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US 12,584,804 B2Granted
ABA type block co-polymers for temperature sensing and flow meters
AssigneeCalifornia Institute of Technology
InventorsLuca Bonanomi, Vincenzo Costanza, Chiara Daraio, Zhun Zhou
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Abstract
ABA type block copolymers as a new class of temperature sensing polymers with tunable, high temperature coefficient of resistance (TCR). A sensor includes a heater, a thermal insulator between two thermometer layers, the heater generating a thermal gradient within the thermal insulator. The thermometers give an indirect measurement of fluid flow around the sensor, based on their temperature readings. The thermometers are flexible layers including ABA block polymers.
Claims15
A sensor comprising:
- at least one heater layer;
- at least one first thermometer layer;
- at least one second thermometer layer;
- and
- at least one thermal insulator layer between the first thermometer layer and the second thermometer layer,
- wherein:
- the at least one first thermometer layer and the at least second thermometer layer each comprise an ABA block polymer,
- a repeating unit of the ABA block polymer comprises two flanking hydrophilic A polymer blocks comprising chelating motifs capable of binding with divalent or trivalent cations, and a middle B polymer block having a glass transition temperature lower than −50° C.,
- the at least one first thermometer layer is thermally insulated from an environment surrounding the sensor,
- the at least one second thermometer layer is thermally accessible by the environment, and
- the at least one heater layer is configured to generate a constant heat flux through the at least one first thermometer layer, the at least one thermal insulator layer, and the at least one second thermometer layer, thus generating a thermal gradient within the at least one thermal insulator.
8 more elements
A sensor comprising:
- a substrate;
- a plurality of bottom electrodes on the substrate;
- a plurality of top electrodes each intersecting the plurality of bottom electrodes, forming a) grid of intersections;
- a temperature sensing polymer layer between the plurality of bottom electrodes and the plurality of top electrodes;
- and
- a sealing layer on the plurality of top electrodes,
- wherein:
- the temperature sensing polymer layer comprises an ABA block polymer, and
- a repeating unit of the ABA block polymer comprises two flanking hydrophilic A polymer blocks comprising chelating motifs capable of binding with divalent or trivalent cations, and a middle B polymer block having a glass transition temperature lower than −50° C.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.