Micromechanical spring

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9920808-B2
Application number	US-67713308-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 18, 2008
Priority date	Sep 10, 2007
Publication date	Mar 20, 2018
Grant date	Mar 20, 2018

Abstract

A micromechanical spring including at least two bar sections which, in the undeflected state of the spring, are oriented substantially parallel to one another or are at an angle of less than 45° with respect to one another, and one or more connecting sections which connect the bar sections to one another, wherein the bar sections can be displaced relative to one another in their longitudinal direction, and wherein the spring has, in the direction of its bar sections, a substantially adjustable, in particular linear force-deflecting behavior.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A micromechanical spring system comprising:
at least two bar sections which, in an undeflected state of the spring, are oriented substantially parallel to one another or are oriented at an angle of less than 45° with respect to one another, and
at least one connecting section which connects the bar sections to one another,
wherein the bar sections are configured to be displaced relative to one another in their longitudinal direction, and
wherein a spring stiffness of the micromechanical spring system is substantially constant throughout a deflection range of one of the bar sections and wherein the dimensions of the micromechanical spring are selected to ensure constant spring stiffness throughout the deflection range of the bar section.

2. The spring system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the micromechanical spring is coupled to at least one micromechanical spring element or is coupled at least to a substrate, and has, for a purpose of coupling, in each case a coupling region or at least one coupling element which comprises the at least one micromechanical spring element, wherein the micromechanical spring element is coupled in a substantially rigid fashion to the spring.

3. The spring system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the micromechanical spring is coupled to one or more micromechanical spring elements via a seismic mass, and the micromechanical spring system has a substantially adjustable deflection behavior in a direction of the bar sections.

4. The spring system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein fabrication parameters of the spring, comprising at least spatial dimensions (d,l,w) have values such that the spring has, in a direction of the bar sections, a substantially adjustable deflection behavior, at least within a defined deflection interval.

5. The spring system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a set of parameters comprising a length of the bar sections (l), a distance between the bar sections (d) and a length of the at least one connecting section and of at least one coupling region or of at least one coupling element have values such that the spring has, in a direction of the bar sections, a deflection behavior particular to no more than one of the parameters, at least within a defined deflection interval.

6. The spring system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the bar sections and the at least one connecting section of the spring are embodied and arranged so as to be substantially u-shaped or v-shaped or s-shaped in the undeflected state.

7. The spring system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the substantially adjustable deflection behavior of the spring is determined at least by an embodiment of the bar sections with defined lengths (l) and widths (w) and by an arrangement of the at least two bar sections at a defined distance (d) from one another.

8. The spring system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said spring is composed substantially of monocrystalline silicon.

9. The spring system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein each bar section comprises a non-linearity of a second order and wherein an absolute value of the second order non-linearity coefficient (β) of spring stiffness with respect to a deflection substantially in a direction of the bar sections is less than 2,000,000 1/m 2 .

10. The spring system as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the absolute value of the second order non-linearity coefficient (β) of spring stiffness with respect to the deflection substantially in a direction of the bar sections is less than 300,000 1/m 2 .

11. A micromechanical spring system comprising:
at least two bar sections which, in an undeflected state of the spring, are oriented substantially parallel to one another or are oriented at an angle of less than 45° with respect to one another, and
at least one connecting section which connects the bar sections to one another,
wherein the bar sections are configured to be displaced relative to one another in their longitudinal direction,
wherein a spring stiffness of the micromechanical spring is substantially constant with respect to a deflection substantially in a direction of the bar sections within a defined deflection interval, and
wherein said spring has a negative second order non-linearity coefficient of spring stiffness with respect to the deflection or the deflection of at least one of the bar sections in the direction of the bar sections.

12. The spring system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein said spring has at least one coupling element comprising at least one spring element, a spring stiffness of the at least one spring element changes within the defined deflection interval, wherein the entire spring is embodied in such a way that the changing spring stiffness of the at least one spring element is compensated overall.

13. The spring system as claimed in claim 1 , wherein force-deflecting behavior is linear.

Assignees

• Guenthner Stefan
• Continental Teves Ag & Co Ohg

Inventors

• Günthner Stefan

Classifications

• F16F1/187

  shaped into an open profile, i.e. C- or U-shaped · CPC title

• F16F1/025 Primary

  characterised by having a particular shape (F16F1/04, F16F1/14, F16F1/18, F16F1/32, F16F1/34 take precedence) · CPC title