A miniaturized transit-time ultrasonic flowmeter based on ScAlN piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers for small-diameter applications

Abstract

Transit-time ultrasonic flowmeters (TTUFs) are among the most widely used devices for flow measurements. However, traditional TTUFs are usually based on a bulk piezoelectric transducer, which limits their application in small-diameter channels. In this paper, we developed a miniaturized TTUF based on scandium-doped aluminum nitride (ScAlN) piezoelectric micromachined ultrasonic transducers (PMUTs). The proposed TTUF contains two PMUT-based transceivers and a π-type channel. The PMUTs contain 13 × 13 square cells with dimensions of 2.8 × 2.8 mm2. To compensate for the acoustic impedance mismatch with liquid, a layer of polyurethane is added to the surface of the PMUTs as a matching layer. The PMUT-based transceivers show good transmitting sensitivity (with 0.94 MPa/V surface pressure) and receiving sensitivity (1.79 mV/kPa) at a frequency of 1 MHz in water. Moreover, the dimensions of the π-type channel are optimized to achieve a measurement sensitivity of 82 ns/(m/s) and a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) better than 15 dB. Finally, we integrate the fabricated PMUTs into the TDC-GP30 platform. The experimental results show that the developed TTUF provides a wide range of flow measurements from 2 to 300 L/h in a channel of 4 mm diameter, which is smaller than most reported channels. The accuracy and repeatability of the TTUF are within 0.2% and 1%, respectively. The proposed TTUF shows great application potential in industrial applications such as medical and chemical applications.