Multi-field simulations and characterization of CMOS-MEMS high-temperature smart gas sensors based on SOI technology

This paper describes multiple field-coupled simulations and device characterization of fully CMOS-MEMS-compatible smart gas sensors. The sensor structure is designated for gas/vapour detection at high temperatures (>300 °C) with low power consumption, high sensitivity and competent mechanic robustness employing the silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer technology, CMOS process and micromachining techniques. The smart gas sensor features micro-heaters using p-type MOSFETs or polysilicon resistors and differentially transducing circuits for in situ temperature measurement. Physical models and 3D electro-thermo-mechanical simulations of the SOI micro-hotplate induced by Joule, self-heating, mechanic stress and piezoresistive effects are provided. The electro-thermal effect initiates and thus affects electronic and mechanical characteristics of the sensor devices at high temperatures. Experiments on variation and characterization of micro-heater resistance, power consumption, thermal imaging, deformation interferometry and dynamic thermal response of the SOI micro-hotplate have been presented and discussed. The full integration of the smart gas sensor with automatically temperature-reading ICs demonstrates the lowest power consumption of 57 mW at 300 °C and fast thermal response of 10 ms. © 2008 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Analysis of Temperature and Pressure Changes in Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) Cryogenic Tanks

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is being developed as a transportation fuel for heavy vehicles such as trucks and transit buses, to lessen the dependency on oil and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The LNG stations are properly designed to prevent the venting of natural gas (NG) from LNG tanks, which can cause evaporative greenhouse gas emissions and result in fluctuations of fuel flow and changes of fuel composition. Boil-off is caused by the heat added into the LNG fuel during the storage and fueling. Heat can leak into the LNG fuel through the shell of tank during the storage and through hoses and dispensers during the fueling. Gas from tanks onboard vehicles, when returned to LNG tanks, can add additional heat into the LNG fuel. A thermodynamic and heat transfer model has been developed to analyze different mechanisms of heat leak into the LNG fuel. The evolving of properties and compositions of LNG fuel inside LNG tanks is simulated. The effect of a number of buses fueled each day on the possible total fuel loss rate has been analyzed. It is found that by increasing the number of buses, fueled each day, the total fuel loss rate can be reduced significantly. It is proposed that an electric generator be used to consume the boil-off gas or a liquefier be used to re-liquefy the boiloff gas to reduce the tank pressure and eliminate fuel losses. These approaches can prevent boil-off of natural gas emissions, and reduce the costs of LNG as transportation fuel.

Micro-Scale Gas Flows

了解微尺度气体流动特点是微机电系统设计和优化的基础.有关的研究可以上溯到20世纪初Knudsen的平面槽道流动质量流量的测量和Millikan的小球阻力系数的测量,实验结果揭示了稀薄气体效应即尺度效应对气体运动的重要影响.由于流动特征长度很小,微尺度气流经常处于滑流区甚至过渡领域,流动的相似参数为Knudsen数和Mach数.因此可以考虑利用相似准则,通过增大几何尺寸、减小压力的途径,解决微机电系统实验观测遇到的困难.为解决直接模拟MonteCarlo方法分析微机电系统中低速稀薄气流遇到的统计涨落困难,我们提出了信息保存法(IP),该方法能够有效克服统计散布,并已成功用于多种微尺度气流.

Shock Tube Studies on the Nonequlibrium Electron Affinity Kinetics of Fluorine Atom at High Temperatures

To study electron affinity kinetics, a shock tube method was applied, in which the test gas was ionized by a reflected shock wave and subsequently quenched by a strong rarefaction wave. As the quenching speed of 106 K/s was reached, a nonequilibrium ionization-recombination process occurred, which was dominated by ion recombination with electrons. A Langmuir electrostatic probe was used to monitor variation in the ion number density at the reflection shock region. The working state of the probe was analyzed...

On the Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow Regimes and their Recognition Methods

气液两相流体系是一个复杂的多变量随机过程体系,流型的定义、流型过渡准则和判别方法等方面的研究是多相流学科目前研究的重点内容。本文就与气液两相流流型及其判别有关的研究状况进行了回顾和评述,力图反映近年来气液两相流流型及其判别问题研究的状态和趋势。

A New Analytical Model for Residual Stresses due to Thermal Surface Coating

发展了一种新的分析涂层结构（平板、梁）热残余应力的模型,可以研究骤冷过程(Quenching)和冷却过程(Cooling)在涂层结构内引发的残余应力分布。与以往模型相比,其优势在于：它可以考虑源于喷涂过程的涂层孔隙率、温度梯度等因素对于涂层和基底内残余应力的影响。其中孔隙率和温度分布由计算机模拟涂层沉积过程得到。另外,当基底的材料和几何参数被固定时,我们分析了诸如涂层的理想模量、厚度、热膨胀系数等参数,对于涂层结构中最终残余应力分布的改变机理。

Evaluación del efecto residual de los sistemas de labranza y control de malezas sobre la dinámica de las malezas, crecimiento y rendimiento del cultivo del frijol (Phaseolus vulgaris L.)

El ensayo se estableció en postrera de 1997 (octubre- diciembre), en la finca experimental La Compañía, ubicada en el municipio de San Marcos Carazo, con el objetivo de evaluar el efecto residual de sistemas de labranza y métodos de control de malezas sobre la dinámica de las malezas, crecimiento, desarrollo y rendimiento del frijol común ( Phaseolus vulgaris L. ). Los tratamientos en estudio fueron arreglados en bloques completos al azar, en un diseño de parcela dividida. Los factores en estudio fueron A: Sistemas de labranza (Cero, mínima y convencional) y B: métodos de control de malezas (químico, período crítico, limpia periódica). Los datos obtenidos fueron sometidos a un análisis de varianza y separación de medias a través de la prueba de rangos múltiples de Tukey, al 5 %. La diversidad de malezas en el área del experimento estuvo representada por 11 especies de la clase monocotiledóneas y 18 especies de la clase dicotiledóneas. Los resultados obtenidos en síntesis son los siguientes: En la abundancia y dominancia de las malezas (cobertura y peso seco), el mejor resultado lo presentó donde se realizaba la labranza mínima, para el caso de los controles el tratamiento que redujo mejor la abundancia fue donde se realizaba el control período crítico y en la dominancia donde se practicaba el control limpia periódica seguido del período critico, para las variables estudiadas abundancia, dominancia (cobertura y peso seco) no hubo efecto residual del experimento anterior después de un año de barbecho. No se presentó diferencias significativas por lo tanto no hubo efecto residual del experimento anterior después de un año de barbecho, para el factor labranza para las variables altura de plantas, número de plantas por hectárea, número de vainas por plantas, peso de mil granos, rendimiento de grano. En los controles no se presentaron diferencias significativas en las variables antes mencionadas por lo tanto no hubo efecto residual del experimento anterior después de un año de barbecho.

Characteristics of Gas Flow Within a Micro Diffuser/Nozzle Pump

英文摘要: The gas flow characteristics for various shapes of micro diffuser/nozzles have been experimentally investigated. The micro diffuser/nozzles with the lengths of 70 mu m, 90 mu m, 125 mu m and the taper angles of 7 degrees, 10 degrees, 14 degrees are designed and fabricated based on silicon micromachining technology for optimizing and comparing. The flat-wall diffuser/nozzle is 40 mu m x 5 mu m in depth and width. An experimental setup is designed to measure the gas flow rates under controlled temperature and pressure condition. Optimized values for the taper angle and the length of the diffuser/nozzle are experimentally obtained.

Kinetic Assessment of Measured Mass Flow Rates and Streamwise Pressure Distributions in Microchannel Gas Flows

Measured mass flow rates and streamwise pressure distributions of gas flowing through microchannels were reported by many researchers. Assessment of these data is crucial before they are used in the examination of slip models and numerical schemes, and in the design of microchannel elements in various MEMS devices. On the basis of kinetic solutions of the mass flow rates and pressure distributions in microchannel gas flows, the measured data available are properly normalized and then are compared with each other. The 69 normalized data of measured pressure distributions are in excellent agreement, and 67 of them are within 1 +/- 0.05. The normalized data of mass flow-rates ranging between 0.95 and 1 agree well with each other as the inlet Knudsen number Kn (i) < 0.02, but they scatter between 0.85 and 1.15 as Kn (i) > 0.02 with, to some extent, a very interesting bifurcation trend.

Investigation on Nonequlibrium Radiation and Relaxation Phenomena in Shock Tubes

The experimental results for the excited time of the nonequlibrium radiation and the ionization behind strong shock waves are presented. Using an optical multichannel analyzer, InSb infrared detectors and near-free-molecular Langmuir probes, the infrared radiation, the electron density of air and the nonequilibrium radiation spectra at different moments of the relaxation process in nitrogen test gas behind normal shock waves were obtained, respectively, in hydrogen oxygen combustion driven shock tubes.

Experimental Study on Hydrodynamic Behaviors of High-Speed Gas Jets in Still Water

The present paper describes experimental investigation on the flow pattern and hydrodynamic effect of underwater gas jets from supersonic and sonic nozzles operated in correct- and imperfect expansion conditions. The flow visualizations show that jetting is the flow regime for the submerged gas injection at a high speed in the parameter range under consideration. The obtained results indicate that high-speed gas jets in still water induce large pressure pulsations upstream of the nozzle exit and the presence of shock-cell structure in the over- and under-expanded jets leads to an increase in the intensity of the jet-induced hydrodynamic pressure.

Statistical Simulation of Rarefied Gas Flows in Micro-Channels

Rarefied gas flows through micro-channels are simulated using particle approaches, named as the information preservation (IP) method and the direct simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) method. In simulating the low speed flows in long micro-channels the DSMC method encounters the problem of large sample size demand and the difficulty of regulating boundary conditions at the inlet and outlet. Some important computational issues in the calculation of long micro-channel flows by using the IP method, such as the use the conservative form of the mass conservation equation to guarantee the adjustment of the inlet and outlet boundary conditions and the super-relaxation scheme to accelerate the convergence process, are addressed. Stream-wise pressure distributions and mass fluxes through micro-channels given by the IP method agree well with experimental data measured in long micro-channels by Pong et al. (with a height to length ratio of 1.2:3000), Shih et al. (l.2:4800), Arkilic et al. and Arkilic (l.3:7500), respectively. The famous Knudsen minimum of normalized mass flux is observed in IP and DSMC calculations of a short micro-channel over the entire flow regime from continuum to free molecular, whereas the slip Navier-Stokes solution fails to predict it.

Gamma-Ray Attenuation Technique For Measuring Void Fraction In Horizontal Gas-Liquid Two-Phase Flow

The measurement of void fraction is of importance to the oil industry and chemical industry. In this article, the principle and mathematical method of determining the void fraction of horizontal gas-liquid flow by using a single-energy gamma-ray system is described. The gamma-ray source is the radioactive isotope of Am-241 with gamma-ray energy of 59.5 keV. The time-averaged value of the void fraction in a 50.0-mm i.d. transparent horizontal pipeline is measured under various combinations of the liquid flow and gas flow. It is found that increasing the gas flow rate at a fixed liquid flow rate would increase the void fraction. Test data are compared with the predictions of the correlations and a good agreement is found. The result shows that the designed gamma-ray system can be used for measuring the void fraction in a horizontal gas-liquid two-phase flow with high accuracy.