THIS PHASE I RESEARCH WILL RESULT IN A PROTOTYPE HIGH TEMPERATURE PRESSURE SENSING CELL BASED ON THE PIEZOR…

Public award description

THIS PHASE I RESEARCH WILL RESULT IN A PROTOTYPE HIGH TEMPERATURE PRESSURE SENSING CELL BASED ON THE PIEZORESISTIVE PROPERTIES OF PLATINUM:TUNGSTEN ALLOYS. THE ELTRON RESEARCH&DEVELOPMENT SENSOR WILL BE BASED ON A FLEXIBLE, CIRCULAR NICKEL-ALLOY DIAPHRAGM ONTO WHICH THE SENSOR ELECTRODES WILL BE DEPOSITED VIA SPUTTER COATING. A SERIES OF INSULATING AND CONDUCTING THIN-FILMS WILL COMPRISE THE PRESSURE SENSING ELEMENT AND AN INERT PROTECTIVE TOP-COAT WILL PROTECT THE UNDERLYING MATERIALS FROM OXIDIZING/REDUCING ENVIRONMENTS AND POTENTIAL DEGRADATION FROM SPACE WEATHER. THE PROTOTYPE SENSOR WILL MAKE EXCLUSIVE USE OF HIGH-TEMPERATURE MATERIALS IN ORDER TO FACILITATE CONTINUOUS OPERATION IN THE 550 1200 DEG. C RANGE (SIGNIFICANTLY HIGHER THAN CURRENTLY AVAILABLE COMMERCIAL PRESSURE SENSORS). A TECHNOLOGY READINESS LEVEL (TRL) OF 4 WILL BE ACHIEVED BY THE CONCLUSION OF PHASE I. PHASE II RESEARCH WILL PACKAGE THE PROTOTYPE CELL INTO APPROPRIATE HARDWARE WITH ALL OF THE NECESSARY ON-BOARD ELECTRONICS FOR FULL TRANSDUCER OPERATION AND PROCEED TOWARDS TRL 8.