High sensitivity cymbal-based accelerometer.

A high sensitivity piezoelectric accelerometer has been developed by replacing the conventional piezoelectric rings with a cymbal transducer. The sensitivity of the cymbal-based accelerometers containing cymbal transducers with different endcap thicknesses and different seismic masses has been measured as a function of driving frequency. Due to the high d₃₃^′ coefficient of the cymbal transducers, the cymbal-based accelerometers have a high sensitivity of ∼97 pC/ms^-2 with the amplitude rise of 2.85% (<1 dB) at one-third of the mounted resonance frequency (3.38 kHz). The effect of the seismic mass, the resonance frequency, and d₃₃^′ coefficient of the cymbal transducers on the sensitivity and the frequency range of the cymbal-based accelerometers are reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]