Pressure measurement assembly and manufacturing method thereof
Technical Field
The application relates to the technical field of sensors, in particular to a pressure measurement assembly and a manufacturing method thereof.
Background
Currently, the main-stream piezoresistive pressure sensor is usually coupled through a pressure medium to be measured on one side of a diaphragm, so as to generate a corresponding strain, and the strain is converted into an electrical signal through a bridge composed of pressure sensitive resistors on one side of the diaphragm. When the other side thereof is coupled to the atmospheric pressure, the measured pressure thereof is a relative pressure (gauge pressure) with the atmospheric pressure as a reference pressure. These membranes may be semiconductor membranes or metal membranes. For the semiconductor membrane, a vacuum cover can be covered on the other side surface by micromachining so as to measure the pressure (absolute pressure) of the pressure to be measured relative to the vacuum. However, for metal diaphragms, although the atmospheric pressure can be neglected in normal cases because they can be integrally machined and welded so that the measurable pressure can be as high as tens of mpa, it is not negligible if the medium pressure to be measured is not too high relative to the atmospheric pressure. If the absolute pressure is measured by the metal diaphragm, only one metal cap can be welded on the other side surface of the metal diaphragm, and the absolute pressure is measured by drawing a vacuum inside the metal cap.
CN112857635A discloses a metal diaphragm type pressure core, which is provided with a pressure measuring circuit consisting of a dielectric layer, a conductive layer and a thick film piezoresistor on the surface of a metal elastomer to measure the pressure of a medium to be measured. If a metal cap is welded to the surface of its metal diaphragm, there is a great difficulty in embodying that it is difficult to reliably achieve insulation between the metal cap and the metal elastic body and between the metal cap and the conductive layer when the metal cap is welded to the other side surface of the metal diaphragm, whereas if an electrical signal is led out from a via provided on the metal cap through a long flexible electrical connector (even if one inner side end thereof is welded to a pad before the metal cap is welded to the metal diaphragm), the process is also complicated and complicated insulation and sealing treatment between the lead and the metal cap is still required. In addition, such welding processes require high cost if welding is performed in a vacuum environment to vacuum the reference pressure chamber.
Disclosure of Invention
In view of the shortcomings of the prior art, the present application provides a pressure measurement assembly that addresses at least one of the above-described shortcomings.
In order to achieve the above purpose, the application provides a pressure measuring assembly comprising:
The metal elastic body comprises a diaphragm which transversely extends and a circle of base part which is integrally connected with the edge of the diaphragm and extends towards one back side, and the base part and one back side of the diaphragm enclose a pressure cavity which is used for containing a pressure medium to be tested and is provided with an opening;
An insulating layer provided on a surface of the metal elastic body on a forward side thereof;
A cover covering the center portion of the diaphragm from the forward side, connected to the forward side of the diaphragm by a ring of insulating connecting material, and enclosing a reference pressure chamber with the diaphragm;
the pressure measuring circuit is arranged on the surface of the insulating layer and positioned in the reference pressure cavity;
and a plurality of pads disposed on the surface of the insulating layer and outside the reference pressure chamber, which are connected to the pressure measurement circuit through a plurality of electrical lead-out portions disposed on the surface of the insulating layer.
Preferably, the pressure measurement circuit comprises a plurality of piezoresistors and electrical connections configuring the piezoresistors as a Wheatstone bridge.
Preferably, the varistor is a thick film varistor, which is sintered to the surface of the insulating layer on the forward side.
Preferably, the cover is a ceramic or glass article.
Preferably, the insulating layer is a first vitreous material sintered to a surface of the diaphragm on a forward side.
Preferably, the insulating connecting material is a sintered second vitreous material, and the cover is sealed and fixed to the insulating layer and the forward side of the electric lead-out portion by the sintered second vitreous material.
Preferably, the base is provided with an exhaust passage having one end connected to the reference pressure chamber and the other end connected to the outer wall of the base, and an outer end of the exhaust passage is sealed by a sealing body.
The invention also claims a method of making a pressure measurement assembly comprising:
Providing a metal elastomer, wherein the metal elastomer comprises a diaphragm which transversely extends and a circle of base part which is integrally connected with the edge of the diaphragm and extends towards one back side, and the base part and one back side of the diaphragm enclose a pressure cavity which is used for accommodating a pressure medium to be tested and is provided with an opening;
Coating a layer of first glass slurry on the surface of the positive side of the metal elastomer, drying and sintering the first glass slurry to prepare an insulating layer;
Coating conductive paste on the surface of the insulating layer, drying and sintering the conductive paste to obtain a conductive layer, wherein the conductive layer comprises an electric connection part, a plurality of electric lead-out parts and a plurality of bonding pads;
The surface of the insulating layer is coated with thick film piezoresistor paste, dried and sintered to manufacture a plurality of thick film piezoresistors, the thick film piezoresistors are connected with the electric connection part to form a pressure measurement circuit for measuring the pressure of the pressure medium to be measured in the pressure cavity, and the bonding pad is electrically connected to the pressure measurement circuit through the electric lead-out part;
Disposing a layer of frit on at least one turn of the ribbon-shaped region of the insulating layer spanning the electrical lead-out portion;
A ceramic cover is positioned from the forward side to cover the pressure measurement circuit so that a circle of connecting plane of the cover, which is matched with the shape and the size of the banded region, is abutted against the glass material, and the glass material is sintered so that the obtained second glass material seals and fixes the cover on the banded region, so that a reference pressure cavity is formed by the cover and the metal elastomer.
Preferably, in the manufacturing method, an exhaust channel with one end communicated with the reference pressure cavity and the other end communicated with the side outer wall or the bottom outer wall of the base is further arranged on the base, and the manufacturing method of the pressure measuring assembly further comprises the step of sealing a sealing body to one end of the outer side of the exhaust channel after the pressure in the reference pressure cavity is the preset pressure.
Preferably, in the above manufacturing method, the frit further covers at least a part of the pressure measurement circuit and/or at least a part of a portion of the electrical lead-out portion located within the reference pressure chamber.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of a pressure measurement assembly of a first embodiment;
FIG. 2 is a top view of a portion of the structure of the pressure measurement assembly of the first embodiment;
FIG. 3 is an enlarged view of portion A shown in FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a second embodiment of a pressure measurement assembly;
FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the pressure measurement assembly of the second embodiment taken along B-B of FIG. 4;
FIG. 6 is a top view of a portion of the structure of a pressure measurement assembly of a second embodiment;
FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a portion of the construction of a pressure measurement assembly of a second embodiment;
The reference numerals illustrate 100, pressure sensor, 110, pressure chamber, 11, diaphragm, 12, base, 13, connection, 14, insulating layer, 151, electrical connection, 152, electrical lead-out portion, 153, bonding pad, 15a, piezo-resistor, 15b, piezo-resistor, 15, pressure measuring circuit, 16, positioning groove, 17a, lateral channel, 17b, longitudinal channel, 17c, inner end, 17d, outer end, 17, vent channel, 1, metal elastomer, 20, reference pressure chamber, 22, longitudinal extension, 2, cover, 3, insulating connection material, 4, external connection lead, 5, seal, 141, first portion, 142, second portion, 21, lateral extension, 22, longitudinal extension, 23, straight portion.
Detailed Description
The technical solutions of the present application will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following examples are illustrative only and are not to be construed as limiting the application. In the following description, the same reference numerals are used to designate the same or equivalent elements, and duplicate descriptions are omitted.
In the description of the present application, it should be understood that the directions or positional relationships indicated by the terms "upper", "lower", "inner", "outer", "left", "right", etc. are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the drawings, or the directions or positional relationships in which the product of the present application is conventionally put in use, or the directions or positional relationships in which those skilled in the art conventionally understand are merely for convenience of describing the present application and for simplifying the description, and are not indicative or implying that the apparatus or element to be referred to must have a specific direction, be constructed and operated in a specific direction, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the present application.
In addition, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally connected, mechanically connected, electrically connected, directly connected, or indirectly connected via an intermediate medium, or may be in communication with the interior of two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood as appropriate by those of ordinary skill in the art.
It should be further understood that the term "and/or" as used in the present description and the corresponding claims refers to any and all possible combinations of one or more of the listed items.
Please refer to fig. 1 and 2. In a first embodiment of the invention, the pressure measuring assembly comprises a metal elastomer 1. The metal elastic body 1 includes a diaphragm 11 extending in the lateral direction and a loop of base 12 integrally connected to the edge of the diaphragm 11 and extending toward the back side. The base 12 and the side of the diaphragm 11 facing away from each other enclose a pressure chamber 110 for receiving a pressure medium to be measured and having an opening. The front side of the base 12 and the front side of the membrane 11 preferably lie in the same transverse plane, which has a greater thickness than the membrane 11 in the longitudinal direction and thus a greater rigidity with respect to the membrane 11, which makes the strain of the front side of the base 12 negligible with respect to the strain of the front side of the membrane 11 when the membrane 11 is subjected to a medium pressure from the rear side. Wherein the radially inner portion of the back side end of the base 12 may continue downward to form a connection 13 with an external element.
Wherein, the surface of the metal elastomer 1 on the positive side is provided with a round insulating layer 14, and the surface of the insulating layer 14 is provided with a pressure measuring circuit 15. The pressure measurement circuit 15 may comprise two piezoresistors 15a and two piezoresistors 15b, and an electrical connection 151, the four piezoresistors being configured by the electrical connection 151 as a wheatstone bridge in the form of a full bridge, two of the piezoresistors 15a being located in the low strain region and the other two piezoresistors 15b being located in the high strain region (closer to the center of the diaphragm 11 than the low strain region). Thus, when the pressure medium to be measured in the pressure chamber 110 applies a certain pressure to the diaphragm, the wheatstone full bridge outputs a corresponding electrical signal under the drive of the power source, for example, the wheatstone full bridge is electrically connected to the outside through four (the number of which is related to the structure of the pressure measurement circuit) electrical lead-out portions 152 provided on the surface of the insulating layer 14, wherein two electrical lead-out portions 152 are connected to both ends of the power source, and the other two electrical lead-out portions 152 output electrical signals. In other embodiments, the pressure measuring circuit 15 may have any other suitable structure, for example, it may include two wheatstone half-bridges combined together, where the two piezoresistors 15a may be disposed on other elements instead of the front side of the metal elastic body 1, so that the resistance thereof changes to zero. The varistor may be a thick film varistor, a metal strain gauge, a silicon strain gauge, or the like, and in this embodiment, the varistor is preferably a thick film varistor, which may be sintered on the surface of the insulating layer 14 on the forward side.
The pressure measuring assembly of the present embodiment further comprises a cover 2. The cover 2 covers the center portion of the diaphragm 11 from the forward side, is connected to the forward side of the diaphragm 11 through a ring of insulating connecting material 3 (see fig. 3), and encloses a reference pressure chamber 20 with the diaphragm 11. The pressure measurement circuit 15 is arranged inside the reference pressure chamber 20 so as to avoid contact with the external environment. The pressure measurement assembly further includes a plurality of pads 153 disposed on the surface of the insulating layer 14. These pads 153 are located outside the reference pressure chamber 20, which is connected to the pressure measurement circuit 15 inside the reference pressure chamber 20 through the electrical lead-out portion 152, which is connectable to an external device through the external connection lead 4.
The cover 2 may comprise a lateral extension 21 and a longitudinal extension 22 extending from the edge of the lateral extension 21 towards one side of the metal elastomer 1, wherein the lateral extension 21 may be circular and the longitudinal extension 22 is correspondingly annular. The bottom of the longitudinal extension 22 is sealingly secured by a sintered second vitreous material to the insulating layer 14 and to an annular region (not labeled) on the forward side of the electrical lead-out portion 152 that spans the inner and outer sides of the reference pressure chamber 20 from the electrical lead-out portion 152. The insulating layer 14 is a first vitreous material, such as glass or glaze, sintered on the surface of the metal elastic body 1 on the forward side, and may be organic or ceramic under the condition that the process is allowable. The insulating connecting material 3 is preferably a sintered second vitreous material, such as glass or enamel, which in other embodiments may also be a glue with insulating properties. Wherein the insulating connecting material 3 may cover, in addition to the above-mentioned annular area, at least a part of the pressure measuring circuit 15 and/or the portion of the electrical lead-out portion 152 located in the reference pressure chamber 20, thereby providing a certain protection of the above-mentioned part of the pressure measuring circuit 15 and/or the electrical lead-out portion 152. In the present embodiment, the insulating connecting material 3 may cover the entire annular region and the inner side thereof to form a complete circular region S1.
Wherein the cover 2 may be metal, but in this embodiment is preferably a ceramic or glass product, so that the cover 2 may be better bonded with the second vitreous material.
Preferably, the base 12 is provided with an exhaust passage 17 having one end connected to the reference pressure chamber 20 and the other end connected to the outer wall of the base 12. The outer end 17d of the exhaust passage 17 is sealed by a sealing body 5. More preferably, at least one longitudinally extending detent 16 may be formed on the outer wall of the base 12 to provide circumferential positioning with an external component or device. The outer end 17d of the exhaust passage 17 may be disposed at the bottom of the positioning groove 16 and sealed by a sealing body 5. The seal may be a steel ball which may be secured and sealed to the base 12 by welding. The exhaust passage 17 may include a transverse passage 17a and a longitudinal passage 17b that communicate. The end of the longitudinal channel 17b remote from the transverse channel 17a extends towards the forward side and communicates to the reference pressure chamber 20. The end of the transverse channel 17a remote from the longitudinal channel 17b extends transversely to the outer wall of the base 12. In particular, the outer wall of the base 12 is provided with at least one longitudinally extending positioning groove 16 for positioning with an external element. The outer end 17d of the exhaust passage 17 penetrates to the positioning groove 16 and is sealed by a sealing body 5.
The pressure measurement assembly of the embodiment can be obtained by the following manufacturing method:
Providing a metal elastomer 1, wherein the metal elastomer 1 comprises a circle of base 12 formed by integrally connecting a transversely extending diaphragm 11 to the edge of the diaphragm 11 and extending towards one back side, wherein the base 12 and one back side of the diaphragm 11 enclose a pressure cavity 110 for accommodating a pressure medium to be tested and provided with an opening;
The insulating layer 14 is manufactured by coating a layer of first glass slurry on the surface of the positive side of the metal elastomer 1, drying and sintering the first glass slurry;
The conductive layer is manufactured by coating conductive paste on the surface of the insulating layer 14, drying and sintering the conductive paste. Wherein the conductive layer includes an electrical connection portion 151, a plurality of electrical lead-out portions 152, and a plurality of pads 153;
The thick film piezoresistor is manufactured by coating thick film piezoresistor paste on the surface of the insulating layer 14, drying and sintering. The thick film piezoresistor is connected with the electric connection part 151 to form a pressure measuring circuit for measuring the pressure of the pressure medium to be measured in the pressure cavity 110. The pad 153 is electrically connected to the pressure measurement circuit through the electrical lead-out portion 152;
Disposing a layer of frit on at least one turn of the ribbon area of insulating layer 14 that spans electrical lead-out portion 152;
a ceramic cover 2 is positioned to cover the pressure measurement circuit from the forward side. So that a round of connecting plane of the end of the cover 2 facing away from the ribbon-like area, which plane is adapted to the shape and size of the ribbon-like area, abuts against the frit. Sintering the frit so that the second vitreous material obtained seals and fixes the cap 2 on the band-shaped zone to enclose the cap 2 and the metal elastomer 1 into a reference pressure chamber 20;
Preferably, the base 12 is further provided with a vent channel 17 having one end connected to the reference pressure chamber 20 and the other end connected to the side or bottom outer wall of the base 12. Correspondingly, the manufacturing method of the pressure measuring assembly further comprises the step of sealing a sealing body 5 to the outer side end 17d of the exhaust channel 17 after the pressure in the reference pressure cavity 20 is the preset pressure. When the pressure in the reference pressure chamber 20 is set to a predetermined pressure, a protective gas such as nitrogen may be introduced into the pressure chamber 110.
Please refer to fig. 4 to fig. 7. The pressure measurement assembly of the second embodiment of the present invention may be modified as compared to the first embodiment as follows:
Unlike the longitudinal extension 22 of the first embodiment, which is annular, the longitudinal extension 22 of the present embodiment has one straight portion 23, and the straight portion 23 is disposed across the front side of the electrical outlet portion 152, which allows for a larger disposition space for the pads 153 and allows the pads 153 to be disposed side by side for connection with external devices. Accordingly, the insulating connecting material 3 is not provided to cover the circular region S1, but to cover the region S2 composed of the arc-shaped band-shaped region S21 and the straight band-shaped region S22.
Unlike the first embodiment in which the outer side end 17d of the exhaust passage 17 is provided on the outer wall of the base 12, the exhaust passage 17 of the present embodiment has the outer side end 17d extending longitudinally directly to the back side surface of the base 12, and the back side surface of the base 12 is easily provided as a flat surface, thus facilitating the installation of the sealing body 5.
In addition, in the present embodiment, the insulating layer 14 may include a first portion 141 that is substantially annular in shape provided on the back side of the pressure measurement circuit 15 and the electric lead-out portion 152, and a second portion 142 provided on the back side of S2. The insulating layer 14 does not cover the inner end 17c of the exhaust passage 17 at 17 d.
Also, the insulating connecting material 3 of the present embodiment may cover at least a part of the portion of the pressure measurement circuit 15 and/or the electrical lead-out portion 152 located in the reference pressure chamber 20 in addition to the covering region S2, so that the portion inside the reference pressure chamber 20 can be protected at the same time when the connecting cover 2 is connected to 1 by the insulating connecting material 3. More directly, it may cover all other parts than the edge of the insulating layer 14.
The scope of the present disclosure is defined not by the detailed description but by the claims and their equivalents, and all modifications within the scope of the claims and their equivalents are to be construed as being included in the present disclosure.