New MEMS technologies for integrated vehicle health management and fluid sensing applications

The purpose of this paper is to present an embedded MEMs fluid sensing embedded detection system that incorporates new nondestructive inspection (NDI) sensors for the advancement of diagnostics, prognostics, and health management of complex aircraft system and hardware. With the advent of MEMS NDI sensors, it is now possible to embed these sensors for detection of fuel leaks, moisture intrusion, hydraulic fluid leaks and pressure loss across all aircraft environments. This new NDI embedded detection technology can be used to validate and improve (SHM) Structural Health Management, and integrates concepts and hardware from MEMS and nano-optical technology with spectrometers and microfluidic and wireless capabilities. This paper highlights nano- inspection MEMS Device (NIMD) concepts and their application to SHM system development.