A novel easy-driving and easy-signal-processing electrostatic field sensor based on a piezoresistance and polyethylene terephthalate lever

A novel electrostatic field sensor with compact structure and a simple signal processing circuit is proposed in this paper. The sensor is based on a piezoresistive force meter and a lathy polyethylene terephthalate (PET) lever for electrostatic force generation and transformation. The force meter with a rectangular membrane supported by four beams was fabricated and one end of the PET lever was attached to the center of the membrane surface. The other end of the lever was free for electrostatic force generation. Only a low voltage DC source was required for the whole sensor, rather than sophisticated driving circuits. The lever magnified the electrostatic force effecting upon the force meter, and thus the output of the sensor was large enough for a simple processing circuit to be sufficient, rather than requiring complicated instruments. Characteristics of the sensor formation make it appropriate to adopt this sensor in various applications, in particular in high voltage power systems monitoring and meteorology measurements. The experiment results showed agreement with simulation results of the sensor. Sensitivity of the prototype of this sensor was 0.06 root mV (kV . m(-1))(-1) which can be greatly promoted by design optimization and fabrication improvement.