approximately 2 milliseconds [1].

The thermocouple contacts

R. Heihei

Thermal MEMS Technology Associated with Spirometer Applications

Abstract This electronic document is a live template. The
various components of your paper [title, text, heads, etc.] are
already defined on the style sheet, as illustrated by the portions
given in this document.
Keywords: Silicon, MEMS, thermal, flow-sensor, spirometer.
I.

INTRODUCTION

A spirometer is a device used to measure the ventilation

capacity of the lungs, i.e. the volume of air inspired and
expired by a person. The ability to quantify the inspiration
and expiration of people has many beneficial applications in
the healthcare industry. The diagnosis of lung diseases such as
asthma, emphysema and bronchitis are only possible with an
apparatus capable of performing this task. Other applications
include: (1) assessing the cause of breath shortage, (2)
assessing the effect on certain medications and the
implications they have, (3) determining the implications of
being exposed to chemicals, and (4) checking lung function
before surgery is undertaken. MEMS devices are becoming
more frequently used in healthcare applications due to the
micro scale in which they can operate. This paper explores
current research into the use of MEMS devices in spirometer
applications and how they can be used to further develop
spirometer devices.
II. IMPLEMENTATION OF MEMS DEVICES IN
SPIROMETER APPLICATIONS
A.Thermal Flow Sensor 1 Silicon Nitride Base
An enhanced silicon base is used for fabrication of this
implementation [1]. The thermal sensor is based on thermal
properties of silicon nitride making it very sensitive to
physical properties of gas. The total dimensions used for the
sensitive silicon nitride membrane were 300m 600m.
Line heaters were also placed adjacent with the membrane in
3 places to act as a thermometer, leaving the sensor to operate
as a calorimeter which can detect the flow direction.

Figure 2: Photography of the sensitive element of the HSG-IMIT fabricated MEMS

[1].
Figuresensor
1:Photography
of the sensitive element of the HSG-IMIT fabricated

Due to its very thin membrane and small thermal mass,

the sensor exhibits a very short response time of

have a sensitivity of approximately 150V/K, and when

considered along with the small response time it implies a
sensor which is very effective in detecting small changes in
flow. Figure 2 shows the relationship between sensor output
voltage and time during the rapid increase in volumetric flow
rate.

Figure 2: Output of sensor to a rapid flow increase induced by an impact on

an

One very important aspect that was considered in this

implementation was how to accurately measure the flow
velocity of a human breath when the flow is considered
turbulent. The sensors ability to sense flow direction would be
obsolete when considering turbulent flow, therefore this issue
was tackled by implementing mesh screens to induce a
uniform behavior of the flow direction over the sensor
effective area.
ANSYS Workbench was used in the design process of this
MEMS device to determine an appropriate model of the flow
channel. This was used in attempt to eliminate any turbulent
flow in the effective sensing area. The simulation results
yielded a flow velocity which remained less than 16 meters
per second and a Reynolds number of 2320. Internal flow
dynamics describe laminar flow as having a Reynolds number
of less than 2100. 4000 defines the Reynolds number at which
flow becomes fully turbulent. Therefore the flow was
simulated to have a small degree of turbulence still present,
however it was deemed to be negligible. Figure 3 shows the
ANSYS solution to the fluid flow modelled through the main
channel.

signals such as ambient temperature and mechanical stress.

The choice of temperature detector also allows these common
mode signals to be reduced.
The area covered by the substrate in this design is 2.3m
2.8m, which is much larger than the aforementioned
design. However this membrane area is split into seven
different active regions, all isolated from each other and the
surrounding s using trench isolation areas as depicted in
figure 5.

Figure 3: Exemplified simulation result of the fluid velocity in the main

channel [1].

The implementation has other serious flaws which needed

to be addressed before giving reliable readings. Thermal
sensors are based on the fluid properties flowing over it and
the presence of humidity and saliva can vary the fluid mixture
extensively giving false readings. The sensor design utilizes
heating elements to evaporate the saliva on the micro scale
over the dew point.
Figure 5: The structure of this silicon thermal flow sensor.

This particular implementation uses seven p-n junction

diodes as the temperature detectors. Connecting these in
series is intended to increase the overall sensitivity of the
temperature detector [2].

Figure 4: Evaporation time of a 1 l water drop in dependence of the

attained heating [1].

The final results of this sensor yielded a higher sensitivity

to flow at lower flow velocities. The two thermopiles
symmetrical about the heater which allow the flow direction
to be found becomes accurate in the range of flow velocities
expected in both inspiration and expiration allowing the
transition time to be pinpointed. Due to the sensor being a
MEMS device it has a very low power consumption.
B. Thermal Flow Sensor 2 Finite Element Modelling
Another silicon based thermal sensor was developed using
Finite Element Modelling to analyze the flow patterns [2]. In
many ways this design is very similar to the aforementioned
design however the temperature detectors werent necessarily
thermopiles and could be replaced with resistors, diodes or
transistors. This allows a different selection common mode

ANSYS Workbench is also used in this design. It is

utilized to create a mesh by discretizing the domain into
approximately 30,000 elements [2]. This study compares
results taken from a simulated normal airway, resistive airway
and an obtruded airway. Figure 6 shows simulation results
pulled from ANSYS describing the spirometry volume over
time, air flow vs volume and flow velocity over time for all
three cases. The results for the normal airway in comparison
to the resistive and obtruded cases is somewhat expected, with
the spirometer volume reaching capacity much quicker,
therefore a higher average flow velocity.

distribution, however the residual heat is carried further

downstream. This residual heat has an effect on the
temperature detectors adjacent to the heater therefore yielding
varied results from that detector. The study points this out
however the authors do not go into depth on how this
inaccuracy was accounted for. It does however point out one
crucial point which needs considering for future designs of
thermal based spirometers. The placement of the temperature
detectors is critical to the accuracy of the sensor and without
giving this full consideration, false readings would occur. In a
healthcare application such as a spirometer it is vital to ensure
the results are reliable if it were to be used as a diagnostic
tool.
III. COMPARISONS BETWEEN IMPLEMENTATIONS
The first design explored focuses many of its efforts
minimizing the size and ensuring the flow focused over the
sensor is laminar. The design achieves this however the
results only explore the case of an open airway as opposed to
the second design. Testing for different cases has the
advantage of creating a design which is applicable to more
than one specialized task, for example a design which
incorporates different percentages of resistance to flow could
be used to diagnose for bronchitis, emphysema and asthma
whilst also determining shortage of breath in different
scenarios.
IV. CONCLUSIONS
As devices are increasingly becoming smaller, the need for
development in MEMS technology is imperative. The two
cases explored in this paper both provide important research
which should be considered when designing future sensors
which can be used in a spirometer application. Future
research could be conducted in decreasing the cost of the
device and the total power consumption as these two factors
werent thoroughly addressed in either study. If portable
spirometers were to be made available for users to take
home, these two factors become very important.
Figure 6: The air exhalation curves used in Spirometry (a) The volume as a
function of time and (b) Air Flow vs Volume (c) Air flow velocity as a
function of time for normal, resistive, and obstructive, respectively [2].

ANSYS was also able to determine the temperature

distribution at different flow velocities. Interestingly enough,
the maximum simulated flow velocity for a normal airway
had a similar temperature distribution in the immediate
surroundings of the sensor to the zero flow temperature

REFERENCES
[1]

[2]

F. Hedrich, K. Kliche, M. Storz, S. Billat, M. Ashauer, R. Zengerle,

Thermal flow sensors for MEMS spirometric devices, Sensors and
Actuators A: Physical., vol. 162, Aug. 2010, pp. 373378
doi:10.1016/j.sna.2010.03.019
I. Hariadi, Sensitivity analysis of silicon MEMS Thermal Flow
Sensor for spirometer application, Instrumentation, Communications,
Information Technology, and Biomedical Engineering (ICICI-BME),
Nov. 2011, doi:10.1109/ICICI-BME.2011.6108619