Bistable mechanical sensors capable of threshold detection and automatic elimination of excessively high amplitude data

摘要

A bistable sensor with a tunable threshold for use in microelectromechanical systems. The sensor uses electrostatic force to modify the threshold and to disable the sensor in a deflected position once a sustained extreme in vibration is detected. Potential applications include mechanical implementations of signature analysis to automatically eliminate large amplitude noise at a specific frequency, shock detection without requiring quiescent DC power consumption, and determination of the magnitude of a shock.