Embedded Pressure Sensors for Automation and Control of Fluid Valves

The central purpose of the Program is to demonstrate an entirely new low cost, high performance differential pressure sensor system for marine flow valves that introduces important advantages over existing marine pressure measurement devices and valve flow control systems. The new technology would meet virtually all the U.S. Navy needs in pipe flow monitoring, at a significantly reduced investment cost to the Navy. Because these new devices will shrink the present dimensions needed for flow (differential pressure) measurement, it should be relatively straightforward to replace/upgrade most existing pressure measurement products supplied to the Navy, on a one-for-one replacement basis. The new technology will also introduce more accurate sensor measurement capability than is presently available with the present thin film, foil or piezo resistive sensor techniques. The manufacture is a low cost production process that can easily be geared from low custom production to mass output. The devices exhibit no hysteresis or cyclic drift, is essentially EMI/RFI immune, and can endure unexpected short term (e.g. water-hammer shock) and long duration overpressures of many tens of thousand of psi without performance deterioration. Due to its unique material construction, these new sensors can be easily modified as to measure anything from small pressure intervals to large pressure excursions of many hundreds of psi. It is easy to color code the sensors for inventory purposes at no extra cost.