Microelectromechanical floating element flow sensor

Measuring and testing – Volume or rate of flow

Reexamination Certificate

Rate now

  [ 0.00 ] – not rated yet Voters 0   Comments 0

Details

Reexamination Certificate

active

06966231

ABSTRACT:
An electromechanical floating element shear-stress sensor, which may also be referred to as a flow rate sensor, having one or more transduction mechanisms coupled to a support arm of a floating element wafer such that the transduction mechanisms are normal to the force applied to a top surface of the floating element. The transduction mechanisms may be generally attached to a side surface of one or more arms supporting the floating element and may be coupled together and to a processor using one or more contacts extending from the backside of the floating element sensor. Thus, the floating element shear-stress sensor may have an unobstructed surface past which a fluid may flow. The floating element may also include a temperature sensing system for accounting for affects of temperature on the floating element system.

REFERENCES:
patent: 5404755 (1995-04-01), Olson et al.
Alfredsson et al., “The fluctuating wall-shear stress and the velocity field in the viscous sublayer,” Phys. Fluids, 31:1026-1033,1988.
Akbar et al., “A Fully Integrated Temperature Compensation Technique for Piezoresistive Pressure Sensors,” IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement, 42:771-775, 1993.
Appukuttan et al., “Mixed Convection Induced by MEMS-Based Thermal Shear Stress Sensors,” Numerical Heat Transfer Part A, 43:283-305, 2003, Copyright 2003 Taylor & Francis.
Arnold et al., “A Piezoresistive Microphone for Aeroacoustic Measurements,” 2001 ASME International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Nov. 11-16, 2001, New York, NY.
Arnold et al., “A directional acoustic array using silicon micromachined piezoresistive microphones,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am., 113:289-298, 2003.
Bhardwaj et al., “S/N Optimization and Noise Considerations for Piezoresistive Microphones,” Paper submitted to World Scientific on Jan. 29, 2004.
Cain et al., “Development of a Wafer-Bonded, Silicon-Nitride Membrane Thermal Shear-Stress Sensor with Platinum Sensing Element, ” Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head Island, SC. Jun. 4-8, 2000.
Cattafesta III et al., “Three-Dimensional Boundary-layer Transistion on a Swept Wing at Mach 3.5,” AIAA Journal, 33:2032-2037, 1995.
Chandrasekaran et al., “Dynamic Calibration Technique for Thermal Shear Stress Sensors with Variable Mean Flow,” 38th Aerospace Sciences Meeting & Exhibit, Reno, NV, Jan. 10-13, 2000.
Chandrasekaran et al., “Thermoelastically Actuated Acoustic Proximity Sensor with Integrated Through-Wafer Interconnects,” Solid-State Sensor. Actuator and Microsystems Workshop, Hilton Head Island, SC, Jun. 2-6, 2002.
Cheng et al., “Electrical Through-Wafer Interconnects with Sub-PicoFarad Parasitic Capacitance,” 2002.
Chow et al., “Process Compatible Polysilicon-Based Electrical Through-Wafer Interconnects in Silicon Substrates,” Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 11:631-640, 2002.
Chui et al., “Independent detection of vertical and lateral forces with a sidewall-implanted dual-axis piezoresistive cantilever,” Applied Physics Letters, 72:1388-1390, 1998.
Fernholz et al., “New developments and applications of skin-friction measuring techniques,” Meas. Sci. Technol., 7:1396-1409, 1996.
Fourguette, D. et. al., “Miniature and MOEMS Flow Sensors,” VioSense Corporation, 1-8, 2001.
Gabrielson, T., “Mechanical-Thermal Noise in Micromachined Acoustic and Vibration Sensors,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 40:903-909, 1993.
Gad-El-Hak, M., “Flow Control: The Future,” Journal of Aircraft, 38:402-418, 2001.
Gaitonde et al., “White Paper: Shock-Wave/Boundary Layer Interaction Research,” May 16, 2002.
Gallas et al., “Lumped Element Modeling of Piezoelectric-Driven Synthetic Jet Actuators,” AIAA Journal, 41:240-247, 2003.
Goldberg et al., “A Silicon Wafer-Bonding Technology for Microfabricated Shear-Stress Sensors with Backside Contacts.” Solid State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head, SC, Jun. 13-16, 1994.
Greenblatt et al., “The control of flow separation by periodic excitation,” Progress in Aerospace Sciences, 36:487-545, 2000.
Grigioni et al., “The Role of Wall Shear Stress in Unsteady Vascular Dynamics,” Progress in Biomedical Research, 7:204-212, 2002.
Harley et al., “High-sensitivity piezoresistive cantilevers under 1000 A thick,” Applied Physics Letters, 75:289-291, Jul. 12, 1999.
Hefner et al., “An Overview of Concepts for Aircraft Drag Reduction,” NASA Langley Research Center, 1977.
Ho et al., “Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) and Fluid Flows,” Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech., 30:579-612, 1998.
Hyman, “Microfabricated Shear Stress Sensors, Part 2: Testing and Calibration,” AIAA Journal, 37:73-78, 1999.
Kälvesten et al., “An integrated pressure-flow sensor for correlation measurements in turbulent gas flows,” Sensors and Actuators A 52:51-58, 1996.
Kiesow, et al., “Modification of Near-Wall Structure in a Shear-Driven 3-D Turbulent Boundary Layer,” Transactions of the ASME, 124:118-126, 2002.
Kimura, et al., “Measurements of wall shear stress of a turbulent boundary layer using a micro-shear-stress imaging chip,” Fluid Dynamics Research, 24:329-342, 1999.
Ku, D., “Blood Flow in Arteries,” Annu. Rev. Fluid Mech., 29:399-434, 1997.
Liu et al., “Surface Micromachined Thermal Shear Stress Sensor.”.
Liu et al., “A Micromachined Flow Shear-Stress Sensor Based on Thermal Transfer Principles,” Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 8: Mar., 1999.
Löfdahl et al., “MEMS-based pressure and shear stress sensors for turbulent flows,” Meas. Sci. Technol., 10:665-686, 1999.
Naughton et al., “Modern developments in shear-stress measurement,” Progress in Aerospace Science, 38:515-570, 2002.
Shajii et al., “A Microrfabricated Floating-Element Shear Stress Sensor Using Wafer-Bonding Technology,” Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 1:89-94, Jun. 1992.
Padmanabhan et al., “A Wafer-Bonded Floating-Element Shear Stress Microsensor with Optical Position Sensing Photodiodes,” Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 5:307-315, Dec., 1996.
Padmanabhan et al. “Micromachined Sensors for Static and Dynamic Shear-Stress Measurements in Aerodynamic Flows,” 1997 International Conference on Solid-State Sensors and Actuators, Chicago, Jun. 16-19, 1997.
Pan et al., “Microfabricated Shear Stress Sensors, Part 1: Design and Fabrication,” AIAA Journal, 37:66-72, Jan., 1999.
Papila et al., “Piezoresitive microphone design Pareto optimization: tradeoff between sensitivity and noise floor,” 44th AIAA/ASME/ASCHE/AHS Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference, Norfolk, VA, Apr. 7-10, 2003.
Partridge et al., “A High-Performance Planar Piezoresistive Accelerometer,” Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, 9:58-66, Mar., 2000.
Saini et al., “Scaling Relations for Piezoresistive Microphones,” Proceedings of IMECE 2000: International Mechanical Engineering Congress and Exposition, Orlando, Florida, Nov. 5-10, 2000.
Schmidt et al., “Design and Calibration of a Microfabricated Floating-Element Shear-Stress Sensor,” IEEE Transactions on Electron Device, 35:750-757, 1988.
Sheplak et al., “A Wafer-Bonded, Silicon-Nitride Membrane Microphone with Dielectrically-Isolated, Single-Crystal Silicon Piezoresistors,” Solid-State Sensor and Actuator Workshop, Hilton Head, SC, Jun. 8-11, 1998.
Sheplak et al., “Dynamic Calibration of a Shear-Stress Sensor Using Stokes-Layer Excitation,” AIAA Journal, 39:819-823, May, 2001.
Sheplak et al., “Characterization of a Silicon-Micromachined Thermal Shear-Stress Sensor,” AIAA Journal, 40:10

LandOfFree

Say what you really think

Search LandOfFree.com for the USA inventors and patents. Rate them and share your experience with other people.

Rating

Microelectromechanical floating element flow sensor does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this patent.

If you have personal experience with Microelectromechanical floating element flow sensor, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and Microelectromechanical floating element flow sensor will most certainly appreciate the feedback.

Rate now

     

Profile ID: LFUS-PAI-O-3505048

  Search
All data on this website is collected from public sources. Our data reflects the most accurate information available at the time of publication.