Multi-range silicon micromachined flow sensor

• DOI: 10.1016/j.sna.2003.10.068
• Publication Date: 2003-12-31T12:13:11Z
• Authors: N. Sabaté; J. Santander; L. Fonseca; I. Gràcia; C. Cané
• Keywords: Flow sensor | Multi-range sensor | Silicon micromachining | Thermal sensor; 02 engineering and technology; 0210 nano-technology

Peer reviewed<br/>A new approach of enlarging the measurement range of a thermal calorimetric flow sensor is presented. It is based on the fact that the response of these kind of sensors tends to saturate at a certain flow ratio, so the widening of the flow range can be achieved by increasing the number of sensing elements of the sensor. This implies only a redesign of the flow sensor device, which is fabricated with an existing standard low cost technology. This approach has been implemented achieving measurement ranges from 0.1 up to 8SLM by placing three different pairs of sensing resistors on the same membrane. Characterisation results and a simulation-based procedure to design flow sensors according to specific applications are included. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.<br/>