Performance Enhancement of an Improved Design of 6-axis Single-Mass Piezoelectric IMU

Abstract : In this paper, the performance of a new design of a piezoelectric Inertial Measurement Unit system (EMU) is evaluated through FEM simulations. This paper compares performance of a new proposed design with a previously reported one. The proposed sensor relies on Coriolis Effect for angular velocity detection and on direct piezoelectric Effect for acceleration measurements. This work addresses the detection improvement of both angular velocity and acceleration motions through a new proposed design. Compared to the reported design, the new structure produces an increase of 37.5% in the output voltage for a z-axis acceleration of 10 g. Similarly, for an angular velocity of 180 deg/s, an output voltage of 1 V is obtained from the new design compared to 200 mV from the reported one.