System and method for compensation of contamination of a heated element in a heated element gas flow sensor

摘要

A system for compensation of contamination of a heated element in a heated element gas flow system in which the heated element becomes heated from an ambient temperature to an elevated temperature upon the application of electrical power to the heated element during a startup time period. The system includes a processing circuit having an input and an output. A voltage signal from the heated element is connected to the input of the processing circuit. The processing circuit reads a plurality of temporally spaced input signals as data from the processing circuit input during the startup time period. The processing circuit then computes the parameters of a transfer function corresponding to the data on its input. The processing circuit then calculates a contamination correction factor as a function of at least one parameter of the transfer function. The processing circuit then utilizes the correction factor to modify a measured gas flow rate by the gas flow meter after the heated element attains the elevated steady state temperature to compensate for contamination of the heated element.