Patent ID: 6842020

Claim:
A method for measuring a gap between a proximity probe and a conductive target material, the steps including: providing a proximity probe having a first end located adjacent a conductive target material and having a second end coupled to a first end of an extension cable; measuring an impedance at a second end of the extension cable; compensating the measured impedance by mathematically eliminating extension cable residuals from the measured impedance for defining a proximity probe impedance of the proximity probe wherein the step of compensating the measured impedance includes the steps of determining a first impedance of the extension cable with the first end opened for defining an open impedance and determining a second impedance of the extension cable with the first end shorted for defining a short impedance; determining the proximity probe impedance as a function of the measured impedance, the open impedance, and the short impedance for defining the proximity probe impedance of the proximity probe, and correlating the proximity probe impedance with a value representative of a gap between the proximity probe and the conductive target material.