Passive Wireless Temperature Sensing in Extreme Harsh Environments

Abstract

As the technology in the fields of aerospace and the US power generation industry advances, there is a critical need for new extreme high temperature sensing / monitoring technologies to replace the current out-of-date sensing systems. As the operating temperatures of these jet and turbine engines continue to rise over 1000 C, it is vitally important to monitor the extreme high temperatures in these engines for system health monitoring and to achieve greater engine efficiencies. We propose a new passive wireless temperature sensor capable of sensing these extreme high temperatures. The sensor uses an LC resonance circuit to measure the temperature through passive wireless communications. A new novel method of capturing large quantities of frequency information from the sensor is proposed and allows for advanced signal processing methods form other applications areas like wireless communications, radar, and radio astronomy to be implemented. The passive wireless LC resonance high temperature sensor was successfully able to sense temperatures up to 700 C.