Acoustic Accelerometers

The characteristics of a number of recently developed acoustic accelerometers are discussed. The accelerometers discussed employ resonant vibrating elements such as piezoelectric crystals and micromechanical cantilever beams containing either a piezoelectric capacitor, a piezoresistive circuit, or a surface acoustic wave (SAW) oscillator. Other accelerometers discussed employ a force rebalance technique using closed-loop servo electronics. Accelerometer sensitivities are limited by weight and frequency response constraints but can be as high as 300 mV /g for voltage-type accelerometers and 10 000 Hz /g for SAW accelerometers. The accelerometer measurand range is from 10 pg to 200 OOOg with a dynamic range as high as lo’ and scale-factor stability as high as lo-’ ppm in frequency. Accelerometers can be discrete, hybrid-integrated, or completely monolithic.

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