Dynamic and kinematic viscosity measurements with a resonating microtube

✍ Scribed by D. Sparks; R. Smith; V. Cruz; N. Tran; A. Chimbayo; D. Riley; N. Najafi

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 2009
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 637 KB
• Volume: 149
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0924-4247
• DOI: 10.1016/j.sna.2008.09.013

✦ Synopsis

This paper examines the use of a micromachined resonating tube to measure both the dynamic viscosity and density of a fluid enabling the calculation of the kinematic viscosity. Dynamic viscosity is measured using the damping effect that a fluid has on the motion of the resonating tube. Fluid damping requires a change in drive voltage to maintain a constant vibrational amplitude. The density is measured via the change in resonant frequency caused by a change in fluid density while the viscosity is measured by monitoring the peak signal of the resonator. The dynamic viscosity measurement error between the new sensor and the calibration references ranges from 0.006 to 0.15 cP, or 0.6 to 8%. A variety of applications for the sensor will be discussed.