A Theoretical Study on MEMS-Based Thermal Conductivity Sensor

Abstract

In order to get precise thermal conductivity of biomaterial which is usually with a variety of shapes and sizes, small thermal conductivity sensor that could adjust to the features of biomaterial has been produced by MEMS (Micro-electromechanical Systems) technology. Experiments have been performed to test the performance of the sensor, and the results have shown that the sensor has a good performance in the measurement of thermal conductivity of biomaterial. In this paper, a numerical model was built to study the performance of the MEMS-based sensor in theory. Thermal conductivities of a series of materials were measured by numerical method using this model. Compared with the standard thermal conductivities of materials, the simulation results showed that this kind of the sensor is able to get an accurate thermal conductivities efficiently. The results in this paper have some guide meaning in the improvement of the MEMS-based thermal conductivity sensor.