Optimization of electrostatic sensor electrodes using particle swarm optimization technique

Abstract

To obtain the ideal electrostatic sensor, it is necessary to optimize the electrode size. A new technique for the optimization of various sizes and shapes of electrodes is presented in this paper. The particle swarm optimization (PSO) technique, which is both heuristic and computational in nature, is proposed to overcome this problem. It was necessary to have uniform spatial sensitivity to lessen the impact of the flow system. Hence, electrodes with distinct shapes, including circular ring, quarter ring and rectangular electrodes, were applied, and their characteristics were optimized to attain a spatial sensitivity that was more uniform. The uniformity of the spatial sensitivity of electrodes is influenced by several factors, such as their length, width and thickness. As such, spatial sensitivity was regarded as the fitness function in the PSO method, and the other factors were investigated as PSO parameters. From observations, the spatial sensitivity of the circular ring electrode is more uniform than that of other electrodes. In addition, the optimal length of circular ring electrode is 5.771 mm, whereas the optimal thickness of this electrode is 4.746 mm. Based on experimental tests, the total induced current, correlation velocity and spatial sensitivity distribution of electrostatic sensors were captured. A close agreement between experimental and optimization results verify that the proposed method is feasible for optimizing the electrode size of electrostatic sensors.