Ring-Shaped Sensitive Element Design for Acceleration Measurements: Overcoming the Limitations of Angular-Shaped Sensors

Abstract

A new modification of an acceleration measurement sensor based on an acoustic waves resonance principle is proposed. Common angular-shaped sensors exhibit stress concentrations at the angular points near the origin points of destruction under external stresses; these points are the “Achilles’ heel” of the entire design. To overcome the above limitation, we suggest an angular-free ring-shaped sensitive element design that is characterized by enhanced robustness against external stress. The analytical treatment is validated by computer simulation results performed using the COMSOL Multiphysics software package. For an appropriate model parameterization, an original experiment has been carried out to estimate the stress-strained robustness of two potential candidates for sensitive console materials. Moreover, characteristics of the proposed sensor design, such as sensitivity threshold and maximum stress, have been obtained from the simulation data. The above results indicate that the proposed concept offers a promising advancement in surface acoustic waves (SAW) based accelerometer devices, and could, therefore, be used for several practical applications in such areas as biomedical and sports wearable devices; vehicular design, including unmanned solutions; and industrial robotics, especially those where high-G forces are expected.