How to Handle Vibrations?

SBG Design against Vibrations

SBG Systems has designed inertial sensors with a special care on signal processing, using only high quality MEMS sensors, combined with efficient anti-aliasing  FIR  filters  to  limit vibration  issues. Thanks to the use of low VRE (Vibration Rectification Error) accelerometers, there is no need to do any isolation/damping during installation.
However, for highly vibrating applications, here are some recommendations:

Choosing the Right Accelerometer Option

MEMS technology is highly robust against shocks, but they can be more or less sensitive to vibrations, especially high frequency ones. When buying the sensor, a higher range of accelerometers can be chosen, for example, 16g instead of 8g for Ellipse sensors..

Limit Vibrations Around the Inertial Sensor

• Physically damp vibration with appropriate material, for instance Silent Bloc
• When dealing with a low weight sensor (for instance Ellipse), it might be necessary to damp the sensor together with a heavier mass (like a battery) to damp vibrations more easily. It is always easier to isolate a heavier system from vibrations.
• Use flexible cables to avoid transmitting vibrations through the cables.
• In case of high frequency vibrations, check if the vibrations are propagated by the air (sound) and isolate the device accordingly with sound absorbing materials.

SBG Factory Tests Using a Shaker

SBG Systems performs vibration tests on its sensors. Sensors behaviour is characterized, so the level and frequency of vibration they can stand is known, and specifically tuned algorithms can be designed. The test method used is the MIL-STD-810G minimum integrity figure shown below: