High Temperature Sensors Using Vertically Aligned ZnO Nanowires, Phase II

Potential NASA Commercial Applications: The proposed MEMS sensors can be applied to the measurement of both flow and acceleration in extreme environments and therefore the commercial potential of the technology is broad. Current high temperature flow sensors are limited to optical MEMS and laser-Doppler anemometers. However these technologies have a large probe volume, have not demonstrated accuracy better than 10% under fluctuating shear conditions and do not offer direct, dynamic, time-resolved skin friction measurements with sufficient frequency response and accuracy to resolve transitional or turbulent flows. The proposed sensors can be designed as a surface mount package and does not function based on optical measurements which require costly signal conditioning electronics, thus creating a significant opportunity for commercialization. Beyond future use in flow sensing, the nanowire arrays offer acceleration sensitivity and thus may find use in a wide range of additional applications in structural dynamics or condition monitoring. Accelerometers have become a ubiquitous technology in modern electronics yet require costly and complex manufacturing processes and are unstable in extreme environments. The proposed sensors were shown to be accurate high bandwidth accelerometers while being processed using simple and low cost methods. With this technology being the only MEMS scale accelerometer compatible with the extreme environments found in turbomachinery, the sensors have excellent commercialization potential. More »