Sensitivity-maximizing and error-reducing design of a flow and thermal property sensor

Author

Cubukcu, Ali Sukru ; Urban, Gerald A.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Microsyst. Eng., Univ. of Freiburg, Freiburg

fYear

2008

fDate

20-23 April 2008

Firstpage

1

Lastpage

6

Abstract

A combined-application nanocalorimeter is being developed at IMTEK in order to sense both flow and thermal properties of the flowing medium at the same time. It is designed to measure flow velocity, direction, thermal conductivity of the fluid, and its specific heat by application of a sinusoidal heating. In this report, we present the effects of design geometry and temperature sensor locations on accuracy and sensitivity, respectively. Flow measurement range and flow direction dependence of a 2D flow sensor are investigated via 3D FEM simulations. Based on the results of the simulations, the sensor will exhibit maximum sensitivity and a reduced error.

Keywords

flow sensors; temperature sensors; thermal properties; 2D flow sensor; 3D FEM simulation; error-reducing design; flow measurement; flow velocity measurement; flowing medium; nanocalorimeter; sensitivity-maximizing; sinusoidal heating; temperature sensor location; thermal conductivity; thermal property sensor; Etching; Fluid flow measurement; Insulation; Temperature measurement; Temperature sensors; Thermal conductivity; Thermal engineering; Thermal sensors; Thermistors; Velocity measurement;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Thermal, Mechanical and Multi-Physics Simulation and Experiments in Microelectronics and Micro-Systems, 2008. EuroSimE 2008. International Conference on

Conference_Location

Freiburg im Breisgau

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-2127-5

Electronic_ISBN

978-1-4244-2128-2

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/ESIME.2008.4525021

Filename

4525021