A computer experiment application to the design and optimization of a capacitive accelerometer

An accelerometer is a transducer that allows measuring the acceleration acting on a structure. Physically, an accelerometer consists of a central mass suspended by thin and flexible arms and its performance is highly dependent on the dimensions of both the mass and the arms. The two most important parameters when evaluating the performance of these devices are the sensitivity and the operating frequency range (or bandwidth), the latter one being limited to of the resonance frequency. Therefore, it is very convenient to gain knowledge on how changes in the dimensions of the mass and arms affect the value of the natural frequency of the accelerometer, as it will provide guidelines to design accelerometers that fulfil frequency requirements of a specific application. A quadratic polynomial function of the natural logarithm of the frequency versus geometrical factors has been obtained using response surface methodology approach. A faced-centered cube design was used in the experimentation. The data were obtained conducting computer simulations using finite element design techniques. A better understanding of how these variables affect the value of frequency has been reached, which will be very useful for the device design purposes. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.