There is a growing need for space-rated, high performance accelerometers with small physical dimensions, light weight, and low outgassing characteristics that has been unmet by the vibration sensor community until now. This paper describes the some of the important aspects of sensor design when configuring a piezoelectric accelerometer with wide dynamic range and small dimensions for a space flight application. In order to achieve the broadest dynamic range possible, sensor engineers will typically focus on utilizing piezoelectric crystal materials with higher sensitivities as this factor reduces both the dimensions of the external envelope and limits the weight of the seismic mass required to obtain sufficient signal levels from the instrument. Therefore, piezoceramic materials that have high piezoelectric sensitivity constants (like the PZT family of Lead Zirconate Titanate ceramics and others) are usually top choices in the manufacturing of small accelerometers. Here the designer must evaluate the natural properties of the material to determine its suitability to the space flight environment.
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