Abstract: In view of the problem that existing switch type and pressure type material flow sensors are easy to wear and have poor reliability，a kind of material flow sensor based on electric field induction was designed. The sensor adopts smart chip with built-in electric field induction as sensing element to monitor electric parameters of electric field, and uses single-chip microcomputer to collect and process electric parameters of electric field, and output signals indicating whether there are material on the belt through change of electrical parameters and internal data processing. The field test results show that the sensor can accurately detect material on moving or stationary belt, meets needs of practical application, which has characteristics of non-contact detection, no wear, long life, stable and reliable signal.