A SOLID-STATE SUBSONIC FLOW VECTOR MEASUREMENT DEVICE

A COMPLETELY NEW, SOLID-STATE FLOW MEASUREMENT DEVICE WILL BE DEVELOPE D TO MEASURE AND DISPLAY THREE-DIMENSIONAL AIRFLOW VELOCITY VECTORS. UNLIKE CONVENTIONAL INSTRUMENTS, THE PROPOSED INNOVATION WILL BE CHARA CTERIZED BY HIGH-FREQUENCY RESPONSE AND HIGH SENSITIVITY TO MEET THE S PECIFIED RANGE OF FLOW PARAMETERS. THE INNOVATION STEMS FROM THE FOLL OWING SIGNIFICANT ADVANCED MADE BY AS&M IN RECENT YEARS: A) THE DISCOV ERY OF A DIRECT COUPLING BETWEEN AIRSPEED AND FREQUENCY OF FLOW OSCILL ATIONS AT THE LEADING-EDGE STAGNATION REGION, B) THE DEVELOPMENT OF AC CURATE FLOW DIAGNOSTICS TECHNIQUES TO IDENTIFY THE STAGNATION POINT, A ND C) THE INVENTION OF CONSTANT VOLTAGE ANEMOMETRY. A PROBE OF SPECIF IED GEOMETRY WITH ORTHOGONAL ROWS OF MICRO-THIN MULTIELEMENT SENSORS W ILL BE USED IN CONJUNCTION WITH A BANK OF CONSTANT VOLTAGE ANEMOMETERS TO SIMULTANEOUSLY DETERMINE THE RESULTANT VELOCITY AND THE LOCAL FLOW DIRECTION IN CLOSE PROXIMITY TO AIRCRAFT INLETS. THE OUTPUT FROM THE INSTRUMETN WILL BE ELECRICAL SIGNALS WHICH CAN BE DIRECTLY FED AS INP UTS TO A CLOSED-LOOP SYSTEM TO CONTROL THE MAGNITUDE AND DIRECTION OF THE FLOW VECTOR.