Thermal studies of a MEMS‐based pressure sensor for aerospace applications

Abstract The main objective of this study is to enhance heat transfer for the reduction of temperature in MEMS‐based piezoresistive high‐temperature pressure sensors. The main parameter that affects the sensor performance especially for Aerospace applications is higher operating temperature because there are many electronic components and devices that may fail due to higher temperatures. Prevention of overheating of the electronic components in the sensor is a challenge; hence, the study of heat transfer from hydraulic fluid is of utmost importance. Different types of fin surfaces to enhance the heat transfer rate are studied using ANSYS CFD (computational fluid dynamics). CFD simulations and experiments are carried out to design novel high operating temperature pressure sensors for aerospace applications. This in turn improves performance due to internal thermo‐piezoresistive amplification. In this paper, high‐temperature pressure sensors are designed by CFD analyses and experimentally analyzed for a better understanding of the distribution of temperature in the pressure sensor and thermal variation in the sensor and observe the changes during analysis. Extended fin surface concepts are introduced for better heat transfer and to reduce the fluid temperature inside the sensor that is transferred to the electronic components. ANSYS CFD analysis is carried out to determine the temperature distribution and two models are identified for experimental validation.