Sensitivity optimization of a monolithic high-shock three-axis piezoresistive accelerometer with single sensing element

There exist several difficulties in the design of monolithic high-shock three-axis accelerometer, such as high g overload, transverse overload and the cross coupling in three dimensions, etc. It is necessary to optimize the sensitivity to improve the performance of the accelerometer. For the monolithic high-shock three-axis accelerometer, the complexity of the sensitivity optimization is that it should consider not only the sensitivity difference between different axes but also the elimination of cross-coupling outputs, together with the natural frequency, structural integrity and high g overload. In this paper, the optimization process for decreasing the difference of the sensitivities between different axes of a monolithic high-shock three-axis piezoresistive accelerometer with single sensing element is established. The optimization is conducted in the condition of 100000 g acceleration by two methods-the method based on the optimization module of ANSYS and the ACO (ant colony optimization) method. The comparison between un-optimized and optimized models proves the efficiency of the optimization methods. In addition, the optimization results show that the ACO method combined with the FEA (finite element analysis) is much more efficient than the method based on the optimization module of ANSYS for the structural optimization problem. And the ACO method can be widely used in the optimization problem of the sensing elements with complicated structure.