A 2D Wind Sensor Using the $\Delta$ P Thermal Feedback Control

A 2-D MEMS wind sensor based on ΔP (power difference) thermal feedback control is presented. The sensor consists of four outlying heaters and four inlying thermistors in two orthogonal directions on ceramic substrate. A ΔP thermal feedback control system is applied to eliminate the flow-induced temperature difference between upstream and downstream so as to achieve a temperature-balanced mode. This applied power difference among the four heaters is a measure for the wind speed and direction. Experimental results demonstrate that the measured speed varies from 0 to 40 m/s with an error less than ±0.5 m/s while the measured direction spans from 0° to 360° with an error less than ±2°.