Development of Optical MEMS Pressure Sensor Technology for High Temperature Applications

塑料注射成型中的压力传感对制造的消费品和商业产品的质量至关重要，并且需要能够在350°C的温度和高达10,000 psi的压力下工作。为了在这种非常恶劣的环境中运行，我们的压力传感器利用膜来推断压力，并根据条件，膜可能直接暴露于负载，但在大多数情况下，压力传递流体如汞，通常用于保护传感器免受塑料熔体的高温，并便于遥感。然而，压力传递流体的使用降低了传感器的**精度，而汞在加拿大和许多其他国家受到限制。**拟议项目的目的是研究通过**提供一系列光学微机电系统（MEMS）压力传感器来扩展我们的压力传感器生产线的可行性，这些传感器能够在这些极高的温度下以更高的精度运行，并且不需要压力传递流体。这条新的传感器线也将被设计**使用我们专有的恶劣环境封装组件，从而显着降低生产成本和市场份额的时间。从长远来看，上述研究合作的成果将显著降低开发新的商业传感器系列的成本，同时开发无汞、更高质量和更准确的科学传感器产品。

Pressure sensing in plastic injection molding is critical to the quality of manufactured consumer and commercial goods and need**to be able to operate up to temperatures of 350°C and pressures up to 10,000 psi. To operate in this very harsh environment our**pressure sensors utilize a membrane to infer pressure and depending on the conditions, the membrane may be directly exposed**to the load, but in the majority of cases, pressure transfer fluids such as mercury, are often used to protect the sensor from the**high temperature of the plastic melt and to facilitate remote sensing. However, the use of pressure transfer fluids reduces the**accuracy of the sensor and mercury is restricted in Canada and many other countries.**The objective of the proposed project is to investigate the feasibility of expanding our pressure transducer production line by**offering a family of optical Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) pressure sensors able to operate at these extreme high**temperatures with improved accuracy and without the need of pressure transfer fluids. This new sensor line will also be designed**to use our proprietary harsh environment packaging assembly, thus significantly reducing the production costs and time to marketshare.**In the longer term, outcomes of the described research collaboration will result in significant cost reduction for the**development of new commercial lines of sensors, along with the development of mercury free, higher quality and more accurate**science-based sensor products.