Yttria-stabilized zirconia flow sensor for high-temperature and humidity with compensation algorithm

Abstract

Flow sensors are widely used in industrial production, but their measurement accuracy remains insufficient in high-temperature and high-humidity environments. To address this issue, this study developed a novel flow sensor based on yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) solid-state electrolytes. It integrates both flow velocity and humidity measurement capabilities. This research systematically investigated the effects of environmental temperature and humidity on the sensor's output signals and proposed a compensation algorithm to mitigate temperature and humidity interference, thereby enhancing measurement accuracy. Experimental results showed that the sensor output signal decreases with increasing inlet temperature and increases with rising inlet humidity. Through linear fitting, the relationship between flow velocity output signal drift and environmental temperature and humidity was established. This relationship was then utilized for compensation, resulting in a significant improvement in measurement accuracy. The experiments demonstrated that the sensor exhibits high accuracy and stability in high-temperature and high-humidity environments, effectively optimizing flow velocity detection performance.