Simultaneous determination of position and mass in the cantilever sensor using transfer function method

Abstract

We present the simultaneous measurement of mass and position of micro-beads attached to the cantilever-based mass sensors using the transfer function method. 10 μm diameter micro-beads were placed on micro-cantilevers and the cantilevers were excited by lead-zirconate-titanate through low-pass filtered random voltages. The cantilever vibration was measured via a laser Doppler vibrometer before and after applying the beads. From the measured transfer function, the bead position was identified using its influence on the cantilever kinetic energy. The bead mass was then obtained by analyzing the wave propagation near the beads. The predicted position and mass agreed well with actual values.