Advanced flow measurement and active flow control of aircraft with MEMS

Advanced flow measurement and active flow control need the development of new type devices and systems. Micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technologies become the important and feasible approach for micro transducers fabrication. This paper introduces research works of MEMS/NEMS Lab in flow measurement sensors and active flow control actuators. Micro sensors include the flexible thermal sensor array, capacitive shear stress sensor and high sensitivity pressure sensor. Micro actuators are the balloon actuator and synthetic jet actuator respectively. Through wind tunnel test, these micro transducers achieve the goals of shear stress and pressure distribution measurement, boundary layer separation control, lift enhancement, etc. And unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) flight test verifies the ability of maneuver control of micro actuator. In the future work, micro sensor and actuator can be combined into a closed-loop control system to construct aerodynamic smart skin system for aircraft.