Design, calibration and operational error analysis of a heat flux sensor

In this paper, we present a gradient based heat flux sensor. It consists of platinum resistances deposited on a glass substrate. The dimensions of are 5 mm x 5 mm x 0.5 mm. The sensor can be embedded in a dedicated housing. The calibration test bench, method, uncertainties and results are presented. This sensor can measure heat fluxes in steady state mode up to 8000W/m(2) and can withstand 100 degrees C. The results were found to be consistent with reference heat fluxes. The operational error caused by the sensor is addressed by numerical parametric studies. The influence of different wall thermal properties is studied. Different radiative and convective conditions are also simulated. Finally, the influence of connecting wires is analyzed. In some specific cases, the sensor does not influence the measurement. In all other cases, correction factors are derived. It is shown that radiative heat transfer and connecting wires can have a strong influence on correction factors.