Thermodynamic control of MEMS meteorology pressure sensing element in low temperature application down to -45oC

What is it about?

In this paper, we present an alternative method for poor resolution of piezoresistive meteorology pressure sensing in low temperature environment (down to -45℃) by incorporating external thermodynamic control. In order to use the designed sensor in such a low temperature environment, the MEMS chip itself has to be kept at 50 ℃, which is the most common used highest working temperature in meteorology field. The heat compensation is achieved by a PWM (pulse width modulation) controlled heating resistor based on PID algorithm. The precision of thermal control was obtained at 50 ±0.5 ℃ during the bench test. The simulation results from COMSOL software are consisted with lumped element model analysis. Under the condition of environmental temperature down to -45℃, system achieved a resolution within ±0.5hPa after pressure calibration.

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Why is it important?

Provide an alternative method for poor resolution of piezoresistive meteorology pressure sensing in low temperature environment (down to -45℃) by incorporating external thermodynamic control.