Patent ID: 6901795

Claim:
An oscillating hot wire sensor to measure flow, comprising: an oscillating substrate; at least two conductive hot wire prongs having a first end attached to the oscillating substrate and a second end extending above the oscillating substrate; a hot wire attached and stretched across the hot wire prong second ends; sensor leads comprising first sensor lead ends and second sensor lead ends, the first sensor lead ends attached to the first hot wire prong ends; constant temperature anemometry (CTA) circuitry connected to the second sensor lead ends; means for the oscillating substrate to oscillate the substrate at a frequency greater than a characteristic cycle frequency of the flow to be measured, at a frequency less than a CTA bandwidth frequency, and such that a frequency and amplitude (A w ) of oscillation are sufficiently large to be detected; and means to obtain two measurements during an oscillation cycle when the hot wire is at its maximum oscillation velocity.