Ultra Harsh Environment YSZ Sensor for Hypersonic Testing Facilities

In the growing demand for advanced hypersonic propulsion testing, ground testing diagnostics, a crucial element in minimizing risk in future test flight programs, have lagged behind. Current performance instruments rely on decades-old designs and require complex actively water-cooled systems that are prohibitively expensive and affect in-situ measurements. To deliver uniform and accurate flow fields to the test articles, instrumentation systems must be robust and operate at a higher fidelity. The core novel YSZ technology in this proposed work will develop a thin film ceramic sensor element capable of measuring temperature, pressure and oxygen gas concentrations while surviving in the harsh environments of hypersonic ground testing (up to Mach 8 or 4000F). The Innoveering-Ohio State University team, has extensive expertise in hypersonic aerothermodynamics, hypersonic flight, harsh environmental sensing and sensor miniaturization. The Phase I objectives of the current proposal include architectural design and fabrication of the environmental sensor. Initial efforts will also include material design, sensor connection methods and controlled environmental laboratory-based sensor testing.