Development of Quartz Friction Gauge on Board Balloon and Sounding Rocket

Abstract

The on-board small vacuum gauge developed in this study is the quartz friction gauge, which is based on the principle that the resonance impedance of a quartz oscillator varies with the pressure of ambient gas. The gauge has a wide measuring range (10⁵-10^-2 Pa), which corresponds to the atmospheric pressure from the ground to an altitude of about 100 km. The sensor part and data processing part weigh 136 g and 210 g, respectively. In addition, the gauge can operate at a power consumption level of less than 1W. The gauge is suited for high altitude balloon experiments where the weight of on-board instruments must be kept to a minimum. The tuning-fork-shaped quartz oscillator in the gauge is widely used for wrist watches and has high resistance to vibration and shock, and thus the gauge is applicable to sounding rocket experiments that require on-board instruments with high resistance to the environment.