Inclination sensors are used for horizontal leveling of machines, as well as for controlling of earthmovers, propulsion devices and special-purpose vehicles.
One-axis inclinometers provide only longitudinal slope axis value. Two-axis inclinometers provide additionally lateral slope axis value.
Cranes and boom lifts use inclinometers for sensing boom angle. Road graders and pavers use them for controlling blade angle. Crawler drills used in the mining industry use inclinometers to monitor and control the drill mast angle. Other applications are as diverse as wheel-alignment systems and vehicle/platform leveling and monitoring.
Mobile antenna platforms are another application. These systems must precisely align with the satellite they track. Small positional-pointing errors of the antenna can severely degrade signal strength and quality. Errors of a fraction of a degree can be deleterious. So satellite antenna-positioning systems rely on the accuracy of sensors giving positional feedback.
On the military and aerospace industries the single-axis version has been used in tank fire-control systems, in which it demonstrated accuracy down to a few arc-seconds under repeated shocks of thousands of g’s, vibration, and temperature extremes. Inclinometers are currently being considered for leveling the transporters used by NASA to carry spacecraft to the launching pad. The dual-axis model is being used as a horizontal reference for the radar antenna of the Arrow anti-missile systems, where a 0.0028° accuracy over the full temperature range and over a period of years is required.
Low-range MEMS accelerometers could be used for less demanding leveling and low-range tilt measurement. One application used a MEMS accelerometer mounted on a simple rotary device to level diamond-polishing tables, achieving an order of magnitude accuracy improvement.
Inclinometers could also find applications in laboratories and other test setups that require accuracy and repeatability of single-digit arc-seconds over long periods of time. Inclinometers do a great job on installations in which the device is hard or impossible to reach for calibration purposes, such as under water, under ground, high altitudes, or remote locations.
Finally, sensors are rough enough to be used on equipment working under extreme environmental conditions (e.g., variable temperatures, high-level shock and vibration).
Applications on:
vehicles, platforms, construction equipment, heavy equipment
vehicle testing, car alarms, tip-over protection, roll prevention, static and dynamic leveling
computer science, biomedical, aerospace and robotics.
animation, linkage free tracking, control
civil engineering
structural deflections, geo-mechanics
antenna installations
antenna positioning, aiming optimization, dynamic correction
manufacturing
container handling, hydraulic lift systems, machine tools
Wed, 2010-09-01 15:33
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