Simulation Study of Inertial Micro-Switch as Influenced by Squeeze-Film Damping and Applied Acceleration Load

Abstract

Squeeze-film damping and acceleration load are two major issues in the design of inertial micro-switches. In order to deeply and systematically study these two issues, this paper proposes a typical vertically-driven inertial micro-switch, wherein the air and electrode gaps were chosen to design the required damping ratio and threshold value, respectively. The switch was modeled by ANSYS Workbench, and the simulation program was optimized for computational accuracy and speed. Transient analysis was employed to investigate the relationship between the damping ratio, acceleration load, and the natural frequency, and the dynamic properties (including contact bounce, contact time, response time, and threshold acceleration) of the switch. The results can be used as a guide in the design of inertial micro-switches to meet various application requirements. For example, increasing the damping ratio can prolong the contact time of the switch activated by short acceleration duration or reduce the contact bounce of the switch activated by long acceleration duration; the threshold value is immune to variations in the damping effect and acceleration duration when the switch is quasi-statically operated; the anti-jamming capability of the switch can be improved by designing the sensing frequency of the switch to be higher than the acceleration duration but much lower than the other order frequencies of the switch.

Keywords

• inertial switch
• MEMS
• squeeze-film damping
• acceleration
• contact bounce
• contact time
• response time
• threshold acceleration