Design and Analysis of MEMS based Piezoelectric Accelerometer Having Square Shaped Proof Mass

Abstract

In any spacecraft launching program, the most prominent issue is to locate the spacecraft or satellite, in particular orbit of any particular planet. Now, while making the position of that spacecraft in space, abrupt changes in velocity occur and these velocity changes can break the controlling circuitry of the system since the velocity changes occur at very high environmental pressure. The designed device converts the deflections due to mentioned pressure caused by environment, into electric signal. This research work describes the design and analysis of micro-electromechanical system-based accelerometer consisting of square-shaped proof mass suspended by four beams. The physical dimensions of the accelerometer have been optimized using some standard mathematical equations. The work is based on the mathematical design and analysis of accelerometer for 2 kHz resonant frequency used in space applications. During the research work, many computations and analysis are carried out after optimizing the parameters of device. The model is being simulated with varying physical dimensions and results are being plotted. The designed accelerometer has the base of silicon material that has very high range of temperature tolerance and as far as the gravitational force is concerned this device can work up to the gravitational force 50 times of earth’s gravitational force. Zink oxide is used here as piezoelectric material instead of PZT since PZT is not an ecofriendly material due to presence of lead. The effect on Eigen frequency is being analyzed after deposition of ZnO. With extremely low mass of 20 g and functional volume of 8 mm³ this sensor has very low power consumption and has tight integration with electronics. This MEMS sensor is extremely appealing for reducing the size and mass of spacecraft without sacrificing functionality.

Keywords: Accelerometer, proof mass, MEMS, resonant frequency, PZT, ZnO, deflection

Cite this Article

Sahil, Virdi GS, Arora Arti, et al.  Design and Analysis of MEMS Based Piezoelectric Accelerometer Having Square Shaped Proof Mass. Journal of Aerospace Engineering and Technology. 2015; 5(2): 71–77p.