Ceramic cold gas microthruster with integrated flow sensor

• For aggressive environments, the material properties of silicon become a limitation. Macroscopically, ceramics are as common for high-temperature applications as is silicon in miniaturized systems, but this group of materials has been little exploited for MEMS components. This paper describes the  design, manufacturing and characterization of a ceramic, heated cold-gas microthruster with integrated flow sensor, using HTCC processing and silicon tools. The calorimetric flow sensor is integrated in the structure, and heaters are embedded in the stagnation chamber of the nozzle. The heater was shown to improve the efficiency of the thruster, as confirmed by measurements of the flow rate. Flow rate changes were seen as changes in resistance of the fabricated flow sensor. The choice of yttria stabilized zirconia as material for the components make them robust and capable of withstanding  very high temperatures. Samples have been shown  capable of achieving temperatures locally exceeding 1000ºC.

Ämnesord

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Materialteknik -- Keramteknik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Materials Engineering -- Ceramics (hsv//eng)

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Maskinteknik -- Strömningsmekanik och akustik (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Mechanical Engineering -- Fluid Mechanics and Acoustics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

HTCC

MEMS

microthruster

microfluidics

TECHNOLOGY

TEKNIKVETENSKAP

Teknisk fysik med inriktning mot mikrosystemteknik

Engineering Science with specialization in Microsystems Technology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)