Patent application number | Description | Published |
20080271525 | Micromachined mass flow sensor and methods of making the same - A mass flow sensor is manufactured by a process of carrying out a micro-machining process on an N or lightly doped P-type silicon substrate with orientation <100>. This mass flow sensor comprises a central thin-film heater and a pair of thin-film heat sensing elements, and a thermally isolated membrane for supporting the heater and the sensors out of contact with the substrate base. The mass flow sensor is arranged for integration on a same silicon substrate to form a one-dimensional or two-dimensional array in order to expand the dynamic measurement range. For each sensor, the thermally isolated membrane is formed by a process that includes a step of first depositing dielectric thin-film layers over the substrate and then performing a backside etching process on a bulk silicon with TMAH or KOH or carrying out a dry plasma etch until the bottom dielectric thin-film layer is exposed. Before backside etching the bulk silicon, rectangular openings are formed on the dielectric thin-film layers by applying a plasma etching to separate the area of heater and sensing elements from the rest of the membrane. | 11-06-2008 |
20090016403 | MICROMACHINED GAS AND LIQUID CONCENTRATION SENSOR AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME - A device with micromachined (a.k.a. MEMS, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) silicon sensor to measure gas or liquid concentration in a binary mixture formality is disclosed in the present invention. A process for fabricating the said MEMS silicon concentration sensor, which thereby can greatly reduce the sensor fabrication cost by a batch production, is revealed as well. This MEMS process can mass-produce the sensors on silicon substrate in the ways of small size, low power, and high reliability. In addition to the gas or liquid concentration measurement, the present invention further discloses that the said sensor can also readily measure gas or liquid mass flow rate while record the concentration data, which is not viable by other related working principle. | 01-15-2009 |
20090158859 | Micromachined Thermal Mass Flow Sensor With Self-Cleaning Capability And Methods Of Making the Same - The current invention generally relates to Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) thermal mass flow sensors for measuring the flow rate of a flowing fluid (gas/liquid) and the methods of manufacturing on single crystal silicon wafers. The said mass flow sensors have self-cleaning capability that is achieved via the modulation of the cavity of which the sensing elements locate on the top of the cavity that is made of a silicon nitride film; alternatively the sensing elements are fabricated on top of a binary silicon nitride/conductive polycrystalline silicon film under which is a porous silicon layer selective formed in a silicon substrate. Using polycrystalline silicon or the sensing elements as electrodes, an acoustic wave can be generated across the porous silicon layer which is also used for the thermal isolation of the sensing elements. The vibration or acoustic energy is effective to remove foreign materials deposited on top surface of the sensing elements that ensure the accuracy and enhance repeatability of the thermal mass flow sensing. | 06-25-2009 |
20110030468 | ROBUST MICROMACHINING THERMAL MASS FLOW SENSOR AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME - The present invention is generally related to a novel micromachining thermal mass flow sensor and, more particularly, to a device incorporated with high strength and robust characteristics, which therefore is capable of operating under harsh environments. The new disclosed sensor is made of essential material which can provide robust physical structure and superior thermal properties to support the flow measuring operation. The invented thermal mass flow sensor is featuring with the advantages of micro-fabricated devices in terms of compact size, low power consumption, high accuracy and repeatability, wide dynamic range and easiness for mass production, which could avoid the drawbacks of fragility and vulnerability. | 02-10-2011 |
20110283811 | Integrated Micromachined Wind and Gas Velocity Profiler - A wind or gas velocity profiler integrated with micromachined (a.k.a. MEMS, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) silicon sensors in an open or enclosed space is disclosed in the present invention. There are three main embodiments disclosed in the present invention. Through the preambles of the independent claims, the advantages and merits of such measurement apparatus with MEMS flow sensor will be demonstrated as well. A silicon-based MEMS flow sensor can greatly reduce the sensor fabrication cost by a batch production. The integration with MEMS flow sensor makes the invented anemometer operate in the ways of better measurement accuracy, lower power consumption, higher reliability and a compact dimension compared to traditional anemometers such as cup anemometer, thermal anemometer and ultrasonic anemometer. | 11-24-2011 |
20110283812 | Integrated Micro-machined Air Flow Velocity Meter for Projectile Arms - An apparatus integrated with micromachined (a.k.a. MEMS, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) silicon sensor to measure air flow velocity on targeting correction for projectiles arms is disclosed in the present invention. The air flow velocity component perpendicular to the travel direction of bullets with respect to projectile arm body (e.g. bullets, shells, or arrows) has main effect to the targeting accuracy. Such effect is pretty much determined by the wind speed and the projectile travel distance. The integration with MEMS mass flow sensor has made the invented apparatus possible to be compact, low power consumption, low cost and high accuracy. The low power consumption characteristic of MEMS mass flow sensor is especially crucial for making the apparatus of present invention feasible by battery operated. | 11-24-2011 |
20110301765 | Integrated Micromachining Proximity Switch Sensors in Air/Oil Lubricators - An apparatus integrated with micromachined (a.k.a. MEMS, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) silicon thermal sensor as a proximity switch sensor in air/oil Lubricators is disclosed in the present invention. The present invention relates to mass flow sensing and measurement for both gas and liquid phase and relates to air/oil lubrication process for multi-point lubrication machine. The invented apparatus is utilized as an alarm device to prevent mechanical system failures caused by the discontinuity of oil lubrication. The MEMS silicon thermal sensor is distinguished with a variety of advantages of small size, low power consumption, high reliability and high accuracy. In addition to the above benefits, the most significant and critical advantage is its fast response time of less than 20 msec, which makes the proximity switch control become viable for preventing equipment damage from oil lubricants discontinuity. | 12-08-2011 |
20120001273 | Micro-package for Micromachining Liquid Flow Sensor Chip - The current invention disclosed a micro-package design for packaging of micromachining liquid flow sensor. The package in present invention is fabricated with micromachining or micro-molding approach, which can greatly reduce the manufacturing cost due to the batch production. The micro-package design provides packaging solution for general micromachining liquid flow sensors that can enable various microfluidic applications while reaching the cost threshold for a disposable unit. | 01-05-2012 |
20120011940 | Integrated Micromachining Air Flow Path Clog Sensor - Nowadays many electronic devices, such as LCD projector, computer servers, and air fresher etc. require reliable air cooling system to reduce the risk of electronics damage caused by overheating. The present invention disclosed an apparatus integrated with air flow sensor as an alarm apparatus for air flow clog detection. The major prior approach for air flow circulation failure detection is based on an indirect measurement method of temperature monitoring on surrounding environments, which method is suffering from the slow response and poor identification of real-time situation. The present invention will demonstrate the advantages by directly monitoring air flow over by indirectly monitoring the surrounding temperature as for the purpose of preventing air flow path clog. | 01-19-2012 |
20120024054 | HIGH ACCURACY BATTERY-OPERATED MEMS MASS FLOW METER - With increasing demands on data communication and remote control in current industrial processes or gas measurement applications, development of new technologies would be necessary. The current invention presents a MEMS mass flow meter that are cost compatible with conventional variable area flow meters while providing all digital data process including accumulated flow rate measurements, user programmable flow rate alarm and flow data storage. These in-line meters provide packages in pipe diameter from 4 mm up to 100 mm. It is powered with battery and can be used as a stand-alone hand-held option. The meter is also equipped with the industrial standard RS485 Modbus communication interface for easy network and remote management. | 02-02-2012 |
20120216629 | MEMS TIME-OF-FLIGHT THERMAL MASS FLOW METER - An apparatus comprising a micromachined (a.k.a. MEMS, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) silicon flow sensor, a flow channel package, and a driving circuitry, which operates in a working principle of thermal time-of-flight (TOF) to measure gas or liquid flow speed, is disclosed in the present invention. The micromachining technique for fabricating this MEMS time-of-flight silicon thermal flow sensor can greatly reduce the sensor fabrication cost by batch production. This microfabrication process for silicon time-of-flight thermal flow sensors provides merits of small feature size, low power consumption, and high accuracy compared to conventional manufacturing methods. Thermal time-of-flight technology in principle can provide accurate flow speed measurements for gases regardless of its gas compositions. In addition, the present invention further discloses the package design and driving circuitry which is utilized by the correlated working principle. | 08-30-2012 |
20140116129 | MEMS Utility Meters with Integrated Mass Flow Sensors - This invention is related to an apparatus which incorporates a microfabricated silicon mass flow sensor to measure city gas flow rate in a medium pressure range for utility industry which is dominated by conventional mechanical meters such as turbine and rotary meters. The microfabricated mass flow sensor is so called micro-electromechanical systems (a.k.a. MEMS) device. Due to the small feature size of micro scale for MEMS mass flow sensor, the invented apparatus includes many advantages such as low power consumption, compact package, high reliability and extended dynamic measurement range. This apparatus is also provided with a stable flow conditioning to achieve a desired dynamic range capability. Furthermore, because of the high accuracy characteristic, the apparatus in this invention could be applied tot custody transfer or tariff in utility industry as well. | 05-01-2014 |
20140118161 | MEMS UTILITY METERS WITH EXCHANGEABLE METROLOGY UNIT - An all-electronic utility gas meter using with micromachined (a.k.a. MEMS Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) silicon sensor to measure gas metrology data for custody transfer or tariff in city gas metering application is disclosed in the present invention. The meter has two separate metrology units. One of the units is located in the main flow channel with the insertion probing configuration while the other is configured as a bypass unit assembly with the main metrology unit. The bypass metrology unit can perform independent metrology tasks and can be exchanged onsite during service, maintenance or repair without dismantle the meter from the service pipeline. The bypass metrology unit also can be used to compare the measured data from time to time and performance self-diagnosis that shall help the performance and data authentication during the meter field service. Both of the units can be powered by battery or external sources. The units can be connected to network as well as provide internal plural storages for data transmission and safety. | 05-01-2014 |
20140190251 | Micromachined Flow Sensor Integrated with Flow Inception Detection and Make of the Same - This invention is related to a microfabricated microelectromechanical systems (a.k.a. MEMS) silicon thermal mass flow sensor integrated with a micromachined thermopile temperature sensor as a flow inception detection sensor. The micromachined thermopile sensor is used to detect the inception of mass flow and therefore to trigger the operation of mass flow sensor from its hibernating mode. By this method, the battery-operated flow speed measuring apparatus can save great deal of electricity and significantly extend the life span of battery. A new design of micromachined thermopile sensor with serpentine shape is used to reduce the complexity of microfabrication process and to increase the flexibility and options for material selection. In order to enhance the sensitivity of the thermopile temperature sensor, a method to maximize the quantity of the junctions is provided as well. | 07-10-2014 |
20140190252 | MEMS MASS FLOW SENSOR ASSEMBLY AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME - A silicon mass flow sensor manufacture process that enables the backside contacts and eliminates the conventional front side wire binding process, and the assembly of such a mass flow sensor is disclosed in the present invention. The achieved assembly enhances the reliability by eliminating the binding wire exposure to the flow medium that may lead to detrimental failure due to the wire shortage or breakage while the miniature footprint could be maintained. The assembly further reduces flow instability from the flow sensor package including the bump of wire sealing. The invented mass flow sensor assembly can be a flow sensor module if the supporting sensor carrier is pre-designed with the control electronics. Without the control electronics, the said mass flow sensor assembly is easy to install into desired flow channels and connect to the external control electronics. | 07-10-2014 |
20140268440 | Micromachined High Breakdown Voltage ESD Protection Device for Light Emitting Diode and Method of Making the Same - This invention relates to a micromachined ESD protection device and its microfabrication method for light emitting diode (LEDs) chips. The LEDs is coupled to the ESD protection device in a shunt connection to absorb and eliminate the electrostatic charges induced by human contact or other voltage spike sources. The ESD protection circuit can prevent the LED from burning down and extend its lifespan. By using a thick polyimide layer as the dielectric film for capacitors in the micromachined ESD protection device at the current invention has the advantages with high breakdown voltage compared to other ESD protection circuits. And furthermore, the device in the current invention is easy for mass production with low manufacturing cost. Another embodiment of the present invention is that the multiple-array arrangement in current micromachined ESD protection device could greatly enhance the liability due to multiple-protection and thus to provide the possibility of multiple-times usage. | 09-18-2014 |
20140283595 | MICROMACHINED MASS FLOW SENSOR WITH CONDENSATION PREVENTION AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME - The design and manufacture method of a silicon mass flow sensor made with silicon Micromachining MEMS, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) process for applications of gas flow measurement with highly humidified or liquid vapors is disclosed in the present invention. The said silicon mass flow sensor operates with an embedded heater and an adjacent control temperature sensor beneath the integrated calorimetric and thermal dissipative sensing thermistors. When the condensation takes place at the surface of the said silicon mass flow sensor, the embedded heater shall be turned on to elevate the temperature of the supporting membrane or substrate for the sensing thermistors. The elevated temperature shall be adjusted to above the vaporization temperature with the feedback data of the adjacent temperature sensor such that the surface condensation due to the presence of the liquid vapors in a gas flow can be effectively eliminated. | 09-25-2014 |
20140318960 | MICROMACHINED OXYGEN SENSOR AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME - The design and manufacture method of an oxygen concentration sensor made with silicon micromachining (a.k.a. MEMS, Micro Electro Mechanical Systems) process for applications of oxygen measurement with fast response time and low power consumption is disclosed in the present invention. The said silicon oxygen concentration sensor operates with an yttrium stabilized zirconia oxide amperometric cell supported on a membrane made of silicon nitride with a heat isolation cavity underneath or a silicon nitride membrane with silicon plug for mechanical strength enforcement. | 10-30-2014 |
Patent application number | Description | Published |
20090155615 | DESIGNED ORIENTATION FOR WELDED AUTOMOTIVE STRUCTURAL COMPONENTS MADE OF PRESS HARDENED STEEL - The present invention provides an improved method of blanking and hot forming an elongated part from a coil of press hardened steel sheet stock, including the step of: cutting a blank from the coil of press hardened steel sheet stock such that the blank has a length that is greater than a width, and such that the length is substantially parallel to the rolling direction. Ideally, the blank is cut such that the length is parallel to the rolling direction within plus or minus ten degrees. The present invention also provides ultra high-strength metallic components, preferably automotive body shell parts, hot formed from coils of press hardened steel sheet stock. Each part has a body with a body length that is greater than a body width, and one or more weld joints. The body also has a material texture orientation that is substantially parallel to the body length. | 06-18-2009 |
20100102664 | METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR SURFACE PREPARATION IN ULTRASONIC JOINTS - A method of joining the ends of wire windings for a motor stator or the like includes preparing a surface at each end (e.g., by removing any enamel coating), deforming the surfaces to produce knurls, striations, and the like, and then ultrasonically bonding the two surfaces to produce the bond between windings, thereby providing a joint with improved strength. | 04-29-2010 |
20120183800 | RESISTANCE SPOT WELDING MANUFACTURE AND METHOD OF FORMING SAME - A resistance spot welding manufacture includes a first metal layer having a first thickness, a second metal layer having a faying surface defining an embossed region, wherein the second metal layer has a second thickness that is less than the first thickness so that a ratio of the first thickness to the second thickness is greater than about 2:1, a third metal layer sandwiched between the first metal layer and the embossed region, wherein the third metal layer has a third thickness that is greater than the second thickness, and a weld joint penetrating each of the first metal layer, the third metal layer, and the faying surface at the embossed region to thereby join each of the first metal layer and the second metal layer to the third metal layer. A method of forming a resistance spot welding manufacture is also disclosed. | 07-19-2012 |
20130327745 | RESISTANCE SPOT WELDING MANUFACTURE AND METHOD OF FORMING SAME - A method of forming a resistance spot welding manufacture includes sandwiching a third metal layer between first and second metal layers to form a workpiece. The second layer has a surface defining an embossed region. The first layer has a first thickness, the third layer has a third thickness, and the second layer has a second thickness that is less than the first and third thicknesses so that a ratio of the first thickness to the second thickness is greater than about 2:1. The method includes positioning the workpiece between a first and second electrode so that the workpiece is disposed in electrically-conductive relationship with the first and the second electrodes, and applying an electrical current through the first electrode to concurrently melt the first and third layers and the surface at the embossed region to join the first and second layers to the third layer and form the manufacture. | 12-12-2013 |
20140197148 | STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF BONDING COPPER AND ALUMINUM - A bonded structure of aluminum and copper is formed by bonding a copper workpiece and an aluminum workpiece together along a joint via an arc welding process. The copper workpiece has a first coating, having a lower melting point than copper, applied to at least a portion of it. The first coating allows the copper workpiece to be wetted and brazed, while the aluminum workpiece is melted and fused along the joint. The arc welding process involves the cyclic alternating of a first stage, in which an electric current is supplied to a welding wire as it is moved toward the workpieces, and a second stage, in which the electric current is reduced and the welding wire is moved away from the workpieces, to generate and detach a plurality of molten droplets along the joint. Each molten droplet is formed from the welding wire in the first stage. | 07-17-2014 |