Design and Fabrication of MEMS Fluxgate Current Sensor with High Reliability and Low Cost for Train Health Monitoring

Abstract

A great many sensors are utilized to monitor the running parameters in the train in order to maintain a healthy operating status. Among all the sensors, current sensors play an irreplaceable role in power electronic control system. At present, the current sensor based on fluxgate working principle is becoming more and more important in the field of railway transit measurement. However, traditional fluxgate current sensor shows some drawbacks, large volume and weight, great error in the assembly, high lost, etc. The Micro Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) technology focusing on electroplating process is widely used to fabricate the miniaturized fluxgate current sensor, which is not friendly to the environment and inefficient. Moreover, the production cost is high. In order to solve these problems above, the paper proposed a Through Silicon Vias (TSV) filling technology combined with MEMS technology to fabricate the micro fluxgate sensor, which can not only greatly reduce the volume and weight, but also can lower the producing cost and improve the performance. It can fully meet the requirements of current sensor for railway transit in miniaturization, integration, intelligence and high reliability.