Force sensor
AssigneeHoneywell International Inc.
InventorsPalani Thanigachalam, Todd Eckhardt, Richard Wade
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A force sensor may include a sense die mounted to a substrate and an actuating assembly for transmitting an external force to the sense die. The sense die may include a diaphragm, a boss extending from the diaphragm, and one or more sensing elements (e.g., piezoresistive elements positioned on the diaphragm). The actuation assembly may include a force receiving feature configured to receive an external force at a first end and transfer at least a portion of the received external force through a second end to the diaphragm via intimate contact with a bottom side of the boss. In some cases, the force sensor may also include signal conditioning circuitry.
Claims23
A force sensing assembly, comprising:
- a housing;
- a sense die situated in the housing for sensing an external force applied to the force sensing assembly, the sense die having a sense diaphragm with a top side and a bottom side, and a diaphragm thickness defined between the top side and the bottom side of the sense diaphragm, the sense die further having a peripheral region extending around the sense diaphragm that has a top side and a bottom side and a die thickness defined between the top side and the bottom side of the peripheral region, wherein the diaphragm thickness is less than the die thickness;
- a boss extending from the bottom side of the sense diaphragm, the boss having a boss thickness defined between the bottom side of the sense diaphragm and a bottom side of the boss, the boss including one or more side walls extending from the bottom side of the sense diaphragm to the bottom side of the boss;
- the bottom side of the boss is situated between the bottom side of the peripheral region of the sense die and the bottom side of the sense diaphragm;
- and
- a force receiving feature accessible from external to the housing of the force sensing assembly for receiving the external force applied to the force sensing assembly, the force receiving feature configured to make intimate contact with and transmit a force to the bottom side of the boss in response to receiving the external force.
A force sensor, comprising:
- a sense die having a sense diaphragm, the sense diaphragm having a top side and a bottom side;
- a projection extending from the bottom side of the sense diaphragm;
- and
- wherein the projection includes a bottom side and one or more side walls, the one or more side walls extending from the bottom side of the sense diaphragm to the bottom side of the projection;
- and
- wherein the bottom side of the projection includes a feature configured to receive one or more force transferring features.
A method of preparing a force sensor, wherein the force sensor includes a sense die for sensing an external force applied to the force sensor, the method comprising:
- applying a media pressure to a sense diaphragm of the sense die, the sense diaphragm having a boss extending from the sense diaphragm;
- calibrating the sense die using the media pressure, resulting in a calibrated sense die;
- and
- providing the calibrated sense die and a force receiving feature in a force sensor housing, such that the force receiving feature engages and transmits an external force from external to the force sensor housing to the boss of the sense diaphragm.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.