Material yield sensor assembly and method of monitoring same

A method of determining a material yield, the method comprising:

• generating an analog signal representative of an amount of material passing by a photodiode of a material yield sensor assembly;
• generating a digital signal corresponding to the analog signal;
• determining a clipping density of the digital signal;
• decreasing a gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal if the clipping density is greater than a first threshold;
• and
• increasing the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal if the clipping density is less than a second threshold to optimize signal integrity versus signal resolution of the analog signal and hence the digital signal.

A material yield sensor assembly comprising:

• a photodiode configured to generate an analog signal representative of an amount of material passing by the photodiode;
• and
• a processing element comprising:
• a transimpedance amplifier module configured to convert the analog signal from a current-based signal to a voltage-based signal;
• a 3-pole band-pass filter module configured to attenuate at least a low frequency and a high frequency from the analog signal;
• a gain module configured to amplify the analog signal;
• an analog-to-digital conversion module configured to generate a digital signal corresponding to the analog signal whereby positive and negative peaks of the digital signal are extracted;
• a synchronous demodulation module configured to difference the positive and negative peaks to convert peak-to-peak amplitudes of the digital signal to DC level in the digital domain;
• and
• a 3-pole low-pass filter module configured to attenuate additional low frequencies from the digital signal,
• the processing element being configured to:
• determine a clipping density of the digital signal;
• decrease a gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal if the clipping density is greater than a first threshold;
• and
• increase the gain of the analog signal and hence the digital signal if the clipping density is less than a second threshold to optimize signal integrity versus signal resolution of the analog signal and hence the digital signal.