TheWaveguideCutoffMethod.pptVIP

The Waveguide Cutoff Method A New Method for Measuring the Complex Permittivity of Liquid and Semi-Solid Materials at Microwave Frequencies What is Permittivity? Permittivity is a measure of the energy stored and dissipated by a material in an electric field σ = conductivity ω = 2πf Why is it Important? Permittivity can be a measure of several different parameters Density Temperature Consistency Viscosity Purity Specific Applications Industrial Applications: Process Monitoring Polymers and thermoplastics Steam Chemical reactions Mixing and Chemical Composition Specific Applications Biomedical and Food Applications Water concentration and detection Foodstuffs Soils Medicines Fat and Meat quality Cancer Detection Blood Glucose Concentration Methods of Permittivity Measurement for Liquids and Semi-Solids Open-Ended Coaxial Probe technique Cavity Perturbation Method Transmission/Reflection Method Coaxial Line Method Waveguide Method Time Domain Spectroscopy Cavity Perturbation How it works: Uses the Q-factor and the Frequency shift in the resonant frequency to determine the permittivity using ‘Perturbation theory’ Pros Effective at measuring low-loss materials Accurate as long as all of the assumptions are met Cons Sample size influences effectiveness and accuracy Small samples only Narrow Band/ Single Band Must be precisely machined Transmission/ Reflection How it works: Uses S-Parameters from a network analyzer and the relates the permittivity to the reflection and transmission of energy through the sample Pros Relatively Broadband (One Decade for waveguides up to 20GHz for coaxial) Excellent for high-loss samples Cons Sample size must be corrected May only use the TE10 mode of propagation for a simple mathematical model Must be precisely machined Time-Domain Spectroscopy How it works: uses a frequency domain signal and the FFT to relate the transmission time through an object to the complex permittivity. Pros Broadband, but limited by FFT and instrument (10Ghz)