Metallic Triple-beam Resonant Force Sensor with Thick-film Printed Piezoelectric Vibration Excitation and Detection Mechanisms

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Description/Abstract

A metallic resonant force sensor consisting of a triple beam tuning fork structure with thick film piezoelectric elements to excite and detect the vibrations is presented. The resonating element of the sensor was fabricated in 430S17 stainless steel with a length of 15.5 mm and width of 7 mm. The resonator has an operational resonance frequency at 6.9 kHz under 15 N pretension. The pretensioned sensor was further loaded up to about 50 N, exhibiting a sensitivity of 13.0 Hz/N and a Q-factor greater than 1400 in air. The fabrication of the device involves combination of a photochemical etching technique and a standard screen-printing process which allows mass production of the device at low costs.