MEMS accelerometer reduces space needed in challenging environments
A miniature, one-axis, closed loop MEMS accelerometer from TDK has a 24-bit digital SPI and SMD package. The Tronic AXO315 is claimed to match the performance of quartz sensors and outperforms commercial MEMS sensors.
The force-rebalance accelerometer delivers a one year composite bias repeatability of 1mg and composite scale factor repeatability of 600 ppm under severe temperature and vibration conditions common in industrial, land, railway, naval and construction applications. TDK says these characteristics enable significant reduction in size, weight and cost of materials for industrial motion control units, inertial measurement units (IMU) and inertial navigation systems (INS).
The AXO315 is a ±14g range, in-plane linear accelerometer. It has been designed and developed to provide high precision and reliability in challenging environments. It achieves a 1 mg composite bias repeatability over one year at temperatures ranging from -55 to +105 degrees C, and 4 g vibrations with vibration rejection. Performance is augmented by Allan variance characteristics and bias instability of 4 micro g, a velocity random walk of 0.006 m/s/√h, and very low noise of 15 micro g/√Hz, for high resolution and low error.
The AXO315’s performance is equivalent to the incumbent analogue quartz accelerometers and mechanical inclinometers, but at a fraction of their size, weight, and price. They also remain free from dual-use export control according to Annex 1 of Council Regulation (EC) No 428/2009. AXO315 exhibits higher performance levels than any current commercially available MEMS sensors components, says TDK. It delivers an 80 per cent gain in temperature stability compared to Tronics’ AXO215 accelerometer. The AXO315 accelerometer comes in a lightweight 1.4 g hermetic SMD J-lead ceramic package (measuring 12 x 12 x 5.0mm), enabling low-cost assembly and reliability on PCB, even in fast-changing temperature conditions.
The AXO315 can be used for applications requiring high accuracy and stability in demanding environments, such as servo inclinometers and dynamic inclinometers in industrial motion control units, IMUs and INS for GNSS-aided positioning, and navigation of manned and unmanned ground vehicles and trains.
The AXO315 accelerometers are manufactured, tested and calibrated at Tronics Microsystems’ facility in Grenoble, France.
Pre-production and customer sampling have begun. Evaluation of the sensors can also be made through an Arduino-based evaluation kit that is specifically designed to provide developers with improved testing functionalities such as output reading and recording, recalibration and digital self-tests. Full production of the sensors and availability through its network of distributors are scheduled for summer 2021.
Tronics Microsystems SA is a division of TDK’s Temperature & Pressure Sensors Business Group that manufactures custom MEMS products and standard inertial sensors. It provides custom and standard products especially to the industrial, aeronautics, security, and medical markets. Founded in 1997, Tronics is located in Crolles, near Grenoble (France) and in Dallas, Texas (United States).
