Sensing temperature with heat
Themes: High Tech
Late prototype
A TRL is a measure to indicate the matureness of a developing technology. When an innovative idea is discovered it is often not directly suitable for application. Usually such novel idea is subjected to further experimentation, testing and prototyping before it can be implemented. The image below shows how to read TRL’s to categorise the innovative ideas.
Click to enlarge
Why?
CPU's can overheat and self-destruct. Preventing this requires tens of temperature sensors. Since CPU area is very expensive, such sensors need to be very small and, to save further costs, not require calibration.
How?
The diffusion time of heat through silicon is used to measure temperature. Since chips are made from highly pure silicon, the sensor is very accurate. A tiny (1650 µm²) sensor achieved an (uncalibrated) error of only 1.4°C
When?
Professor Makinwa is the first to successfully use this principle in a practical prototype. The resulting sensor is 5x smaller and 3x more accurate than all commercial alternatives.
Prof. dr. Kofi Makinwa