Patent ID: 6149190
Filing Date: 2000-11-21
Classification: B81B,B81C,G01P

Abstract:
A micromechanical automotive safety airbag system comprising:a micromechanical accelerometer for producing a continuous output signal in response to an applied acceleration, said accelerometer including at least two micron-scale, capacitively-coupled fingers, at least one of which fingers moves relative to another finger in response to said acceleration to produce a change in capacitance, wherein at least one of said fingers being fabricated from a single silicon substrate by etching the substrate at least partially by reactive ion etching;means for applying a potential across adjacent capacitively-coupled fingers to generate said output signal upon a change in the capacitance between said adjacent fingers upon relative motion of said adjacent fingers; andan electronic control unit connected to receive said output signal from the accelerometer to activate the automotive safety airbag system in response to a predetermined level of acceleration.