Sensor Leveraging Low Temperature Plasma as Transduction Method for Measuring Real Time Pressure in Ultra-high Temperature Environments

The current state of the art in pressure sensing for dynamic flow measurement is limited and in many cases not available when it comes to harsh, high temperature environments. Accurate pressure measurements of highly transient flows, e.g. combustor instabilities and other dynamic events, requires the sensing element to have the shortest fluidic path connection with the environment and therefore be located in the wall in direct contact with the hot fluid. Active cooling is used to address the high temperature to an extent, with a certain class of sensors capable of operating at temperature of up to 2000 F in this fashion. Beyond this temperature threshold, no practical solution exists for monitoring and/or measuring fluid flow pressure oscillations without a compromise on frequency response. With an increasing number of applications in the power, energy generation and advanced propulsion market segments pushing the temperature envelope by leveraging advanced manufacturing and high temperature materials, a growing need exists that can only be addressed by an ultra-high temperature capable pressure sensor with high frequency response. The proposed effort will leverage low temperature plasma as a transduction method towards the measurement of pressure dynamics in high temperature applications. The sensor solution being proposed will feature ultra-high temperature capability without compromise in frequency response (> MHz) in a small package that can be implemented in various application, from tracking instabilities in combustion systems for power generation to health monitoring of military/commercial advanced propulsion systems. The proposed sensor system will enable high frequency pressure measurement in ultra-high temperature environments (>2500F) currently not possible by commercially available sensors. Commercial applications span from tracking instabilities in combustions systems for power generation to health monitoring of next generation propulsion systems.