MEMS wireless temperature sensor for combustion studies

Abstract

A MEMS wireless wall temperature sensor for combustion studies is proposed. Electrical resistance change in a LCR circuit is used to measure the temperature through inductive coupling the sensor coil and the read-out coil. Equivalent circuit model and 3-D electromagnetic simulation are employed to design sensor configuration. The resonant frequency is increased with increasing the resistance due to the temperature increase. The prototype sensor was successfully fabricated with MEMS technologies. The impedance phase angle shows a sharp dip at the resonant frequency, which is in good accordance with the equivalent circuit model. The measured temperature sensitivity is found to be as high as 6 kHz/K, when the distance between the read-out and the sensor coils is 0.71 mm.