Wideband vibration sensor
First Claim
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1. A wideband vibration sensor, comprising:
- a suspended mass further comprising a gate region proximate an area of large displacement amplitude of said suspended mass;
a movable gate transistor further comprising a channel of said movable gate transistor; and
a control module;
wherein;
vibrations to be detected alter a kinetic relationship between said gate region and said channel;
the alteration of said kinetic relationship modulates a current flow through the transistor;
the modulated current flow from the transistor is sensed using current flow sensing means, to deduce the kinetics of the suspended mass and hence of said vibrations; and
based on the sensing of said modulated current flow, said control module controls the imposition of an opposing displacement force on said suspended mass by applying negative feedback control.
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Abstract
This invention relates to an apparatus for making highly sensitive measurements of acceleration. The vibration sensor includes the use of a movable gate field effect transistor to sense the motion of a cantilever beam with respect to its base, it also includes an actuator element formed by a pair of electrodes actuating electrostatically on the beam. A feedback control loop is also included for force balance operation resulting in a very wide dynamic range for the sensor.
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Citations
34 Claims
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1. A wideband vibration sensor, comprising:
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a suspended mass further comprising a gate region proximate an area of large displacement amplitude of said suspended mass; a movable gate transistor further comprising a channel of said movable gate transistor; and a control module;
wherein;vibrations to be detected alter a kinetic relationship between said gate region and said channel; the alteration of said kinetic relationship modulates a current flow through the transistor; the modulated current flow from the transistor is sensed using current flow sensing means, to deduce the kinetics of the suspended mass and hence of said vibrations; and based on the sensing of said modulated current flow, said control module controls the imposition of an opposing displacement force on said suspended mass by applying negative feedback control. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for sensing vibrations comprising:
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using said vibrations to alter a kinetic relationship between a gate region proximate an area of large displacement amplitude of a suspended mass and a channel of a movable gate transistor; modulating a current flow from the transistor based upon the alteration of said kinetic relationship; sensing the modulated current flow; deducing the kinetics of the suspended mass and hence of said vibrations from so-sensing said modulated current flow; and based on so-sensing said modulated current flow, using a control module to control the imposition of an opposing displacement force on said suspended mass by applying negative feedback control. - View Dependent Claims (18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
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33. A method for increasing the high-frequency sensitivity and maximum signal range of an electro-mechanical vibration sensor, comprising:
controlling the imposition of an opposing displacement force on a suspended mass used as a mechanical vibration sensing element in said sensor, using a control module applying negative feedback control, based on sensing the vibration of the mass. - View Dependent Claims (34)
Specification