Development of a Highly Miniaturized PQT-Sensor for Monitoring and Diagnosing of Pneumatic Systems

In this paper a feasibility study of a micromachined PQT-sensor for measurement of pressure (P), flow rate (Q), and temperature (T) for diagnostic applications in pneumatic systems is presented. As a low cost device this innovative PQT-sensor has to fulfill different kinds of criteria such as wide measuring range, fast response time, high resolution and high accuracy for diagnosing the health status of a pneumatic system. By using micro electro mechanical systems (MEMS) technologies small high-performance sensors were fabricated which fulfill all these criteria. At first, principles will be described that have been chosen for measurement of pressure, flow and temperature that will be used for the PQT-sensor. A design proposal for the sensor will be presented and verified with analytical calculations to show its applicability.