A multi axis fluidic inertial sensor

Abstract

This paper reports on the first time the design, simulation and fabrication of a novel MEMS fluidic inertial sensor, which integrates a new three-axis gyroscope and single-axis accelerometers. The device can independently detect three components of angular rate and two components of linear acceleration at high sensitivity and low power consumption. Compared with previous work, the proposed gyroscope was further optimized for simple packaging while maintaining good characteristics. The sensor was fabricated by standard bulk MEMS technology and the micro jet-pump developed for this device was evaluated by experiments. In inertial measurement applications, the multi axis inertial sensor is more advantageous than a multi single-axis sensors system in terms of directivity or cross-sensitivity because the alignment is now determined by photolithography, and further more, the sensor-to-sensor distance is also eliminated. The fluidic inertial sensor has high shock resistance and high durability in fatigue damage.