I-Corps: High-Temperature Sensors for Turbine Industry

该I-Corps项目的更广泛影响/商业潜力是减少涡轮机发动机中未检测到的热点造成的损坏，这是一个常见的行业问题，会影响维修、维护和计划外停机的成本。工业燃气涡轮机的产量预计在未来几年内将增加，并且这些涡轮机预计将在更高的温度下运行以实现更高的效率，从而易于发生更多涉及过热的事故。由于目前的热电偶系统通常无法放置在相关区域，并且笨重的电缆限制了燃气轮机内部的放置，因此热点无法被检测到。I-Corps的这个项目基于无线无源传感器，该传感器对适用于涡轮机、火箭和燃料电池等恶劣环境应用的新型传感器技术产生了重大影响。该技术可以提供可靠的长期传感，以提高效率，提高运行可靠性并减少许多系统的污染。采用介质谐振器结构的温度传感器、低轮廓反射贴片温度传感器和基于消逝模式谐振器结构的压力传感器已经被证明具有高达1300 C的操作。这些传感器由高温稳定和耐腐蚀的硅硼碳氮化物（SiBCN）陶瓷材料制成，适用于恶劣环境应用。压力传感器使用渐逝模式谐振器结构，其中，当外部压力增加时，气隙尺寸减小，从而导致谐振频率降低。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to reduce damage from undetected hot-spots in turbine engines, a common industry problem which impacts costs in repairs, maintenance, and unplanned downtime. Industrial gas turbine production is expected to increase over the coming years and these turbines are expected to operate at much higher temperatures to achieve higher efficiencies, thereby being prone to more incidents that involve overheating. Hotspots go undetected because current thermocouple systems are generally not capable of being placed in pertinent areas and because of bulky cables that restrict placement inside gas turbines.This I-Corps project is based on wireless passive sensors that have significant impacts on a new class of sensor technology which is suitable for harsh-environment applications such as turbines, rockets, and fuel cells. This technology can provide reliable long-term sensing to increase the efficiency, improve the operational reliability and reduce the pollution for many systems. A temperature sensor using dielectric resonator structure, a low-profile reflective patch temperature sensor, and a pressure sensor based on evanescent-mode resonator structure, have been demonstrated with operation up to 1300C. These sensors are made of high-temperature-stable and corrosion-resistant Silicoboron Carbonitride (SiBCN) ceramic materials which are suitable for harsh-environment applications. The pressure sensor uses an evanescent-mode resonator structure, in which an air gap dimension decreases when the external pressure increases, causing a decrease in the resonant frequency.