Fig. 4

Two different modes of capacitive proximity sensing. In loading mode (a), the capacitance between the single sensing electrode and the target will be directly measured, by assuming the target is electrically grounded. In shunt mode, the capacitance between two sensing electrodes is measured which is affected by the proximity of a target. Shunt mode can be applied to the actuator in two different ways: using two electrode phases (b) or splitting the actuator into two separate parts (c)