Sensatek, a company that develops wireless temperature sensors for aviation, energy, and aerospace companies has developed a unique RF temperature sensor that utilizes CMT’s 1-Port VNAs to analyze high-powered gas turbines, jet engines, shafts, and pistons, as well as semiconductor processing equipment. The solution can be used to provide real-time temperature measurements inside these systems.
Sensatek’s RF temperature sensor is bonded on rotating equipment such as a jet engine turbine blade. As the sensor passes by the stationary antenna at speeds up to 2000 kph, the antenna communicates with the sensor at RF frequencies. CMT’s 1-Port VNA - often an R140 - is connected to a high-temperature cable that terminates within the antenna and reads the sensor. It then pings the antenna to get frequency sweeps. The sensor passively rings at a specific frequency that correlates to a particular temperature, strain, pressure, etc. This allows Sensatek to wirelessly interrogate the temperature, strain, or pressure on these rotating parts at very high speeds (up to over 1,200 MPH).
This rapidly expanding technology has been bolstered by the price, performance, and advanced software features of CMT’s R60 and R140 network analyzers. Finding the right instrumentation for their turbine sensor system has helped Sensatek break into new industries and deliver their technology to a much wider audience.
“Compared to similar offerings, CMT’s 1-port VNA’s are surprisingly fast and durable for use in the field or lab.”, says Taofeek Orekan, a researcher/chief engineer at Sensatek. Sensatek’s passive RF sensors determine and report the health status of jet turbine engines, land-based gas turbines, wind turbines, and various other high-powered DUTs with the integration of CMT’s Reflectometers.
“The user manual is great compared to what others provide and scripting access is excellent, we can build applications on top of CMT’s firmware and hardware that are commercially valuable to us.” added Josh McConkey, CTO of Sensatek Corporation. “I was surprised to see that there were so many software features included as standard for that price point and small form factor.”
According to the team at Sensatek, as passive RF sensing becomes a bigger part of the everyday sensor world, being able to leverage the price and form-factor of CMT’s reflectometers is ideal for pushing the technology out into wider usage. Sensatek has brought its technology to customers in a variety of industries throughout the world. Many of those projects rely on CMT’s 1-Port VNAs to be successful.
Click here to see 1-Port VNA's from Copper Mountain Technologies.
