A device has two machine parts that are movable relative to one another and are connected to each other by a supply line, along which a sensor line is mounted for measuring torsion of the supply line. The sensor line includes two conductors forming a conductor pair, which is stranded during production. The two conductors form a capacitor with a capacitance depending on the spacing between the two conductors. Depending on the direction of torsion of the supply line, the spacing between the two conductors is enlarged or reduced. The sensor line is connected to a measurement unit which is configured in such a way that a capacitance of the sensor line is measured, the torsion being ascertained using the capacitance.

A timepiece movement including an analogue display, including a rotary indicator and a wheel secured in rotation to the rotary indicator, the wheel including a roller including a location element, a device for detecting at least one angular position of the location element, including a plate fixed relative to the roller, extending substantially parallel to the roller, and on which are arranged a first electrode, a second electrode and a common electrode positioned between the first electrode and the second electrode the electrodes being planar and being arranged in such a way that, in an angular position of the wheel, the location element is located above at least a portion of each electrode, the first electrode and the second electrode having the form of two segments of a ring centred on the intersection between the axis of the wheel and the plate.

There is provided a displacement measuring device that minimize unnecessary power consumption and improves power efficiency.

A displacement measuring device includes a main scale and a detection head that is provided in such a manner as to be relatively displaceable to the main scale and outputs a periodic signal having a phase to be changed according to relative displacement to the main scale.

The detection head outputs, as the periodic signal, a coarse scale signal having a coarse period and a fine scale signal having a fine period. A coarse phase detector calculates, from two pieces of phase information acquired from the coarse scale signal, the average phase of the coarse scale signal. A fine phase detector calculates, from four pieces of phase information acquired from the fine scale signal, the average phase of the fine scale signal. The coarse phase detector calculates the average phase of the coarse scale signal from the two pieces of phase information and, then, stops operating without the completion of the operation of the fine phase detector.

An occupant or object sensing system in a vehicle includes electrical circuits for capacitive sensing and corresponding circuits shielding the sensing system from interference. A sensing circuit and a shielding circuit may be printed by screen printing with conductive ink on opposite sides of a non-conductive substrate. The substrate is a plastic film or other fabric that has an elastic memory structure that is resilient to stretching. The conductive inks used to print circuits onto the substrate have a similar resilience to stretching such that the substrate and the circuits thereon can be subject to deforming forces without breaking the printed circuits. The substrate may be covered with a carbon polymer layer to provide alternative conductive paths that enable fast recovery for conduction in the presence of any break in the printed conductive traces on the substrate.

An apparatus is provided and includes a rotary encoder that comprises a stator, a rotor, and a controller. The stator has an opening adapted to surround a first portion of a rotatable shaft, a transmit region, and a receive region. The rotor has an opening adapted to surround a second portion of the rotatable shaft, an annular conductive region, and at least one conductor electrically coupled with the annular conductive region. The controller has an input coupled to the receive region and has an output coupled to the transmit region. The controller is configured to transmit a first signal on the output of the controller and to the transmit region of the stator, receive a second signal on the input of the controller and from the receive region of the stator, and determine, based on the second signal, a proximity of the at least one conductor to the receive region.

A measuring system and an associated measuring method for measuring a stator of a gearless wind power installation, wherein the measuring system has an air gap measuring unit and a position determination unit, wherein the air gap measuring unit has a holding apparatus and a distance sensor, wherein the holding apparatus is set up to mount the air gap measuring unit on a rotor of the wind power installation, wherein the distance sensor is set up to provide a signal which is indicative of an extent of an air gap between the stator and the rotor, wherein the position determination unit is set up to be mounted on the rotor of the wind power installation and to capture the signal from the distance sensor during a rotation of the rotor at a plurality of revolution positions. The measuring system and the associated measuring method make it possible to measure a stator in a simplified manner.

A displacement sensor comprising: a first electrode and a second electrode displaceably mounted relative to the first electrode; capacitance measurement circuitry configured to make measurements of a capacitance associated with the first and second electrodes and to generate analogue capacitance measurement signals in response thereto; compensation circuitry configured to generate a compensated analogue capacitance measurement signal by reducing a magnitude of a current analogue capacitance measurement signal by an amount indicated by a compensation signal derived from at least one previous analogue capacitance measurement signal; and processing circuitry configured to digitise the compensated analogue capacitance measurement signal and to determine if there is a displacement of the second electrode relative to the first electrode based on the compensated analogue capacitance measurement signal.

The present invention relates to a method for determining the position of a robotic arm in an automatic liquid handling system in which a measurement probe with a first electrode is arranged on the robotic arm and, together with a second electrode formed by at least part of a working area or at least part of a container or container carrier forms a measurement capacitor that is operatively connected to a measurement unit for measuring an impedance, in particular a capacitance of the measurement capacitor. The method involves moving the measurement probe along a first path, detecting a first change in the impedance, in particular in the capacitance of the measurement capacitor at a first point on the first path, and defining at least one first reference spatial coordinate for a control unit of the robotic arm on the basis of the first point on the first path.

The invention relates to sensor (900) for use as a pressure and/or a force sensor. The sensor (900) comprises a elastic and stretchable layer (050, 100, 200) with material having a first Young's modulus (Y.sub.200) and a first yield strain (.sub.y,200); at least a first stretchable electrode (301) and a second stretchable electrode (302) attached to the elastic and stretchable layer (050, 100, 200) and arranged a first distance (d.sub.1, d.sub.1,301,302) apart from each other; a flexible foil (500) having a second Young's modulus (Y.sub.500); and electrically conductive wiring (400) attached to the flexible foil (500). At least a part of the electrically conductive wiring (400) is coupled to the stretchable electrodes (301, 302) in an electrically conductive manner; the first yield strain (.sub.y,200) is at least 10 percent; the first Young's modulus (Y.sub.200) is less than the second Young's modulus (Y.sub.500).

A capacitance measuring circuit measures an electrostatic capacitance formed between a first conductor that receive an AC signal and a second conductor. The capacitance measuring circuit includes an amplifier including an input and an output; signal detection means including a negative feedback unit that has a feedback capacitance and applies a negative feedback from an output of the amplifier to an input of the amplifier, wherein an input of the amplifier is connected to the second conductor and is virtually grounded by the negative feedback unit and an AC signal of an amplitude in a functional relation with the electrostatic capacitance is output; and measuring means that is connected to an output of the signal detection means and has a function of measuring at least an amplitude of an AC signal output of the signal detection means.