THERMAL CONVECTION ACCELEROMETER WITH CLOSED-LOOP HEATER CONTROL

摘要

An integrated convective accelerometer device (Figure 1, 100, 102, 104, 106, 108, 110, 112, 114, 116, 118, 120, 122, 124, 128, 130, 132, 134, 136). The device includes a thermal acceleration sensor having a thermopile and a heater element; control circuitry for providing closed-loop control of the thermopile common-mode voltage; an instrumentation amplifier; clock generation circuitry; voltage reference circuitry; a temperature sensor; and, output amplifiers. The device can be operated in an absolute or ratiometric mode. Further, the device is formed in a silicon substrate using standard semiconductor processes and is packaged in a standard integrated circuit package.