Application of a DC bias to reduce acceleration sensitivity in quartz resonators

When a quartz resonator is subjected to acceleration, the inertial effects cause stresses and strains in the plate which in turn causes the resonant frequency to shift. A method is proposed to actively minimize the inertial stresses and strains by piezoelectric stiffening using a DC electric field bias across the electrodes. Finite element models are created to across calculate the effects of acceleration on resonant frequency and to compare the results with experimental data. The model results are shown to compare well with the experimental results. The models are then used to calculate the effects of the DC electric field bias and to demonstrate the reduction of acceleration sensitivity.