Field Effect Sensor, Mirus Moderators: adafruit_support_bill, adafruit

[jbedford01]

I would like to research the Mirus field effect, to ultimately build a working sensor array programmed with an Arduino. The purpose is to monitor various fluid levels on a boat. I don't have any coding questions (yet) because I cannot find any information online describing the field effect in sufficient detail for me to purchase any raw materials and start experimenting. If anyone can point me in the right direction to start I would appreciate it. I am aware there are consumer products that use this technology (Johnson Controls for one), but they're too expensive pre-built, and learning is half the fun. I'm hoping to build one from scratch, or nearly so. Thanks!

[adafruit_support_bill]

You might start by tracking down the patent. That should at least explain the theory of operation.

[jbedford01]

Thanks for the great idea adafruit_support_bill. I failed at that attempt already, but so far this is my only lead, so I'll give it another try. It probably wasn't referred to as the Mirus field effect during the patent application, but I'm surprised some grad student somewhere hasn't published a white paper on it.

[adafruit_support_bill]

I didn't find any solid leads for it by that name either. If you can track down some documentation on the Johnson product, it might reference a patent number somewhere.

[jbedford01]

Thanks again. You're right, there must be patents listed on the packaging. I'll check that out next.

[jbedford01]

It looks like "Mirus Field Effect" was a red herring. After reading several patents and other sources, I learned that Capacitance Field Effect Sensors, or Capacitance-to-Digital Converters for Proximity Sensing are what I was looking for. At least I'm now on the right track, though I would still appreciate hearing with someone with experience in this area. Thanks.

[adafruit_support_bill]

This may be helpful: https://www.best-microcontroller-projec ... e%20sensor.

[jbedford01]

Thanks for the link Bill. The patent has a good description of the process and the site is interesting. Now I need to find suitable parts and begin experimenting.