Claims
- 1. A crossflow sensor for measuring the behavior of crossflow vorticity over a laminar surface comprising:
- a plurality of crossflow sensors;
- a means for non-invasively adhering said crossflow sensors to said laminar surface;
- a means for sensing heat transfer rate changes caused by crossflow vorticity in said crossflow sensors;
- a means for arranging said crossflow sensors on said laminar surface to measure crossflow vorticity as a function of said heat transfer rate changes.
- 2. The device of claim 1 wherein said crossflow sensors comprise hot-film sensors mounted on a thermoplastic film sheet.
- 3. The device of claim 2 wherein said hot-film sensors comprise a metal heat sensor mounted on a polyimide film sheet.
- 4. The device of claim 3 wherein said metal heat sensor is constructed of nickel.
- 5. The device of claim 1 wherein said means for arranging said crossflow sensors on said laminar surface is a multi-element strip which in non-invasively adhered to said laminar surface, said multi-element strip having said crossflow sensors affixed thereto in an arrayed pattern, said affixed crossflow sensors being oriented in the direction of a freestream to detect relative changes in downstream crossflow vorticity amplitude in the downstream direction.
- 6. The device of claim 1 wherein the thickness of said crossflow sensor is less than h, where h is defined by the following equation: ##EQU2## where R' is the unit Reynolds number of the freestream, whereby a local turbulence transition is avoided and no contamination of downstream crossflow vorticity measurements occurs.
- 7. The device of claim 1 wherein said means for sensing heat transfer rate changes is a constant temperature anemometer circuit.
- 8. The device of claim 1 wherein said means for arranging said crossflow sensors on said laminar surface is a multi-element strip which is non-invasively adhered to said laminar surface and has said crossflow sensors affixed thereto in a polar pattern to determine the frequency and wave angles of moving crossflow vortices.
- 9. The device of claim 1 wherein said means for arranging said crossflow sensor on said laminary surface is a multi-element strip which is non-invasively adhered to said laminar surface and has said crossflow sensors affixed thereto in an orthogonal pattern to determine the frequency and wave angles of moving crossflow vortices.
ORIGIN OF THE INVENTION
The invention described herein was made jointly in the performance of work under NASA Grant No. NAG-1-387 with the Old Dominion Research Foundation and employees of the U.S. Government. In accordance with 35 USC 202, the grantee elected not to retain title.
US Referenced Citations (4)