High temperature, high bandwidth pressure acquisition system

Abstract

A system for measuring a multiplicity of pressures as those experienced by a model in a wind tunnel is depicted. The system includes individual sensor devices which are connected to an Acquisition and Compensation electronics module. The individual sensor or transducer devices are semiconductor piezoresistive devices and are connected to the Acquisition and Compensation electronics module by means of a cable in a first embodiment. In an alternate embodiment the system uses connectors which connect each of the individual sensor devices to the Acquisition and Compensation electronics module via a mating connector located therein. The connectors may also include a memory which stores compensation coefficients associated with each of the various sensor devices. In this manner as described, the transducers which are small devices are connected via electrical lines or cables to the central Acquisition and Compensation electronics modules. This module houses electronics which digitally converts the data from the sensors and then compensates the data for temperature effects. The advantage of the system is that each individual sensor does not have any compensation and it can be made very small to operate at very high temperatures without any loss of accuracy. Thus, a large number of sensors can be utilized in a very small volume, even under extreme environmental conditions. It is noted that the Acquisition and Compensation electronics module can be located remotely in a safe environment outside of the wind tunnel and therefore respond extremely accurately to the pressure and temperatures subjected by the model in the wind tunnel.