REAL-TIME SUBSONIC FLOW VECTOR PROBE

PROPOSED RESEARCH WILL INCORPORATE FIVE LITHOGRAPHICALLY-GENERATED MIC ROSCOPIC HOT-FILM ANEMOMETERS INTO A SINGLE MICROSCOPIC HOT-DOME PROBE . THIS WILL ALLOW ACCURATE, LOCAL MEASUREMENT OF ALL THREE COMPONENTS FO AIRFLOW VELOCITY. FEASIBILITY OF A MACROSCOPIC THIN FILM RESISTOR ON SUCH A PROBE HAS BEEN DEMONSTRATED IN A PREVIOUS PHASE I PROJECT, WHICH ALSO DEVELOPED DESIGN CRITERIA, INCLUDING PROBE DIMENSIONS, POWE R DISSIPATION, AND MATERIALS PROPERTIES. THE OBJECTIVE OF THE CURRENT PROPOSAL IS TO DEMONSTRATE THAT PATTERNED FILAMENTARY RESISTORS CAN B E APPLIED TO A SMOOTH, CURVED PROBE BY LITHOGRAPHY TO SHRINK INDIVIDUA L SENSORS, SO THAT A COMPLETE FIVE-SENSOR PROBE WOULD BE SMALLER THAN 1MM IN DIAMETER. THE RESULT WILL BE A TINY, ROBUST PROBE ON AN AERODY NAMIC MOUNT THAT WILL ALLOW MEASUREMENTS TO BE OBTAINED UPSTREAM OF, O R WITHIN, THE INLET OF FULL-SCALE AIRCRAFT ENGINES. IN ADDITION, THE ACCURACY OF DIRECTIONAL INFORMATION, ITS SPEED OF RESPONSE, AND THE SI MPLIFIED ANALYSIS IT PERMITS WILL MAKE THIS APPROACH SUPERIOR TO OTHER MINIMALLY PERTURBING OR NON-PERTURBING METHODS.