TY - JOUR
T1 - A Tunable Micromachined Multithreshold Inertial Switch
AU - Xu, Qiu
AU - Alahmdi, Raed L.
AU - Wang, Lvjun
AU - Rocha, Rodrigo Tumolin
AU - Younis, Mohammad I.
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2023-10-02
Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology.
PY - 2023/9/29
Y1 - 2023/9/29
N2 - In this article, we present a multithreshold microelectromechanical tunable inertial switch. The device aims to provide quantitative information on acceleration while retaining the attractive energy-saving features of binary threshold switches. The designed proof-of-concept device with three thresholds is composed of four serpentine springs, a suspended proof mass, and three stationary electrodes placed at various positions in the sensing direction. In addition, the tunability of the acceleration threshold is demonstrated based on the softening effect of the electrostatic force. The dynamic behavior of the switch is investigated analytically. Results are shown for the relationship between the bias voltage and tunable threshold. The fabricated switch prototypes are tested using a drop-table shock system. The test results demonstrate that the multithreshold switch can detect an acceleration range of 131–400 g. The simulated and analytical results are in good agreement with the experimental data. The demonstrated device concept is promising to categorize the shock impact for several applications, such as for head impact and brain injuries.
AB - In this article, we present a multithreshold microelectromechanical tunable inertial switch. The device aims to provide quantitative information on acceleration while retaining the attractive energy-saving features of binary threshold switches. The designed proof-of-concept device with three thresholds is composed of four serpentine springs, a suspended proof mass, and three stationary electrodes placed at various positions in the sensing direction. In addition, the tunability of the acceleration threshold is demonstrated based on the softening effect of the electrostatic force. The dynamic behavior of the switch is investigated analytically. Results are shown for the relationship between the bias voltage and tunable threshold. The fabricated switch prototypes are tested using a drop-table shock system. The test results demonstrate that the multithreshold switch can detect an acceleration range of 131–400 g. The simulated and analytical results are in good agreement with the experimental data. The demonstrated device concept is promising to categorize the shock impact for several applications, such as for head impact and brain injuries.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/694770
UR - https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/10268115/
U2 - 10.1109/tmech.2023.3317668
DO - 10.1109/tmech.2023.3317668
M3 - Article
SN - 1083-4435
SP - 1
EP - 10
JO - IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
JF - IEEE/ASME Transactions on Mechatronics
ER -