Design and fabrication of non-contact fringing field

capacitive sensor for liquid level measurement

Tarikul Islam Senior Member IEEE, Om Prakash Maurya*
Department of Electrical Engineering Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University)
Jamia Nagar, New Delhi-110025, India, * M. Tech CIS Student
email:tislam@[Link]

Abstract -˗ Liquid level measurement is important requirement for sensitivity, low power consumption, low temperature error,
building and industrial applications. One of the most popular high resolution and possibility of non-contact level
methods for level measurement is the capacitive sensor. Most of the measurement. So, the capacitive method is extensively
capacitive sensors are contact type which suffer from frequent employed for liquid level measurement [7]. Level can be
maintenance, and drift of the sensor output. Present paper proposes
a simple noncontact interdigitated fringing field capacitance sensor
measured by contact method, where the electrodes are
for liquid level measurement. Three different interdigitated (IDT) immersed in liquid or non-contact method, where the
sensors have been designed, simulated (finite element method) and electrodes are not in touch with the liquid. The noncontact
fabricated to measure water level from 0 to 40 mm. The capacitance method is highly desirable and convenient because of high
value of all the three sensors vary almost linearly with the variation reliability, and durability of the sensor. When electrodes are
of liquid level. Experimental results show that the sensitivity of the immersed in liquid, over a period of time, these are
1-5-1 IDT sensor is 0.0398 pF/mm. The sensor is capable to detect contaminated, thus reduces the accuracy and durability. The
water level with resolution of 0.1 mm contact sensor also requires maintenance. This type of the
sensor is not useful for liquids of high viscosity, and high
Keywords: Fringing field, capacitive sensor, liquid level, non-
chemical reactive materials such as paints, lubricants oils, and
contact measurement, response parameters.
highly reactive chemicals.
The capacitive sensor is mostly fabricated with cylindrical,
coaxial, parallel, or coplanar topology [8]. Most of the
I. INTRODUCTION capacitive sensors use contact method of level measurement.
Liquid level measurement is an important task for various The coplanar sensor is planer interdigital (IDT) sensor. It
process industries. Level measurement sensors are classified consists of number of parallel plate capacitors connected in
into two categories, such as the point level sensor [1], and the parallel. The front side of the electrodes are exposed to the
continuous level sensor [2]. Point level sensors are used to materials under test. [9]. This simple IDT design provides
mark a single separate liquid height at preset level value. highly sensitive fringing field measurement capability. Main
Primary purpose of this type sensor is to signal high an alarm advantages of the coplanar capacitive sensor are its low
in case of overfill of tank or low signal alarm in case of energy consumption, possibility of non-contact level
underfill of tank. Continuous level sensors provide measurement. In the recent times, few works have been used
information of liquid level in the tank over the entire level to use coplanar IDT for level measurement, but it is contact
continuously. Liquid level can be measured by mechanical method, so it suffers from all demerits of contact
system or using sensors. The mechanical system is measurement. A non-contact fringing field capacitive sensor
inexpensive and being nonelectrical but, it cannot be used for is reported for continuous level measurement in [10] but the
automatic control of liquid level. Liquid level can be sensitivity is very small. It requires special data acquisition
measured by the conductive and the capacitive sensors [3-4]. card for small change in capacitance measurement.
It can also be measured by ultrasonic and optical sensors [5- The present work deals with the development of noncontact
6]. Optical method is relatively costly, and it requires proper fringing field capacitive IDT sensor to measure the liquid
arrangement to minimize the error of level measurement due level [11]. The sensor has been designed using ANSYS
to interference of light source with external light. Ultrasonic software and simulated for different structures. The sensor
sensor is effective, but it requires a high-frequency signal was then fabricated to measure liquid level for the
source. It also requires accurate time unit to measure very verification of the simulation results. For the results,
small time of fight of ultrasonic signal of the order micro to experiments were performed with the variation of water level
nanosecond. The output of the ultrasonic sensor is affected from 0 to 40 mm.
due to fluctuation of the signal frequency generated by the
piezoelectric transducer. It also shows the frequency drift due II. THEORY OF THE LEVEL MEASUREMENT USING IDT SENSOR
to variation of ambient temperature. So, for precise Fig. 1 shows the schematic diagram of the IDT sensor placed
measurement, the crystal should be enclosed in temperature- on the outer wall of a plastic container. The sensor consists
controlled oven. The level measurement by the resistive of three sensing electrodes (SE) between two working
sensor may be inexpensive, but the resistive sensor has high electrodes (WE). When the working electrode is connected to
power consumption, and it is suitable for conductive liquid the high potential ac excitation with respect to sensing
only. The most convenient method of liquid level electrodes, the sensor forms different parallel plate capacitors
measurement for both conductive and insulating liquid is the as shown in the diagram. The fringing electric field is
capacitive sensor. The capacitive sensors offer high generated from the WE and goes to the SE. The field

978-1-7281-2327-1/19/$31.00 ©2019 IEEE

penetration and the capacitance formation depend on the second geometry of each sensor. Since there may be several
geometrical configuration of the sensor, the sensing film working electrodes, total capacitance within sensor geometry
deposited on the electrode and the strength of the excitation. is given by;
Since the geometrical configuration and ac signal do not vary,
so the effective capacitance will vary due to the variation of Ctotal = Ceq1 + Ceq 2 + ........Ceqn (7)
the liquid level.
For the sensor structure of 1-5-1, the effective capacitance is
7.5628 pF.

III. DESIGN AND SIMULATION

The diagram of the interdigitated electrode structure
shown in Fig. 1 was designed using finite element software.
The simulation study is done by commercially available finite
element software ANSYS Maxwell 15.0 and its electrostatic
solver. The structure of the IDT sensor was 1-5-1. It had five
sensing electrodes (fingers) between two working electrodes.
The maximum length sensor was 35 mm. The width of each
finger was 2 mm and the thickness was 25 µm. The gap
between two fingers was 1 mm. Different IDT structures were
simulated such as 1-1-1, 1-3-1, 1-5-1 etc. The electrode
material was copper. The structure was designed using
Fig. 1. The schematic of the 1-3-1 IDT sensor double sided copper cladded PCB substrate. The IDT sensor
was placed on the outside wall of the acrylic container of 1.5
The effective capacitance value ( Ceff ) is directly mm thickness.

proportional to the liquid height ( hl ) and its dielectric

constant. The capacitance value is given by

∝ℎ + − (1)

where, he is the maximum measurable height of the liquid

column (electrode), hl is the actual liquid height, Ɛl dielectric
of liquid and Ɛa dielectric of air
The single capacitance between positive (WE) and negative
electrode (SE) is (a) (b)
Aεοεγ
C 11 = (2) Fig. 2 Electrical field distribution of the sensor in the acrylic tank (a) with
d water level (b), without water.
where, A and d are the effective area in m2; and gap
respectively. In Fig. 1, the capacitors are connected in The liquid sample for level measurement considered was
parallel. Therefore, capacitance is function of distance reverse osmosis (RO) water. The conductivity of the water
between positive electrode (WE) and negative electrode (SE). sample was 0.01simens. For modeling, automatic adaptive
1 1 mesh refinement technique with triangular mesh grid was
C 12 = C 11 : ........C1n = C11 (3) used due to higher accuracy compared to rectangular mesh
2 n grids. The voltage excitation applied to the working electrode
and was + 3.3V and to the sensing electrode was -3.3V. The metal
1 1 cladding on the opposite side of the PCB provided active
C 22 = C 21 : ........C 2 n = C 21 (4)
shielding. The simulation results of the capacitance values of
2 n
three IDT sensors for level measurement are shown in Fig. 5,
section IV. The data points are fitted by linear equation. The
Where, C11 = C 21 : C11 is the capacitance between the
capacitance values for all these sensors increase almost
positive electrode and closest negative electrode.
linearly with increase in water level. The sensors 1-1-1 and
Therefore, the total equivalent capacitance ( Ceq ) for each 1-3-1 have almost identical slope but the initial offset
sensor’s geometry is given by; capacitance values are different due to different electrode
structure. The sensor 1-5-1 has better sensitivity than the
Ceq1 = C11 + C12 + ........ + C 1n (5) other two sensors. Simulation results clearly show that the
proposed IDT sensors can be useful to measure water level
Ceq = C 21 + C 22 + ....... + C 2 n (6)
noninvasively with almost linear response. Simulation results
show that the average sensitivity of the level measurement of
where, Ceq1 is for equivalent capacitance in the first geometry the 1-5-1 IDT sensor is 30 fF/mm.
of each sensor while (C2n) is the equivalent capacitance in the
 IV. FABRICATION AND EXPERIMENTS considered small length, but it can be used for long height
liquid level measurement Water was poured upto certain
A. Fabrication height in the container with level marked, and the capacitance
The fabrication of the sensor requires inexpensive materials was measured. The height of level was increased, and the
like copper cladded PCB and copper etchant solutions. So, corresponding capacitance values were observed upto 40
the sensor can be fabricated at low cost in bulk. The mm. The variation of the capacitance value with water level
interdigitated sensors designed by AutoCAD software shown is shown in Fig. 5. The capacitance value increases with
in Fig. 2. The sensors were fabricated using double sided increase in water level almost linearly. The sensitivity of the
copper cladded PCB(Roger). The IDT pattern 1-5-1 was output response is ~40fF / mm, and the resolution of the water
printed using inkjet printer on the photo paper. The print was level is ~0.1 mm. Similarly, the experiment was conducted
then transferred to the copper layer of the PCB using thermal with other two IDT sensors. Results are shown in Fig. 5.
heating press. The exposed part of the copper was then etched Experimental results show that the capacitance values of all
out with copper etching solution. the three sensors increase almost linearly with increase in
liquid level.

(a (b) (c)
Fig.3. Fabricated sensor (a) 1-1-1 IDT (b) 1-3 -1 IDT (c) 1-5 -1 IDT.

The substrate was then clean thoroughly using acetone, ethyl

alcohol and distilled water. It was then dried. Fig. 3 shows
Fig.5. Change in capacitance values with water level for different sensors.
the photograph of the sensors.
Some mismatch of the reading of the experimental results
B. Experiment from simulation may be due to difference in the dielectric
The capacitance value of the sensor was measured by the property of the water which was selected for simulation and
capacitance to digital converter evaluation board (FDC1004, experiential work. There may some error due to the lead
Texas Instrument). This board was procured by Texas capacitance effect of the sensors which can be minimized by
instrument. The board can be interfaced to the PC using I2C active guarding. A comparison table of the sensor
interfacing to measure the capacitance value digitally. The performance with other capacitive sensors is shown in Table
CDC board has resolution of 0.5fF, the capacitance range of I.
0- 400 pF. It operates with supply voltage 3.3V and has
operating temperature range of -40oC to 125oC. The IDT Table: Comparison of the capacitive sensor performance with other
sensor was then pasted on the outer wall of a plastic container, Ref. Working Resolution Sensitivity Measurement type
This paper fringing field 0.1 mm 40 fF/mm non-destructive
the IDT pattern on the inner side and copper clad on the outer [8] fringing field not specified 69 pF to 97 pF destructive
side. The sensor was connected to the board with the help of [9] fringing field 0.1 mm 0.7 pF/mm destructive
shielded cable. The photograph of the set up for conducting [12] cylindrical not specified 1.01 pF/mm destructive
experiment is shown in Fig. 4. [13] fringing field 0.2 mm 32.3 µs/cm destructive
[14] fringing field 12.8 mV 8.1 nF/cm destructive

V. CONCLUSION
In this paper, an effort has been to develop fringing field
capacitive sensor to measure water level by non-contact
method. Three IDT sensors with different electrodes are
designed, simulated and fabricated to measure water level
from 0 to 40 mm. Simulation results show that the average
measured sensitivity is 30 fF/mm for water level with 1-5-1
IDT sensor. The experimental results show that the average
sensitivity of the sensor is ~40fF/mm with resolution of 0.1
mm. The results demonstrate that the sensors are capable to
measurement water level with acceptable accuracy.
Fig. 4. Test setup for non-contact water level measurement.

The experiment performed with the variation of water level ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

in the range of 0 to 40 mm. To validate the concept, we have The authors would like to thank IUAC, New Delhi for
providing support in Simulations on Ansys software.
 VI. REFERENCE
[1] Goekler, L.E., Standex International Corp, 1991. Capacitive liquid level
sensor. U.S. Patent 5,017,909.
[2] Woodside, S.H., Focal Tech Inc, 1991. Fiber optic continuous liquid
level sensor. U.S. Patent 4,994,682.
[3] Steph, J. and Hood, C., Stemco LP, 2005. Conductive sensor for fluid
level sensing. U.S. Patent Application 10/987,138.
[4] Chetpattananondh, K., Tapoanoi, T., Phukpattaranont, P. and Jindapetch,
N., 2014. A self-calibration water level measurement using an interdigital
capacitive sensor. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 209, pp.175-182.
[5] Meribout, M., Habli, M.O.H.A.M.E.D., et al., 2004, May. A new
ultrasonic-based device for accurate measurement of oil, emulsion, and water
levels in oil tanks. In Proceedings of the 21st IEEE Instrumentation and
Measurement Technology Conference (IEEE Cat. No. 04CH37510) (Vol. 3,
pp. 1942-1947).
[6] Golnabi, H., 2004. Design and operation of a fiber optic sensor for liquid
level detection. Optics and Lasers in Engineering, 41(5), pp.801-812.
[7] Texas instruments “Capacitive-Based Liquid Level Sensing Sensor
Reference Design” TIDU736A– January 2015 – Revised March 2015.
[8] Li, Y.T., Chao, C.M. and Wang, K., 2011, February. A capacitance level
sensor design and sensor signal enhancement. In 2011 6th IEEE
International Conference on Nano/Micro Engineered and Molecular
Systems (pp. 847-850). IEEE.
[9] C. S. A. Gong, H. K. Chiu, L. R. Huang, C. H. Lin, Z. D. Hsu, P. H. Tu.
Low-Cost comb-electrode capacitive sensing device for liq id-level
easurement. IEEE Sensors J 2016;16 (9):2896-97.
[10] Kulha, P., Hilber, W., Laposa, A. and Jakoby, B., 2018. Screen printed
and laminated electrodes for low-cost capacitive level measurement
systems. Journal of Electrical Engineering, 69(2), pp.177-182.
[11] Kishore Sundararajan, 1 Alexander V. Mamishev, 1 Markus Zahn2
“Fringing Electric and Magnetic Field Sensors”. Copyright © 2006 by
American Scientific Publishers.
[12] Jin, B., Zhang, Z. and Zhang, H., 2015. Structure design and
performance analysis of a coaxial cylindrical capacitive sensor for liquid-
level measurement. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 223, pp.84-90
[13] Chetpattananondh, K., Tapoanoi, T., Phukpattaranont, P. and
Jindapetch, N., 2014. A self-calibration water level measurement using an
interdigital capacitive sensor. Sensors and Actuators A: Physical, 209,
pp.175-182
[14] Ali, S.F. and Mandal, N., 2019. Design and Development of an
Electronic Level Transmitter Using Inter Digital Capacitor. IEEE Sensors
Journal, 19(13), pp.5179-5185.