In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden Messtechniken zur Charakterisierung organischer Flüssigkeiten geringer Leitfähigkeit mittels Impedanzspektroskopie erprobt. Es wurden verschiedene kapazitive Elektrodenanordnungen mit dem zu untersuchenden Öl als Dielektrikum entwickelt und auf ihre Eignung zur Impedanzmessung an Schmierölen untersucht. Ausgehend von der empirischen Erfahrung, dass die Impedanzwerte in Ölen stark temperaturabhängig sind, wurde in Anlehnung an die Arrheniussche Theorie der chemischen Reaktionskinetik ein Auswerteverfahren für impedanzspektroskopische Messdaten entwickelt und getestet. So wurden die Voraussetzungen dafür geschaffen, dass für einen, in einem bestimmten Frequenzbereich relevanten Leitungsprozess, der zugehörige, auf molekularer Ebene ablaufende Vorgang mit bekannter Aktivierungsenergie angegeben werden kann.

This Master’s thesis deals with standard uncertainity determination for electrical quantities measurement. Next, there are proposals of uncertainity calculation procedures for impedance measurement. Impedance is measured by LCR meter Agilent 4263B. Using the proposed procedures, standard uncertainities are then calculated. Furthermore, there is proposal for an improved laboratory exercise for the MEMT subject, implementing the standard measurement uncertainities calculations.

The doctoral thesis presents methods for low-level measurements, which are exemplified by the general measurement of air ion concentration. Within the first section, the author progressively identifies certain critical effects influencing the concentration of air ions, and these effects are to be considered in evaluating the uncertainty of the measured concentrations. Thus, the thesis aims to provide a systematic description of the procedures and requirements related to low-level measurements; the proposed description then involves a discussion of the process reliability requirements, namely the factors of repeatability, elimination of errors, and definition and describability of measurement uncertainties. Such methodology facilitates, among other activities, the long-term monitoring of air ion concentration in extreme environments, including caves or spaces characterized by high temperatures and humidity. The use of common methods for determining the air ion mobility spectrum is accompanied by a number of disturbing effects, such as spurious fluctuation in the concentration of air ions in time. The experimental section of the thesis describes the testing of different configurations of the measuring device (a collecting electrode and a polarization capacitor); at this stage, we seek the most advantageous distribution of the electrostatic field in the sensor – a Gerdien tube. The systematic suppression of the influence of spurious fluctuations in air ion concentration during the measurement of saturation characteristics is carried out with the least-squares numerical method (as a supporting element), a hybrid technique to describe and evaluate the experimental model. In the second part of the thesis, the methodology of low-level measurement is complemented with procedures for the measurement of freezing potential. This latter domain, as an overall experimental approach applicable during phase changes of the sample, has hitherto not been sufficiently characterized from the metrological perspective, in an up-to-date manner; several subregions of the said domain remain somewhat obscured and deserve significantly more attention. In the given context, this thesis systematically considers a problem where comparable measurement results produced by multiple authors are not available. The measuring methodology proposed herein was utilized in applied research to facilitate the fabrication of an apparatus for the experimental measurement of freezing potential in pre-defined samples; the obtained results then lead us to conclusions with respect to the evaluation of effects that cause differences in the measured data, and the results can be further compared with those obtained by other researchers investigating the given segment of the problem.

Background: Ventilatory pressures should target the range between the upper and lower inflection point of the pressure volume curve in order to avoid atelecto- and volutrauma. During high-frequency oscillatory ventilation (HFOV), this range is difficult to determine. Quadrant impedance measurement (QIM) has recently been shown to allow accurate and precise measurement of lung volume changes during conventional mechanical ventilation. Objectives: To investigate if QIM can be used to determine a static pressure-residual impedance curve during a recruitment-derecruitment manoeuvre on HFOV and to monitor the time course of alveolar recruitment after changing mean airway pressure (MAP). Methods: An incremental and decremental MAP trial (6 cm H₂O to 27 cm H₂O) was conducted in five surfactantdepleted newborn piglets during HFOV. Ventilatory, gas exchange and haemodynamic parameters were recorded. Continuous measurement of thoracic impedance change was performed. Results: Mean residual impedance (RI) increased with each stepwise increase of MAP resulting in a total mean increase of +26.5% (±4.0) at the highest MAP (27 cm H₂O) compared to baseline ventilation at 6 cm H₂O. Upon decreasing MAP levels, RI fell more slowly compared to its ascent; 83.4% (±19.1) and 84.8% (±16.4) of impedance changes occurred in the first 5 min after an increase or decrease in airway pressure, respectively. Conclusions: QIM could be used for continuous monitoring of thoracic impedance and determination of the pressure-RI curve during HFOV. The method could prove to be a promising bedside method for the monitoring of lung recruitment during HFOV in the future.

In der vorliegenden Arbeit wurden Messtechniken zur Charakterisierung organischer Flüssigkeiten geringer Leitfähigkeit mittels Impedanzspektroskopie erprobt. Es wurden verschiedene kapazitive Elektrodenanordnungen mit dem zu untersuchenden Öl als Dielektrikum entwickelt und auf ihre Eignung zur Impedanzmessung an Schmierölen untersucht. Ausgehend von der empirischen Erfahrung, dass die Impedanzwerte in Ölen stark temperaturabhängig sind, wurde in Anlehnung an die Arrheniussche Theorie der chemischen Reaktionskinetik ein Auswerteverfahren für impedanzspektroskopische Messdaten entwickelt und getestet. So wurden die Voraussetzungen dafür geschaffen, dass für einen, in einem bestimmten Frequenzbereich relevanten Leitungsprozess, der zugehörige, auf molekularer Ebene ablaufende Vorgang mit bekannter Aktivierungsenergie angegeben werden kann.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) uses RF radiation to identify physical objects. With decreasing integrated circuit (IC) cost and size, RFID applications are becoming economically feasible and gaining popularity. Researchers at MIT suggest that RFID tags operating in the 900 MHz band (ultrahigh frequency, UHF) represent the best compromise of cost, read range, and capabilities [1]. Passive RFID tags, which exclude radio transmitters and internal power sources, are popular due to their small size and low cost [1]. This project produced Cal Poly’s first ever on-campus printed, assembled, and operational UHF (902 to 928 MHz) passive RFID tag. Project goals include RFID tag antenna design and simulation using the EMPro electromagnetic (EM) simulation tool [47], establishing the tag fabrication process, and testing, operational verification, and comparisons to commercial tag performance. The tag antenna design goal is to meet or exceed the read range performance of the commercial Sirit tag [23] while minimizing the required tag conductive area. This thesis provides an overview of the UHF passive RFID tag fabrication process. Cal Poly’s Graphic Communication Department Laboratory applied a screen‑printing process to print RFID tag antenna patterns onto plastic (PET) substrates. RFID IC-substrate packages were manually attached to tag antennas with conductive adhesives and functionally verified and compared to commercial tag performance. RFID tag antennas were impedance matched (using EMPro) to the Monza 3 RFID IC to maximize IC to antenna power transfer and RFID tag read range.Tag antenna read range (maximum reader-tag communication distance) was characterized in Cal Poly’s Anechoic Chamber, while RFID tag matching characteristics were measured using the differential probe method [33-41] and compared to simulations. Read range results indicate that one of the designs developed in this thesis outperforms a commercial UHF RFID tag.

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / The basic concept of impedance-based structure health monitoring is measuring the variation of the electromechanical impedance of the structure as caused by the presence of damage by using patches of piezoelectric material bonded on the surface of the structure (or embedded into). The measured electrical impedance of the PZT patch is directly related to the mechanical impedance of the structure. That is why the presence of damage can be detected by monitoring the variation of the impedance signal. In order to quantify damage, a metric is specially defined, which allows to assign a characteristic scalar value to the fault. This study initially evaluates the influence of environmental conditions in the impedance measurement, such as temperature, magnetic fields and ionic environment. The results show that the magnetic field does not influence the impedance measurement and that the ionic environment influences the results. However, when the sensor is shielded, the effect of the ionic environment is significantly reduced. The influence of the sensor geometry has also been studied. It has been established that the shape of the PZT patch (rectangular or circular) has no influence on the impedance measurement. However, the position of the sensor is an important issue to correctly detect damage. This work presents the development of a low-cost portable system for impedance measuring to automatically measure and store data from 16 PZT patches, without human intervention. One fundamental aspect in the context of this work is to characterize the damage type from the various impedance signals collected. In this sense, the techniques of artificial intelligence known as neural networks and fuzzy cluster analysis were tested for classifying damage of aircraft structures, obtaining satisfactory results. One last contribution of the present work is the study of the performance of the electromechanical impedance-based structural health monitoring technique to detect damage in structures under dynamic loading. Encouraging results were obtained for this aim. / O conceito básico da técnica de integridade estrutural baseada na impedância tem a ver com o monitoramento da variação da impedância eletromecânica da estrutura, causada pela presença alterações estruturais, através de pastilhas de material piezelétrico coladas na superfície da estrutura ou nela incorporadas. A impedância medida se relaciona com a impedância mecânica da estrutura. A partir da variação dos sinais de impedância pode-se concluir pela existência ou não de uma falha. Para quantificar esta falha, métricas de dano são especialmente definidas, permitindo atribuir-lhe um valor escalar característico. Este trabalho pretende inicialmente avaliar a influência de algumas condições ambientais, tais como os campos magnéticos e os meios iônicos na medição de impedância. Os resultados obtidos mostram que os campos magnéticos não tem influência na medição de impedância e que os meios iônicos influenciam os resultados; entretanto, ao blindar o sensor, este efeito se reduz consideravelmente. Também foi estudada a influencia da geometria, ou seja, do formato do PZT e da posição do sensor com respeito ao dano. Verificou-se que o formato do PZT não tem nenhuma influência na medição e que a posição do sensor é importante para detectar corretamente o dano. Neste trabalho se apresenta o desenvolvimento de um sistema de medição de impedância de baixo custo e portátil que tem a capacidade de medir e armazenar a medição de 16 PZTs sem a necessidade de intervenção humana. Um aspecto de fundamental importância no contexto deste trabalho é a caracterização do dano a partir dos sinais de impedância coletados. Neste sentido, as técnicas de inteligência artificial conhecidas como redes neurais e análises de cluster fuzzy, foram testadas para classificar danos em estruturas aeronáuticas, obtendo resultados satisfatórios para esta tarefa. Uma última contribuição deste trabalho é o estudo do comportamento da técnica de monitoramento de integridade estrutural baseado na impedância eletromecânica na detecção de danos em estruturas submetidas a carregamento dinâmico. Os resultados obtidos mostram que a técnica funciona adequadamente nestes casos. / Doutor em Engenharia Mecânica

The main objective of the presented thesis is to contribute to the development of diagnostic methods for piezoelectric sensor testing. The thesis describes the methods for piezoelectric sensors microcracks identification and diagnostics. The core of the thesis presents the development of a knock sensor prototype, design of suitable methods for the knock sensors diagnosis and evaluation of developed methods with focus on detection of microcracks in the sensor piezoceramic. The last part of the thesis deals with the influence of cracks and splits on the measured data from the piezoelectric transducer. The presented methods are focusing on impedance measurements and sensors frequency response measurements. Known properties of used piezoelectric material as an information source for measurement and diagnosis are provided. The main result of the work is the evaluation of the methods developed for the piezoelectric sensors self-diagnosis.

Die transurethrale Resektion der Prostata (TURP) ist eine elektrochirurgische Behandlung der gutartigen Vergrößerung der Prostata. Hierbei treten sehr selten gebrochene Resektionsschlingen auf, deren Ursachen in der Literatur unzureichend dokumentiert sind. In dieser Arbeit erfolgt die Untersuchung der Eignung von Methoden zur Schlingenverschleißanalyse bei der TURP. Es gilt die aktuell offenen Fragen zu klären, wie sich zum Beispiel der Schlingenverschleiß äußert, ob dieser Ursache für gebrochene Schlingen während einer Operation ist und ob er Einfluss auf den Leistungseintrag ins Prostatagewebe und damit auf Ihre Temperaturverteilung hat. Angewandt werden erstmals vier experimentelle Methoden zur Verschleißanalyse in Kombination. Gemessene Geometrieänderungen stehen in Zusammenhang mit einer gemessenen verschleißbedingten Impedanzänderung, welche hier erstmals in‑situ erfolgt. Diese liefert auch Informationen über Defekte im nichtsichtbaren Bereichen der Resektionsschlingen. Es geht auch hervor, dass aufgrund üblicher Nutzungsdauern der Schlingenverschleiß als Ursache für Schlingenbrüche während der Dauer einer Operation mit sehr großer Wahrscheinlichkeit auszuschließen ist. Aufbauend auf den Messergebnissen werden durch Finite Elemente Simulationen Informationen über den Leistungseintrag ins Prostatagewebe gewonnen. Die Auswertung der simulierten räumlichen Temperaturverteilung zeigt keine Vergrößerung von betroffenen Gewebearealen mit verschleißbedingtem Temperaturanstieg.:1 Einleitung 2 Grundlagen und Stand der Forschung 3 Lösungsansatz und Methoden 4 Versuchsumgebungen zur experimentellen Umsetzung 5 Ergebnisse der experimentellen Untersuchungen 6 Numerische Methoden 7 Ergebnisse aus den numerischen Methoden 8 Diskussion 9 Zusammenfassung / The transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) is an electrosurgical treatment of benign prostatic hyperplasia. In the literature, broken resection loops are rarely discussed and the reasons for their occurrence are insufficiently documented. The purpose of the present work is to investigate the suitability of methods for loop wear analysis in TURP. The aim is to clarify the currently open questions such as: Does material wear on the loop surface lead to broken resection loops during the surgery procedure? How does material wear influence the power input into the prostate tissue and thus the resulting temperature distribution in the tissue? For the first time, four experimental methods for loop wear analysis are applied in combination. As a result, the experimental investigation show that it was possible to measure a wear-related impedance change in-situ, matching to the wear-related geometry change of the resection loop. Moreover, the measured impedance led to information about loop defects in an invisible part of the resection electrode. For the duration of the surgery procedure, the loop wear can be ruled out as the cause of broken loops with a very high probability. Finite element analyses were used for evaluating the spatial temperature distribution of the prostate tissue. The simulation model based on the measurement results. The simulated spatial temperature distribution does not show any enlargement of affected tissue areas due to wear-induced temperature increase.:1 Einleitung 2 Grundlagen und Stand der Forschung 3 Lösungsansatz und Methoden 4 Versuchsumgebungen zur experimentellen Umsetzung 5 Ergebnisse der experimentellen Untersuchungen 6 Numerische Methoden 7 Ergebnisse aus den numerischen Methoden 8 Diskussion 9 Zusammenfassung

Dans cette thèse, les mécanismes de vieillissement des cellules Li-ion sont analysés sur un niveau théorique,assisté par une AMDEC (Analyse des modes de défaillance, de leurs effets et de leur criticité). L'accent est mis surla famille des cellules lithium fer phosphate (LFP) utilisées comme batteries de traction dans les applicationsvéhicules électriques.L'objectif de la partie xpérimentale de cette thèse est le développement d'un concept d'un outil de diagnostic pourla détermination rapide d'état de la batterie. Une expérience de vieillissement accélérée est réalisée avec un groupede cellules LFP de haute capacité (70Ah). Les cellules sont analysées en utilisant des méthodes de mesured'impédance dans les domaines temporel et fréquentiel. La pectroscopie d'Impédance Électrochimique (SIE, ouEIS en anglais) s'est trouvée être un bon outil pour révéler des informations intéressantes sur l'état de santé (Stateof-Health, SOH) de la batterie.Des modèles de batterie sont utilisés pour l'interprétation des résultats de mesure. En comparant différents modèlesdu circuit équivalent (ECMs), un modèle est choisi. Ce modèle est utilisé pour la détermination du SOC et étendupour la détermination du SOH. Un concept pour la détermination du SOH est développé, permettant uneapproximation de la capacité de la batterie dans une période de temps de moins de 30s, si les onditions de labatterie et d'environnement, comme la température et l'état de charge de la batterie, sont connus. / In this thesis, the aging mechanisms withing Li-ion cells are analyzed on a theoretical level, supported by an FMEA(Failure ode and Effects Analysis). The focus lies on the group of lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells used fortraction batteries in electric vehicles. Scope of the experimental part of the thesis is the development of a diagnosticconcept for the quick battery state determination. A group of high capacity LFP cells (70Ah) designed for tractionpurposes in electric vehicles is aged artificially and investigated afterwards by impedance measurements in the timeand frequency domain. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) is found to reveal interesting information onthe battery's State-of-Health (SOH).For the interpretation of the measurement results, battery models are employed. Different equivalent circuit models(ECMs) are compared and an appropriate model is chosen, which is used for the SOC (State-of-Charge)determination and extended for the SOH (State-of-Health) determination. An SOH determination concept isdeveloped, which allows the approximation of the cell capacity in less than 30s, if the battery and environmentalconditions, such as the temperature and the cell's SOC, are known.