PLANAR PASSIVE WIRELESS TEMPERATURE AND STRAIN SENSORS FOR AEROSPACE APPLICATIONS
Abstract
Aerospace applications often involve temperature and strain measurement in harsh and confined environments which would benefit immensely from passive wireless sensors. Next generation gas turbine engines and hypersonic vehicles being operated at higher temperatures to increase thermal efficiency. The structural integrity of components in these environments are validated using models along with data provided temperature and strain sensors. The main requirements for these sensors are that they are able to withstand elevated temperatures, have low surface profiles that do not disturb gas flow or impose drag and have minimal mass that do not affect the vibrational modes of components onto which they are mounted. Strain sensors have the same requirements as temperature sensors in the hot sections of gas turbine engines. Passive wireless temperature and strain sensors were fabricated using sputter deposition and measured using a vector network analyzer (VNA). Overall, temperature and strain sensors were designed, fabricated, and characterized with some being capable of operating past 1200°C.