C F X Technologies

Description

The selection of an optimum accelerometer depends on having a reasonable knowledge of the acceleration levels, and the range of frequencies, which are to be measured. An awareness of the environmental conditions, in which the accelerometer is expected to deliver accurate results, is also necessary. Most sensors including accelerometers have sensitivity to other environments as well as acceleration. Sensitivity to temperature variations is the most apparent. Some accelerometer designs have significantly better performance in changing thermal environments than others. Alternate designs are very rugged and can handle severe shock and vibration without damage. CFX supplies accelerometers using both Micromachined and Force Balance designs. Micromachined devices are referred to as MEMS and the Force Balance accelerometer has a nickname of Servo accelerometer. For the purpose of selecting an accelerometer, applications can be divided into two categories. These categories are Linear Acceleration (static) and vibration / shock (dynamic). Linear acceleration sometimes referred to as DC or static acceleration consists of prolonged acceleration often in one direction. Examples would be the acceleration of vehicles, elevators, falling objects or measurement of gravity. These events take place for relatively long periods of time so one demand placed on the accelerometer is that it have response at 0 frequency (DC) and a stable zero g bias. If the environment has wide temperature fluctuations, the accelerometer must also have a stable zero g bias over the anticipated operating temperature range.

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