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Engage Home > Dynamic Calibration Products > What's Wrong With My Accelerometer?
Background
A 10 mV/g, 2-gram accelerometer and a 100 mV/g, 2-gram accelerometer
were mounted to the end of a cantilever beam as shown in Figure 1. The end
of the cantilever beam was impacted with a hammer to provide a step input.
The outputs of each accelerometer were connected to a digital oscilloscope set
at a sample rate of 2 kHz. The 10 mV/g accelerometer was also connected to
a second oscilloscope set at a sample rate of 2 MHz.
Results
The output of the two accelerometers is shown in Figure 2 and Figure 3. Figure
2 is the output over a two second period. Figure 3 shows the same signal
expanded to .01 second range. Figure 2 shows that the 100 mv/g
accelerometer measured signal peaks/saturates and then exponentially decays
the baseline voltage back to zero. This type of behavior indicates the input
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What's Wrong With My Accelerometer? | Calibration | The Modal Shop, Inc.
exceeded the accelerometer’s measurement range (50 g-pk) of the 100 mv/g
accelerometer and saturated the accelerometer’s internal impedance
converting amplifier. The erroneous peak output from the 100 mv/g
accelerometer indicates the peak level was 150 g-pk and the 10 mv/g
accelerometer’s measured data indicates a peak level of 325 g-pk. The lower
than actual peak level measured by the 100 mv/g accelerometer is the result
of the internal amplifier saturating and limiting its maximum output (which
was well outside the typical 5 V IEPE linear range). The 325 g-pk output from
the 10 mv/g accelerometer was well within the (5 V linear output) specified
measurement range of 500 g-pk.
The expanded signals in Figure 3 are shown to illustrate how the levels from
the 100 mv/g accelerometer differ from the 100 mv/g as the signal exceeds
the 50 g-pk measurement range and saturates the higher sensitivity (100
mv/g), lower amplitude range (50 g) accelerometer. Sometimes the signal
from Figure 3 could be confused with a malfunction of the accelerometer, or
even worse, not even noticed if only looking at frequency domain data.
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What's Wrong With My Accelerometer? | Calibration | The Modal Shop, Inc.
Conclusion
The sample rate and measurement parameters are important criteria in
making an accurate measurement. The data presented was measured with
integrated electronics piezoelectric (IEPE) accelerometers but are also
important to measurements involving charge output piezoelectric (PE)
accelerometers as well. The sample rate can actually act as a filter to
attenuate the frequency content and observed peak levels, as well as masking
overload/saturation occurring in a measurement. Measurement professionals
are well advised to study and understand the fundamental principles digital
sampling, and always have a trusted oscilloscope to view and verify various
ranges of time data, especially in shock or impact environments.
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What's Wrong With My Accelerometer? | Calibration | The Modal Shop, Inc.
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