Design and Analysis of 3D Capacitive Accelerometer for Automotive Applications

G. Vijila, S. Vijayakumar, M. Alagappan, and A. Gupta
PSG College of Technology
Coimbatore
Tamil Nadu, India
Published in 2011

This paper projects a novel 3D capacitive accelerometer design to identify a severe accident and initiate airbag deployment systems. It will detect the rapid negative acceleration of the vehicle to avoid the severity of the collision. Such a device demands excellent performance in terms of sensitivity, noise immunity, linearity, bias and scale factor stability over time and environmental changes.

The performance analysis using COMSOL Multiphysics 4.1 showed displacement of the movable electrodes with varying input force and a linear response to capacitance with respect to acceleration. The novelty lies in the fact that it is expected to provide better electrical performance and stability which is validated using simulation.

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