Developing MEMS electric current sensors for end use monitoring of power supply: Part VIII - segmentation design and empirical analysis of piezoelectric layers based on cantilever beam structure

In this paper, the piezoelectric layer segmentation design, which is based on the cantilever structure, has been proposed to increase the output voltage. The piezoelectric layer of the cantilever structure is firstly divided into equal parts with the same number. A mathematical model of the output voltage in the horizontal, vertical and oblique directions has been established. Subsequently, COMSOL Multi-physics software is used to verify the theoretical derivation. The simulation results show that regardless of the segmentation angle, the output voltage is proportional to the number of slices when the piezoelectric layer is equally divided into the same number of pieces. As for the equally wide-divided piezoelectric layer, the segmentation along the direction vertical to diagonal direction can obtain the greatest output voltage value.