Gas Sensor Contact Members Protruding Outer End Surfaces
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing gas sensors are prone to detachment at the interfaces between contact members and element pads, leading to contact failures, which affects the reliability and stability of sensor output.
Innovation Solution
The gas sensor design includes contact members with outer end surfaces protruding from the sensor element, reducing the width of the sensor element while maintaining suitable distances between adjacent contact members, thereby preventing detachment and contact failures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If contact members have the same widths as element pads, then the sensor element width can be minimized, but detachment occurs at the interfaces between contact members and element pads leading to contact failures
Solution Approach 1:
The contact members are designed with different widths than the element pads, creating an asymmetric interface. Specifically, the contact members have greater width than the element pads, which increases the contact area and prevents detachment at the interfaces, thereby improving contact reliability without requiring increased sensor element width
Solution Approach 2:
The solution moves from considering only the width dimension to incorporating the depth dimension by making contact members protrude from the end surface of the sensor element. This three-dimensional configuration increases the contact area and mechanical interlocking without increasing the planar width of the sensor element
2Reliability
If contact members protrude from the sensor element, then detachment is prevented and contact reliability is improved, but the sensor element width increases
Solution Approach 1:
The contact members are designed with non-uniform width distribution along their length, with the width being greater at the contact interface with element pads and tapering toward the protruding end. This local variation in quality optimizes the contact area for reliability while minimizing the overall area occupied by the contact members
Data Source
AI summary
A gas sensor includes: a sensor element; a plurality of element pads formed on a rear end portion of the sensor element; and a plurality of contact members holding the rear end portion of the sensor element and electrically connected respectively to the plurality of element pads. The plurality of contact members include contact members that each have an outer end surface protruding out from a corresponding one of end surfaces of the sensor element.