Aerostrip - pressure sensor strip for Aerodynamics

The PPS Aerostrip provides a simple and convenient replacement for traditional pressure tapping or pressure-sensitive paint. It is a low profile, rapidly deployable air pressure sensing strip for aerodynamic measurement and surface optimization for motorsport and aerospace applications.

The AeroStrip consists of an extremely thin strip of sensors that can be applied, and reapplied, non-destructively to test surfaces for pressure measurement due to reusable masked adhesive backing. It has comparable accuracy to pressure tapping in subsonic flow, but with a tiny fraction of the setup time and cost.

With Aerostrip, you can quickly take non-destructive outside pressure measurements from control surfaces, live or in a wind tunnel, enabling faster turnaround and optimization of aerodynamic components

Pressure Strip Features

• Accuracy - Comparable accuracy to conventional pressure tapping in subsonic wind tunnel testing.

• Wireless and wired options available with LabView integration.

• Flexibility - A minimum bend radius down to 5 mm in both axes, enabling use on realistic curved surfaces, with an ultra low profile design (<1.5mm) for minimal flow disturbance.

• Easy Mounting - Reusable adhesive coating, allowing the system to be applied and reapplied multiple times.

• High-resolution temperature compensated measurements down to 0.025 Pa over a 26 to 126 kPa range, with 200 Hz sampling rate suitable for visualising flow separation.

• Customisable Active area - Available in multiple sizes and pitches, with the ability to be cascaded, the Aerostrip range can easily balance coverage with spatial resolution.

Product Description

The AeroStrip system can stream back data over USB or a wireless Bluetooth link. The USB accumulator box supports 8 AeroStrips. The wireless accumulator supports 2 AeroStrips each with 12 elements. As such the active sensing area can be customised, depending on the strip orientation, providing either a long strip, a wide pad, or distributed sensing as required.

Data can be visualised and recorded using PPS Chameleon software, or using a LabView plugin for seamless integration into existing measurement architectures.

Setup time is measured in minutes, as opposed to days for pressure taps, and is non-destructive as Aerostrip does not require holes drilled into the surface under test.

AeroStrip Technical Specifications

CASE STUDY - AEROSTRIP Vs. Pressure Taps

Aerostrip has been externally validated against commercial pressure taps using sub-sonic S-Ducts in a wind-tunnel as a test case.

With the reference to the image provided, there is an excellent agreement between the Aerostrip and the pressure taps showing that meaningful and accurate measurements can be made with a fraction of the effort of setting up pressure taps. The low profile design minimizes the flow disturbance, giving clarity to additional measurements downstream.

"The sensor strip is significantly smaller than conventional pressure sensors while maintaining high levels of accuracy and precision. The compact design of the sensor strip allows for easy deployment on existing cars, and its small size minimizes the effect on the aerodynamic drag of the vehicle."

FULL RESEARCH ARTICLE - Automotive Aerodynamics Sensing Using Low-Profile Pressure Sensor Strip - Published July 2023