{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T04:23:08Z","timestamp":1760242988576,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2015,4,17]],"date-time":"2015-04-17T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1429228800000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Sensors"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This paper presents numerical simulation results of an airflow inclinometer with sensitivity studies and thermal optimization of the printed circuit board (PCB) layout for an airflow inclinometer based on a genetic algorithm (GA). Due to the working principle of the gas sensor, the changes of the ambient temperature may cause dramatic voltage drifts of sensors. Therefore, eliminating the influence of the external environment for the airflow is essential for the performance and reliability of an airflow inclinometer. In this paper, the mechanism of an airflow inclinometer and the influence of different ambient temperatures on the sensitivity of the inclinometer will be examined by the ANSYS-FLOTRAN CFD program. The results show that with changes of the ambient temperature on the sensing element, the sensitivity of the airflow inclinometer is inversely proportional to the ambient temperature and decreases when the ambient temperature increases. GA is used to optimize the PCB thermal layout of the inclinometer. The finite-element simulation method (ANSYS) is introduced to simulate and verify the results of our optimal thermal layout, and the results indicate that the optimal PCB layout greatly improves (by more than 50%) the sensitivity of the inclinometer. The study may be useful in the design of PCB layouts that are related to sensitivity improvement of gas sensors.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/s150409136","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,4,17]],"date-time":"2015-04-17T11:09:30Z","timestamp":1429268970000},"page":"9136-9155","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":7,"title":["Genetic Algorithm (GA)-Based Inclinometer  Layout Optimization"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Weijie","family":"Liang","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"The Faculty of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China"},{"name":"School of Computer Science and Engineering, The University of New South Wales,  2052 Sydney, Australia"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Ping","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Faculty of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China"},{"name":"Guangxi Experiment Center of Information Science, No.1 Jinji Road, Guilin 541004, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Xianping","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Faculty of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China"},{"name":"Institute of Microelectronics, Tsinghua University, 100084 Beijing, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Miao","family":"Cai","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Faculty of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Daoguo","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"The Faculty of Mechanical & Electrical Engineering, Guilin University of Electronic Technology, Guilin 541004, China"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,4,17]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"Lapadatu, D., Habibi, S., Reppen, B., Salomonsen, G., and Kvisteroy, T. (2001, January 25). Dual-axes capacitive inclinometer\/low g accelerometer for automotive applications. Proceedings of the 14th IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems, Interlaken, Switzerland."},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"134","DOI":"10.1016\/S0924-4247(97)01387-3","article-title":"Micro-mechanical inclinometer","volume":"60","author":"Mescheder","year":"1997","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators A Phys."},{"key":"ref_3","unstructured":"Dao, R., Morgan, D.E., Kries, H.H., and Bachelder, D.M. (1996). Convective accelerometer and inclinometer. (5,581,034), US Patent."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"359","DOI":"10.1016\/S0924-4247(02)00428-4","article-title":"Micromachined thermal accelerometer","volume":"103","author":"Mailly","year":"2003","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators A Phys."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"74","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sna.2008.01.003","article-title":"Characterization of miniaturized one-side-electrode-type fluid-based inclinometer","volume":"144","author":"Manaf","year":"2008","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators A Phys."},{"key":"ref_6","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"68","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sna.2005.11.022","article-title":"Micromachined gas inertial sensor based on convection heat transfer","volume":"130\u2013131","author":"Zhu","year":"2006","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators A Phys."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"78","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sna.2006.04.057","article-title":"Experimental and finite-element study of convective accelerometer on CMOS","volume":"132","author":"Chaehoi","year":"2006","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators A Phys."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"857","DOI":"10.1080\/10020070512331343030","article-title":"Natural convection gas pendulum and its application in accelerometer and tilt sensor","volume":"15","author":"Zhang","year":"2005","journal-title":"Progr. Nat. Sci."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Zhang, W., Liu, Y., and Zhang, F. (2010, January 20\u201323). Research of Anti-acceleration Disturbance for the Micromachined Airflow Inclinometer. Proceedings of the 2010 IEEE International Conference on Information and Automation, Harbin, China.","DOI":"10.1109\/ICINFA.2010.5512361"},{"key":"ref_10","first-page":"62","article-title":"Structure and signal processing technology of the dynamic airstream style tilt sensor","volume":"26","author":"Zhang","year":"2007","journal-title":"Electron. Compon. Mater."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"646","DOI":"10.1109\/JMEMS.2012.2189366","article-title":"Sensitivity Improvement of Micromachined Convective Accelerometers","volume":"21","author":"Bahari","year":"2012","journal-title":"J. Microelectromechan. Syst."},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"705","DOI":"10.1007\/s002310100266","article-title":"Thermal optimization on micromachined convective accelerometer","volume":"38","author":"Luo","year":"2002","journal-title":"Heat Mass Transf."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Ishak, M.Z., Sidek, O., Aziz, J.A., Mohd, S.K.K., and Miskam, M.A. (2011, January 28\u201330). Effect of Working Fluid, Acceleration and Heater Power on Temperature Profile inside a Thermal Convective Accelerometer. Proceedings of the 2011 IEEE Regional Symposium on Micro and Nanoelectronics (RSM), Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia.","DOI":"10.1109\/RSM.2011.6088355"},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"125","DOI":"10.1016\/S0924-4247(01)00824-X","article-title":"Micromachined inclinometer with high sensitivity and very good stability","volume":"97\u201398","author":"Billata","year":"2002","journal-title":"Sens. Actuators A Phys."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"728","DOI":"10.1109\/21.293486","article-title":"Efficient local search with search space smoothing: A case study of the traveling salesman problem (TSP)","volume":"24","author":"Gu","year":"1994","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Syst. Man Cybern."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"767","DOI":"10.1016\/j.asoc.2007.06.005","article-title":"Mining gene structures to inject artificial chromosomes for genetic algorithm in single machine scheduling problems","volume":"8","author":"Chang","year":"2008","journal-title":"Appl. Soft Comput."},{"key":"ref_17","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"3275","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ins.2008.04.005","article-title":"Path planning on a cuboid using genetic algorithms","volume":"178","author":"Aybars","year":"2008","journal-title":"Inform. Sci."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6995","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eswa.2008.08.026","article-title":"Study of genetic algorithm with reinforcement learning to solve the TSP","volume":"36","author":"Liu","year":"2009","journal-title":"Expert Syst. Appl."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1863","DOI":"10.1016\/j.eswa.2009.07.066","article-title":"Dynamic diversity control in genetic algorithm for mining unsearched solution space in TSP problems","volume":"37","author":"Chang","year":"2010","journal-title":"Expert Syst. Appl."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"321","DOI":"10.1016\/S0925-5273(98)00010-3","article-title":"A genetic algorithm-based planning system for PCB component placement","volume":"54","author":"Khoo","year":"1998","journal-title":"Int. J. Prod. Econ."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"453","DOI":"10.1016\/j.microrel.2010.08.019","article-title":"Application of genetic algorithms for electronic devices placement in structures with heat conduction through the substrate","volume":"51","author":"Felczak","year":"2011","journal-title":"Microelectron. Reliabil."},{"key":"ref_22","unstructured":"Karaki, S.H., Kayssi, A.I., Abdouni, B., and Raad, M.-C. (2002, January 11\u201313). Capacitor Placement using Genetic Algorithms to Reduce Switching Noise. Proceedings of the 14th International Conference on Microelectronics, Beirut, Lebanon."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1016\/S0360-8352(01)00062-6","article-title":"Multiple setup PCB assembly planning using genetic algorithms","volume":"42","author":"Deoa","year":"2002","journal-title":"Comput. Ind. Eng."},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Lall, B.S., Ortega, A., and Kabir, H. (1994, January 4\u20137). Thermal design rules for electronic components on conducting boards in passively cooled enclosures. Proceedings of the 4th Intersociety Conference on Thermal Phenomena in Electronic Systems, Washington, DC, USA."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"684","DOI":"10.1109\/TCAPT.2002.808012","article-title":"Transient Two-Dimensional Heat Conduction Analysis of Electronic Packages by Coupled Boundary and Finite Element Methods","volume":"25","author":"Guven","year":"2002","journal-title":"IEEE Trans. Compon. Packages Technol."},{"key":"ref_26","unstructured":"Wen, S.S., and Lu, G.-Q. (2000, January 15\u201318). Finite Element Modeling of Heat Transfer and Thermal Stresses for Three-dimensional Packaging of Power Electronics Modules. Proceedings of the Third International Power Electronics and Motion Control Conference, Beijing, China."}],"container-title":["Sensors"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/15\/4\/9136\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,11]],"date-time":"2025-10-11T20:44:56Z","timestamp":1760215496000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1424-8220\/15\/4\/9136"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2015,4,17]]},"references-count":26,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2015,4]]}},"alternative-id":["s150409136"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/s150409136","relation":{},"ISSN":["1424-8220"],"issn-type":[{"type":"electronic","value":"1424-8220"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2015,4,17]]}}}