POSITAL has added a new communications interface for its innovative Dynamic TILTIX series – making it even easier to use these smart and rugged instruments in mobile machinery and heavy duty construction vehicles. Now available with either CANopen or SAE J1939 interfaces, these acceleration-compensated tilt sensors are able to deliver accurate measurement under the harshest operating conditions, including rapid motions, shock and vibration loadings.
The key to this remarkable dynamic performance is the addition of a second measurement system to the MEMS accelerometers used in conventional tilt sensors. An electromechanical gyroscope system was added to measure rate of rotational in the different axes. This eliminates the central shortcoming of conventional inclination sensors, where sudden accelerations or vibrations cause inertial loads in the accelerometers, adding noise to the output signals – and errors to the tilt angle readings. Signals from the accelerometer and gyroscope are combined by innovative algorithms to filter out the errors caused by acceleration loads so that the actual inclination is reported accurately.
The Dynamic TILTIX sensors are ideal for use in heavy-duty mobile machinery such as construction equipment, cranes, agricultural machinery and mining equipment. In addition to improving operational safety, they also ensure tangible time and cost savings - for example, with excavators that used inclinometers to measure arm positions, it was necessary to pause work repeatedly to allow the instrument to ‘settle’ and generate clean readings. With the dual measuring system, which guarantees reliable inclination measurement, even under rapid motion, these time-wasting interruptions can be eliminated.
These systems, in addition to providing precise inclination measurements, also detect accelerations and rates of rotation in all three axes. This means that additional features and applications can be implemented with the Dynamic TILTIX sensor. This includes, for example, the monitoring of complex motion sequences on container bridges or in spreaders.
Dynamic TILTIX sensors, which are suitable for horizontal and vertical mounting, have a measuring range of ± 180-deg.. Measuring and signal processing components are contained in a heavy-duty die-cast aluminum housing, and can withstand shock loads of up to 100 g. The packaging has a protection class rating of IP69K. Dynamic TILTIX sensors achieve a static accuracy of ± 0.3-deg., a dynamic accuracy in the moving system of 0.5-deg. and a resolution of 0.01-deg. They're also easy to install, requiring only four mounting bolts and a connector cable. This is a plus for retrofit situations
