Dual-Accelerometer Vibration Sensor for Misalignment Tolerance
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vibration sensors, such as geophones, require precise alignment and are sensitive to misalignment, necessitating frequent repositioning and recalibration in construction and industrial settings, which is inefficient and impractical.
Innovation Solution
A vibration sensor system utilizing a combination of low and high range accelerometers with an analog-to-digital conversion circuit and interface circuit, allowing for software calibration of misalignment and reducing the need for physical repositioning, as well as being smaller and less sensitive to angular and positional limitations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a geophone is used as the vibration sensor, then the sensor can detect vibrations in construction and industrial settings, but the sensor requires precise alignment and is sensitive to misalignment, necessitating frequent repositioning and recalibration
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical geophone system with an accelerometer-based system that uses electronic sensing and digital signal processing. This substitution eliminates the mechanical alignment sensitivity of geophones while maintaining vibration detection capability, allowing the sensor to function accurately without precise physical alignment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the operating parameters by using accelerometers that measure acceleration directly rather than velocity through mechanical means. This parameter change allows for software-based calibration and compensation, reducing the need for precise physical alignment while maintaining measurement accuracy across different orientations.
2Volume of moving object
If a single accelerometer is used, then the device size is reduced, but the dynamic range and output resolution are limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple accelerometers with different measurement ranges into a single integrated sensor system. By merging the outputs of multiple accelerometers through analog-to-digital conversion and software processing, the system achieves an extended dynamic range and improved output resolution that would be impossible with a single accelerometer, while keeping the overall device compact.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides improved dynamic range and output resolution across a wide frequency range, enabling effective vibration monitoring with reduced maintenance and increased accuracy through software calibration, while being compact and less prone to misalignment issues.
Implementation Method 1
A vibration sensor system utilizing a combination of low and high range accelerometers
Data Source
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AI summary
A vibration sensor for construction projects has a housing, a low range accelerometer and a high range accelerometer disposed in the housing, and an analog-to-digital conversion circuit connected to the low and high range accelerometers. The low range accelerometer may have a noise floor below 0.0248g across frequencies up to 1kHz, especially between 1Hz and 315Hz.The high range accelerometer has a maximum acceleration equal to or greater than 50g across frequencies up to 1kHz, especially between 1Hz and 315Hz.