Determining an equivalent force to simulate the application of pressure or a distributed load

The electro-mechanical system model equation can be summarized as:

mi 2qi/t2 + 2iimiqi/t + Um(q)/qi - Ue(q)/qi - i Fj = 0 (1)

The system model allows the user to apply arbitrary force loading to any number of points on the structure. While this is very useful for applications such as micromirrors and inertial devices, pressure sensors have distributed loads applied across the membrane. Hence, we need a methodology to model the distributed pressure load by an equivalent force. Consider a representative node on the structure with one applied force. The electro-mechanical equation can written as: mi 2qi/t2 + 2iimiqi/t + Um(q)/qi - Ue(q)/qi - i Fj = 0 (2)

We need to find an equivalent force force Fj that can be used to simulate the applied pressure P. For most pressure sensors, operating in the linear range, the displacement vs force can be represented as a linear spring given by the equation: Fj = kf * qi/I (3)

Where Fj is the difference of the applied force, qi is the calculated scalling factor for mode i from SYNPLE module using the applied two different forces. kf (the equivalent spring constant) is the linear term coefficient Um(q)/qi - Ue(q)/qi, which can be calculated from the above equation. For the pressure sensor, typically the primary mode dominates the device performance. Typically all of the energy is contained within the first mode. Therefore, the above macromodel can be used to describe the pressure sensor dynamic behavior. More specifically, the equation ext (x,y,z,t) =initial(x,y,z) + qi(t) i (x,y,z) can be rewritten as ext (x,y,z,t) =initial(x,y,z) + qi(t) i (x,y,z) (5) (4)

where i (x,y,z) is the primary mode shape function, qi represents the coefficients for the primary mode i(which is also refered as scalling factor for mode i). Using TEM (thermal-electromechanical module) module, with the same boundary conditions that were used to derive the macromodel, the user can derive the pressure-displacement curve. In the linear range, this can be approximated by: P = kp *I*qi (6)

where kp is the spring constant for a distributed pressure loading (it can be calculated from the slope of the pressure vs displacement curve) it is given as calculated from the difference of displacement (I* qi) divided by the pressure difference P. Considering both SYNPLE and TEM module should have the same displacement result with the equivalent force (pressure), we have P/( kp I) = Fj* I/ kf (7)

Therefore, we can add a conversion element to translate the pressure to force with the following formula F = kf * P/( kp * I*I) (8)

If the representative node is chosen as the node with the maximum displacement, we can set I = 1. This leaves us with the equation F = (kf/ kp) * P (9)

Where kf is the slope of the force-displacement curve and kp is the slope of the pressure-displacement curve. Procedure: 1. Compute Kp, a. This is the slope of the Pressure vs. displacement curve. To do this, in the ThermoElectro-Mechanical module, apply a pressure on the diaphragm and monitor the displacement of a node with maximum displacement. Make sure that the node point selected has the maximum displacement (since the structure is circular, more than one node point will have maximum displacement). Repeat this for another pressure load and monitor the displacement of the same node (should be maximum displacement for the new pressure). Use the two pressure vs. displacement values to compute Kp Compute Kf a. This is the slope of the Force vs. displacement curve. To do this , in the Thermo-ElectroMechanical module apply a force on the same node (used for Kp computation) and monitor the displacement of this node. Repeat this for another force load on the same node and monitor the displacement. Use the two force vs. displacement values to compute Kf. The value for the mode shape I is 1 since the selected node (for Kp and Kf) has the maximum displacement. You can directly use equation (9) to compute the force to be applied to the selected node for analysis in SYNPLE. Make sure you have picked the same node (used for computing Kp and Kf) as a representative node while extracting the macromodel.

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