Department for Integrated Sensor Systems, Danube University Krems, Viktor Kaplan Strasse 2 E, 2700 Wiener Neustadt, Austria.
Center for Building Technology, University of Applied Sciences Burgenland, Steinamangerstrasse 21, 7423 Pinkafeld, Austria.
Sensors (Basel). 2019 Mar 2;19(5):1065. doi: 10.3390/s19051065.
We present a thermal flow sensor designed for measuring air as well as water flow velocities in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems. The sensor is designed to integrate the flow along the entire diameter of the pipe also quantifying the volume flow rate of the streaming fluid where the calorimetric principle in constant temperature operation is utilized as a readout method. In the constant temperature mode, a controller keeps a specific excess temperature between sensing elements at a constant level resulting in a flow dependent heater voltage. To achieve cost-effective sensors, the fabrication of the transducer is fully based on printed circuit board technology allowing low-cost mass production with different form factors. In addition, 2D-FEM simulations were carried out in order to predict the sensor characteristic of envisaged setups. The simulation enables a fast and easy way to evaluate the sensor's behaviour in different fluids. The results of the FEM simulations are compared to measurements in real environments, proving the credibility of the model.
我们提出了一种用于测量加热、通风和空调（HVAC）系统中空气和水流速度的热流量传感器。该传感器旨在整合沿管道整个直径的流量，同时量化流经传感器的流体的体积流量，其中利用恒温操作中的量热原理作为读出方法。在恒温模式下，控制器将传感器元件之间的特定过温保持在恒定水平，从而导致与流量相关的加热器电压。为了实现具有成本效益的传感器，换能器的制造完全基于印刷电路板技术，允许使用不同的外形因素进行低成本批量生产。此外，还进行了二维有限元模拟，以预测预期设置的传感器特性。该模拟提供了一种快速、简便的方法来评估传感器在不同流体中的行为。有限元模拟的结果与真实环境中的测量结果进行了比较，证明了该模型的可信度。
