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Mechanical May 6
2010
Vibration
By Khalil Raza Bhatti (07ME40), QUEST,
Nawabshah – Pakistan.
Q.No.1 Define different types of vibration measuring instruments such as vibro-meter and accelerometer.
Particularly explain in detail about accelerometer also designs the same?
Vibration
Vibration refers to mechanical oscillations about an equilibrium point. The oscillations may be periodic such as the
motion of a pendulum or random such as the movement of a tire on a gravel road.
Vibration is occasionally "desirable". For example the motion of a tuning fork, the reed in a woodwind instrument or
harmonica, or the cone of a loudspeaker is desirable vibration, necessary for the correct functioning of the various
devices.
More often, vibration is undesirable, wasting energy and creating unwanted sound – noise. For example, the vibrational
motions of engines, electric motors, or any mechanical device in operation are typically unwanted. Such vibrations can
be caused by imbalances in the rotating parts, uneven friction, the meshing of gear teeth, etc. Careful designs usually
minimize unwanted vibrations.
The study of sound and vibration are closely related. Sound, or "pressure waves", are generated by vibrating structures
(e.g. vocal cords); these pressure waves can also induce the vibration of structures (e.g. ear drum). Hence, when trying
to reduce noise it is often a problem in trying to reduce vibration.
Types of vibration
Free vibration occurs when a mechanical system is set off with an initial input and then allowed to vibrate freely.
Examples of this type of vibration are pulling a child back on a swing and then letting go or hitting a tuning fork and
letting it ring. The mechanical system will then vibrate at one or more of its "natural frequencies" and damp down to
zero.
Forced vibration is when an alternating force or motion is applied to a mechanical system. Examples of this type of
vibration include a shaking washing machine due to an imbalance, transportation vibration (caused by truck engine,
springs, road, etc), or the vibration of a building during an earthquake. In forced vibration the frequency of the
vibration is the frequency of the force or motion applied, with order of magnitude being dependent on the actual
mechanical system.
Accelerometer
An accelerometer is a device that measures proper acceleration, the acceleration
experienced relative to freefall.
Single- and multi-axis models are available to detect magnitude and direction of the
acceleration as a vector quantity, and can be used to sense position, vibration and shock.
Micromachined accelerometers are increasingly present in portable electronic devices and
video game controllers, to detect the position of the device or provide for game input.
> The Sagem family includes among others the A600 and the A305.
Vibrating Beam Accelerometers : this technology has been developed for several
years and is currently under production for tactical products. It offers cost-
effective performances, a small size and is well suited for state-of-the-art digital
systems due to their digital output.
> The AD301 accelerometer is used on the Sagem AASM navigation system.
MEMS-based accelerometers : Sagem is also manufacturing the cost effective
MEMS-based ACSIL accelerometer, based on a micro silicon chip pendulum. It is
used for intermediate precision needs and other stabilization purposes.
Mechanical study
Design approach
a mass (m),
This system is just an approximation to the real approach behaviour. This mechanical system gives a second order
system given by:
dividing by m, thus:
…….(1)
or …….(2)
where:
4
: is the resonant frequency, and
: is the quality factor.
The basic limitation are needed to look at it is the damping, where the accelerometer has to be critically damped,
hence this permits to get the least amplitude distortion. This means that therefore [3]:
…….(3)
In order to characterise the dumping we need to solve the dominator’s equation by calculating the Δ of the transfer
function (equation (2)) of our system.
……..(4)
In Order to get a maximum bandwidth, the sensing element should be critically damped [2].
Note also, that the mass should be big enough to conform to our sensitivity requirements, and at the same time it has
to be small enough to be compatible with “b ” in such a way we can get critical damping.
Another important assumption which can help us to find the right parameters for designing our capacitive
accelerometer; is to assign the sensitive gap “d” , since it is limited by the fabrication processes.
Bandwidth
5 This means that in an open loop arrangement a high sensitivity yields to a small bandwidth. In a closed loop
arrangement the resonance peak can be suppressed by the control circuit. The bandwidth is no longer limited by the
mechanical resonance of the sensor but is limited by the transition frequency of the control circuit.
The given specifications for our design are the bandwidth, sensitivity, dynamic range and the minimum detectable
acceleration. The minimum acceleration that the system can detect must be higher than the noise level, this means
that the minimum acceleration is limited by the noise boundary.
The noise affects the system is a combination of two different noises come from the mechanical sensor and electronic
readout circuit.
In the mechanical study of the design, we need to focus on the mechanical noise only. However in the
electrical/electronic study which will follow later on we will neglect the mechanical noise and focus only on the
electric noise since it is the dominant one in the electrical system.
The mechanical noise of the accelerometer is mainly caused due to the damping, which is called Brownian motion
noise. This is used to specify the noise in terms of acceleration noise. Therefore the noise or the minimum acceleration
can be detected, is given by equation (5) [4]:
or …..(5)
Sensitivity
The sensitivity in a capacitive accelerometer is defined by the difference of variation in the capacitance divided by the
difference in variation in the displacement, in which the sensitivity equation is given by [4]:
…..(6)
Where:
ε: is the electric permittivity of air,
A: is the overlap area of electrodes ,
d: is the gap between the electrodes. However the gap between electrodes should be as small as possible and it is
defined by the process of fabrication.
Dynamic Range
In an open loop arrangement the operating range is limited by the maximum deflection of the seismic mass. Since a
small spring constant k yields a high sensitivity, seismic masses in high resolution accelerometers are suspended softly.
Therefore, the operating range of these accelerometers is small. In our design the dynamic range of operation which is
6 given equals to ±##G. So the maximum measurable acceleration is determined by [4]:
…..(7)
Spring constant
As it can be seen clearly in the equations above, that the spring constant “k ” affects directly the resonant frequency,
bandwidth, sensitivity and also the pull-in voltage. Instead in the real design the spring constant is related directly to
the beam characteristics, which are the length (L), the thickness (t), the width (W) and the elasticity of material
coefficient ( Young modulus (E)).
Note that the spring constant changes in a beam due to the tonsil and compressive stresses. However we assume that
there is no variation in spring constant and the following equation can be applied :
…..(8)
where:
In our design we aim to get a critical damping for our system. The damping force in the accelerometer arises from the
so-called squeeze-film effect, i.e., the interaction of the silicon mass and the air-film trapped in the gap between the
mass and the electrodes. Provided that the “squeeze number” within the bandwidth of the
accelerometer, the damping coefficient can be calculated from [2]:
…..(9)
Parameters calculation
Since the dumping is directly related to the mass “m” so it is required that the mass should be big enough to confirm to
our sensitivity given and small enough to be compatible with “b” so that we get critical damping.
therefore:
Nominal capacitance :
In order to calculate the nominal capacitance we need to combine equations (6) and (7) for the maximum value of
distance “d” which is given in the assumption, thus we get:
In order to calculate the mass “m” we need to use a combination between equations (4) and (5) thus we get:
At this stage we need to define the sensing elements which consists of the proof mass and suspension system in such a
way, our design will meet any specifications given (Bandwidth, sensitivity, dynamic range, minimum detectable
acceleration). By calculating the length of the beam “L” (as it can be seen in Fig.3.4) and finding out the appropriate
values for the width “w” and thickness ” t” for the beams, the size of the proof mass has to be calculated also and
defining the thickness , the width ; then the Length .
Beam geometry
The dimensions of thickness and the width of the beam can be initially chosen by the designer although sometimes
are limited by microfabrication capabilities. However the relationship between the thickness “t” , width “w”, and length
“L” have to obey the following equation [2]:
This capacitive accelerometer contains a cantilevered beam, shown in Figure 3.5, with the following dimensions, where
L is length, W is width, t is thickness. The proof mass with a thickness , a width ; and a Length . A gap
which is the spacing between the substrate and the underside of the beam, is material density, and E is the material
Young’s modulus (eg. Young’s modulus for silicon is )
We know that our proof mass volume is since it is homogeneously parallelepiped with rectangular
area A. volume should be calculated from the Volumic mass density so:
Vibrometer
A laser Doppler vibrometer (LDV) is a scientific instrument that is used to make non-contact vibration measurements
of a surface. The laser beam from the LDV is directed at the surface of interest, and the vibration amplitude and
frequency are extracted from the Doppler shift of the laser beam frequency due to the motion of the surface. The
output of an LDV is generally a continuous analog voltage that is directly proportional to the target velocity component
along the direction of the laser beam.
Some advantages of an LDV over similar measurement devices such as an accelerometer are that the LDV can be
directed at targets that are difficult to access, or that may be too small or too hot to attach a physical transducer. Also,
the LDV makes the vibration measurement without mass-loading the target, which is especially important for MEMS
devices
Self-mixing vibrometers – Simple LDV configuration with ultra-compact optical head. These are generally based on a
10 laser diode with a built-in photodetector, leading to a very rugged and compact optical system.
Problem
A machine weighing 200 lbs and supported on spring of total stiffness 400 lb/in, has unbalanced rotating elements
which results in a disturbing force of 80 lbs at a speed of 3000 rpm. Assuming a damping factor of £ = 0.2, determine:
b) The transmitivity
DATA: Required:
Solution:
The amplitude of motion due to unbalance is given by the relation shown below.
X 1
Xo 2 2
[1 ( ) ] [2 £ ( ) ]2
n n
11
Xo
X
Or, 2 2 -------------------------(A)
[1 ( ) ] [2 £ ( ) ]2
n n
In the above relation, X o , and n are unknown parameters. Therefore, we determine these first.
For X o :
f 80
Xo = 0.2 in
K 400
For :
For n :
W 200 lb sec2
m= = 0.517
g 32.2 12 in
K 400
n = = 27.82 s 1
m 0.517
12
Substituting these values in equation (A), we get:-
0.2
X
314 2 2 314
[1 ( ) ] [2 0.2 ( ) ]2
27.82 27.82
= 0.0016 inch
B) The Transitivity:
We know that,
2
1 (2 £ )
n
TR
2 2
[1 ( ) ] [2 £ ( ) ]2
n n
314 2
1 (2 0.2 )
= 27.28
314 2 2 314 2
[1 ( ) ] [2 0.2 ( ) ]
27.28 27.28
= 0.176
We know that,
FIR = f TR
= 80 0.176
13 = 14.08 lbs