Utilizing the advantages of a liquid metal (LM) (i.e., mercury) and its electro‐mechanical properties (i.e., high density, high surface tension, and high electrical conductivity), a novel capacitive‐type two‐axis accelerometer is proposed. The device employs a liquid‐type proof mass (i.e., liquid metal droplet) and is located in a cone‐shaped guiding channel. The Laplace pressure induced by the guiding channel and the LM droplet in the device acts as a spring due to the high surface tension of LM. To accurately set the spring constant of the device, a 2D mathematical model is established. Based on this mathematical model, the influence of the channel shape on device sensitivity is analyzed. Despite measuring the two‐axis accelerations using a single proof mass, the accelerometer yields a cross‐axis sensitivity of less than 1% for the x‐ and y‐axes. The accelerometer demonstrates an output similar to that of a reference accelerometer for a randomly applied acceleration. Owing to the nature of the liquid‐type proof mass, even if it is destroyed, its functionality is recovered by simply shaking the accelerometer. Finally, a 1.4% change in the accelerometer output is observed in the 15 000‐cycle test, and the device is applied to a maze escape game for verification.
This paper presents a novel dual-axis accelerometer that consists of a liquid metal droplet in a cone-shaped channel and an electrode layer with four Nichrome electrodes. The sensor uses the advantages of the liquid metal droplet (i.e., high surface tension, electrical conductivity, high density, and deformability). The cone-shaped channel imposes a restoring force on the liquid metal droplet. We conducted simulation tests to determine the appropriate design specifications of the cone-shaped channel. Surface modifications to the channel enhanced the nonwetting performance of the liquid metal droplet. The performances of the sensor were analyzed by a tilting test. When the acceleration was applied along the axial direction, the device showed ~6 kΩ/g of sensitivity and negligible crosstalk between the Xand Y-axes. In a diagonal direction test, the device showed ~4 kΩ/g of sensitivity.
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