APPLICATION OF MEMS-HVAC SYSTEMS

INTRODUCTION:
HVAC stands for Heating, Ventilating, and Air Conditioning. HVAC systems are milestones of building mechanical
systems that provide thermal comfort for occupants accompanied with indoor air quality. Primary HVAC
equipment includes heating equipment, ventilation equipment, and cooling or air-conditioning equipment.
HVAC system is designed to achieve the environmental requirements of the comfort of occupants and a process.
The basic components or equipment of an HVAC system that delivers conditioned air to satisfy thermal comfort
of space and occupants and achieve the indoor air quality are listed below:
1. Mixed-air plenum and outdoor air control
2. Air filter
3. Supply fan
4. Exhaust or relief fans and an air outlet
5. Outdoor air intake
6. Ducts
7. Terminal devices
8. Return air system
9. Heating and cooling coils
10. Self-contained heating or cooling unit
11. Cooling tower
12. Boiler
13. Control
14. Water chiller
15. Humidification and de-humidification equipment
Fig: A typical HVAC schematic

NEED OF MEMS IN HVAC SYSTEMS:

More and more buildings are installing automation systems to reduce energy costs and shrink their carbon
footprint. Demand for heating, ventilation and air conditioning control is a major element of this growth trend,
driven by efficiency and the need to improve air quality in the workplace. Building energy usage makes up
approximately 40% of total energy consumption in developed countries and is one of the largest worldwide
polluters.
Increasingly efficient Heating Ventilating and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems are essential to reduce energy
consumption.
In HVAC systems, the ability to track volumetric pressures and flow rates in rooms and lines is decisive when it
comes to operating heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems efficiently and economically. Pressure
sensors are a core element for controlling the systems. In order to comply with stringent legal requirements as
well as minimize energy costs, there is a need for ever-decreasing measuring ranges along with greater
measuring sensitivities, long-term stabilities and accuracies of the sensors.
A sensor fabricated with MEMS technology possesses features such as minimum power consumption and space
required by the sensor with increased reliability. MEMS sensors provide a wide range of advantages over the
conventional ones. Thus, MEMS integrated HVAC systems offer an efficient way to manage HVAC systems and
reducing the energy consumption.
MEMS SENSORS USED IN HVAC:
1. Pressure sensors:
Pressure sensors are used in compressors, boilers, coolers, heat recovery systems, burner control, and variable
air volume systems. They monitor rooms and filters for drops in pressure which may indicate that the system
needs maintenance. Monitoring pressure is also useful for optimizing air flow, heating and cooling. MEMS
pressure sensors like piezoresistive and capacitive are used in HVAC systems. First Sensor’s flow-based
LDE/LME/LMI differential pressure sensors work based on the principle of thermal mass flow measurement of
air which is conducted through a tiny flow channel integrated within the sensor chip. This novel sensor
technology allows for highly sensitive measurement of ultra-low pressures from 25 Pa (0.25 mbar) full scale with
offset stability and ultra-high resolution. Given the minimal gas flow, the sensors are highly resistant to
humidity, dust and long connection tubes. First Sensor also offers membrane-based piezoresistive pressure
sensors from the HCLA and HCL series that integrate low position sensitivity with high offset stability due to a
unique internal compensation technique. The silicon MEMS sensors provide digital and analog interfaces and
attain pressure / linear signal characteristic curves for pressure measuring ranges from 2.5 mbar full scale.

Capacitive Pressure Sensor and Piezorestive Pressure sensor

2. Temperature sensors:
MEMS infra-red sensors, based on measuring temperature, can detect stationary heat-emitting objects as well
as those in motion, a major advantage over the PIR detectors traditionally used. Furthermore, they are able to
do much more, such as measuring the overall room temperature, and even the temperature in specific zones of
the space in which they are deployed. For example, it is possible to envisage a reception area where the
temperature in the waiting area is monitored and kept at a comfortable level for visitors, whilst the temperature
in the area near the exit is purposely kept lower to reduce heat emissions through the doors.
Conventional PIRs use the pyroelectric effect to sense people or animals in its field of view. As the pyroelectric
phenomenon is a temporary change in a material’s structure during heating or cooling, the detection circuitry
depends on measuring a difference in the heat pattern. They detect motion rather than presence. New thermal
sensors based on micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) do not suffer this disadvantage. MEMS
thermopiles, essentially nano-scale arrays of thermocouples, measure the actual temperature of the sources
rather than a differential value, so they detect people in a room even when they are not moving. In a typical
building automation system, such sensors can also provide a primary input to such systems, sending analogue or
digital signals direct to a controller. MEMS sensors, like Omron’s new D6T, measures temperature across the
whole field of view, contrasting with conventional thermal sensors that are restricted to measurements at a
single point. Configured as an array the sensor can assign temperature information to a specific cell, adding a
positional dimension to its presence and temperature data. The result is higher accuracy, lower crosstalk and a
wider field of view. Using several sensors in a room multiplies these benefits: a quad 4-x4 array sensor module
can be used to obtain higher resolution or broader coverage, for example identifying a person’s location within
1m across a 16m² area. The technology behind these new thermal sensors combines a high-performance silicon
lens to focus the infrared rays onto its thermopiles with a MEMS micro-mirror structure to prevent radiation loss
for efficient thermal detection. Proprietary application-specific integrated circuits then make the necessary
computations and convert sensor signals into meaningful digital outputs. The result is high degC accuracy with
low crosstalk and excellent noise immunity (measured as noise equivalent temperature difference) of 140mK.
Larger 16x16 MEMS sensor arrays are currently being developed, which will provide still finer control. With
enhanced coverage and resolution, output data can be processed for example to distinguish between people
standing and sitting in its range. The system could also identify hotspots, indicating fire hazards or faulty
machinery such as a jammed conveyor or overheating motor.

Omron D6T MEMS Thermal IR Sensor

3. Airflow Sensors:
It measures the mass of air flowing through the device per unit time. A typical Thermal Mass Flow Meter
upgraded for gaseous medium can be used for air flow measurement.
A simple variant of this technology has been used to create Omron Electronic component's MEMS airflow
sensors that are more accurate than conventional devices, and operate on much lower airflows. By adding a
micro-miniature heating element in between two thermopiles, the sensor measures flow by the shift in the
resulting hot spot. Temperature difference between the two thermopiles is directly proportional to the mass
flow across the sensor chip.

Fig: Air flow measurement principle

The flow rate is detected by the MEMS thermal mass flow sensor. If no gas flows over the sensor surface, the
symmetric thermopiles measure the same rise in temperature, resulting in the same output voltage of the two
thermopiles. If a non-zero gas flows from the inlet to the outlet of the meter, the velocity of a fully-developed
laminar air flow unbalances the temperature profile around the heater and heat is transferred from upstream
thermopiles to the downstream thermopiles, causing a change in the voltages of the thermopiles. Larger gas
flow rates result in larger asymmetry in the temperature profile.

3. Humidity Sensors:
Humidity is the measure of the amount of water vapor present in the air. Humidity Sensors are the low cost-
sensitive electronic devices used to measure the humidity of the air. These are also known as Hygrometers.
Humidity measurement doesn’t measure humidity directly. They depend on the measurement of quantities such
as temperature, pressure, mass, resistivity to calculate humidity. Digital sensors measure the change in
resistivity and conductivity values to calculate the humidity. MEMS sensors based on capacitive principle are
used in HVAC systems. These sensors output the digital values which makes them easy to interface and use with
microcontrollers such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi boards. These sensors proved to be a very useful tool for the
safety of sensitive electronic equipment which is less tolerable to the environmental changes.
4. Other sensors:
Variable air volume (VAV) systems equipped with MEMS silicon control valve where fluids pass through and are
controlled by the micro machined silicon features, where the dumper can regulate the airflow in ducts and thus,
achieve noiseless and efficient control. The compact sensor element measures mass flow directly, and most
models for air measurement are protected by a unique dust segregation system to avoid long-term performance
degradation in contaminated environments. To help improve air quality further, these devices can also be used
to detect clogged filters in ventilation and air-conditioning systems, thereby improving reliability and efficiency.
Omron offers fully calibrated and temperature compensated sensors to measure flows of a range of non-
corrosive gases including natural gas, propane, oxygen, nitrous oxide and air. CCTV cameras can be directed to
investigate the presence of occupants in an area that should be unoccupied. They could be configured to detect
the presence of people in front of a lift entrance; by processing the sensor outputs to sense the direction of
motion it is also possible to use IR sensors to cancel a lift call if nearby people walk away. In busy offices, car
parks and retail stores, the energy saved on wasted lift trips can be significant.

ADVANTAGES OF MEMS TECHNOLOGY IN HVAC SYSTEMS:

 Helps to achieve more efficient control.
 Pinpoint precision along with foolproof detection
 Significant reduction in size and weight.
 Less power consumption.
 Intelligent features like ready integration with processing systems, smart control and connectivity.
 High Signal-to-Noise ratio ensures smooth operation.

Fig: Pressure, Temperature, Humidity and Flow sensors integrated on single chip using MEMS technology
DISADVANTAGES OF MEMS SENSORS:
 Initial establishment requires huge investment.
 Due to their small dimensions, MEMS sensors are not able to withstand large power operations.

APPLICATION OF MEMS IN HVAC SYSTEMS:

Owing to their dominant features over conventional sensors, MEMS are widely used in HVAC systems for air
flow monitoring, differential pressure measurement, temperature monitoring and establishment of intelligent
control.
MEMS devices are easily integrated with monitoring systems to analyze the performance of the system. The use
of MEMS sensors in HVAC systems accounts to simple, light weight systems with increased reliability and
effective power saving.
The conventional sensors tend to measure relative or differential data to compute the parameters. This
measurement technique is not effective as the actual values may deviate due to disturbances. MEMS sensors do
not suffer this drawback. An array of micro scale sensors measure the actual value and are very useful for
minute detection.
As the HVAC systems account for 40% of total power consumption, small energy savings like
1. Temperature setting according to the occupancy of room;
2. Optimized air flow regulation;
3. Avoidance of false lift calling;
4. Prevention of heat escape;
Results into significant reduction of energy.