MEMS capacitive accelerometers
20/10/2020
Silicon Designs of Kirkland, Washington, USA, which manufactures rugged commercial- and inertial-grade microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) capacitive accelerometers, has introduced its Model 2276 Series for zero-to-medium frequency aerospace and automotive testing, industrial vibration monitoring and robotics instrumentation applications.Available in eight standard ranges from ±2 g to ±400 g, the single-axis Model 2276 Series combines an integrated low-noise, nitrogen-damped, fully calibrated MEMS capacitive accelerometer chip together with high-drive, low-impedance buffering.
Sense elements are contained within an epoxy-sealed, rugged anodised aluminium housing. This design allows the series to reliably withstand shock inputs of up to 5000 g, as well as standard operating temperature ranges from –55°C to +125°C.
The accelerometers also offer superior bias performance, including a temperature shift coefficient of –100 to +100 PPM of span/°C and a scale factor temperature shift coefficient of –150 to +50 PPM/°C. Model 2276 Series accelerometers respond to both DC and AC acceleration, with a choice of either two analogue ±4 V (differential) or 0.5 to 4.5 V (single-ended) outputs, both of which vary with acceleration.
At zero acceleration, output differential voltage is nominally 0 VDC (DC response). On-board voltage regulation also minimises supply voltage variation effects.
All of Silicon Designs’ MEMS capacitive accelerometers and chips, including dies, are 100% designed, manufactured, assembled and tested at the company’s corporate headquarters and research and development centre, outside Seattle. Each module is serialised for traceability and fully calibrated prior to shipment.
The design of the Model 2276 Series is suitable for vibration and acceleration measurements within industrial and commercial environments, particularly in applications where an accelerometer’s low mass (9 g) and small size (0.94" by 0.63" by 0.425") can help to minimise mass loading effects on the test article.
Typical applications include aircraft flight and flutter testing, automotive road load data acquisition (RLDA), industrial vibration monitoring and analysis, robotics, biomechanics, industrial machinery and equipment control, modal and structural analysis, crash event detection and general in-laboratory testing.
