Absolute precision
The new generation of motion measurement
resulted in our new sensor generation with the name GEMAC Motus®.
Highly accurate measured values even with movement
Inclination sensors are among the standard components in mobile machines. Until now, sensor manufacturers, as well as users, have often been confronted with a challenge: The inclination measurement of these sensors based on conventional accelerometers, which cannot distinguish between the acceleration due to gravity and other external accelerations. GEMAC from Chemnitz is now responding to the increasing demand for acceleration-compensated sensors with its new IMU+ inertial measurement system.
Three years of development work on the algorithm
The new system enables 6-axis motion detection on the mobile machine, based on raw data acquisition for acceleration (3-axis) and rotation rate (3-axis). High-precision data processing is performed in the sensor using a sophisticated sensor fusion algorithm. Integrated sensor fusion filters support the user in orientation calculation by suppressing externally acting accelerations.
Rico Gräßler, an engineer at GEMAC and team leader sensor development at IMU+:
"From the very beginning, it was the requirement in development to achieve a new dimension of accuracy by combining an absolute measurement with a specific evaluation algorithm. Three years of development time invested in the self-designed algorithm alone. The new IMU+ system offers the decisive advantage over the previous IMU systems that, in addition to the raw data for acceleration and rotation rate, it can also output internally calculated values such as tilt or rotation angle in different axes. So in the future, it will be able to detect deviations in the defined machine system even more quickly, enabling the user to take targeted action".
By combining and calculating these six measured values, one measuring system can now be integrated instead of several. The user saves space and considerably reduces the integration effort. Since time-critical calculations now performed in the sensor system, the user saves additional time. Also, the new IMU+ offers significantly improved static and dynamic accuracy compared to the existing sensors.
The new sensor generation:
IMU+ inertial measurement system.
Highly accurate measurement values despite movement.
Mobile monitoring for mobile machines
Automation has long since found its way into many industries. Communication between several devices makes work more straightforward but also increases the demands on sensors, electronics, and networking of a mobile machine. Unplanned malfunctions can occur due to system errors and cause cost-intensive downtimes.
With the field bus diagnostic systems CAN-Bus Tester 2 and CANtouch© developed by GEMAC, parameters can be tested already during the machine design phase, to detect frequent sources of error at an early stage. A qualified final production inspection and subsequently through targeted long-term monitoring over the entire life cycle of the mobile machine (predictive maintenance), the requirements for availability, reliability, and long-term stability met. GEMAC offers its diagnostic devices for the different interfaces CAN, CANopen, DeviceNet, and SAE J1939. "GEMAC is the world's only supplier of such diagnostic systems that measure physically and thus provide reliable information about the bus quality in the mobile machine," says Ralf Meischner from the Fieldbus Development Team.
Fieldbus diagnosis system CANtouch©
Research and development part of DNA
For 28 years, GEMAC from Chemnitz has been developing and manufacturing modules, components, and complex assemblies according to individual customer requirements in the fields of sensor technology, measurement technology, and medical electronics. With a team of over 70 experts, many years of industry experience, and extensive development and manufacturing know-how, GEMAC has become an outstanding specialist for inclination and acceleration sensors as well as for Fieldbus diagnostics of CAN-based systems.
Direct contact: Thomas Kiessling head of sales Phone: +49 (0)371 3377-211 |
Marketing / Public Relations: Larissa Anton Phone: +49 (0)371 3377-103 |
GEMAC Chemnitz GmbH Zwickauer Str. 227, 09116 Chemnitz |
The article first published in the Baumagazin, May/June 2020