• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.32 no.7
• /
• pp.542-548
• /
• 2008

A thermal mass air flow sensor (MAFS), which consists of a micro-heater and thermo-resistive sensors on the silicon-nitride ($Si_3N_4$) thin membrane structure, is micro-fabricated by MEMS processes. Two thermo-resistive temperature sensors are located at $100{\mu}m$ upstream and downstream from the micro-heater respectively. The thermal characteristics are measured to find the best measurement indicator. The micro-heater is operated under constant power condition, and four flow indicators are investigated. The normalized temperature indicator shows good physical meaning and is easy to use in practice. It is found that the configurations and heating power of thermal-resistive elements are the dominant factors to determine the range of the flow measurement in the MAFS with higher sensitivity and accuracy.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
• /
• v.33 no.8
• /
• pp.573-579
• /
• 2009

A thermal mass air flow sensor, which consists of a micro-heater and thermal sensors on the silicon-nitride thin membrane structure, is micro-fabricated by MEMS processes. Three thermo-resistive sensors, one for the measurement of microheater temperature, the others for the measurement of membrane temperature upstream and downstream of the micro-heater respectively, are used. The micro-heater is operated under the constant temperature difference mode via a real time controller, based on inlet air temperature. Two design models for microfabricated flow sensor are compared with experimental results and confirmed their applicabilities and limitations. The thermal characteristics are measured to find the best flow indicator. It is found that two normalized temperature indicators can be adopted with some advantages in practice. The flow sensor with this control mode can be adopted for wide capability of high speed and sensitivity in the very low and medium velocity ranges.