All-Ceramic Heat-Flux Sensor for Continuous Measurement Under High Temperature and Harsh Environmental Conditions

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In this study, an all-ceramic heat-flux sensor with high temperature resistance and no water-cooling system was designed to address the problems of short effective lifespan and low sensitivity of heat-flux sensors under harsh ultra-high temperatures and high heat-flux conditions. The sensor components comprised high temperature resistant ceramic materials, that is, alumina (Al2O3), indium tin oxide (ITO)-In2O3thermopile, and nano SiO2. Structural parameters of the proposed heat-flux sensor were optimized via simulations. A high-temperature test platform was built to evaluate the sensor performance; the sensor exhibited an excellent thermoelectric performance. The output voltage of the sensor reached 9.96 mV at 1300 °C, and the average sensitivity in the range of (50–340) kW/m2was 31.5 μV/(kW∙m-2). The drift rate of the proposed sensor in the high-temperature maintenance experiment at 1200 °C for 5 h was 2.7 (kW/m²)∙h-1. The time constant of the sensor under pneumatic heating was 2.3 s. The proposed sensor can continuously work at ultra-high temperatures; therefore, it can be practically employed in the heat flux measurement of turbines and supersonic aircrafts.