Zirconia Oxygen Sensor for aerospace applications

Oxygen Concentration Monitoring is an important requirement in fighter aircrafts. This paper reports the results of performance evaluation of an indigenous Zirconia Oxygen Sensor, which meets the requirements of a fighter aircraft environment. The Oxygen Sensor uses a solid state electrolyte, Zirconia stabilized with 8mol% Yttria, in the form of a Nernst Cell, which when heated above 600°C, develops an emf proportional to the ratio of partial pressures of Oxygen across its two electrodes. The reference gas used is air (21% O₂). The sensor performs satisfactorily in a wide range of environments faced in the fighter aircraft, such as altitudes upto 50K feet, the extreme temperatures of -40C to 65C, arrestor-hook shock, etc. These results are presented here.