• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• 제32권7호
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• pp.542-548
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• 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.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 대한기계학회 2003년도 추계학술대회
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• pp.308-313
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• 2003

Thermal mass flow meters (TMFMs) are most widely used for measuring mass flow rates in the semiconductor industry. A TMFM should have a short response time in order to measure the time-varying flow rate rapidly and accurately. Therefore it is important to study transient heat transfer phenomena in the sensor tube of a TMFM that is the most critical part in the TMFM. In the present work, a simple numerical model for transient heat transfer phenomena of the sensor tube of a TMFM is presented. Numerical solutions for the tube and fluid temperatures in a transient state are obtained using the proposed model and compared with experimental results to validate the proposed model. Based on numerical solutions, heat transfer mechanism in a transient state in the sensor tube is explained. Finally, a correlation for predicting the response time of a sensor tube is presented. The correlation is verified by experimental results.

• Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering
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• 제9권3호
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• pp.595-600
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• 2005

A micro flow sensor on silicon substrate allows the fabrication of small components where many different functions can be integrated so that the functionality of the sensors can be increased. Further more, the small size of the elements these sensors can be quite fast. A thermal mass flow sensor measures the asymmetry of temperature profile around the heater which is modulated by the fluid flow. In normal, a mass flow sensor is composed of a central heater and a pair of temperature sensing elements around the heater A new 2-D wide range micro flow sensor structure with three pairs of temperature sensors and a central heater was proposed and numerically simulated by Finite Difference formulation to confirm the feasibility of the flow sensor structure in time domain.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 대한기계학회 2007년도 춘계학술대회B
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• pp.2482-2487
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• 2007

Numerical simulations are conducted for the analysis of a thermal mass air flow sensor with periodic heating pulses on silicon-nitride ($Si_3N_4$) thin membrane structure. This study aims to find the locations of temperature sensors on the thin membrane and the heating pulse conditions, that the higher sensitivity can be achieved, for the development of a MEMS fabricated mass air flow sensor which is driven in periodic heating pulse. The simulations, thus, focus on the membrane temperature profile according to variation of the flow velocity, heating duration time and imposed power. The flow velocity of the simulations is ranging from 3 m/s to 35 m/s, heating duration time from 1 ms to 3 ms and imposed power from 50 mW to 90 mW. The corresponding Reynolds numbers vary from 1000 to 10000.

• Journal of Institute of Control, Robotics and Systems
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• 제12궈1호
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• pp.85-92
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• 2006

A new silicon micro flow sensor with multiple temperature sensing elements was proposed and fabricated in considering wide range flow velocity measuring device. Thermal mass flow sensor measures the asymmetry of temperature profile around the heater which is modulated by the fluid flow. A micro mass flow sensor was normally composed of a central heater and a pair of temperature sensing elements around it. A new 2-D wide range micro flow sensor structure with three pairs of temperature sensing elements and a central heater was proposed and numerically simulated by Finite Difference Formulation to confirm the feasibility of the wide flow range sensor structure. To confirm the simulation result, the new flow sensor was fabricated on silicon substrate and the basic flow sensing properties of the sensor were measured.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• 제33권8호
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• pp.573-579
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• 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.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• 제31권10호
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• pp.876-883
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• 2007

Numerical simulations are conducted for the design of a micro thermal mass air flow sensor (MAFS), which consists of a microfabricated heater and thermopiles on the silicon-nitride ($Si_3N_4$) thin membrane structure. It is important to find the proper locations of these thermal elements in the design of MAFS with improved sensitivity. Three heating modes of the micro-heater are considered: constant temperature, constant power and heating pulses. The analyses are focused on the membrane temperature profile near the sensing section. Considered are the practical flow velocities, ranging from 3 m/s to 35 m/s, and the corresponding Reynolds numbers from 1000 to 10000. The results show that one of optimum sensing locations is about $100{\mu}m$ away from the microheater. It is concluded that the heating mode and configurations of thermal elements are the main factors for the MAFS with higher sensitivity.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Information and Commucation Sciences Conference
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• 한국해양정보통신학회 2005년도 춘계종합학술대회
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• pp.363-366
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• 2005

A micro flow sensor on silicon substrate allows the fabrication of small components where many different functions can be integrated so that the functionality of the sensors can be increased. Further more, due to the small size of the elements the sensors can be quite fast. A thermal mass flow sensor measures the asymmetry of temperature profile around the heater which is modulated by the fluid flow. In normal, a mass flow sensor is composed of a central heater and a pair of temperature sensing elements around the heater. A new 2-D wide range micro flow sensor structure with three pairs of temperature sensors and a central heater was proposed and numerically simulated by the Finite difference formulation to confirm the feasibility of the flow sensor structure.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 대한기계학회 2000년도 춘계학술대회논문집B
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• pp.154-161
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• 2000

As a mass flow controller is widely used in many manufacturing processes for controlling a mass flow rate of gas with accuracy of 1%, several investigators have tried to describe the heat transfer phenomena in a sensor tube of an MFC. They suggested a few analytic solutions and numerical models based on simple assumptions, which are physically unrealistic. In the present work, the heat transfer phenomena in the sensor tube of the MFC are studied by using both experimental and numerical methods. The numerical model is introduced to estimate the temperature profile in the sensor tube as well as in the gas stream. In the numerical model, the conjugate heat transfer problem comprising the tube wall and the gas stream is analyzed to fully understand the heat transfer interaction between the sensor tube and the fluid stream using a single domain approach. This numerical model is further verified by experimental investigation. In order to describe the transport of heat energy in both the flow region and the sensor tube, the Nusselt number at the interface between the tube wall and the gas stream as well as heatlines is presented from the numerical solution.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• 제39권4호
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• pp.309-316
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• 2015

Numerical analysis and experimental verification of a thermal liquid mass flow meter (LMFM) were performed. The configuration of the LMFM was the same as a gas mass flow meter (GMFM), but the opposite results in temperature difference between upstream and downstream thermistors occurred. In the case of the gas, the convection depending on the flow of thermal mass was small and comparable to the conduction through the sensor tube wall. The temperature difference was proportional to the mass flow rate due to their interaction. For the liquid flow, the convection overwhelmed the wall conduction because of the large flow of thermal mass caused by high density. The temperature difference in this case was inversely proportional to the mass flow rate. The tube diameter and heater wiring width are important design parameters, and the optimized sensor can be used to measure and control the infinitesimal liquid flow rate.