Fabrication of flexible micro-sensors and flow field of stainless steel-based micro-reformer by micro-electro-mechanical-systems process

Recent advances in micro-fuel cells have increased the demand for hydrogen. Therefore, a micro-reformer must be developed. Numerous portable electric devices are extremely small and reformers must therefore be shrunk and combined with micro-fuel cells. The mass production of micro-reformers raises various problems that are yet to be solved, such as the measurement of their internal temperature and flow rate. Such issues influence the efficiency of the micro-reformers. To our knowledge, no investigation has yet properly elucidated the internal operation of micro-reformers. Accordingly, in this work, a flexible micro-temperature sensor, a micro-heater, a micro-flow sensor and the flow field of a stainless steel-based micro-reformer were fabricated by micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) fabrication technique. The fabrication technique has the advantages of (1) small size, (2) flexible but precise measurement positions, and (3) mass production process.