Micromachines 2012, 3(2), 295-314; doi:10.3390/mi3020295
Article

Design Issues for Low Power Integrated Thermal Flow Sensors with Ultra-Wide Dynamic Range and Low Insertion Loss

Paolo Bruschi 1,* email and Massimo Piotto 2 email
1 Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, University of Pisa, via G. Caruso 16, I-56122 Pisa, Italy 2 Istituto di Elettronica e di Ingegneria dell’Informazione e delle Telecomunicazioni, Pisa, CNR, via G. Caruso 16, I-56122 Pisa, Italy
* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 27 February 2012; in revised form: 27 March 2012 / Accepted: 5 April 2012 / Published: 10 April 2012
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Micro Flow Controllers)
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Abstract: Flow sensors are the key elements in most systems for monitoring and controlling fluid flows. With the introduction of MEMS thermal flow sensors, unprecedented performances, such as ultra wide measurement ranges, low power consumptions and extreme miniaturization, have been achieved, although several critical issues have still to be solved. In this work, a systematic approach to the design of integrated thermal flow sensors, with specification of resolution, dynamic range, power consumption and pressure insertion loss is proposed. All the critical components of the sensors, namely thermal microstructure, package and read-out interface are examined, showing their impact on the sensor performance and indicating effective optimization strategies. The proposed design procedures are supported by experiments performed using a recently developed test chip,including several different sensing structures and a flexible electronic interface.
Keywords: thermal flow sensors; device optimization; MEMS; multi heater; sensitivity; resolution

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Cite This Article

MDPI and ACS Style

Bruschi, P.; Piotto, M. Design Issues for Low Power Integrated Thermal Flow Sensors with Ultra-Wide Dynamic Range and Low Insertion Loss. Micromachines 2012, 3, 295-314.

AMA Style

Bruschi P, Piotto M. Design Issues for Low Power Integrated Thermal Flow Sensors with Ultra-Wide Dynamic Range and Low Insertion Loss. Micromachines. 2012; 3(2):295-314.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Bruschi, Paolo; Piotto, Massimo. 2012. "Design Issues for Low Power Integrated Thermal Flow Sensors with Ultra-Wide Dynamic Range and Low Insertion Loss." Micromachines 3, no. 2: 295-314.

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