A Bidirectional Acceleration Switch Incorporating Magnetic-Fields-Based Tristable Mechanism

In order to fulfill the requirements of low energy consumption and two sensing directions, a novel bidirectional acceleration switch is proposed by utilizing the magnetic-fields-based tristable mechanism that can maintain the three stable states without input power and with high position accuracy and repeatability. The bidirectional acceleration switch mainly consists of an inertial mass supported by two parallel elastic beams, two metal contact points, and four permanent magnets with one imbedded in the inertial mass and the other three fixed in the case along the vertical direction. Based on the magnetic charge model, the nonlinear magnetic force is analyzed, and then, a static design model of the bidirectional switch is established by considering the elastic force, the magnetic force, the contact force, and the inertial force. To validate the feasibility of the design method, a miniature sample of the switch is fabricated. The results of the centrifugal experiment show that the threshold accelerations in two directions are 53.0 and -52.0 g, respectively, which are close to the design values of 55.0 and -50.0 g, correspondingly. In addition, the threshold values can be adjusted by changing the relative distances among the four magnets.