US 11,906,693 B2
Variable-area comb capacitor-based MEMS relative gravimeter probe and gravimeter
Wenjie Wu, Hubei (CN); Bingyang Cai, Hubei (CN); Le Gao, Hubei (CN); Yuanlei Wang, Hubei (CN); and Liangcheng Tu, Hubei (CN)
Assigned to HUAZHONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Hubei (CN)
Appl. No. 18/253,527
Filed by Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Hubei (CN)
PCT Filed Aug. 29, 2022, PCT No. PCT/CN2022/115363
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date May 18, 2023,
PCT Pub. No. WO2023/231200, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 7, 2023.
Prior Publication US 2023/0384474 A1, Nov. 30, 2023
Int. Cl. G01V 7/04 (2006.01)
CPC G01V 7/04 (2013.01) 10 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A variable-area comb capacitor-based MEMS relative gravimeter probe, characterized by: comprising a spring structure, a proof mass, movable comb fingers, fixed comb fingers, and an outer frame , a fixed end of the spring structure being arranged on the outer frame and a free end thereof being connected to the proof mass , the movable comb fingers being arranged on upper and lower surfaces of the proof mass, and the fixed comb fingers being correspondingly arranged on the outer frame;
wherein each of the movable comb fingers and the fixed comb fingers has a special-shaped comb finger structure, the special-shaped comb finger structure comprises a comb finger bottom portion and a comb finger top portion, and the width of the comb finger bottom portion is smaller than the width of the comb finger top portion; the comb finger bottom portions of the movable comb fingers are fixed on the proof mass, and the comb finger bottom portions of the fixed comb fingers are fixed on the outer frame;
during operation, the spring structure is used to convert a gravitational acceleration change to be measured into a displacement change of the proof mass, and the comb finger top portions of the movable comb fingers and the comb finger top portions of the fixed comb fingers form a variable-area differential comb capacitor structure, configured to convert the displacement change into a differential capacitance signal.