As a mass flow controller is widely used in many manufacturing processes for controlling a mass flow rate of gas with accuracy of 1%, many research projects on the heat transfer phenomena in a sensor tube of an MFC have been conducted. However, most of them are focused on only steady heat transfer phenomena. Since the performance of the sensor tube depends not only on steady heat transfer phenomena but also on transient heat transfer phenomena, in-depth study of unsteady heat transfer phenomena in the sensor tube is required.
In present work, experimental study on both steady and unsteady heat transfer phenomena in the sensor tube is conducted. Through an experimental work, diameter of the sensor tube, heat flow rate, and mass flow rate are identified as parameters of engineering importance, and their effects on the performance of the sensor tube, such as response time, linearity, and signal to noise ratio are studied. Finally, a guideline for the design of the sensor tube of the MFC is suggested based on the experimental results.
