The measurement of engine emissions is important for their monitoring and control. However, the ability to measure these emissions in-situ is limited. We are developing a family of high temperature gas sensors which are intended to operate in harsh environments such as those in an engine. The development of these sensors is based on progress in two types of technology: 1) The development of SiC-based semiconductor technology. 2) Improvements in micromachining and microfabricarion technology. These technologies are being used to develop point-contact sensors to measure gases which are important in emission control especially hydrogen, hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, and oxygen. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the development of this point-contact sensor technology. The detection of each type of gas involves its own challenges in the fields of materials science and fabrication technology. Of particular importance is sensor sensitivity, selectivity, and stability in long-term, high temperature operation. An overview is presented of each sensor type with an evaluation of its stage of development. It is concluded that this technology has significant potential for use in engine applications but further development is necessary.

A finite-element analysis of possible silicon carbide (SiC), folded-beam, lateral-resonating accelerometers is presented. Results include stiffness coefficients, acceleration sensitivities, resonant frequency versus temperature, and proof-mass displacements due to centripetal acceleration of a blade-mounted sensor. The surface micromachined devices, which are similar to the Analog Devices® Inc., (Norwood, MA) air-bag crash detector, are etched from 2-μm thick, 3C-SiC films grown at 1600 K using atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition (APCVD). The substrate is a 500 μm-thick, (100) silicon wafer. Polysilicon or silicon dioxide is used as a sacrificial layer. The finite-element analysis includes temperature-dependent properties, shape change due to volume expansion, and thermal stress caused by differential thermal expansion of the materials. The finite-element results are compared to experimental results for a SiC device of similar, but not identical, geometry. Along with changes in mechanical design, blade-mounted sensors would require on-chip circuitry to cancel displacements due to centripetal acceleration and improve sensitivity and bandwidth. These findings may result in better accelerometer designs for this application.

Silicon micro-machined piezoresistive based pressure transducers are often used to make high frequency dynamic pressure measurements. The spectral or frequency response of these microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is a function of the natural resonance of the sensor structure, sensor size, sensor packaging, signal conditioning and transducer mounting in the desired measurement location. The advancement of MEMS micro-fabrication, which has reduced sensor size dramatically, and the high elastic modulus of silicon have allowed the natural resonance of these devices to range from 100kHz to several MHz [1]. As a result, packaging and mounting at the point of measurement are the major factors that determine the flat (0dB) frequency response envelope of the transducer, which is typically quantified by a transfer function. The transfer function quantifies the difference both in magnitude and phase between an input signal and a measured signal in the frequency domain. The dynamic response of pressure transducers has historically been estimated via a unit step input in pressure created through a shock tube test that excites the high natural resonance of the chip. Unfortunately, these tests are less effective at accurately quantifying the frequency response of the transducer in the domain of greatest interest (DC-20kHz), specifically the bandwidth over which the response is flat (0dB). In this work, we present a test methodology using a speaker-driven dynamic pressure calibration setup for experimentally determining the transfer function of a pressure transducer from 1–50kHz. The test setup is validated using capacitive-based microphones with claimed flat spectral characteristics well beyond 50kHz. Using this test setup, we present experimental spectral response results for low-pressure miniature MEMS piezoresistive pressure transducers over the frequency range of 1–50kHz and qualitatively compare these results to traditional shock tube tests. The transducers characterized have been manufactured with several different standard sizes and front-end configurations.

As part of an effort to develop a micro-scale gas turbine engine for power generation and micro-propulsion applications, this paper presents the design, fabrication, experimental testing, and modeling of the combustion system. Two radial inflow combustor designs were examined; a single-zone arrangement and a primary and dilution-zone configuration. Both combustors were micro-machined from silicon using Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE) and aligned fusion wafer bonding. Hydrogen-air and hydrocarbon-air combustion was stabilized in both devices, each with chamber volumes of 191 mm 3 . Exit gas temperatures as high as 1800 K and power densities in excess of 1100 MW/m 3 were achieved. For the same equivalence ratio and overall efficiency, the dual-zone combustor reached power densities nearly double that of the single-zone design. Because diagnostics in micro-scale devices are often highly intrusive, numerical simulations were used to gain insight into the fluid and combustion physics. Unlike large-scale combustors, the performance of the micro-combustors was found to be more severely limited by heat transfer and chemical kinetics constraints. Important design trades are identified and recommendations for micro-combustor design are presented.

The confluence of market demand for greatly improved compact power sources for portable electronics with the rapidly expanding capability of micromachining technology has made feasible the development of gas turbines in the millimeter-size range. With airfoil spans measured in 100’s of microns rather than meters, these “microengines” have about 1 millionth the air flow of large gas turbines and thus should produce about 1 millionth the power, 10–100 W. Based on semiconductor industry-derived processing of materials such as silicon and silicon carbide to submicron accuracy, such devices are known as micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS). Current millimeter-scale designs use centrifugal turbomachinery with pressure ratios in the range of 2:1 to 4:1 and turbine inlet temperatures of 1200–1600 K. The projected performance of these engines are on a par with gas turbines of the 1940’s. The thermodynamics of MEMS gas turbines are the same as those for large engines but the mechanics differ due to scaling considerations and manufacturing constraints. The principal challenge is to arrive at a design which meets the thermodynamic and component functional requirements while staying within the realm of realizable micromachining technology. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art of millimeter-size gas turbine engines, including system design and integration, manufacturing, materials, component design, accessories, applications, and economics. It discusses the underlying technical issues, reviews current design approaches, and discusses future development and applications.

As part of an ongoing effort to develop a micro-scale gas turbine engine for power generation and micropropulsion applications, this paper presents the design, modeling, and experimental assessment of a catalytic combustion system. Previous work has indicated that homogenous gas-phase microcombustors are severely limited by chemical reaction time-scales. Storable hydrocarbon fuels, such as propane, have been shown to blowout well below the desired mass flow rate per unit volume. Heterogeneous catalytic combustion has been identified as a possible improvement. Surface catalysis can increase hydrocarbon-air reaction rates, improve ignition characteristics, and broaden stability limits. Several radial inflow combustors were micromachined from silicon wafers using Deep Reactive Ion Etching (DRIE) and aligned fusion wafer bonding. The 191 mm 3 combustion chambers were filled with platinum coated foam materials of various porosity and surface area. For near stoichiometric propane-air mixtures, exit gas temperatures of 1100 K were achieved at mass flow rates in excess of 0.35 g/s. This corresponds to a power density of approximately 1200 MW/m 3 ; an 8.5-fold increase over the maximum power density achieved for gas-phase propane-air combustion in a similar geometry. Low order models including time-scale analyses and a one-dimensional steady-state plug-flow reactor model, were developed to elucidate the underlying physics and to identify important design parameters. High power density catalytic microcombustors were found to be limited by the diffusion of fuel species to the active surface, while substrate porosity and surface area-to-volume ratio were the dominant design variables.