Accelerometers About and Application

Electronics, Instrumentation & Electrical Database
Vibration Acoustics

Accelerometers Review and Application

Accelerometers are devices which are used to measure or sense changes in velocity. Accelerometers are designed to be used over specific temperature and frequency ranges, as well their orientation relative to the change in velocity being measured.

In physics, acceleration is defined as the rate of change (or time derivative) of velocity. It is a vector quantity with dimension length/time². In SI units, this is meter/second².

There are several modes which accelerometers are used to measure.

• Linear Acceleration - is the measurement of the change in velocity in the single direction or vector
• Centrifugal Acceleration - is the acceleration caused by moving an object in a circle. For example, the force or tension applied to a string which is spinning about a fixed point.

Accelerometers are used in vibration analysis to measure the frequency, spectrum and amplitude of the vibration. Vibration may be measured to identify potential accelerated machine failures, structural failure due to fatigue, or simple product testing to verify a vibration resistant design . Accelerometers are used extensively within inertia navigation systems.

The most critical factor effecting measurements obtained by a accelerometer, is the mounting or installation of the device or instrumentation. All mechanical structures, regardless of how they are built, have mechanical resonance's the will result in a signal at the resonant frequency. Mechanical resonance cannot to eliminated completely. The resonant frequency of a mechanical structure should accounted for in design. Accelerometers are available in various mounting configurations. Care should be taken to properly locate and mount the accelerometer. Cavities and recesses, such that are present in housings and castings, can resonate. Sometimes, modifying suspect cavities by filling with a suitable filler can help to properly measure the structural integrity of a mechanical component or system.

Accelerometers have multiple applications in industry and science. Highly sensitive accelerometers are components of inertial navigation systems for aircraft and missiles. Accelerometers are used to detect and monitor vibration in rotating machinery. Accelerometers are used in tablet computers and digital cameras so that images on screens are always displayed upright. Accelerometers are used in drones for flight stabilisation. Pairs of accelerometers extended over a region of space can be used to detect differences (gradients) in the proper accelerations of frames of references associated with those points. These devices are called gravity gradiometers, as they measure gradients in the gravitational field. Such pairs of accelerometers in theory may also be able to detect gravitational waves.

Single- and multi-axis models of accelerometer are available to detect magnitude and direction of the proper acceleration (or g-force), as a vector quantity, and can be used to sense orientation (because direction of weight changes), coordinate acceleration (so long as it produces g-force or a change in g-force), vibration, shock, and falling in a resistive medium (a case where the proper acceleration changes, since it starts at zero, then increases). Micromachined accelerometers are increasingly present in portable electronic devices and video game controllers, to detect the position of the device or provide for game input.

Applications

Engineering
Accelerometers can be used to measure vehicle acceleration. They allow for evaluation of overall vehicle performance and response. This information can then be used to make adjustments to various vehicle subsystems as needed.

Accelerometers can be used to measure vibration on cars, machines, buildings, process control systems and safety installations. They can also be used to measure seismic activity, inclination, machine vibration, dynamic distance and speed with or without the influence of gravity. Applications for accelerometers that measure gravity, wherein an accelerometer is specifically configured for use in gravimetry, are called gravimeters.

Notebook computers equipped with accelerometers can contribute to the Quake-Catcher Network (QCN), a BOINC project aimed at scientific research of earthquakes.

Biology
Accelerometers are also increasingly used in the biological sciences. High frequency recordings of bi-axial or tri-axial acceleration allows the discrimination of behavioral patterns while animals are out of sight. Furthermore, recordings of acceleration allow researchers to quantify the rate at which an animal is expending energy in the wild, by either determination of limb-stroke frequency or measures such as overall dynamic body acceleration Such approaches have mostly been adopted by marine scientists due to an inability to study animals in the wild using visual observations, however an increasing number of terrestrial biologists are adopting similar approaches. This device can be connected to an amplifier to amplify the signal.

Industry
Accelerometers are also used for machinery health monitoring to report the vibration and its changes in time of shafts at the bearings of rotating equipment such as turbines, pumps, fans, rollers, compressors, or bearing fault which, if not attended to promptly, can lead to costly repairs. Accelerometer vibration data allows the user to monitor machines and detect these faults before the rotating equipment fails completely. Vibration monitoring programs are utilized in industries such as automotive manufacturing, machine tool applications, pharmaceutical production, power generation and power plants, pulp and paper, sugar mills, food and beverage production, water and wastewater, hydropower, petrochemical and steel manufacturing.

Building and structural monitoring
Accelerometers are used to measure the motion and vibration of a structure that is exposed to dynamic loads. Dynamic loads originate from a variety of sources including:

Human activities walking, running, dancing or skipping
Working machines inside a building or in the surrounding area
Construction work driving piles, demolition, drilling and excavating
Moving loads on bridges
Vehicle collisions
Impact loads falling debris
Concussion loads internal and external explosions
Collapse of structural elements
Wind loads and wind gusts
Air blast pressure
Loss of support because of ground failure
Earthquakes and aftershocks
Measuring and recording how a structure responds to these inputs is critical for assessing the safety and viability of a structure. This type of monitoring is called Dynamic Monitoring.

Medical applications
Within the last several years, Nike, Polar and other companies have produced and marketed sports watches for runners that include footpods, containing accelerometers to help determine the speed and distance for the runner wearing the unit.

In Belgium, accelerometer-based step counters are promoted by the government to encourage people to walk a few thousand steps each day.

Herman Digital Trainer uses accelerometers to measure strike force in physical training.

It has been suggested to build football helmets with accelerometers in order to measure the impact of head collisions.

Accelerometers have been used to calculate gait parameters, such as stance and swing phase. This kind of sensor can be used to measure or monitor people.

Navigation
An Inertial Navigation System (INS) is a navigation aid that uses a computer and motion sensors (accelerometers) to continuously calculate via dead reckoning the position, orientation, and velocity (direction and speed of movement) of a moving object without the need for external references. Other terms used to refer to inertial navigation systems or closely related devices include inertial guidance system, inertial reference platform, and many other variations.

An accelerometer alone is unsuitable to determine changes in altitude over distances where the vertical decrease of gravity is significant, such as for aircraft and rockets. In the presence of a gravitational gradient, the calibration and data reduction process is numerically unstable.

Transportation
Accelerometers are used to detect apogee in both professional and in amateur rocketry.

Accelerometers are also being used in Intelligent Compaction rollers. Accelerometers are used alongside gyroscopes in inertial guidance systems.

One of the most common uses for MEMS accelerometers is in airbag deployment systems for modern automobiles. In this case the accelerometers are used to detect the rapid negative acceleration of the vehicle to determine when a collision has occurred and the severity of the collision. Another common automotive use is in electronic stability control systems, which use a lateral accelerometer to measure cornering forces. The widespread use of accelerometers in the automotive industry has pushed their cost down dramatically. Another automotive application is the monitoring of noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH), conditions that cause discomfort for drivers and passengers and may also be indicators of mechanical faults.

Tilting trains use accelerometers and gyroscopes to calculate the required tilt.

Volcanology
Modern electronic accelerometers are used in remote sensing devices intended for the monitoring of active volcanoes to detect the motion of magma

Consumer electronics
Accelerometers are increasingly being incorporated into personal electronic devices to detect the orientation of the device, for example, a display screen.

A free-fall sensor (FFS) is an accelerometer used to detect if a system has been dropped and is falling. It can then apply safety measures such as parking the head of a hard disk to prevent a head crash and resulting data loss upon impact. This device is included in the many common computer and consumer electronic products that are produced by a variety of manufacturers. It is also used in some data loggers to monitor handling operations for shipping containers. The length of time in free fall is used to calculate the height of drop and to estimate the shock to the package.

Motion input
Some smartphones, digital audio players and personal digital assistants contain accelerometers for user interface control; often the accelerometer is used to present landscape or portrait views of the device's screen, based on the way the device is being held. Apple have included an accelerometer in every generation of iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch, as well as in every iPod nano since the 4th generation. Along with orientation view adjustment, accelerometers in mobile devices can also be used as pedometers, in conjunction with specialized applications.

Automatic Collision Notification (ACN) systems also use accelerometers in a system to call for help in event of a vehicle crash. Prominent ACN systems include OnStar AACN service, Ford Link's 911 Assist, Toyota's Safety Connect, Lexus Link, or BMW Assist. Many accelerometer-equipped smartphones also have ACN software available for download. ACN systems are activated by detecting crash-strength G-forces.

Accelerometers are used in vehicle Electronic stability control systems to measure the vehicle's actual movement. A computer compares the vehicle's actual movement to the driver's steering and throttle input. The stability control computer can selectively brake individual wheels and/or reduce engine power to minimize the difference between driver input and the vehicle's actual movement. This can help prevent the vehicle from spinning or rolling over.

Some pedometers use an accelerometer to more accurately measure the number of steps taken and distance traveled than a mechanical sensor can provide.

Nintendo's Wii video game console uses a controller called a Wii Remote that contains a three-axis accelerometer and was designed primarily for motion input. Users also have the option of buying an additional motion-sensitive attachment, the Nunchuk, so that motion input could be recorded from both of the user's hands independently. Is also used on the Nintendo 3DS system.

The Sony PlayStation 3 uses the DualShock 3 remote which uses a three axis accelerometer that can be used to make steering more realistic in racing games, such as MotorStorm and Burnout Paradise.

The Nokia 5500 sport features a 3D accelerometer that can be accessed from software. It is used for step recognition (counting) in a sport application, and for tap gesture recognition in the user interface. Tap gestures can be used for controlling the music player and the sport application, for example to change to next song by tapping through clothing when the device is in a pocket. Other uses for accelerometer in Nokia phones include Pedometer functionality in Nokia Sports Tracker. Some other devices provide the tilt sensing feature with a cheaper component, which is not a true accelerometer.

Sleep phase alarm clocks use accelerometric sensors to detect movement of a sleeper, so that it can wake the person when he/she is not in REM phase, in order to awaken the person more easily.

Orientation sensing
A number of 21st century devices use accelerometers to align the screen depending on the direction the device is held, for example switching between portrait and landscape modes. Such devices include many tablet PCs and some smartphones and digital cameras. The Amida Simputer, a handheld Linux device launched in 2004, was the first commercial handheld to have a built-in accelerometer. It had incorporated many gesture based interactions using this accelerometer, including page-turning, zoom-in and zoom-out of images, change of portrait to landscape mode and many simple gesture-based games.

As of January 2009, almost all new mobile phones and digital cameras contain at least a tilt sensor and sometimes an accelerometer for the purpose of auto image rotation, motion-sensitive mini-games, and to correct shake when taking photographs.

Image stabilization
Camcorders use accelerometers for image stabilization. Still cameras use accelerometers for anti-blur capturing. The camera holds off capturing the image when the camera is moving. When the camera is still (if only for a millisecond, as could be the case for vibration), the image is captured. An example of the application of this technology is the Glogger VS2, a phone application which runs on Symbian based phones with accelerometers such as the Nokia N96. Some digital cameras contain accelerometers to determine the orientation of the photo being taken and also for rotating the current picture when viewing.

Device integrity
Many laptops feature an accelerometer which is used to detect drops. If a drop is detected, the heads of the hard disk are parked to avoid data loss and possible head or disk damage by the ensuing shock.

Gravimetry
A gravimeter or gravitometer, is an instrument used in gravimetry for measuring the local gravitational field. A gravimeter is a type of accelerometer, except that accelerometers are susceptible to all vibrations including noise, that cause oscillatory accelerations. This is counteracted in the gravimeter by integral vibration isolation and signal processing. Though the essential principle of design is the same as in accelerometers, gravimeters are typically designed to be much more sensitive than accelerometers in order to measure very tiny changes within the Earth's gravity, of 1 g. In contrast, other accelerometers are often designed to measure 1000 g or more, and many perform multi-axial measurements. The constraints on temporal resolution are usually less for gravimeters, so that resolution can be increased by processing the output with a longer "time constant".