FEM Analysis of Micromachined Flow Sensor with Wheatstone Bridge Read-out

A. Talic[1], S. Cerimovic[1], F. Kohl[1], R. Beigelbeck[1], F. Keplinger[2], and J. Schalko[1,2]
[1]Research Unit for Integrated Sensor Systems, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Wr. Neustadt, Austria
[2]Institute of Sensor and Actuator Systems, Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
Published in 2008

In this work, we present simulations of a novel micromachined calorimetric flow sensor using COMSOL Multiphysics. The sensor is based on four germanium thermistors that serve as heat sources and as temperature sensors simultaneously.

In operational mode, the heated membrane is cooled by any passing flow and the local cooling rate depends on the flow velocity. The simulation results demonstrate the feasibility of the new concept and suggest that high flow sensitivities and fast response times in combination with extremely low power consumption can be accomplished.

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