A ferrofluid-based wireless pressure sensor

Abstract

This paper presents a wireless pressure sensor design based on magnetic fluid displacement over a planar coil and its corresponding inductance change. The design of the pressure sensor is presented followed by its fabrication and characterization. Experimental results show a good correlation with a nonlinear model relating the applied pressure to the change in coil self-resonant frequency. A prototype sensor (radius = 6 mm, thickness = 2 mm) based on the above principal using an oil-based ferrofluid (50 µl, ferrite concentration 2%), a polyimide-embedded planar coil (L = 1 µH), and a 25 µm thick polyimide membrane shows a sensitivity of 3 KHz mmHg−1 with a base-line resonant frequency of f0 = 109 MHz.