Analog Devices’ Mems-Based Vibration Sensor Enables Early and Accurate Preventive Maintainence

Vibration analysis has become an important preventative maintenance tool in today’s factory environment by allowing plant operators to evaluate equipment performance and schedule repairs as part of a regular maintenance regimen. For many industrial operations, however, vibration analysis remains cost-prohibitive or is conducted only periodically using a third-party service provider. Analog Devices applied the same expertise it uses to address the high-reliability and harsh environmental conditions of automotive design to develop a single-chip, precision vibration sensor able to withstand the rigors of industrial applications—at one-third the cost of competing sensors. Unlike many other vibration sensors, which operate below 5 KHz of bandwidth, the ADXL001 is capable of detecting motor-bearing vibration and irregularities up to 22 KHz, which allows system operators to identify failing equipment earlier before costly damage is sustained. The new iMEMS vibration sensor is available in a 5mm X 5mm ceramic package small enough to be easily designed into the motor control circuitry or mounted on existing factory equipment at the point of measurement interest.



“A catastrophic equipment failure can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost productivity and is the worst-case scenario for any manufacturing operation,” said Rich Mannherz, product line director, Micromachined Products Division, Analog Devices. “While various vibration sensing technologies have been used for years to mitigate the risk of system failure, none have the combination of size, performance, cost and reliability to make real-time, around-the-clock equipment health monitoring broadly available in industrial applications. That’s the gap we’re filling with the ADX001 product.”



Available in three full-scale dynamic ranges of ±70 g, ± 250 g and ± 500 g, the new vibration and shock sensors have the sensitivity to work in a wide range of applications. All three g ranges have wide bandwidth (22-KHz resonant frequency) and provide frequency response down to dc. Additionally, the sensors have excellent nonlinearity of 0.2 percent of full-scale range. The ADXL001 is highly resistant to EMI (electro-magnetic interference), RFI (radio frequency interference) and operates with an extended temperature range of -40 ° C to 125 °C allowing the part to be used in most hazardous industrial conditions. The ADXL001 functions on a 3.3-V to 5-V supply.



The ADXL001 requires no calibration and is ideally suited to work with Analog Devices’ precision data converters. The ADXL001 also works in conjunction with ADI’s SigmaDSP™ processor and intuitive SigmaStudio™ graphical user interface to provide equipment designers with an easy-to-use programming environment. As the output of the ADXL001 passes through the SigmaDSP processor, the system designer can use the SigmaStudio software to perform various processing techniques including filtering and amplification.