• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.1951-1956
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• 2008

Various MEMS accelerometers are used in engineering applications including automobiles, mobile phones, military systems, and electronic devices. Among them, the thermal accelerometer employing the temperature difference induced by the convective flow inside the micro cavity has been a topic of interest. As the convective sensor does not utilize a solid proof mass, it is compact, lightweight, inexpensive to manufacture, sensitive and highly endurable to mechanical shock. However, the complexity of the convective flow and various design constraints make optimization of a device a crucial step before fabrication. In this work, optimization of a 2-axis thermal convective MEMS accelerometer is conducted based on 3-dimensional numerical simulation. Parametric studies are performed by varying the several design variables such as the heater shape/size, the cavity size and types of the gas medium and the position of temperature probes in the sensor. The results of optimal design are presented.