Polymer Conductive Membrane-Based Non-Touch Mode Circular Capacitive Pressure Sensors: An Analytical Solution-Based Method for Design and Numerical Calibration

In this paper, an analytical solution-based method for the design and numerical calibration of polymer conductive membrane-based non-touch mode circular capacitive pressure sensors is presented. The accurate analytical relationship between the capacitance and applied pressure of the sensors is derived by using the analytical solution for the elastic behavior of the circular polymer conductive membranes under pressure. Based on numerical calculations using the accurate analytical relationship and the analytical solution, the analytical relationship between the pressure as output and the capacitance as input, which is necessary to achieve the capacitive pressure sensor mechanism of detecting pressure by measuring capacitance, is accurately established by least-squares data fitting. An example of how to arrive at the design and numerical calibration of a non-touch mode circular capacitive pressure sensor is first given. Then, the influence of changing design parameters such as membrane thickness and Young’s modulus of elasticity on input–output relationships is investigated, thus clarifying the direction of approaching the desired input–output relationships by changing design parameters.