Title: Design of capacitive acoustic sensors using highly compliant microbeam arrays
Abstract: We have previously shown that the viscous forces acting on a periodic array of infinitesimally thin micro-beams due to air-borne sound are frequency-independent and directional [Mahdi Farahikia and Ronald Miles, “Viscous flow sensing using micro-beam arrays,” J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 146(4), 2837–2837 (2019)]. Utilizing this phenomenon in the design of acoustic sensors requires a means of converting their structural motion into electronic signals. Capacitive sensing, as a method for this purpose, requires the combination of both fixed and moving electrodes while eliminating the instability associated with high bias voltages [Ronald N. Miles, “A compliant capacitive sensor for acoustics: Avoiding electrostatic forces at high bias voltages,” IEEE Sens. J. 18(14), 5691–5698 (2018)]. In this study, the motion of moving micro-beams adjacent to fixed micro-breams in periodic arrays due to air-borne sound is examined through the finite element method. It is concluded that thinner, narrower micro-beams lead to a desired flat frequency response. The optimum gap between the micro-beams is found to be between 0.5 and 1 times the micro-beam width. The results from this study are fundamental in implementing a capacitive sensing mechanism to fabricate miniature acoustic sensors using micro-beam arrays.
Publication Year: 2020
Publication Date: 2020-10-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
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Cited By Count: 1
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