Pyroelectric Anemometers and Kinetic Calorimeters. Annual Report, April 1, 1991-March 31, 1992

摘要

The pyroelectric anemometer (PA) is a new type of thermally based flow sensor. It has the advantage of utilizing a basic materials property, pyroelectricity, of certain classes of crystalline materials to directly measure the forced convective heat flow to a gas. As a consequence, the signal depends on the heat flow rather than the background temperature which enables the device to have performance characteristics superior to those of resistive anemometers. The goal of the study is to establish the thermal characteristics of the anemometer and its response to laminar, turbulent and swirling flow.