The invention relates to a sensor device (100), in particular for a vehicle, comprising: a capacitive sensor unit (10) and a coil unit (20) which surrounds the capacitive sensor unit (10) at least partially, preferably geometrically. For this purpose, it is provided according to the invention that the capacitive sensor unit (10) has at least one first, in particular linear, sensor element (11), which is aligned essentially along a first geodesic (G1) of the coil unit (20).

Embodiments included herein are directed towards a method for determining a temperature-compensated touch state of a device, and related systems. The method may include receiving, by a processor of the device and from a first sensor of the device, a first measured value corresponding to a first sensor measurement captured by the first sensor. The method may further include receiving, by the processor and from a temperature sensor of the device, a temperature value corresponding to a first temperature measurement associated with the device and captured by the temperature sensor. The method may also include adjusting a signal corresponding to the first sensor measurement based upon, at least in part, the temperature value, to create a temperature-compensated touch signal. The method may additionally include determining, by the processor, the temperature-compensated touch state of the device based upon, at least in part, the temperature-compensated touch signal.

Provided is a capacitance detection circuit, which has better detection performance. The capacitance detection circuit includes: a first charging and discharging circuit configured to perform charging or discharging on a capacitor to be detected; a second charging and discharging circuit configured to perform charging or discharging on a calibration capacitor; an analog-to-digital conversion circuit configured to continuously sample a voltage difference between the capacitor to be detected and the calibration capacitor in a charging or discharging process to obtain sampled data; and a digital processing circuit configured to detect a capacitance of the capacitor to be detected according to the sampled data.

A solid-state switch for an external system includes a cover member, a first solid-state transducer, a microcontroller, a user feedback device, and a switching circuit. The first transducer is mechanically coupled to the cover member and configured to generate first signals in response to a perturbation at the cover member. The microcontroller is configured to obtain first data from the first signals and determine user inputs in accordance with at least the first data and an operational state of the solid-state switch. The user feedback device is configured to provide feedback to a user of the solid-state switch in accordance with a switching behavior of the switching circuit. The microcontroller is couplable to a master controller of the external system. The switching behavior of the switching circuit is determined in accordance with: (a) the commands from the master controller to the microcontroller, and/or (b) user inputs as determined by the microcontroller.

A detector applies voltage to a first electrode and a second electrode facing the first electrode to detect a user operation performed on the operation surface based on a change in capacitance of the first electrode to which voltage has been applied. The detector includes a switch unit that forcibly switches the second electrode to a state connected to ground so that the second electrode shifts to ground potential after voltage is applied to the first electrode when a change in the capacitance of the first electrode is being detected. A determination unit determines whether wire breakage is occurring in the first electrode and the second electrode based on a detection signal obtained from the first electrode after the first electrode is connected to ground and a difference in the detection signal obtained from the first electrode before and after the first electrode is connected to ground.

A method is provided for operating a hand-held machine tool including a drive device, with a control device for actuating the drive device and at least two capacitive sensor elements operatively connected to the control device being provided. The method includes the following method steps of determining a first and second electrical charge of the first and second sensor element comparing the determined first electrical charge with a defined first threshold value and the determined second electrical charge with a defined second threshold value which differs from the first threshold value; enabling, via the control device, the actuation of the drive device when the first electrical charge is greater than the defined first threshold value and/or the second electrical charge is greater than the defined second threshold value. A machine tool for carrying out a method of this kind is also described.

A solid-state switch for an external system includes a cover member, a first solid-state transducer, a second transducer, a microcontroller, a user feedback device, and a switching circuit. The first transducer is mechanically coupled to the cover member and configured to generate first signals in response to a perturbation at the cover member. The second transducer is configured to generate second signals in response to the perturbation. The microcontroller is configured to obtain first data from the first signals, second data from the second signals, and determine user inputs in accordance with at least the first data, the second data, and an operational state of the solid-state switch. The user feedback device is configured to provide feedback to a user of the switch in accordance with a switching behavior of the switching circuit. The second transducer is configured as a proximity sensor for detecting proximity of an object to the cover member.

An operating device contains a sensor surface, a signal generator for providing a control signal with a predetermined frequency for the sensor surface, an evaluation device which is configured to provide a sensor signal which is dependent on the capacitance of the sensor surface, and a control facility. In this process, the control facility is configured to determine measuring noise on the evaluation device at different frequencies and to select the frequency of the control signal in order to determine the sensor signal as a function of the determined measuring noise.

A device for capacitive detection of an object with respect to a detection surface, including: at least one capacitive detection electrode, and detection electronics including at least one item of measurement electronic equipment, for: polarizing the at least one detection electrode at an alternating excitation potential (VG), different from a ground potential; measuring a measurement signal relative to an electrode-object capacitance; and the detection electronics also includes, for the measurement electronics, at least two separate calculation modules, operating in parallel, and supplying two independent detection signals for one and the same measurement signal originating from the measurement electronics.

A capacitive sensor with a plurality of sense inputs connectable to capacitive sense electrodes and a common reference input, each sense input and the reference input can be put in a measure state, in a ground state, or in a shield state. The sensor can be equipped with external reference capacitors between each of the sense input and the common reference terminal. The reference capacitor can be read individually by selectively pulling one of the input terminals to ground and driving the other to be equipotential with the reference input.