Design of a 3-axis thermal accelerometer using an electro-thermo-fluidic model

A three dimensional electro-thermal-fluidic FEM model is introduced in this paper and simulation results are used to design and predict the performance of a polymer based 3-axis thermal accelerometer. The model uses a sequential approach where initially the electro-thermal model is simulated and the resulting temperature profile is used as input for a CFD simulation. Simulation results show that the required power to operate the sensor increases with the cross section of the heater and sensor sensitivity depends on the maximum temperature of the heater. Simulations using present sensor geometry show a sensitivity of 0.7°C/g in the X-Y directions and 0.3°C/g in the Z direction for a central heater temperature around 300°C.