A molecular dynamics simulation on the static calibration test of a revised thin-film thermopile heat-flux sensor

Abstract

A revised thin-film thermopile heat-flux sensor with cooper-based heat sink is calibrated at a static calibration system that provides a stable heat flux source in the range of 0.1–10.0 MW/m2. The calibration results show that sensitivity coefficients (SCs) of the revised heat-flux sensor are quadratically dependent on surface temperatures, which is different from the linear SCs of original heat-flux sensors. A molecular dynamics simulation is applied to predict the thermal conductivity (TC) of thin-film thermal resistance layer and the interfacial thermal resistivity at the interface with film thickness and substrate material being considered. With the aid of the molecular dynamics simulation and finite element method, the reason for such a difference is analyzed to be the coupled effect of temperature-dependent thermal conductivity (TC) of thin-film thermal resistance layer and the interfacial thermal impedance at the interface.