Method and circuitry for thermal accelerometer signal conditioning

1. A thermal accelerometer, comprising:

a thermal acceleration sensor including a substrate, at least one cavity formed in the substrate, a fluid disposed in the cavity, at least one heater element suspended over the cavity, a plurality of temperature sensing elements disposed substantially in a plane of the substrate and at substantially equal distances from the heater element, wherein the plurality of temperature sensing elements is operative to detect a temperature of the fluid generated in response to an applied acceleration, and to provide a signal representing the detected fluid temperature; and

signal conditioning circuitry operative to receive the signal representing the detected fluid temperature, to implement a temperature dependent function, and to process the received signal using the temperature dependent function for generating an output signal indicative of the applied acceleration, whereby the signal conditioning circuitry provides a compensation for sensitivity variations of the sensor over a predetermined range of temperature, the signal conditioning circuitry including:

a first reference voltage generator including at least one sensor operative to detect an ambient temperature, the first reference voltage generator being operative to provide a first reference voltage level proportional to the ambient temperature;

at least one analog-to-digital (A-to-D) converter operative to receive the signal representing the detected fluid temperature, to convert the received signal to digital form, and to provide a digital signal inversely proportional to the first reference voltage level; and

at least one digital-to-analog (D-to-A) converter operative to receive the digital signal provided by the A-to-D converter, to convert the digital signal to analog form, and to provide an analog signal directly proportional to the first reference voltage level, the analog signal corresponding to the output signal indicative of the applied acceleration.

2. The thermal accelerometer of claim 1 wherein the temperature dependent function is a bilinear function.

3. The thermal accelerometer of claim 1 wherein the temperature dependent function is a bilinear function F a (t) of the form

F

a

⁡

(

T

)

=

S

n

·

T

+

I

n

S

d

·

T

+

I

d

,

wherein “T” is an absolute temperature (° K), and “S n ” is a slope and “I n ” is an intercept of a first linear function in a numerator of the bilinear function, and “S d ” is a slope and “I d ” is an intercept of a second linear function in a denominator of the bilinear function,

wherein the A-to-D converter is operative to implement the first linear function, and

wherein the D-to-A converter is operative to implement the second linear function.

4. The thermal accelerometer of claim 1 further including a second reference voltage generator operative to provide a second reference voltage level proportional to a power supply voltage, and wherein the D-to-A converter is further operative to receive the digital signal provided by the A-to-D converter, to convert the digital signal to analog form, and to provide an analog signal directly proportional to the second reference voltage level, the analog signal corresponding to the output signal indicative of the applied acceleration, whereby the D-to-A converter provides a ratiometric compensation for variations in the power supply voltage.

5. A thermal accelerometer, comprising:

a thermal acceleration sensor including a substrate, at least one cavity formed in the substrate, a fluid disposed in the cavity, a plurality of heater elements suspended over the cavity, a plurality of temperature sensing elements disposed substantially in a plane of the substrate and at substantially equal distances from the plurality of heater elements, wherein the plurality of temperature sensing elements is operative to detect a first temperature of the fluid generated in response to an applied acceleration, and to provide a first signal indicative of the applied acceleration; and

a test circuit including at least one switch and at least one resistive element, the switch being disposed between a respective one of the plurality of heater elements and the resistive element, the switch being operative to switchably connect the respective heater element to the resistive element to generate a desired level of thermal asymmetry within the cavity, thereby simulating an applied acceleration,

wherein the plurality of temperature sensing elements is further operative to detect a second temperature of the fluid generated in response to the simulated acceleration, and to provide a second signal indicative of the simulated acceleration.

6. The thermal accelerometer of claim 5 wherein the switch has a duty cycle that is controllable for generating the desired level of thermal asymmetry within the cavity.

7. A thermal accelerometer, comprising:

a thermal acceleration sensor including a substrate, at least one cavity formed in the substrate, a fluid disposed in the cavity, a plurality of heater elements suspended over the cavity, a plurality of temperature sensing elements disposed substantially in a plane of the substrate and at substantially equal distances from the plurality of heater elements, wherein the plurality of temperature sensing elements is operative to detect a first temperature of the fluid generated in response to an applied acceleration, and to provide a first signal indicative of the applied acceleration;

signal conditioning circuitry operative to receive the signal representing the detected fluid temperature, to implement a temperature dependent function, and to process the received signal using the temperature dependent function for generating an output signal indicative of the applied acceleration, whereby the signal conditioning circuitry provides a compensation for sensitivity variations of the sensor over a predetermined range of temperature, the signal conditioning circuitry including:

a first reference voltage generator including at least one sensor operative to detect an ambient temperature, the first reference voltage generator being operative to provide a first reference voltage level proportional to the ambient temperature;

at least one analog-to-digital (A-to-D) converter operative to receive the signal representing the detected fluid temperature, to convert the received signal to digital form, and to provide a digital signal inversely proportional to the first reference voltage level; and

at least one digital-to-analog (D-to-A) converter operative to receive the digital signal provided by the A-to-D converter, to convert the digital signal to analog form, and to provide an analog signal directly proportional to the first reference voltage level, the analog signal corresponding to the output signal indicative of the applied acceleration; and

a test circuit including at least one switch and at least one resistive element, the switch being disposed between a respective one of the plurality of heater elements and the resistive element, the switch being operative to switchably connect the respective heater element to the resistive element to generate a desired level of thermal asymmetry within the cavity, thereby simulating an applied acceleration,

wherein the plurality of temperature sensing elements is further operative to detect a second temperature of the fluid generated in response to the simulated acceleration, and to provide a second signal indicative of the simulated acceleration.

8. The thermal accelerometer of claim 7 wherein the switch has a duty cycle that is controllable for generating the desired level of thermal asymmetry within the cavity.