Sensitivity characteristics of electrostatic sensor using finite element modeling

Electrostatic sensor detects the electric charge carried by dry particle in a pneumatic conveyor. Sensitivity characteristics of the Electrostatic sensor play an important role to design a flow measurement system. In this study, the sensitivity features of the ring shape electrodes are simulated to find the effect of electrode geometry on sensor sensitivity. Ansys Maxwell 14.0 is utilized as an electric field simulator to measure the amount of induced electrical charge from a particle to the sensor electrode in a 3D environment using finite-element analysis. The results precisely show the sensitivity characteristics between electrodes with different thickness, axial length and diameter.