A Calorimetric Differential Pressure Sensor for Underwater Flow Sensing

Accurate perception of pressure is essential for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUVs) to achieve intelligent flow analysis. This paper presents a novel calorimetric differential pressure sensor for underwater sensing, which consists of pressure chambers and a pair of micro-cantilever beams with calorimetric sensing elements. The sensor converts differential pressure into flow velocity at the tip of the cantilever beams and measures it with the calorimetric sensing elements. The proposed sensor achieves excellent differential pressure resolution (0.027 Pa) with a detect range of 400 Pa, as well as high repeatability (0.23% FS). Overall, the proposed sensor has many promising applications in underwater pressure sensing and flow assisted analysis of UUVs.