A Multiuse Fully 3-D Printed Cavity Sensor for Liquid Profiling

In this article, a multiuse perturbed rectangular cavity resonator is fabricated using additive manufacturing (3-D printing) for profiling small volume liquid samples. The designed cavity operates in the fundamental mode (<;1 ml) and is suitable for characterizing liquids in smaller volumes (<;1 ml). A cylindrical perturbation is created on the top wall of the cavity into which the liquid samples are introduced. Depending on the dielectric constant of the sample, the resonance frequency of the cavity changes and the change in resonance is monitored in real time. The dielectric constant of the sample under test is theoretically estimated based on the change in resonance and compared to standard reported values. The fabricated resonator is of multiuse nature and requires small sample volume of 0.35 ml for profiling. The low-cost, light-weight, multiuse sensor can be easily adapted for quality control applications across the supply chain.