Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), in collaboration with the University of North Texas, proposes to design and develop a multimodal sens…
Office of NEPA Policy and Compliance
August 29, 2019
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Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), in collaboration with the University of North Texas, proposes to design and develop a multimodal sensor for measurements of critical process parameters in advanced non-light water-cooled nuclear power plants (NPPs) for the early detection and characterization of atypical operating conditions. This project focuses on the development of an integrated sensor concept that simultaneously measures temperature, pressure, and gas composition from the same sensor platform using surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices. The project proposes to develop an economic SAW sensing module for the detection of hydrogen, xenon, and krypton gases using aluminum nitride (AlN) thin film coated silicon substrate. The tasks associated with this project are (1) Design of the AlN-based SAW temperature and pressure sensor; (2) Design of the SAW gas sensor; (3) Thin film fabrication and experimental pressure, temperature, and gas composition testing; and (4) Data analytics. Existing laboratory facilities and equipment will be used.