AccelerationMeasurementUsingaDiametricallyLoaded.PDFVIP

ACCELERATION MEASUREMENT USING A DIAMETRICALLY LOADED GRIN LENS John A. Gilbert Wei Su Dept. Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Massie Research Labs University of Alabama in Huntsville 6761 Sierra Court, Suite E John A. Gilbert Dublin, CA 94568 ABSTRACT This paper describes a shock accelerometer having a natural frequency of 20 kHz and a linear amplitude range of ±2000 Gs. The accelerometer can accurately measure a shock pulse with a duration greater than 0.224 ms and is housed within a stainless steel case having outside dimensions of 35 mm x 15 mm x 14 mm. It relies on a force transducer that incorporates a 1.0 mm-diameter, 0.25-pitch, gradient-index (GRIN) lens. The glass lens is diametrically loaded and measurements are made based on the principles of photoelasticity. A low-cost LED is employed as an incoherent light source and multimode optical fibers with a hard plastic cladding are used to transmit signals between the transducer and the conditioning electronics. INTRODUCTION An accelerometer is an instrument used to measure the acceleration of a moving object. The most common types are piezoelectric, piezoresistive, and capacitive accelerometers, [1] but a number of fiber optic accelerometers have also been developed. [2-9] In general, optical units are very sensitive, weigh less than their electrical counterparts, have a relatively high signal-to-noise ratio, and can be used to measure constant acceleration. The optical fibers also have the advantage that they are inert and immune to