Flow sensor based on the snap-through detection of a curved micromechanical beam

Published

December 1, 2018

Author(s)

Yoav Kessler, Robert Ilic, Slava Krylov, Alexander Liberzon

Abstract

We report on a flow velocity measurement technique based on snap-through detection of an electrostatically actuated, bistable micromechanical beam. We show that induced elecro-thermal Joule heating and the convective air cooling change the beam curvature and consequently the critical snap-through voltage (VST ). Using single crystal silicon beams, we demonstrate the snapthrough voltage to flow velocity sensitivity of dV_ST/du 0.13 (V s m^-1) with a power consumption of 360 W. Our experimental results were in accord with the reduced order, coupled, thermo-electro-mechanical model prediction. We anticipate that electrostatically induced snapthrough in curved, micromechanical beams will open new directions for the design and implementation of downscaled flow sensors for autonomous applications and environmental sensors.

Citation

IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems

Volume

27

Issue

6

Pub Type

Journals

Download Paper

https://doi.org/10.1109/JMEMS.2018.2868776

Local Download

Keywords

MEMS, snap-through, curved microbeam, flow sensor, electrothermal actuator

Citation

Kessler, Y. , Ilic, R. , Krylov, S. and Liberzon, A. (2018), Flow sensor based on the snap-through detection of a curved micromechanical beam, IEEE Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems, [online], https://doi.org/10.1109/JMEMS.2018.2868776, https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=925903 (Accessed April 20, 2024)