High sensitivity cymbal-based accelerometer

Abstract

A high sensitivity piezoelectric accelerometer has been developed by replacing the conventional piezoelectric rings with a cymbal transducer. The sensitivity of the cymbal-based accelerometers containing cymbal transducers with different endcap thicknesses and different seismic masses has been measured as a function of driving frequency. Due to the high d'₃₃ coefficient of the cymbal transducers, the cymbal-based accelerometers have a high sensitivity of ~97 pC/ms[sup -]² with the amplitude rise of 2.85% (<1 dB) at one-third of the mounted resonance frequency (3.38 kHz). The effect of the seismic mass, the resonance frequency, and d'₃₃ coefficient of the cymbal transducers on the sensitivity and the frequency range of the cymbal-based accelerometers are reported.