Application of molecular force for mass analysis of Krypton/Xenon mixture in low-pressure MEMS gas sensor

Development of new techniques for detection and analysis of xenon/krypton mixtures is significant for both industrial and environmental purposes. In this research, direct simulation Monte Carlo is applied to analysis Xenon/Krypton gas mixtures through different molecular forces inside a new micro gas sensor (MIKRA). In this device, a temperature difference inside a rectangular enclosure with heat and cold arms as the non-isothermal walls induces a molecular force known as Knudsen force at low pressure condition. This force is proportional to the main characteristics of the gas mixture. In order to simulate a rarefied gas inside the micro gas detector, Boltzmann equations are applied to obtain high precision results. To solve these equations, Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) approach is used as a robust method for the non-equilibrium flow field. In this research, the effect of various concentrations of the Xenon/Krypton gas mixtures on force generation is comprehensively studied. Our findings show that value of generated Knudsen force significantly different when the fraction of each component in Xenon/Krypton gas mixtures is varied. This indicates that this micro gas sensor could precisely detect the concentration of Xenon/Krypton gas mixtures in a low-pressure environment. In addition, the obtained results demonstrate that the mechanism of force generation highly varies in the different pressure conditions.