor the movements of blades in
rotors was identified by practical on-line measurements.
98
7.2
Outlook
With respect to further work on the testing system there still exist some aspects to be
improved and developed.
First, the size of the sensor can be further reduced and its properties can be improved
by means of the stronger LTCC fabrication capability from foundries. For the testing
object, the rotor can be improved so that it can provide more complicated
displacements of the blades. The measurement capability of the sensor for various
movements can be further identified. The improvement also can be conducted for the
testing environment. The testing system including rotating blades and the sensor can
be put into an oven to identify the feasibility of the sensor at high temperature via
dynamic displacement measurements.
Second, with respect to the testing circuit, a PLL function can be included. This
function will be able to keep the resonant status of the sensor circuit by changing the
exciting frequency of the voltage source. The signal from the frequency changes of
the PLL circuit indicates the inductance changes of the sensor. The signal from the
voltage of the sensor gives the information on the resistance of the sensor.
Third, with respect to the signal processing, online data processing can be
implemented. A smart control system is able to solve possible problems according to
online signal analysis. This will make the system intelligent and it can become a real
health diagnosing monitor.
In addition, LTCC packaging can also be applied to other similar sensors which
exhibit a coil as a main component. This kind of sensor is also used for high
temperature environments, for example, a microwave with a single layer of coil. In
fact, our heat-resistant sensor applies not only to tip timing measurements of
100
7.2 Outlook
turbomachinery, but also to the entire field of measuring displacement, proximity etc.
at high temperatures.
101
Zusammenfassung
Zur berwachung der Rotorschaufeln in Turbomaschinen sind berhrungsfrei
arbeitende Sensoren notwendig. Obwohl die von herkmmlichen Abstandssensoren
bekannten Prinzipien grundstzlich genutzt werden knnen, ist es notwendig, diese
Sensoren insbesondere den Anforderungen des Hochtemperaturbetriebs anzupassen
und die Robustheit und Lebensdauer signifikant zu verbessern. Ziel dieser Arbeit war
der Entwurf und die Realisierung eines Sensorkonzepts, um statische und
dynamische Geometrieabweichungen von Turbinenschaufeln im Betrieb auch bei
nichtmagnetischen Werkstoffen zu detektieren.
In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurde zunchst eine Literaturrecherche zu geeigneten
Sensorprinzipien und Aufbauformen durchgefhrt und ausgewertet. Basierend
hierauf wurde das Prinzip des Wirbelstrom-Abstandssensors ausgewhlt. Um
Einsatzrandbedingungen wie aggressive Atmosphre und Hochtemperaturumgebung
sowie nichtmagnetische Schaufelbltter aus Metall zu erfllen, wurde die Umsetzung
mit Hilfe der Low Temperature Cofired Ceramics Technologie (LTCC) weiter
untersucht.
Sequenziell wurde zunchst die Finite-Elemente-Methode benutzt, um verschiedene
Berechnungen und Optimierungen bei der Auslegung durchzufhren. In der
Modalanalyse wurde ermittelt, dass radial ber dem spitzen Ende der Schaufel die
optimale Position zum Anbringen des Sensors liegt. Aus elektromagnetischen
Analysen konnte der Rckschluss gezogen werden, dass die Empfindlichkeit der
Sensorinduktivitt einen dominanten Einfluss auf die uere Gre der Sensorspule
hat. Entsprechend den Strukturen der LTCC Sensorspulen wurde eine Serie
analytischer Berechnungen, basierend auf den Grundgleichungen fr Induktivitt L
und Kapazitt C zwischen zwei einfachen dnnen Streifen aufgestellt. Induktivitt L,
Widerstand R, Kapazitt C, Qualittsfaktor Q und Resonanzfrequenz einer
Sensorspule sowie die Skintiefe des Stroms in der Zielschaufel wurden betrachtet.
Die Einflsse durch nderung von Schichten, Umdrehungsraten und Fllfaktoren
auf den Widerstand des Sensors und den Qualittsfaktor wurden ebenfalls untersucht.
Zustzlich wurden die dreidimensionale Wirbelstromverteilung und die Relationen
zwischen Widerstand des Sensors und Blattversetzung in horizontaler und vertikaler
Richtung erhalten. Letztlich wurde auf Grundlage dieser Methoden, bestehend aus
analytischer Berechnung, FEM-Analyse und LTCC-Herstellungsrichtlinien ein
kompletter Entwurfs- und Optimierungsprozess vorgeschlagen. Eine Variante des
Sensors wurde gem den optimalen Parametern entworfen und durch Herstellung
eines LTCC realisiert. Hierdurch wurden die Sensoren fr die weiteren Experimente
erhalten.
103
In Bezug auf die experimentellen Arbeit wurden die Eigenschaften des Sensors
durch ein LCR-Meter und ein Widerstandsmessgert bestimmt. Diese Testergebnisse
wurden auch dazu benutzt, die Ergebnisse der FEM-Simulationen und der
Berechnungen qualitativ und quantitativ zu berprfen. Dabei ergab sich, dass die
wesentlichen Effekte und Abhngigkeiten richtig prognostiziert wurden.
Temperaturexperimente wurden durchgefhrt, um festzustellen, ob der LTCC Sensor
auch bei hohen Temperaturen und Hochfrequenzwirbelstrom funktioniert. Dies
konnte bis zu Temperaturen von 500 C besttigt werden. Schlielich wurde ein
komplettes dynamisches Abstandsmesssystem bestehend aus Motor, Rotor mit
Schaufeln, Prfstromkreis, Datenerfassung, Computersteuerung und Signalprozessor
aufgebaut, um den Einsatz in einer Turbine nachzubilden. Dabei wurden Parameter
wie die Frequenz der Rotorbltter, bis zu 24000 Bltter min-1, der Abstand zwischen
Sensor und Spitze des Rotorblattes und die Blattgeometrie systematisch untersucht,
um das Testsystem zu charakterisieren.
Alle Ergebnisse zeigen, dass die umfassende Optimierungsmethode bestehend aus
FEM-Simulation
inklusive
Modalanalyse,
elektromagnetischer
und
thermomechanischer Analyse ein effektiver Weg zum Entwickeln von planaren
LTCC Sensoren ist. Zustzlich zeigt der hier entwickelte LTCC Wirbelstromsensor
gute Eigenschaften bei hohen Temperaturen bis 600C und hohen Drehzahlen bis
3000 upm (24000 Bltter min-1). Die Mglichkeit zum Einsatz in Turbomaschinen in
rauen Einsatzgebieten und Hochtemperaturumgebungen wurden damit in
Laborexperimenten gezeigt.
104
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107
Capacitance
Youngs modulus
Current
Inductance
Unloaded inductance of the sensor coil
Loaded inductance of coil
Self-inductance between two strips
Mutual inductance between two strips
Quality factor
Unloaded quality factor of coil
Resistance
Unloaded resistance of coil
Loaded resistance of coil
Voltage
Admittance
Impedance
[pF]
[MPa]
[A]
[mH]
[mH]
[mH]
[mH]
[mH]
f
t
x
Frequency
Turns
Displacement
[Hz]
0
r
0
r
0.2
u
Skin depth
Dielectric constant
Strain
Dielectric constant of free space
Relative dielectric constant
Permeability
Permeability of free space
Relative permeability
Resistivity
Conductivity
Stress
0.2% offset yield stress
Ultimate tensile stress
Radian frequency
[m]
[F/m]
[m]
[S/m]
[MPa]
[MPa]
[MPa]
[radians/s]
Geometry:
h
l
li
Height of coil
Length of blade tip
Inner length of racetrack coil
[mm]
[mm]
[mm]
[]
[]
[]
[v]
[Siemens]
[]
[mm]
[F/m]
[H/m]
[H/m]
109
lo
ri
ro
wi
wo
Abbreviations:
EM, Emag
Electromagnetic field
FEM
Finite elements method
HTCC
High temperature cofired ceramic
LTCC
Low temperature cofired ceramic
SRF
Self-resonant frequency of coil
TCE
Temperature coefficient of expansion
110
[mm]
[mm]
[mm]
[mm]
[mm]
[K-1]
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank all persons who have helped me on this work. My special
thanks are due to
Prof. Dr. Jrgen Wilde for providing me the opportunity to work in IMTEK and on
this interesting topic, being my first supervisor, showing me the research method and
giving me many helps whenever I need.
Prof. Dr. Christoph Ament for not only being my second supervisor, but also for his
kind helps in signal analysis and correcting the English of my dissertation with much
patience and time.
Mrs. Christine Jgle for her kind helps in many aspects including both my private
and the academic matters.
All my colleagues in the group of AVT, Mrs. Elena Zukowski, Mr. Erik Deier, Mr.
Sebastian Fischer, Mr. Daniel Arnold and Mr. David Pustan, for the friendly working
atmosphere and all kinds of helps for my work and life.
Mr. Vassil Jankov for helps in circuit design and fabrication, and paying some time
to adjust the electronic system for the experiments.
Mr. Peter Wissmann and Mr. Benjamin Rutschinski for helps in mechanical
fabrications of the testing system and other mechanical parts.
Dr. Zhenyu Liu for discussions on the simulation method and friendship between his
family and me.
Group members of Electrical Instrumentation for their supports on the key electronic
instruments used in this work.
Dr. Druee for the LTCC fabrication of the sensors and the helpful discussions on the
layout design of LTCC.
Finally, I express my thanks to my family and especially to my husband, Yongfeng
Men. His encouragements and supports are always my most important motivation in
my life and work even if when he lived in another city for two years.
Curriculum Vitae
YuQing Lai
Born: 18.Sept 1973;