Patent ID: 7706995

Claim:
A capacitance manometer comprising: a sensor capsule with a first port and a second port; a diaphragm disposed within the sensor capsule, wherein the diaphragm has two sides and is configured and arranged to move within the sensor capsule in response to a pressure difference between respective pressures on the two sides of the diaphragm; an electrode structure disposed within the sensor capsule adjacent to one side of the diaphragm; and an electronic circuit configured and arranged to (i) measure capacitance between the diaphragm and the electrode structure, (ii) produce a zero-output reading corresponding to a measured zero pressure, (iii) record two or more time stamps, each corresponding to a respective zero-output reading, and (iv) predict a future drift value of the manometer zero-output reading based on the two or more time stamps and the respective zero-output readings.