Liquid capacitive inclinometers are

inclinometer An inclinometer or clinometer is an measuring instrument, instrument used for measuring angles of slope, elevation, or depression (geology), depression of an object with respect to gravity's direction. It is also known as a ''tilt indicator'', ' ...

s (or clinometers) whose sensing elements are made with a liquid-filled differential capacitor; they sense the local direction of acceleration due to gravity (or movement). John G. Webster, Halit Eren (ed), ''Measurement, Instrumentation, and Sensors Handbook, Second Edition: Electromagnetic, Optical, Radiation, Chemical, and Biomedical Measurement''CRC Press, 2014 , page 83-6 A capacitive inclinometer has a disc-like cavity that is partly filled with a

dielectric In electromagnetism, a dielectric (or dielectric medium) is an electrical insulator that can be polarised by an applied electric field. When a dielectric material is placed in an electric field, electric charges do not flow through the mate ...

liquid. One of the sides of the cavity has an etched conductor plate that is used to form one of the conductors of a variable parallel plate

capacitor A capacitor is a device that stores electrical energy in an electric field by virtue of accumulating electric charges on two close surfaces insulated from each other. It is a passive electronic component with two terminals. The effect of ...

. The liquid along with the other side of the cavity forms the other plate of the capacitor. In operation, the sensor is mounted so that the disc is in a vertical plane with its axis horizontal.

Gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the stro ...

then acts on the liquid pulling it down in the cavity forming a semicircle. As the sensor is rotated the liquid remains in this semicircular pattern covering a different area of the etched plate. This change in area results in a change in the capacitance. The change in capacitance is then electronically converted into an output signal that is linear with respect to the input angle.

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Diagram of liquid capacitive inclinometer
{{DEFAULTSORT:Liquid Capacitive Inclinometers Dimensional instruments Inclinometers Accelerometers de:Klinometer sl:Klinometer