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PIERS Proceedings, Moscow, Russia, August 1923, 2012

A Novel Proximity Measurement System Using Microwave Antennas

Yongjae Lee, Boris L. Sheikman, and Steven Y. Go General Electric Corporation, USA

Abstract In this paper, a novel approach for making proximity measurements using a microwave antenna system in an industrial setting is presented. The proposed technique is demonstrated by designing and building two dierently sized antennas. Each antenna was placed inside its own mechanical housing in order to match the form and t of a standard industrial eddy current sensor head. Matching the form and t of currently accepted industrial dimensions will reduce the amount of redesign of the sensor mounts to accommodate the new system. Both of the dierently sized antennas were designed to electrically resonate at a specic frequency. The rst antenna was designed to resonate at 3 GHz and the second antenna was designed to resonate at 5.8 GHz. A vector network analyzer (VNA) is used to create the excitation signals and to monitor return loss changes as the observed targets displacement to the antennas is varied. Additionally, a linear stage from Thor Labs was used to carefully and repeatedly step a at metal target away from the sensor head with the embedded antenna. This new system showed an extended measurement range compared to the conventional proximity measurement technologies. The microwave antenna system was able to measure a distance equal to at least 1 the diameter of the probe tip. Also, good sensitivity, i.e., signicant return loss change (> 1 dB/mm), was obtained as the observed the target displacement is varied. Furthermore, it showed great immunity to variations in permeability across a selection of metal targets. For example, at a xed target displacement, the S11 variation between the dierent target materials was < 5%. A commercial software package, Ansys HFSS, was utilized for the design, modeling, and analysis of the overall microwave antenna system. The modeling results matched the performance of the prototypes to within 3%. Future work in the areas of temperature stability, materials, and signal processing methodologies is also presented. 1. INTRODUCTION

Numerous proximity measurement technologies [15] have been well demonstrated and widely applied in various industrial settings. Each of those technologies has at least one signicant disadvantage to overcome. Eddy current technology [3, 4] is extremely sensitive to the permeability of the target material because it measures H (magnetic) eld change due to the opposing H elds created by eddy currents on the metallic surface. Compensating for this sensitivity typically requires surface treatment of the target to be measured. Eddy current probes also have a limited measurement range which is approximately equal to about a half of the diameter of the probe or less. In a typical installation, the probe needs to be gapped at half of the full measurement range of the probe, which is a quarter of diameter of sensor head to the target [7]. Applications requiring additional range require either a bigger probe or additional smaller probes which results in increased cost. Other techniques such as ultrasonic [1] and optical sensor [6] are also costly and sensitive to contamination and changes to the dielectric through which it measures. LVDT (Linear Variable Dierential Transformer) sensors require direct contact with the target and a lot of space for installation. To alleviate and overcome these limitations, a novel proximity measurement approach is proposed. It utilizes an antenna operating in the near eld range as a sensing element. Fig. 1 shows a system level block diagram of the microwave proximity system. It is composed of three functional blocks which are: 1) The antenna as a sensing element, 2) The RF (Radio Frequency) transceiver for generating the current that will be used to excite the antenna, and 3) A signal processing system that will generate an output signal which is proportionate to the proximity. The antenna in this instance was a 2D planar structure on a substrate. A copper radiating element was on the top surface and a grounding pattern was on the bottom surface. The RF transceiver system feeds an excitation signal to the antenna which causes the creation of an electromagnetic eld that couples to the target. Electromagnetic energy is near-eld coupled to the target. The coupling strength varies with the displacement of the target to the antenna. More or less coupling to the target will vary the impedance of the antenna. When the antennas impedance

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Figure 1: Schematic of microwave proximity measurement system.

Figure 2: Prole view of the antenna assembly model.

changes from its nominal value, e.g., 50 Ohms, a reection of the excitation signal is sent back to the RF transceiver from within the antenna structure and cable. A directional coupler is used to route the reected signal to a signal processing system which will create a new signal that is proportional to the proximity. Power detectors and additional support circuitry are utilized for converting the reected RF signal into a linear proximity voltage output. The output voltage can then be fed into control systems, data displays, data recorders, etc. in real time. Feasibility of the proposed system is examined by testing a prototype antenna operating at microwave frequency range with multiple target materials at various proximities. This paper is organized as follows. An overview of the design and analysis of the antenna, measurement of the antenna performance, and modeling validation is given in Section 2. Section 3 presents the microwave proximity sensors immunity to electrical run out. Section 4 will go into a discussion of future work.
2. MODELING/MEASUREMENT OF MICROWAVE ANTENNA 2.1. Modeling Validation of Antenna

Given the limited form factor of the antenna for practical industrial applications, we rst investigated many dierent antenna types and geometries. The design procedure starts by creating various antenna types and patterns followed by integrating them with the other sensor assembly components as shown in Fig. 2 (cable, probe body, probe cap, antenna substrate, tuning disc, etc.) including a target to measure the proximity to. We utilized a commercial software package, ANSYS HFSS, for generating the 3D model and for the EM analysis [8]. The sensing element is 24.13 mm in diameter and it is encapsulated with a probe cap of 25.40 mm in diameter. These dimensions match the industry standard Bently Nevada 3300XL 25 mm probe head. The full sensor assembly was prototyped and tested using a network analyzer with an accurately controlled linear stage from Thor Labs for modulating the target proximity. Scattering parameters (S11 ) or return loss changes were monitored as the target moves away along the axial direction of the antenna assembly. Figure 3 presents both measured and simulated results of an antenna operating at 3 GHz. Good agreement is obtained between the simulated and the measured data with 3% error. This modeling validation provided us with a high degree of condence in the software for the design and analysis of antennas operating in the near eld region. In the example dataset below, a signicant S11 change is observed as the target displacement changes from 20 mm to 26 mm and we see that the dynamic range is 10 dB, which is equates to > 1.5 [dB/mm] of antenna sensitivity. We refer to this scalar, [dB/mm], as sensitivity. Note that the total measuring range of this 25 mm example is shown to be at least 26 mm. This is in contrast to the typical 12 mm range of an eddy current probe of similar diameter such as the previously mentioned Bently Nevada 3300XL 25 mm system.
2.2. Measurement of 8 mm Antenna Assembly

After proving the feasibility of the system with a 25 mm diameter antenna, the size of the sensor head was scaled down to see if the operation and the aforementioned advantages of the technology are maintained. The most popular sensor diameter in industrial applications is 8 mm. A small diameter allows users to minimize the physical intrusion into a system requiring proximity measurement. For example, a power plant operator who wants to install a proximity sensor in their gas turbine would now only need to drill an 8 mm hole in the shroud vs. a 25 mm hole. The selected operating frequency range was 5.7855.815 GHz to utilize the free ISM (Industrial, Scientic, and Medical) band [9]. A two-arm spiral antenna [10] was selected as a basic antenna structure. The structure

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PIERS Proceedings, Moscow, Russia, August 1923, 2012

Figure 3: Comparison of measurement and simulation results from 25 mm antenna prototype for the target displacement sweep test.

Figure 4: S11 measurement results in network analyzer as target displacement varied from 1 mm to 9 mm in 1 mm steps.

was optimized to provide an ecient radiating E eld pattern that enables coupling to the target and good proximity measurement performance. Rogers 6010 [11] with a high dielectric constant (nominal r = 10.2) was chosen for the antenna substrate. The spiral is connected to a semi rigid co-axial cable that runs through the length of the sensor body and the antenna substrate is encapsulated with molded plastic (nominal r = 3.2). A metal disk in the sensor body spaced a certain distance ( /4) back from the antenna was carefully designed for creating a tuned cavity. Fig. 4 shows S11 measurement results of the 8 mm sensor assembly with target displacement at 1 mm and 9 mm. The average S11 change over the displacement range was calculated as 1.0 [dB/mm] @ 5.8 GHz. The result implies the antenna has freedom to be placed any distance away from the target within 9 mm without sacricing its sensitivity performance. This range of 8 mm from 1 mm to 9 mm is an improvement over a similar sized eddy current probe system such as the industry standard Bently Nevada 3300XL 8 mm system which has a measurement range of approximately 2 mm.
3. IMMUNITY TO ELECTRICAL RUNOUT

Immunity to electrical run out is a critical issue in the realm of proximity measurements [14]. Consider the case where the target is a rotating shaft spinning at 3600 RPM that connects a turbine to an electrical generator. Dynamic forces will cause this shaft to vibrate. Measuring this vibration gives an indication of the performance of the bearings supporting the shaft, the generators electrical windings, etc.. Electrical run out is the distortion of a proximity signal measured by an eddy current sensor caused by inconsistencies in the permeability the metal target at dierent locations around the shaft. This distortion can either add to or subtract from the actual proximity signal and this results in false readings. The nal proximity values may be higher than the actual amount and a plant operator may be shutting down his machine for safetys sake when there is no real need to do so. When the nal proximity value is less than the actual amount then the plant operator may be operating his machinery in a dangerous state. The total amount of electrical run out could range from 3 m such as in AISI 4140 steel to 30 or even 40 meters in precipitation hardened 17-4PH steel. These values may seem small but it is important to note that industrial plant operators set shutdown parameters within 25 50 m of nominally allowed vibration level. In both cases above, the permeability variations lead to erroneous diagnostic conclusions. Both the microwave and the eddy current sensor heads have a small radiating antenna inside that radiates both an E (electric) and H (magnetic) eld. When the E eld radiating out of the antenna in the sensor head contacts the target, a near eld coupling aect occurs and energy radiating from the antenna in the sensor head is propagated over the target surface. Changing the distance between the target and the sensor head will in turn change the coupling, making it stronger or weaker. When the H eld contacts the target, an RF current is induced on the target surface and this current will ow on the surface according to the resistivity of the material. This causes the creation of eddy currents. Higher or lower permeability will dramatically increase or decrease the amplitude of the eddy currents. Since the eddy current sensors are H eld dominant, this eect would have a major impact in the operation of an eddy current based sensor.

Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium Proceedings, Moscow, Russia, August 1923, 2012 1559 Table 1: S11 dierence between three dierent target materials. Materials Aluminum Brass Stainless Steel S11 @ 5.8 GHz 19.76 dB 20.74 dB 19.99 dB Relative Permeability 1.00 1.05 100

Table 2: Additional cable length eect on the return loss of antenna at 3.3 GHz. No Extra Cable 6.3 dB 4 Cable Added 8.0 dB 16 Cable Added 12.6 dB

Inside the microwave sensor head is a radiating antenna that is designed to be E eld dominant. The H eld coming from the antenna in the sensor head is very small and can be considered insignicant compared to the strength of the E eld. Any H eld aects, such as eddy currents, are overwhelmed by the E eld coupling eects. Assuming that the antenna inside the sensor head is a well-designed and ecient E eld radiator, the distance between the sensor head and the target will have the greatest eect on the near eld coupling and the resulting proximity measurement. Any variation in the coupling caused by dierences in the conductivity of target is also negligible in comparison because there is sucient conductivity in various metals to facilitate the propagation of E eld current. Table 1 shows the measured S11 return loss value at 5.8 GHz for aluminum, brass, and stainless steel targets at the same position along with the materials relative permeability. As shown, there is no signicant S11 dierence between each metal, which shows that the microwave system is immune to electrical run out. The variation is due to the instance to instance variation in setting up one target material and then removing it for another to make the next measurement.
4. DISCUSSION AND FUTURE WORK

To better understand and to maximize the antennas performance, we conducted two studies on the inuence of cabling in the proximity measurement system. The rst study quantied the amount of signal degradation due to long cable lengths. In a real world eld installation, adding extra cable length between the antenna and signal processing system is typically unavoidable due to a lack of space in and near the area where the sensor is mounted. We selected two dierent cable lengths, 4 ft and 16 ft. Each cable was inserted between the RF calibration point on a VNA (Vector Network Analyzer) and the antenna. Table 2 shows the change in S11 magnitude at the resonance frequency of the antenna as the inserted cable length increases. Note that the antenna size used for this study was 25 mm in diameter. Longer lengths of cable increased the amount of signal loss to the antenna which in turn degrades the sensitivity of the proximity measurement system. With less power entering the antenna, the system will not be able to radiate enough meaningful power to the target whose proximity is being measured. Likewise, any reected signal will see its own reduction in strength as it travels back to the signal processing system. The additional capacitance, inductance, and other electrical properties of the cable overwhelm the same properties in the antenna. This implies that the sensor needs to be excited with as short of a cable as possible from the RF source. To remedy this issue, it is possible to incorporate a de-embedding technique [12, 13] to compensate for the degraded performance. Beyond intricate feeding methods and high end cables, it may be possible to monitor phase and frequency values rather than magnitude [14]. The second study was the eect of temperature variation on the cable. A high quality Temp Flex 063-2501 RF cable [16] was temperature cycled in an oven. The rst end of the cable was connected to a VNA so that S11 data can be gathered on the cable. From there, the cable was looped around inside the oven before exiting to an ambient 25 C environment where it was connected to the 25 mm version of a microwave proximity sensor. It was observed that the return loss magnitude would vary with the change in temperature. Figure 5 shows the swings in S11 magnitude from 0 C to 180 C and the frequency was swept from 3 GHz to 6 GHz. These changes occurred because the dielectric properties of the cable shifted. For example, the

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Frequency [GHz]
-1 3.0 -3 -5 5.0
0C 20 C 40 C 60 C 80 C 100 C 120 C 140 C 160 C

S11 [dB]

-7 -9 -11 -13 -15 -17

180 C

Figure 5: S11 measurement results in network analyzer as the temperature of the cable is cycled from 0 C to 180 C.

Teon dielectric in the cable would expand and contract and the cable, which was initially a 50 Ohm component, experienced an impedance change. When the cable would contract then it no longer sat in the same position covering the center conductor near the jacks. There are several areas of potential additional research remaining. First, dierent dielectrics in the cable should be tested over temperature. For example, it is known in the industry that mineral based dielectrics (i.e., SiO2 ) oer better stability than traditional PTFE (i.e., Teon). Second, it is possible to incorporate a compensation system in the signal processing system. Monitoring phase and resonant frequency data could indicate what the temperature is and the system could then compensate for it. Lastly, it may be possible to build a sensor head with materials whose temperature aects cancel each other out. Third, the target re-radiates the energy at a dierent phase. Although the re-radiated energy levels are very small, they can create multipath reection paths which may couple back to the sensor head and interfere with the proximity measurement. It is important to understand these reections and how to lter out the unwanted phase information in the reverse reected signal coming out of the power directional coupler.
5. CONCLUSIONS

A proximity measurement technique using near eld eects in a microwave antenna was presented. The prototype system showed excellent sensitivity, extended measuring range, and immunity to electrical run out. Good validation of EM model with measured results was also obtained. Although more work needs to be done to resolve cabling issues and harsh environment eect compensation algorithms, a proper implementation of the proposed system would be a viable way to overcome major drawbacks of traditional proximity measurement methods.
REFERENCES

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10. Nakano, H., T. Igarashi, R. Suzuki, Y. Iitsuka, and J. Yamauchi, Consideration on radiation from an unbalanced-mode spiral antenna, ISAPE, Int. Symp. Antennas, Propagation and EM Theory, 211214, 2008. 11. http://www.rogerscorp.com/acm/products/12/RT-duroid-6002-6202-6006-6010-PTFE-Ceramic-Laminates.aspx. 12. Vanhille, K., D. Filipovic, C. Nichols, and D. Fontaine, Balanced low-loss Ka-band -coaxial hybrids, IEEE MTT-S Int. Microwave Symp., 11571160, 2007. 13. Fischer, T., M. Spang, and M. Albach, Easy de-embedding of symmetrical coax-to-microstrip transitions, IEEE Workshop Signal Propagation on Interconnects, 14, 2008. 14. Billington, S. and J. Geisheimer, Method and system for calibration of a phase-based sensing system, US Patent 6,856,281, Feb. 15, 2005. 15. Yu, Y., P. Du, and T. Yang Investigation on contribution of conductivity and permeability on electrical runout problem of eddy current displacement sensor, IEEE MTC, 15, 2011. 16. http://www.sanyu-usa.com/assets/les/Temp-Flex/T7-PDF.pdf.