Patent ID: 7263882

Claim:
A method of assessing a property of a fluid flowing in a fluid system installed on a vehicle, the method comprising the steps of: flowing at least a portion of the fluid through a passage within a freestanding portion of a micromachined tube supported above a substrate so as to define a gap therebetween; vibrating the freestanding portion of the micromachined tube at a resonant frequency thereof; sensing the movement of the freestanding portion of the micromachined tube so as to measure at least one of the vibration frequency and deflection of the freestanding portion relative to the substrate and produce therefrom at least one output corresponding to at least one of the mass flow rate, specific gravity, and density of the portion of the fluid flowing through the passage; using the output to compute the property of the fluid; and then modifying at least one of the fluid system and the vehicle based on the computed property of the fluid.