Monday, November 20, 2023

The smallest North Finder you've ever seen

 The dimensions are only 44.84×38.88×21.39mm and the weight is 60g. The north-seeking accuracy can reach 0.25°~1°, and the update rate is 200Hz. It has the advantages of high precision, light weight and low power consumption, and can quickly and independently determine the true north direction. Compared with other MEMS north seekers, it not only improves the sensitivity of the sensor and reduces errors, but also makes its power supply only support 5±0.25V and the power is 2W. The MEMS gyroscope used has a bias instability of 0.02°/hr and an angular random walk of 0.005°/√hr, which can meet the needs of medium and high-precision measurements, and is small enough for devices with high space and power consumption requirements.

It can be used in directional drilling rigs and deep hole drilling rigs, which can help find the true north direction in coal mines, improve work efficiency, and tunnel boring machines in coal mining to improve the quality of coal mining.

At the same time, it can also be used in radar vehicles and military rocket launch vehicles, which is very helpful in improving the orientation and alignment of rocket launches.

In the field of surveying and mapping vehicles, it can be directly installed on the surveying and mapping vehicle. For static north seeking, you can choose the 01 model for high-precision dynamic north seeking.

Rock drills and tunnel construction can also apply north-seeking technology.

It is not only widely used in high-tech defense fields such as satellites, missiles, and high-precision inertial navigation system initial alignment, but also widely used in geophysical exploration, coal mining, geodesy, mining, underground drilling projects, tunnels and other fields. Excavation, as well as civilian fields such as unmanned vehicle automatic driving systems and vehicle positioning and navigation systems.

If you have any opinions about northfinder , welcome to leave your comments and share with your friends. If you are interested in the northseeker products, you can send message to me or send email to info@ericcointernational.com

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Application of Tilt Sensor in Hydraulic Tipping and Unloading Machine



 Tilt sensors can be used in hydraulic tipping and unloading machine, you know?

The hydraulic tipping machine is a kind of unloading device which can automatically unload the bulk material by turning the semi-mounted truck over or over. The large mechanical equipment used to unload the railway open car, the machinery that can flip or tilt the rail vehicle to achieve discharge, is mostly used in the port with a large traffic volume and the industrial sectors such as metallurgy, coal, and thermal power. It is also used under the mine, but mostly for small tipper; Bulk materials mainly refer to grain, feed, cement, coal, ore, mineral powder and so on. This unloading machine is widely used in grain stations, feed mills, warehousing, ports, mines, chemical industry, iron and steel factories and other enterprises. Suitable for high temperature, dust and other places. High efficiency, save manpower.

The hydraulic control valve is load-sensitive proportional multi-way valve. The speed can be adjusted arbitrarily, the process of dumping grain over the plate can be controlled, and there is no power output when there is no action. Compact structure, modular, easy to replace. P, Q follow function.

The electronic control part is controlled by PLC, equipped with a touch screen to realize the monitoring and control mode switch of the system, with remote control operation, the control part is simple, the use of ER-TS-4150VO tilt sensor to automatically level, anti-tilt, to achieve automatic correction function, leveling accuracy up to +0.1°, when the tilt of the horizontal direction of the flip plate can be automatically corrected;

The limit switch of the unloading machine has the function of travel limit, safety lock and manual playback. In the event of power failure or misoperation, the equipment will be locked in the current position to prevent the danger caused by misoperation. However, whether the limit switch is installed in the correct position and deformed, long-term use will have mechanical damage, and the angle sensor can be used to ensure that the angle is determined, which can ensure the accuracy of the angle to check whether there is a large amount of ash accumulation between the drive gear and the rotary support rod.

If you want to learn more about MEMS tilt sensors or buy tilt sensors

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What is the use of Quartz Flexible Accelerometer

 Quartz flexible accelerometer,as the main type of accelerometer used to measure the acceleration of the carrier, is a very important inertial device. Although the trajectory of the object can be obtained by measuring the acceleration, speed or position in the navigation and positioning of various carriers, the quartz flexible accelerometer is of great significance for inertial navigation technology because only the acceleration can be measured inside the moving object.

The application of quartz flexible accelerometer is very wide, the following are some typical applications of it.

Inertial navigation and guidance system

Missiles, aircraft, ships, combat vehicles, and other navigation guidance systems must have speed and position information. In low-requirement situations, people use airspeed meters, Mach number sensors, odometers, but as the performance requirements of weapon systems Improve, the above instruments can no longer meet the requirements. The linear accelerometer can be installed in a moving object to measure its acceleration directly, and then obtain the speed and position. It has high measurement accuracy and good dynamic performance, which is much better than the air speed meter and odometer. Therefore, the use of linear accelerometers for inertial navigation guidance systems is one of its main applications.ER-QA-03A as an example,its bias repeatability is 10-50μg,scale factor repeatability is 15-50 ppm and class II non-linearity repeatability is10 to 30 mu g/g2.

Tilt measurement and leveling system

In a gravitational field, a linear accelerometer can measure changes in gravitational acceleration. When the sensitive axis is perpendicular to the horizontal plane, the accelerometer indicates the unit gravity acceleration; if the sensitive axis is tilted, its output is the product of the gravity acceleration and the sine function of the tilt angle. Using this principle, it can be used for tilt measurement and leveling. For example, the leveling of fire control gun sight radar and anti-aircraft radar; in addition, the tilt angle is controlled by measuring the lateral acceleration of trains and cars so that they can still drive at high speeds on curves. For example,the bias stability of


ER-MA-5 is (1s standard deviation)(1σ)<20ug, and bias month repeatability is 200ug.

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Sunday, November 19, 2023

How is IMU used?

The concept of IMU

The inertial measurement unit, referred to as IMU, is a device that measures the three-axis attitude angle (or angular velocity core) and acceleration of an object. Gyroscopes and speedometers are devices of an inertial navigation system.

The IMU has a built-in speed sensor and gyroscope, which can measure linear acceleration and rotational angular velocity in three directions.

Working principles for IMU

IMU is based on Newton’s laws of mechanics. By measuring the acceleration of the carrier in the inertial reference system, integrating it over time, and transforming it into the navigation coordinate system, the speed and yaw angle in the navigation coordinate system can be obtained. and location information.

The inertial measurement unit is a device that measures the three-axis attitude angle (or angular rate) and acceleration of an object. Generally, an IMU contains three single-axis accelerometers and three single-axis gyroscopes. The accelerometer detects the acceleration signals of the object in three independent axes of the carrier coordinate system, while the gyroscope detects the angular velocity signal of the carrier relative to the navigation coordinate system, and measures the object’s position in the carrier coordinate system. The angular velocity and acceleration in three-dimensional space are used to calculate the attitude of the object. It has very important application value in navigation.

The principle of an inertial measurement unit is very similar to taking small steps in the dark. In the dark, due to the error between your estimate of the step length and the actual distance walked, as you take more and more steps, the difference between your estimated position and the actual position will become farther and farther. When taking the first step, the estimated position is relatively close to the actual position; but as the number of steps increases, the difference between the estimated position and the actual position becomes larger and larger. This method is extended to three dimensions, which is the principle of the inertial measurement unit.

Therefore, in layman’s terms, the inertial measurement unit IMU is a strapdown inertial navigation system. The system consists of three acceleration sensors and three angular velocity sensors (gyros). The accelerometer is used to feel the acceleration component relative to the vertical line of the ground. The speed sensor is used to get a feel for the angle information.

It is worth noting that the inertial measurement unit provides relative positioning information. Its function is to measure the movement route of the object relative to the starting point, so it cannot provide information about your specific location. Therefore, it is often combined with GPS. Used together, when the GPS signal is weak in some places, the IMU can play its role, allowing the car to continue to obtain absolute position information and not get “lost.”

How three-axis accelerometer works

Most three-axis acceleration sensors use piezoresistive, piezoelectric and capacitive operating principles. The resulting acceleration is proportional to changes in resistance, voltage and capacitance and is collected by corresponding amplification and filtering circuits. This is the same principle as an ordinary acceleration sensor, so through certain technology, three single axes can be turned into a three-axis. For most sensor applications, a two-axis acceleration sensor is sufficient.

Working principle of three-axis gyroscope

The working principle of the three-axis gyroscope is based on the gyro effect. When the gyroscope’s axis of rotation is perpendicular to the direction of the force, it feels the force, which creates a torque that causes it to rotate in the coordinate system. The three gyroscopes in a three-axis gyroscope are mounted on three mutually perpendicular axes. They sense the angular velocity on the x, y, and z axes respectively, and output the signals to relevant circuits for processing.

Application areas and uses of IMU

Inertial navigation IMU has a wide range of application scenarios and is often used for pointing, steering and guidance monitoring, rock soil monitoring, etc. in advanced mining/drilling equipment, ships, automobiles, drones, robots, oil exploration, bridge exploration, high-rise buildings, iron towers, dams, etc. , navigation and positioning of transportation vehicles such as mining and missiles, and north-finding positioning in geodetic/land mobile mapping systems.

In the automotive field, inertial navigation IMU can help vehicles achieve autonomous driving and traffic jam identification, improving driving performance and safety. In land vehicles, IMUs can be integrated into GPS-based car navigation systems or vehicle tracking systems to provide dead reckoning capabilities to the system and the ability to collect as much accurate data as possible about the vehicle’s current speed, turn rate, heading and inclination and acceleration, combined with the vehicle’s wheel speed sensor output and reverse gear signal for purposes such as better traffic collision analysis. The ER-MG2-300/400 developed by ERICCO is a navigation-grade MEMS gyro sensor with a measurement range of up to 400 degrees/second and a bias instability of 0.05°/hour. It is designed for precision attitude in high-performance IMU/AHRS. Designed for azimuth measurement, positioning, navigation, guidance/GNSS-assisted INS, aviation/marine/land mapping/measurement systems/unmanned aerial vehicle/AUV and navigation-level MEMS weapon systems.

In the aviation field, inertial navigation IMU can realize motion control such as aircraft climbing, descending, turning, taxiing, etc., improving flight safety and accuracy. In a navigation system, data reported by the IMU is fed into a processor to calculate altitude, speed, and position. ER-MIMU-01 developed by ERICCO uses high-quality and reliable MEMS accelerometer and gyroscope. It communicates with the outside through RS422. The baud rate can be flexibly set between 9600~921600. The communication baud rate required by the user can be set through the communication protocol. Equipped with X, Y, Z three-axis precision gyroscope, X, Y, Z three-axis accelerometer, with high resolution, it can output the original hexadecimal complement of X, Y, Z three-axis gyroscope and accelerometer through RS422 code data (including gyroscope hexadecimal complement) numerical temperature, angle, accelerometer hexadecimal temperature, acceleration hexadecimal complement); it can also output gyroscope and accelerometer data that have been processed by underlying calculations Floating point dimensionless value.

One of the earliest devices was designed and built by the Ford Instrument Company for the U.S. Air Force and was intended to help aircraft navigate in flight without requiring any input from outside the aircraft. The device, known as a ground position indicator, shows the pilot the aircraft’s longitude and latitude relative to the ground once the pilot inputs the aircraft’s longitude and latitude during takeoff.

A major disadvantage of using IMUs for navigation, then, is that they are often subject to cumulative errors. Because the guidance system continuously integrates acceleration versus time to calculate velocity and position (see dead reckoning), any measurement error, no matter how small, accumulates over time. This results in “drift”: an increasing discrepancy between where the system thinks it is and where it actually is. The ER-MG-067 developed by ERICCO is a high-precision tactical-grade MEMS gyroscope with an instability deviation of 0.3 degrees/hour and an angular random walk of 0.125°/√h. It is a single-axis MEMS angular rate sensor. (gyroscope), capable of measuring angular velocity up to ±400°/s, and the digital output complies with the SPI slave mode 3 protocol. Angular rate data is represented as 24-bit words.

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What is the Function of a Tilt Sensor in a Robot?

 


How tilt sensors work in robots, let's take a look.

A robot is a machine that performs work automatically. It can either be directed by humans, run pre-programmed programs, or act according to principles laid down by AI technology. Its mission is to help replace human jobs, such as manufacturing, construction, or dangerous jobs. The inspection robot is one of them. It carries a visible light camera, infrared thermal camera, pickup, ultrasonic wave, inclination sensor, etc. At the same time, it adopts trajectory navigation and can conduct autonomous or remote control inspection of outdoor high-pressure equipment according to the optimal path planning. Through machine vision, infrared temperature measurement, sound detection and other methods, the inspection robot can collect infrared heat map, image and audio information of the equipment. It also automatically identifies the thermal defects, abnormal appearance, switch or tool position, instrument reading, and oil level meter position of the equipment, generates unified and standardized alarm items and inspection reports, sends alarm information to the operator, and provides basic data for equipment status maintenance. In unattended, less attended substations or smart substations, especially in plateau, low oxygen, high cold and other geographical conditions or bad weather conditions, inspection robots can replace or assist manual inspection of substation equipment.

When the inspection robot is crossing obstacles, the partial moment caused by mass eccentricity damages the horizontal posture of the robot body. In order to ensure its smooth progress, a simple and reliable centroidness adjustment method is needed. The tilt sensor ER-TS-4258CU is used to measure the inclination angle between the robot body and the horizontal plane, so as to control the movement of the mobile motor of the counterweight block. When the center of mass of the robot is adjusted to the arm suspended on the overhead ground wire, the measurement angle should be controlled within the range of 90° with an accuracy of ±0.1°, so as to ensure that the robot body maintains a horizontal posture and ensure that the arm that needs to be off-line or online completes the corresponding action. Finally, the feasibility of the centroid control method is verified by simulation experiments.

If you want to learn more about MEMS tilt sensors or buy tilt sensors

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Thursday, November 16, 2023

What Are The Components Of Accelerometers?

 Quartz accelerometer is a device that uses the piezoelectric effect of quartz crystal to measure acceleration. Quartz accelerometer has the characteristics of high precision, high stability and fast response, and has been widely used in space vehicle, navigation system, earthquake monitoring and other fields.

The structure of quartz accelerometer

Quartz accelerometers are generally composed of quartz crystals, mass blocks and electrodes. The quartz crystal is used as the core component of the sensor, the mass block is used to sense the acceleration, and the electrode is used to measure the piezoelectric charge. Quartz crystals usually have a biaxial symmetrical structure and are composed of two piezoelectric crystal sheets. The piezoelectric axes of the two wafers are perpendicular to each other, allowing acceleration to be measured in any direction. The mass block is attached to the center of the quartz crystal, and when acceleration occurs, the mass block will move relative to the crystal, causing the crystal to produce pressure.

Electrodes are mounted on the surface of a quartz crystal and are used to measure the piezoelectric charge. When the crystal is subjected to pressure, the distribution of positive and negative charges inside the crystal changes, and positive and negative charges accumulate on the electrode, forming a potential difference. By measuring the potential difference on the electrode, the magnitude of the acceleration can be obtained indirectly.

Housing (fixed to the measured object), reference quality, sensitive components, signal output, etc. Accelerometers require a certain range and accuracy, sensitivity, etc. These requirements are often contradictory to some extent. Accelerometers based on different principles have different ranges (from a few g to hundreds of thousands of g), and their sensitivities to sudden acceleration frequencies are also different. The principles underlying common accelerometers are:

① The reference mass is connected to the housing by a spring (see figure). The relative displacement between it and the housing reflects the magnitude of the acceleration component. This signal is output as a voltage through a potentiometer;

② The reference mass is fixedly connected with the elastic thin rod and the shell. The dynamic load caused by the acceleration deforms the rod. The magnitude of the deformation is induced by the strain resistance wire. The output is an electrical signal proportional to the size of the acceleration disc;

③ The reference mass is fixedly connected to the housing through the piezoelectric element. The dynamic load of the mass generates pressure on the piezoelectric element. The piezoelectric element outputs an electrical signal proportional to the pressure or acceleration component:

④ The reference mass is connected to the case by a spring and placed inside the coil. The displacement reflecting the magnitude of the acceleration component changes the inductance of the coil, thereby outputting an electrical signal proportional to the acceleration. In addition, there are servo-type accelerometers, in which a feedback loop is introduced to improve the accuracy of the measurement. In order to measure the acceleration vector in a plane or space, two or three accelerometers are required, each measuring an acceleration component.

In the navigation system, the quartz accelerometer can be used to measure the acceleration of vehicles such as cars and aircraft, so as to achieve inertial navigation and positioning.

In earthquake monitoring, quartz accelerometers can be used to measure the acceleration of seismic waves, so as to study the occurrence mechanism of earthquakes and predict the risk of earthquakes.

If you want to get more details about Accelerometer ,pls visit https://www.ericcointernational.com/accelerometer/

How to Correctly Select the Parameters of the Tilt Sensor



You need to choose your own tilt sensor according to your own needs.

Basic parameters of tilt sensor

1. Range

The range is the maximum range that can be measured by the sensor, which refers to the value of the difference between the upper and lower limits. Each sensor has its own measurement range, and when it is measured in this range, the output signal of the sensor has a certain accuracy. An acceleration sensor with a range of less than 1G is used as an inclination sensor, and a range of more than 1G is used as an acceleration sensor or vibration sensor. Because the larger the range, the less accurate. The biaxial tilt sensor ER-TS-4250VO can be selected in a range of +90°, while the uniaxial tilt sensor can be selected in a vertical direction of 360°.

2. Accuracy

In the process of testing and measurement, measurement errors are inevitable. There are two kinds of errors: systematic error and random error. The causes of system error, such as the inherent error of measurement principle and algorithm, inaccurate calibration, environmental temperature influence, material defects, etc., can be used to reflect the degree of influence of system error. The cause of random error is the gap of transmission components, aging of electronic components, etc. The precision can be used to reflect the influence of random error. Precision is a comprehensive index that reflects systematic error and random error, the higher the precision means the higher the accuracy and precision.

3. Zero offset

Zero drift means that when the input of the sensor is constant zero, the output value of the sensor will still change slightly to a certain extent. There are many reasons for zero drift, such as the change of the characteristics of the sensitive elements in the sensor with time, stress release, element aging, charge leakage, environmental temperature changes, etc. Among them, the zero drift caused by ambient temperature change is the most common phenomenon.

4. Input frequency

The frequency response characteristics determine the frequency range to be measured, and must allow the frequency range without losing the true measurement conditions, in fact, the sensor response will always have a certain delay. The higher the frequency response of the sensor, the wider the frequency range of the signal that can be measured, and the greater the interference. The lower the sensor frequency response, the narrower the frequency range of the signal that can be measured, and the lower the interference. In practical applications, a large number of measured signals are time changes, such as changes in current value, changes in object displacement, changes in acceleration, etc. This requires that the output of the sensor not only accurately reflect the size being measured, but also keep up with the speed of change being measured. In the frequency response range of the sensor, the amplitude of its output has a small change in the -constant range (maximum attenuation is 0.707). Therefore, when the input value is done sine

When changing, it is usually believed that the output value can correctly reflect the input value, but when the input value changes more frequently, the output value will produce significant attenuation, resulting in large measurement distortion.

5. Communication interface

RS232, TTL, RS485, RS232, CAN bus, voltage, current, SPI, IC, Profibus interface optional.If you want to learn more about tilt sensors or buy

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Why is this north Seeker your best choice in the drilling field?

  During downhole operations, the main problems that the north   seeking system needs to solve include impact vibration, system volume, azim...