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The vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB) system is an emerging energy storage technology with many advantages, such as high efficiency, long life, and high safety. However, during the power-generation process, if local high temperature is generated, the rate of ions passing through the membrane will increase. In addition, it will also cause vanadium pentoxide molecules (V2O5) to exist in the solid state. Once the solid is formed, it will affect the flow of the vanadium electrolyte, which will eventually cause the temperature of the VRFB to continue to rise. According to the various physical parameters of VRFB shown in the literature, they have a significant impact on the efficiency and life of VRFB. Therefore, this research proposes to develop flexible multifunction (voltage, current, temperature, and flow) micro-sensors using micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology to meet the need for real-time micro-diagnosis in the VRFB. The device is embedded in the VRFB of real-time microscopic sensing and diagnosis. Its technical advantages are: (1) it can simultaneously locally measure four physical quantities of voltage, current, temperature, and flow; (2) due to its mall size it can be accurately embedded; (3) the high accuracy and sensitivity provides it with a fast response time; and (4) it possesses extreme environment resistance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Roll-to-Roll (R2R) process refers to a high-efficiency, low-cost, continuous production method. The roll material used for processing is a flexible plastic or metal film. In many R2R processes, polarizing films are high-precision products with a high output value. In the production of conventional polarizers, product inspection will only be carried out after the production of the polarizing film is completed. The principal raw material of a polarizer sheet is a hydrophilic polymer, the properties of which may be influenced by water vapor, which degrades its quality. Whether or not the product is impacted can be ascertained by means of a quality inspection, but it must be performed after the process is finished. However, it is already too late when a defective product is detected: the production cost is increased, the schedule is influenced and the delivery date is delayed. The focus of this research was on environmental monitoring of the production drying process oven, but the commercial all-in-one sensors currently on the market cannot tolerate the temperature of the factory's high-temperature oven. In particular, a commercial flow sensor is rarely suited to high-temperature applications. Some are expensive and cannot be widely distributed. Therefore, this study aimed to develop an integrated sensor to measure the internal environment of the drying process oven for the real-time monitoring of a polarizer sheet in the Roll-to-Roll (R2R) process. This study used micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technology to make a flexible three-in-one (temperature, humidity and flow) micro-sensor. We monitored the temperature, humidity and flow uniformity in a laboratory oven to simulate the environment of the actual factory oven, with the aim to provide data to confirm whether or not a polarizer sheet has dried. Our system can be monitored instantly by Arduino, or even Raspberry Pi 3, to realize the flexible micro-sensor layout and field verification, in order to optimize the R2R process and to enhance the yield and performance of the polarizer sheet process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Minimizing conductive heat losses in Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems (MEMS) thermal (hot-film) flow sensors is the key to minimize the sensors' power consumption and maximize their sensitivity. Through a comprehensive review of literature on MEMS thermal (calorimetric, time of flight, hot-film/hot-film) flow sensors published during the last two decades, we establish that for curtailing conductive heat losses in the sensors, researchers have either used low thermal conductivity substrate materials or, as a more effective solution, created low thermal conductivity membranes under the heaters/hot-films. However, no systematic experimental study exists that investigates the effect of membrane shape, membrane size, heater/hot-film length and M e m b r a n e (size) to H e a t e r (hot-film length) Ratio (MHR) on sensors' conductive heat losses. Therefore, in this paper we have provided experimental evidence of dependence of conductive heat losses in membrane based MEMS hot-film flow sensors on MHR by using eight MEMS hot-film flow sensors, fabricated in a 1 µm silicon-on-insulator (SOI) CMOS foundry, that are thermally isolated by square and circular membranes. Experimental results demonstrate that: (a) thermal resistance of both square and circular membrane hot-film sensors increases with increasing MHR, and (b) conduction losses in square membrane based hot-film flow sensors are lower than the sensors having circular membrane. The difference (or gain) in thermal resistance of square membrane hot-film flow sensors viz-a-viz the sensors on circular membrane, however, decreases with increasing MHR. At MHR = 2, this difference is 5.2%, which reduces to 3.0% and 2.6% at MHR = 3 and MHR = 4, respectively. The study establishes that for membrane based SOI CMOS MEMS hot-film sensors, the optimum MHR is 3.35 for square membranes and 3.30 for circular membranes, beyond which the gain in sensors' thermal efficiency (thermal resistance) is not economical due to the associated sharp increase in the sensors' (membrane) size, which makes sensors more expensive as well as fragile. This paper hence, provides a key guideline to MEMS researchers for designing the square and circular membranes-supported micro-machined thermal (hot-film) flow sensors that are thermally most-efficient, mechanically robust and economically viable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]