Hundreds of thousands of concrete bridges and hundreds of billions of tons of concrete require characterization with time for corrosion. Accordingly, protocols for rapid testing and improved field characterization systems that automatically triangulate electrical resistivity and half-cell corrosion potential measurements would be beneficial allowing discrete / periodic mapping of a structure to be performed as well as addressing testing for asphalt covered concrete. Further, it is the low frequency impedance of rebar in concrete that correlates to corrosion state but these are normally time consuming vulnerable to noise. Hence, it would be beneficial to provide a means of making low frequency electrical resistivity measurements rapidly. Further, prior art techniques for electrical rebar measurements require electrical connection be made to the rebar which increases measurement complexity/disruption / repair / cost even when no corrosion is identified. Beneficially a method of determining the state of a rebar without electrical contact is taught.

The aim of the invention is to prevent undesired false triggering of a safety device, which protects a person from electric shock as a result of unintentional contact with voltage-carrying or current-carrying parts. This aim is achieved in that a triggering sensitivity (E.sub.A) of the safety device is changed depending on a determined body resistance (R.sub.K) of the person wearing the safety device.

A self-contained metrology wafer carrier systems and methods of measuring one or more characteristics of semiconductor wafers are provided. A wafer carrier system includes, for instance, a housing configured for transport within the automated material handling system, the housing having a support configured to support a semiconductor wafer in the housing, and a metrology system disposed within the housing, the metrology system operable to measure at least one characteristic of the wafer, the metrology system comprising a sensing unit and a computing unit operably connected to the sensing unit. Also provided are methods of measuring one or more characteristics of a semiconductor wafer within the wafer carrier systems of the present disclosure.

Various aspects of the disclosure relate to evaluating the electromagnetic impedance characteristics of a material under test (MUT) over a range of frequencies. In particular aspects, a system includes: an electrically non-conducting container sized to hold the MUT, the electrically non-conducting container having a first opening at a first end thereof and a second opening at a second, opposite end thereof; a transmitting electrode assembly at the first end of the electrically non-conducting container, the transmitting electrode assembly having a transmitting electrode with a transmitting surface; and a receiving electrode assembly at the second end of the electrically non-conducting container, the receiving electrode assembly having a receiving electrode with a receiving surface, wherein the receiving electrode is approximately parallel with the transmitting electrode, and wherein the transmitting surface of the transmitting electrode is larger than the receiving surface of the receiving electrode.

Various aspects of the disclosure relate to evaluating the electromagnetic impedance characteristics of a material under test (MUT) over a range of frequencies. In particular aspects, a system includes: an electrically non-conducting container sized to hold the MUT, the electrically non-conducting container having a first opening at a first end thereof and a second opening at a second, opposite end thereof; a transmitting electrode assembly at the first end of the electrically non-conducting container, the transmitting electrode assembly having a transmitting electrode with a transmitting surface; and a receiving electrode assembly at the second end of the electrically non-conducting container, the receiving electrode assembly having a receiving electrode with a receiving surface, wherein the receiving electrode is approximately parallel with the transmitting electrode, and wherein the transmitting surface of the transmitting electrode is larger than the receiving surface of the receiving electrode.

A measuring instrument and a method checks the functional capability of an electric heating wire of a surface heating system before it is installed and indicates damage to the heating wire while it is being installed. The instrument includes a power supply, connecting devices electrically connected to the power supply and to which the free ends of an electric heating wire can be connected such as to form a current circuit on the power supply, a resistance measuring device designed to record the electric resistance of a heating wire connected to the power supply, a display device which displays an electric resistance of a heating wire recorded by the resistance measuring device, and a warning device designed to emit an acoustic signal when the electric resistance of a heating wire recorded by the resistance measuring device strays from a target value range defined by the measuring instrument.

Circuits for measuring a leakage current of one or more capacitors coupled to a power supply line that powers an apparatus, such as a storage device, are disclosed. In one embodiment, the circuit includes first and second resistors between the power supply line, and first and second respective switches to ground. A controller may charge the voltage line to a first voltage. Thereafter, the controller discharges the first voltage to a second voltage via the first resistor during a first identified time. After recharging the voltage line, the controller then discharge the first voltage to the second voltage via at least the second resistor during a second identified time. The controller determines the parasitic resistance using the first and second identified times, and then the leakage current from the parasitic resistance. Removing the leakage current factor from subsequent measurements can greatly improve testing accuracy and can avoid false positives in the testing process that would otherwise require removal of drives or other systems that are working properly.

Circuits for measuring a leakage current of one or more capacitors coupled to a power supply line that powers an apparatus, such as a storage device, are disclosed. In one embodiment, the circuit includes first and second resistors between the power supply line, and first and second respective switches to ground. A controller may charge the voltage line to a first voltage. Thereafter, the controller discharges the first voltage to a second voltage via the first resistor during a first identified time. After recharging the voltage line, the controller then discharge the first voltage to the second voltage via at least the second resistor during a second identified time. The controller determines the parasitic resistance using the first and second identified times, and then the leakage current from the parasitic resistance. Removing the leakage current factor from subsequent measurements can greatly improve testing accuracy and can avoid false positives in the testing process that would otherwise require removal of drives or other systems that are working properly.

A capacitive sensor device comprises a first sensor electrode, a second sensor electrode, and a processing system coupled to the first sensor electrode and the second sensor electrode. The processing system is configured to acquire a first capacitive measurement by emitting and receiving a first electrical signal with the first sensor electrode. The processing system is configured to acquire a second capacitive measurement by emitting and receiving a second electrical signal, wherein one of the first and second sensor electrodes performs the emitting and the other of the first and second sensor electrodes performs the receiving, and wherein the first and second capacitive measurements are non-degenerate. The processing system is configured to determine positional information using the first and second capacitive measurements.

The accuracy of reading characteristics or data of pixels or memory cells in a matrix device is increased. An electronic device includes a plurality of drive lines, a sense line intersecting the drive lines, a plurality of element devices provided at intersections thereof, a detecting circuit, a decoder, and a driver. The detecting circuit can detect a first physical quantity of the sense line and transmit a digital signal obtained by digitizing the first physical quantity to the decoder. Each of the element devices can change the first physical quantity of the sense line in accordance with a signal of the corresponding drive line. The driver can transmit coded signals based on a Hadamard matrix to the decoder and the drive lines. The decoder can perform arithmetic processing with use of the coded signals and the digital signal and calculate values based on second physical quantities of the element devices.