A PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE TRANSDUCER FOR 700-MPA EXPLOSIVE ENVIRONMENTS - DEVELOPMENT

THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS PROPOSAL IS TO DEVELOP A HIGH-ACCURACY, HIGHRANGE PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE TRANSDUCER FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF RAPID TRANSIENTS TO 700 MPA AND TEMPERATURES TO 3000 K, AS WELL AS HEAT TRANSFER, IN GUN INTERIORS. ALL THREE MEASURING FUNCTIONS WILL BE PERFORMED BY ONE SMALL (ABOUT 20 MM IN DIAMENTER) SENSOR UNIT AND SOME EXTERNAL TEMPERATURE SENSORS. THE PRESSURE IS DETECTED BY CAPACITIVE METHODS USING A THICK, RUGGED TUNGSTEN MEMBRANE. THE SENSOR CAN OPERATE AT TEMPERATURES OF 2500 K. THE EXPLOSION TEMPERATURE IS SIMULTANEOUSLY MEASURED BY A SMALL HIGH-ACCURARY, HIGH-SPEED RADIATION DETECTOR CAPABLE OF WITHSTANDING TEMPERATURES OF 2000 K AND INTEGRATED IN THE PRESSURE SENSOR UNIT. THERMOCOUPLES OR OTHER STANDARD TEMPERATURE SENSORS ARE USED FOR THE HEAT TRANSFER MEASUREMENTS. A MICROCOMPUTER SAMPLES THE PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE DATA. AS THE ONLY MOVING PART IS THE MEMBRANE, WITH A MAXIMUM DISPLACEMENT OF 5 MICROMETERS, IT IS EXPECTED THAT THE TRANSDUCER SYSTEM WILL BE QUITE RUGGED AND CAPABLE OF WITHSTANDING LARGE TEMPERATURE VARIATIONS AS WELL AS OVERLOADS UP TO TWICE ITS NOMINAL RANGE.