APPLICATIONS OF PRESSURE SENSORS

Pressure sensors have been widely used in a lot of areas because of its
applicability to almost everything. Its ability to measure altitude, flow rate, and even
density shows how useful pressure sensors are in our everyday lives. In this section, it
will be shown how pressure sensors are applied at fields such as: automotive, aircrafts,
medicine, building, consumer products, and the industry.

Braking is an important aspect when driving a vehicle, however, this is down to a

complex mix of components which also includes pressure sensors. Car systems can
detect the pressure applied to the pedal via sensors and amplify it to make the action
more effective. As the brake pedals are depressed, it allows atmospheric pressure to
enter the chamber, which increases the pressure of both the diaphragm which would
apply pressure to the master cylinder. Reducing of braking efficiency happens, when an
optimal pressure is not maintained, which makes pressure sensors important because it
alerts the driver as this phenomenon happens. Moreover, pressure sensors can also
provide information the engine management system needs. As air pressure is an
important factor in fuel mixture and ignition timing, the EMS can adjust the engine to its
optimum efficiency whether the car is above or on par with sea level. Another factor in
order to preserve engine efficiency is cleanliness. Pressure sensors also play a big part
in cleaning exhaust filters automatically. The cleaning process triggers when pressure
across the Diesel Particulate Filter reaches a threshold. On the other hand, as an
automotive, it must not emit that much Nitrogen Oxide to the atmosphere, thus it involves
using an absolute pressure sensor to monitor the pressure at the valve. Another excellent
use of pressure sensors ensuring the safety of the environment is its monitoring if there
is a leak, especially when it involves critical vapours that are harmful to the atmosphere
when released prematurely. Lastly, pressure sensors are used for deploying airbags for
the passengers and the pedestrian. The sudden change of pressure can be detected by
a relative pressure sensor within a few hundredths of a second after impact. Another great
innovation is the use of an active bonnet system which is designed to reduce the impact
of a pedestrian. By placing relative pressure sensors on the bumper, any deformation can
be detected immediately, as this happens, the car’s safety system can activate a
compressed air reserve in the engine bay, which pushes the bonnet up and toward the
car.

Aircrafts utilizes pressure sensors as well by measuring the barometric pressure

for altitude measurement, to improve engine performance and enhance cabin comfort.
Pressure sensors have also been known to monitor high temperature turbine engines,
high-speed combustors and other aerospace applications. Turbine blade-row
interactions, combustion instabilities and unstable aerodynamic phenomena are the root
causes of high frequency pressure and temperature variations. This instability can be
detected by these pressure sensors that are precursors to surge or rotating stall in order
to minimize risks. Lastly, pitot tubes are used extensively in aerospace applications. It
uses two tubes to measure differential pressure with the first tube measuring static
pressure and the second measuring impact pressure. Thus, the faster the aircraft is
moving, the higher the impact pressure. With this data, the air speed can be determined
as it is proportional to the square root of the difference between the static and impact
pressure all over air density. (Sparks, 2013)

Medicine application of pressure sensors can happen ex vivo or in vivo. Pressure

sensors are prevalent to the BP machine as it has a meter reading of your blood pressure
as well as indicators of oxygen tank content whether a tank of oxygen is pressurized or
not. In addition, pressure sensors are known to help in hyperbaric therapy. Hyperbaric
therapy involves raising the air pressure in a sealed chamber, it is used to treat
decompression sickness by divers, and can also help with skin grafts or burn injuries.
Thus pressure sensors are utilized in order to monitor whether the pressure is too high,
too low or just right. Another application of pressure sensor is on Continuous Positive Air
Pressure Machines or CPAP. This machine is used to treat sleep apnea, a sleeping
condition where the person stops breathing while asleep. An airflow pressure sensor is
used to monitor the air pressure, detecting when the patient is breathing in and
immediately turning on the fan to create positive pressure to open the airways. As the
person breathes out, the fan is immediately turned off in order to allow the patient to
exhale without fighting against the positive pressure. For in vivo applications of pressure
sensors factors such as area of implantation, durability, integration with wireless
communication, power requirements etc. The obtained pressure value is always
reference to a known reference pressure. Chen et al (2008) developed a surface micro-
machined implantable wireless MEMS Intraocular Pressure Sensor to assist in identifying
glaucoma, an optical neuropathy characterized by high ocular fluid pressure in the eye
that progressively damages the optic nerve and can result in permanent loss of vision. In
addition, Cong et al. (2006) developed in vivo real time blood pressure monitoring. The
system uses a biocompatible soft silicone elastic cuff wrapped around a blood vessel
coupled with the MEMS capacitive sensor for pressure sensing and low power integrated
electronics transmits the signal for real time data collection. Lastly, the same proponents
developed implantable MEMS pressure sensors in the monitoring of urinary bladder
pressure as urinary incontinence affects more than half of the population of the world
above age 60. (Vasudev & Bhansali, 2013)

Moving on, buildings also use pressure sensors in order to maintain its stability.
Pressure sensors are utilized in monitoring air flow rates, as it can indicate whether an air
filter needs cleaning due to lowering of pressure. Sensors are also used to maintain
relative duct pressure levels as well as monitoring the building’s safety precautions such
as fire suppressor pipelines pressure sensors. Lastly, the use of ammonia as a refrigerant
can be dangerous to humans at the event of a leak, pressure sensors can detect leaks
and help prevent or minimize the danger when such an event happens.

On the other hand, pressure sensors have been used in consumer products as
well. Vacuum cleaners are known to be pressurized machines that help people in cleaning
their houses, pressure sensors are used in order to monitor the pressure. Pressure
sensors are also known to be utilized by GPS tracking devices as it can identify the
elevation of an individual by a barometric pressure sensor especially in urban areas.
Pressure sensors are also known to forecast hyper-localized weather where every
weather station have barometers. Moreover, these sensors are used for making better
coffee as there are two governing principles in achieving the perfect brew: temperature
and pressure. In fact, pressure is so key to the process, the word “espresso” means
“pressed out”. Pressure sensors designed for harsh environments are used in these
machines during the brewing stage and in the cleaning process that follows it in higher-
 end coffee makers. Lastly, pressure sensors are used in extreme sports such as skydiving
and scuba diving.

Pressure sensors are widely used in the industry as well, they are key in
maintaining product quality, plant safety and effective product quantity. Its first use is on
monitoring process flows, especially when there is a filter involved. The pressure
difference between the upstream and downstream must be close to zero if it is clean and
up to its permissible value when it is not. Pressure sensors are also used to determine
levels in tanks. Usually these sensors are placed at the bottom of the tank, and the liquid
level would be easily determined especially when the liquid density is known already.

References

Sparks, D. (2013). MEMS pressure and flow sensors for automotive engine
management and aerospace applications. In Mems for Automotive and Aerospace
Applications. https://doi.org/10.1533/9780857096487.1.78

Vasudev, A., & Bhansali, S. (2013). 11 Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) for in

vivo applications. In Implantable Sensor Systems for Medical Applications.
https://doi.org/10.1533/9780857096289.3.331

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