A 3D Printed Two-axis Tilt Angle Capacitive Sensor

This paper presents the simulation, design, fabrication and characterization of a two-axis tilt angle capacitive sensor. The proposed sensor consists of five electrodes, including one exciting electrode and two pairs of sensing electrodes, arranged at identified positions on a hollow sphere which is partly filled with liquid/gas two-phase dielectric medium. With this configuration, the proposed sensor can measure the inclination in x− and y− axes with symmetrical outputs. The working principle of the sensor was confirmed by finite element method (FEM) using COMSOL Multiphysics. The sensor has been fabricated using rapid prototyping technology and mounted right on the conditioning printed circuit board (PCB) for performance characterization. Experimental results validated that the sensor can measure the inclination in both the x and y axes with symmetrical outputs, with sensitivity of approximately 60 mV/° and resolution of 1° in [−70°, 70°] range.