Chapter 6

Inertial sensors exploit the property of

inertia to sense angular motion (with
gyroscopes) and linear motion (with
accelerometers).


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6.1 Accelerometers

Accelerometers are used for many different purposes:

Velocity and position Inertial Measurement

Accel er at i on si ngl e i nt egr at ed f or vel oci t y
Accel er at i on doubl e i nt egr at ed f or posi t i on



















Fi gur e 6. 1 Example of Acceleration, Velocity and Distance


Vibration and shock measurement

Moni t or and pr edi ct t he heal t h and condi t i on of
movi ng machi ner y: For exampl e t o pr edi ct f ai l ur e
bef or e i ncur r i ng expensi ve unpl anned downt i me.

Moni t or t he vi br at i on l evel of machi ner y t o det ect
out of bal ance, bear i ng f ai l ur e

Mot i on and shock det ect i on ( f or ai r bag act i vat i on)

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Gravity measurement to determine orientation

Ti l t and i ncl i nat i on
Posi t i on i n 2 and 3 di mensi onal space
Possi bl e onl y wi t h accel er omet er s t hat have DC r esponse








Fi gur e 6. 2 Example of Inclinometer System on an Excavator


Specific automotive applications

Ant i l ock Br aki ng Syst em( ABS)
Tr act i on Cont r ol Syst em( TCS)
El ect r oni cal l y Cont r ol l ed Suspensi on ( ECS)


Accelerometers can be designed to sense the acceleration
about one, two or three perpendicular axis.

Accelerometers are made up of at least three basic elements:

1. A mass, of t en cal l ed t he " pr oof mass" .
2. A suspensi on, whi ch l ocat es t he mass. Thi s
i s t he l i nk bet ween t he mass and t he
accel er omet er case.
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3. A pi ck- of f , whi ch measur es t he mass
di spl acement wi t h r espect t o t he
accel er omet er case.


Many accelerometers are servo controlled and will also need:

4. A f or cer : An el ect r i c or magnet i c f or ce
gener at or desi gned t o oppose t he i ner t i a
f or ce cr eat ed on t he mass.
5. An el ect r oni c ser vo l oop.

Accelerometer configuration: The Spring-Mass System

A large number of accelerometers work on the principle
shown on figure 6.3, where the case of the sensor is fixed on
he moving vehicle. t


x - axis
Vehicle









Fi gur e 6. 3 Accelerometer schematic


The sensor objective is to measure the acceleration, d
2
x
i
/dt
2
,
of the vehicle along the x-axis.

The value of d
2
x
i
/dt
2
is obtained from the output of the
sensor, x
o
, which is the relative displacement of the proof
mass M with respect to the case of the accelerometer.

The accelerometer transfer function is a second order system,

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x
o
/s
2
x
i
=1 / (s
2
+2
n
s +
n
2
)


wher e t he nat ur al f r equency i s
n
= sqr t ( K
s
/ M)
and t he syst emdampi ng i s = B/ 2sqr t ( K
s
M)


The Pendulous Accelerometer

(i) Open-loop accelerometer: Spring restrained

This type of accelerometer is intended mainly for the
measurement of slowly varying accelerations and can
withstand only low-frequency environmental vibration.














Fi gur e 6. 4 Pendulous Accelerometer
The pendulum mass can move only in the direction of the
input axis. When the case is accelerated the pendulum
deflects from the null position. The displacement angle is
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determined by the electrical position pickup and its measure
provides the value of the acceleration.


(ii) Closed-loop accelerometer: Torque balanced

In the torque balanced (or null-balance) type of
accelerometer, the pendulum is permanently maintained at or
very near to its null position. This is made possible by
sensing the pendulum deflection and generating a torque that
is proportional to this displacement.




Moving Coils
(Torque Motor)













Fi gur e 6. 5 Torque Balanced Pendulous Accelerometer
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The quantity of current sent to the torquer (or forcer) to bring
back the pendulum to its original position provides a
measurement of the acceleration: The more is the
acceleration, the more is the torque required to maintain the
proof mass at the null position, and so the more the current
sent to the torquer.

Also called servo-accelerometer because it uses the principle
of feedback, this type of sensor provides more accuracy than
mechanical spring-mass instruments.

The position pickup can be of two different types,

- i nduct i ve: t he posi t i on of t he pendul um i s
det er mi ned by t he val ue of t he magnet i c f l ux
i nsi de t he coi l s.
- capaci t i ve: t he most common capaci t i ve
pi ckup uses par al l el - pl at e capaci t or s wi t h a
var i abl e ai r gap; t he capaci t ance C = k A/ x

Oil filling provides damping to the system and increases the
ruggedness to shock and vibration.

The operational principle of this sensor is similar to the
vibrating cylinder pressure sensor seen in chapter 5 where the
frequency of the cylinder was maintained at the natural
frequency.




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Silicon Micromachined Accelerometer

Micromechanical accelerometers are either the displacement
mass type that uses closed-loop capacitive sensing and
electrostatic forcing, or the resonator type with a proof mass
that loads two vibrating flexures on opposite sides of the
proof mass.


1- Pendulous mass micromechanical accelerometer

This type of accelerometer, also named force rebalance
micromechanical accelerometer, is a monolithic silicon
structure (i.e., no assembly of component parts) consisting of
a torsional pendulum with capacitive readout and an
electrostatic torquer.













Fi gur e 6. 6 Pendulous silicon accelerometer structure
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The proof mass can weight as less as 0.1 grams. The gap
between the beam and the glass is about 1 to 2 m.








Fi gur e 6. 7 Close view of the proof mass and hinge

The pendulum motion is constrained by two glass plates
where metal films forming the capacitive pickup and forcer
have been evaporated.

A closed-loop electronic circuit keeps the mass centered, and
the voltage applied to the forcer to maintain the proof mass
centered is a measure of the acceleration.











Fi gur e 6. 8 Pendulous silicon accelerometer electronic
circuit
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The following is an example of pendulous accelerometer
from Analog Devices that is working in open-loop, whereas
the previous example was a closed-loop sensor.

It is a fully integrated dual axis accelerometer with signal
conditioning on a single integrated circuit of dimension 5mm
x 5mm x 2mm.










Fi gur e 6. 9 Dual axis accelerometer from Anal og Devi ces
ADXL202E

The design of the ADXL202E differs in the way of sensing the
proof mass displacement and also in the method of fixation of
the proof mass.

The moving plate of the capacitor pickup is formed by a large
number of "fingers" extending from the proof mass. The
proof mass has the form of a beam and is supported by
tethers anchored to the substrate. Tethers provide the
mechanical spring constant that forces the proof mass to
return to its original position when at rest or at constant
velocity. There is no forcer in that case, that is why the sensor
is an open-loop system.
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Fi gur e 6. 10 ADXL202E schematic

When responding to an applied acceleration or under gravity,
the proof mass moves along a predetermined axis relative to
the rest of the chip. As the fingers extending from the beam
move between the fixed plates, capacitance change is being
sensed and used to measure the amplitude of the force that
led to the displacement of the beam.










Fi gur e 6. 11 ADXL202E under acceleration


The analog signal from the sensor is converted to a digital
signal inside the accelerometer IC chip so that both types of
signals are available at the output of the ADXL202E.

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Fi gur e 6. 12 Functional block diagram of the ADXL202E























Fi gur e 6. 13 Example of pendulous micromachined
accelerometer
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2- Resonant micromechanical accelerometer

Resonant accelerometers (sometimes referred to as vibrating
beam accelerometers) have a proof mass that loads two
vibrating flexures on opposite sides of the proof mass.

When the accelerometer proof mass is loaded, one point of
attach of the proof mass is put into tension and the other into
compression. These points of attach are continually excited at
frequencies of tens to hundreds of kilohertz range when
unloaded. As a result, when "g" loaded, one points
frequency increases while the other point's frequency
decreases. This difference in frequency provide a measure of
the acceleration. This form of accelerometer is an open-loop
device, in that the proof mass is not rebalanced to its center
position when force is applied.















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Fi gur e 6. 14 Example of resonant accelerometer from TEMIC

Ref er ences:

- Tor que Bal anced Accel er omet er : http://www.eng.upm.edu.my/~nizam/download/MS4/doc6.pdf

- Mi cr omachi ned Resonant Accel er omet er : http://www.eng.upm.edu.my/~nizam/download/MS4/doc?.pdf








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