Fabricated electromechanical resonator sensor for liquid viscosity measurement

Abstract

The properties of a mechanical resonator provide a valuable ability to measure liquid density and viscosity. The viscosity of liquids is of interest to researchers in both industry and medicine. In this paper, a viscosity sensor for liquids is proposed, which is designed based on an electromechanical resonator. In the proposed sensor, a capacitor is used as an electrostatic actuator. The capacitor is also used to monitor the frequency changes of the proposed resonator. The range of displacement of the resonator and capacitor in response to different fluids under test varies according to their viscosity. The design of the proposed sensor and its electrostatic and mechanical simulations are reported in this paper. Also, the effect of viscosity of several different liquids on its performance has been analyzed and presented experimentally using a prototype.

Keywords

• viscosity sensor
• electromechanical resonator
• electrostatic simulation
• mechanical simulation
• sensor fabrication