MECA 324

Sensors & Actuators

Velocity and Acceleration Sensors

 Velocity and Acceleration Sensors

• Velocity is a first derivative of position and

acceleration is the second derivative.
• However, in a noisy environment, taking
derivatives may result in extremely high errors,
even if complex and sophisticated signal
conditioning circuits are employed.
• Therefore, velocity and acceleration are not
derived from the position detectors, but rather
measured by special sensors
 Velocity Measurements

• Velocity (speed or rate of motion) may be linear or angular; that is, it

shows how fast an object moves along a straight line or how fast it rotates.
• Currently, the speed of a large object, especially of a land or water vehicle,
may be very efficiently determined by a GPS (Geo Positioning System) that
operates by receiving radio signals from a number of the Earth’s satellites
and by computing the time delay of signals received from one satellite as
compared with the other. When the position of a vehicle is determined
with a periodic rate, computation of its velocity is no problem.
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=65&v=3zRlbboMvb0)

• For smaller objects and shorter distances, GPS is not a solution. Detecting
the velocity for such objects requires different references
 Linear Velocity Sensors

• Two commonly used sensors to measure the

velocity
– Linear Velocity Transducers (LVT)
– Doppler Radar Sensor
 LVT

• Use the properties of magnetic fields and wire coils

• The two coils are wrapped with opposite polarity. The south
pole of the magnet induces a voltage primarily in coil 2, and the
north pole primarily in coil 1.
• Moving a magnet through a coil of wire will induce a DC voltage
is proportional to the magnet’s velocity and field stregth
 Doppler Radar Sensor

• When radio waves strike a moving object, the

frequency of the reflected radio waves is
altered
 Doppler Radar Sensor

v: velocity of the moving object at angle 

relative to the radar unit
Δfd: shift in frequency of the reflected wave
relative to the transmitted wave.
λ: wavelength
 Angular Velocity Sensors

• Angular velocity sensors to measure shaft

speed are many times called tachometers
(tacho means speed in greek).
• Gyroscopes (or gyros) can also be used to
measure angular velocity.
– Types of gyroscopes:
• Rotary
• Vibratory
• Optical
 Working Principle of DC tachometer

• A magnetic field is generated by a

permanent, fixed magnet
• A coil of wire (rotor) directly
connected to the rotating object
and it rotates inside the magnet
• A voltage is induced in the
conducting coil due to the relative
motion between the coil and the
magnetic field
• According to Faraday’s law, the
induced voltage is proportional to
the rate of change of magnetic
flux (angular velocity of the shaft)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_i9fxL58Cc
 Working Principle of DC tachometer

h: height of coil
2r: width of coil
n: number of turns of coil
ωc :angular speed
β: flux density of magnetic
field
k: sensitivity of the
tachometer
 Gyroscopes

• Where a geomagnetic field is either absent (in space)

or is altered by the presence of some disturbances, a
gyroscope (gyro for short) is an indispensable sensor
for defining the position of a vehicle
• The basic principle involved is the principle of
conservation of angular momentum:
– In any system of particles, the total angular momentum of
the system relative to any point fixed in space remains
constant, provided no external forces act on the system.
 Rotary Gyroscopes

• A gyro is comprised of a
massive disk free to rotate spin axis
about a spin axis which itself
is confined within a platform
framework that is free to
rotate about one or two
axes.
• Hence, depending on the
number of rotating axes, input axis output axis
gyros can be either of a
single-, or two-degree-of-
freedom type.
 Rotary Gyroscopes

• When the wheel (rotor)

freely rotates, it tends to spin axis
preserve its axial position.
• If the gyro platform rotates platform
around the input axis, the
gyro will develop a torque
around a perpendicular
(output) axis, thus turning
its spin axis around the input axis output axis
output axis. applied torque output torque
• This phenomenon is called
the precession of a gyro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmmbOVfHqcg
 Rotary Gyroscopes

The relation between the

applied torque and the angular spin axis
velocity of precession is:

platform

T: applied torque
: angular velocity of the spin
axis
I: moment of inertia of the input axis output axis
rotating mass applied torque output torque
: angular velocity of precession.
 Vibratory Gyroscopes

The Coriolis acceleration

appears, whenever a body
moves linearly in a frame of
reference that is rotating about
an axis perpendicular to that of
the linear motion.

The resulting acceleration, which

is directly proportional to the rate
of turn, occurs in the third axis,
which is perpendicular to the
plane containing the other two
axis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1Ffsyazxzg&ab_channel=MarkBerardi
MEMS Gyroscopes, Accelerometers, and
Magnetometers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=eqZgxR6eRjo&t=496s&ab_channel=HowToM
echatronics