A Micromachined Coriolis-Based Flowmeter for Direct Mass Flow and Fluid Densitv Measurement

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes a novel, proprietary, micromachined, Coriolis-based, mass flowmeter. This flowmeters possesses many desirable features, including: significantly lower cost, direct mass flow measurement, direct fluid density measurement, small sensor size, low power consumption, measurement of low mass flow rates, high sensitivity, high accuracy fast response time, small fluid flow volume, simple fabrication process, batch fabrication capability, excellent stability, and compatibility with on-chip electronics. In addition, since this device measures mass flow directly, it is not sensitive to fluid conditions, such as temperature, pressure, density, viscosity, and conductivity. Furthermore, unlike thermally-based mass flowmeters, this devices does not generate heat or local high temperature points in the environment under measurement, making it suitable for applications such as fuel monitoring for combustible engines. This device can replace many conventional mass flowmeters used in applications such as semiconductor manufacturing. Furthermore, due to its small size and low power consumption, this device is also best suited for both portable, and battery-operated applications. The major objectives of Phase I are (1) to design and fabricate prototype devices and, (2) to characterize and test them. Achieving these objectives is necessary in order to prove the technical feasibility of this new concept. Anticipated Benefits: Because of its sought-after features, this device has the capability of capturing many existing markets, as well as creating new markets, including, aerospace, defense, active control systems for combustible engines, portable personal health monitors, wearable soldier monitoring systems, miniature weather monitoring stations, microinstrumentation clusters, biomedical, automotive, industrial, building industry, and manufacturing/processing applications.