×
INTELLIGENT WORK FORUMS
FOR ENGINEERING PROFESSIONALS

Log In

Come Join Us!

Are you an
Engineering professional?
Join Eng-Tips Forums!
  • Talk With Other Members
  • Be Notified Of Responses
    To Your Posts
  • Keyword Search
  • One-Click Access To Your
    Favorite Forums
  • Automated Signatures
    On Your Posts
  • Best Of All, It's Free!
  • Students Click Here

*Eng-Tips's functionality depends on members receiving e-mail. By joining you are opting in to receive e-mail.

Posting Guidelines

Promoting, selling, recruiting, coursework and thesis posting is forbidden.

Students Click Here

Jobs

Can anyone recommend an inexpensive small triaxial accelerometer?

Can anyone recommend an inexpensive small triaxial accelerometer?

Can anyone recommend an inexpensive small triaxial accelerometer?

(OP)
Im looking into a good generic lightwieght (3-8 grams) triaxial accelerometer, that is moderately priced. I need it for modal testing and damping ratios on a lightwieght muffler structure (for room temperature testing only). A good vendor name or model number woyuld be greatly appreciated.

RE: Can anyone recommend an inexpensive small triaxial accelerometer?

Not too sure about weights but Bruel & Kjaer and Endevco spring to mind. In the UK DJ Birchall used to make a small relatively cheap triax.

If you are trying to get the panel modes of the muffler boxes then you could use uniaxials to get the mass down, plus the 'in plane' response is not needed.

I wouldn't sweat the weight too much, exhausts are pretty thick skinned and highly curved.


Cheers

Greg Locock

RE: Can anyone recommend an inexpensive small triaxial accelerometer?

Try the MSI site for low cost, low weight accels.

http://www.msiusa.com/piezo_documentation.htm

They have single and 3 channels accels with response of <0.5Hz to >2kHz and some go up to over 10kHz.  Typical cost is about $25 (uncanned but usable).  They don't need a constant current supply but they DO need a steady voltage supply +5Vdc.

I think these should be ideal for your application but let me know how you get on.  I have been looking for low cost accels for a while as (like most of us now) the high cost of most accels is killing the on line monitoring system. To date these are the best I have come across but make sure you look at the frequency response carefully as the reponse is not perfectly linear on all of these accels.

Ron Frend
ron.frend@predicon.net

RE: Can anyone recommend an inexpensive small triaxial accelerometer?

You might consider whether you really need triaxial accelerometers for muffler analysis.  Having done quite a bit of this sort of work over the past 20 years or so,  I've seldom run across a structure that required them.
If you're really interested in "muffler structre" as you say,  it's quite likely that the modes perpendicular to the muffler surface will be the only ones of interest.  If it's the total system response you're looking for,  the vertical mode is the only one likely to be of any interest,  since the system supports should have extremely high compliance in the transverse directions.

RE: Can anyone recommend an inexpensive small triaxial accelerometer?

(OP)
Hello,

Further info I probably should have provided initially. The muffler is in a small engine application. The entire muffler assembly weighs ~ 1.3 lb. It is attached directly to the exhaust port of cylinder head. So it is not a strapped auto muffler. The muffler assembly is squarish with large flats (which will oil-can). the sheet thickness of components are .040". Hence my concern about the weight of the triax. Hence my concern about the weight.

The modal analysis from my part would be useful to correlate data to FEA results. I guess if I didnt want to do that I could just have on triax in the middle of the flat top. Because the muffler is rigidly attach to the cylinder head it recieves significant vibration in all three directions, so I think the triax is still needed. (granted that the most deflection is normal to the sheet plane.

Anyhoo, thanks for the repsonses and TIA for any more

George

Red Flag This Post

Please let us know here why this post is inappropriate. Reasons such as off-topic, duplicates, flames, illegal, vulgar, or students posting their homework.

Red Flag Submitted

Thank you for helping keep Eng-Tips Forums free from inappropriate posts.
The Eng-Tips staff will check this out and take appropriate action.

Reply To This Thread

Posting in the Eng-Tips forums is a member-only feature.

Click Here to join Eng-Tips and talk with other members!


Resources