In-plane capacitive MEMS flow sensor for low-cost metering of flow velocity in natural gas pipelines

Author

Nguyen, Son D. ; Paprotny, Igor ; Wright, Paul K. ; White, Richard M.

Author_Institution

Univ. of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA

fYear

2014

fDate

26-30 Jan. 2014

Firstpage

971

Lastpage

974

Abstract

This paper presents the design, fabrication, and experimental results of an in-plane capacitive MEMS flow sensor that uses the displacement of a micro-fabricated paddle caused by dynamic pressure for measuring the velocity of the flow of surrounding gas. The fabrication process is simple; the device is fabricated on Silicon-On-Insulator wafers using only three photolithographic masks. A comb-drive capacitance is used as the transducer for the flow sensors. This capacitive mechanism is virtually insensitive to changes in ambient temperature. Simplicity of fabrication, combined with insensitivity to variations in ambient temperature makes this sensor ideal for widespread deployment in natural gas pipelines.

Keywords

flow sensors; microfabrication; microsensors; photolithography; pipelines; silicon-on-insulator; velocity measurement; Si; ambient temperature; comb drive capacitance; dynamic pressure; flow velocity; gas flow; in plane capacitive MEMS flow sensor; low cost metering; microfabricated paddle; natural gas pipelines; photolithographic masks; silicon on insulator wafers; transducer; velocity measurement; Capacitance; Capacitors; Fabrication; Fingers; Micromechanical devices; Temperature measurement; Temperature sensors;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS), 2014 IEEE 27th International Conference on

Conference_Location

San Francisco, CA

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/MEMSYS.2014.6765805

Filename

6765805