Accelerometer - Definition, Working Priniciple, Types, Applications

Introduction

Your phone's compass application somehow knows which way your phone is pointing. Essentially, your phone's stargazing application knows what part of the sky you're looking at to effectively display celestial bodies. Have you thought about how they do it? Cell phones and other versatile advanced technologies use small devices consisting of axis-based motion detection to detect orientation. This device is an accelerometer.

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This Story also Contains

1. Introduction
2. What is an Accelerometer?
3. Working Principle of Accelerometer
4. Types of Accelerometer
5. Applications of Accelerometer

What is an Accelerometer?

An accelerometer is a device that estimates legitimate acceleration. Good acceleration is the body's increasing velocity (velocity progress rate) in its instantaneous still frame. This is peculiar to organizational acceleration, increasing speed within a fixed framework. Forces defined by accelerometers can be static, such as continuous gravity or light as seen in the case of mobile phones. For dynamics capturing motion and vibration. Accelerometers absorb vibrations produced by the body and use them to detect body orientation.

For example, an accelerometer placed on the outer surface of the Earth measures the velocity increased by the Earth's gravity. Straight from g≈9.81m/s2. On the other hand, a free-fall accelerometer (falling toward the centre of the earth at a velocity of about 9.81 m/s2) measures zero.

Accelerometers have many industrial and scientific uses. Sensitive accelerometers are used for inertial measurements of Orbital structures of aeroplanes and missiles Accelerometers detect vibrations in rotating machinery and are used in tablets Personal computers and computer cameras etc to keep the image always vertical. In aircraft, accelerometers help stabilize flight.

At points where at least two accelerometers are linked, contrast can be measured at reasonably increasing velocities. Among other things, its spatial distribution, namely gravity due to the gradient of the gravitational field.

Working Principle of Accelerometer

The main operating criterion of accelerometers is to convert mechanical energy into electrical energy. At the point where the sensor is held by a spring-like mass, the sensor begins to descend. As you descend, you begin to encounter acceleration. This acceleration is a measure of electrical sign and is used to estimate the positional diversity of the device. Accelerometers can be found in both simple and computerized construction devices. Available in both analogue and digital formats.

Types of Accelerometer

• Capacitive MEMS Accelerometer- MEMS stands for Micro-Electro-Mechanical-System.MEMS is a manufacturing technology. In this type of accelerometer, capacitance changes are recorded rather than resistance changes. Most mobile devices use such MEMS accelerometers.

• Piezoresistive Accelerometer- In this type of vibration is measured by changes in resistance. This is a direct current sensitive accelerometer that has proven to be efficient while measuring very small vibrations such as the gravitational vector.

• Piezoelectric Accelerometer- In this type the sensors are made of crystals or ceramics like lead zirconate, lead titanate, etc. This sensor absorbs the vibrations and produces the same amount of electrical signals.

Applications of Accelerometer

Some of the applications are as follows :

• Accelerometers can detect vibrations from microscale to large scale. Even most safety devices use accelerometers.

• Accelerometers are also used in sports. Wearable devices that athletes use every day for training and monitoring include accelerometers and gyroscopes.

• Doctors use it to check weight gain and monitor body movements. It is also present in devices used to check heart rate.

• Piezoelectric accelerometers are used on an industrial scale.

• The accelerometer sensors most commonly used in aerospace are based on microelectromechanical sensors (MEMS technology). The reason for using MEMS sensor-based accelerometers is that they can detect vibrations even at the micro-scale and provide values even at the micro-scale.

• It is also used for satellites in space because it can withstand high pressure, heat, and vibration.

• For purposes such as gear analysis, bearing analysis, rotor trimming, and balancing, accelerometers play an important role.

The aircraft is steered using accelerometers. Flight testing is also something that requires an accelerometer. Detailed observation of the data is expected to verify flight characteristics and confirm its design. It uses an accelerometer called the LCA-5080.