Micromachined thermal imaging mesh for conformal sensing system

Abstract

In this paper we present the development of micromachined thermal imaging mesh for conformal sensing system. The imaging mesh consists of an m-by-n matrix of gold thermal resistor network. The sensing and processing scheme allows us to image the presence of a localized heat source over a broad piece of imaging mesh. At the same time, this approach dramatically reduces the number of sensors hence the wiring required to image a given area. The mesh is fabricated on a piece of freestanding flexible polyimide fabric. Serpentine structure is specially designed to improve the conformability of the fabric to 3D objects. Thermal imaging data are presented in this paper