Vibration Data Acquisition via USB Accelerometer

Why does attaining accurate data have to be hard? It doesn’t with the Digiducer.

In addition to making data acquisition easier and faster, the 333D01 USB Digital Accelerometer produces accurate and consistent data while remaining portable. Similar to the Transducer Electronic Data Sheet (TEDS) standard, the Digiducer has all of its calibration and identification information embedded inside the sensor. With the embedded information, both the sensor and the data acquisition system are calibrated together, ensuring consistency in the data.

The voltage/acceleration standard that most analog sensors use is no longer practical nor as accurate for the Model 333D01 digital accelerometer. There is no easy way to attain the voltage output from the sensor as the analog signal is already embedded and digitized by the Digiducer. The digital counts/acceleration standard for sensitivity was created to provide a clear and concise way to define the scaling of the digitized analog signal. The digital calibration includes all components of the measurement chain so the end-user does not have to worry about the uncertainty influence of each individual component (e.g. signal conditioner, DAQ, cables) encountered in a traditional analog vibration system.

Counts represent the number of quantization steps relative to the amplitude. The sensitivity of each sensor is measured by shaking the sensor at 100 Hz and 1 m/s² and then measuring the peak number of quantization steps at that amplitude. This process calibrates both the sensor and the acquisition hardware minimizing the chances of measurement errors.

This may sound complicated, however Didigucer Inc. has made it much easier for the user. There are a myriad of optimized software programs, found on our software page, that automatically utilize the embedded sensitivity, making it simple and stress-free for the user.

If the user is especially interested, the sensitivity can be accessed easily using an Excel® spread sheet and sensitivity converted to other common scaling. The spreadsheet is available on our software development page. Simply plug the sensor into a Windows^® computer and click ‘Scan.’

All in all, the Digiducer simplifies data acquisition. The replacement of voltage/acceleration with digital counts/acceleration facilitates the digitization of the vibration signal and allows for more precise data. With more and more vibration applications, the Digiducer is an ideal tool for vibration analysis.