Vibration sensor in a portable vibration meter
First Claim
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1. A hand held vibration meter, comprising:
- a housing;
a vibration sensor configured to contact a structure and convert vibrations of the structure to electrical signals, wherein the vibration sensor is contained at least partially within the housing;
a vibration isolator in contact with the vibration sensor, wherein the vibration isolator is configured to filter one or more frequencies of vibration, anda force sensor responsive to a contact force applied to the vibration sensor,wherein the vibration meter includes a plurality of sensitivity curves for the vibration sensor, and wherein the vibration meter selects one of the sensitivity curves based on a contact force measured by the force sensor and uses the selected sensitivity curve when determining a vibration measurement.
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Abstract
A vibration detector suitable for field use and associated systems and methods are disclosed. A representative apparatus includes a vibration sensor in contact with the vibrating structure. The vibration sensor can be in contact with the vibration isolators to eliminate the frequencies of the operator'"'"'s hand. In some embodiments, a contact force between the vibration sensor and the vibrating structure can be measured using, for example, contact resistors. Since the sensitivity of the vibration sensor can be a function of the contact force, the vibration amplitude measurements can be adjusted for a known contact force to improve the precision of the vibration amplitude measurement.
12 Citations
18 Claims
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1. A hand held vibration meter, comprising:
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a housing; a vibration sensor configured to contact a structure and convert vibrations of the structure to electrical signals, wherein the vibration sensor is contained at least partially within the housing; a vibration isolator in contact with the vibration sensor, wherein the vibration isolator is configured to filter one or more frequencies of vibration, and a force sensor responsive to a contact force applied to the vibration sensor, wherein the vibration meter includes a plurality of sensitivity curves for the vibration sensor, and wherein the vibration meter selects one of the sensitivity curves based on a contact force measured by the force sensor and uses the selected sensitivity curve when determining a vibration measurement. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A hand held vibration meter, comprising:
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a housing; a vibration sensor configured to contact a structure and convert vibrations of the structure to electrical signals, wherein the vibration sensor is contained at least partially within the housing; a vibration isolator in contact with the vibration sensor, wherein the vibration isolator is configured to filter one or more frequencies of vibration; and a force sensor responsive to a contact force applied to the vibration sensor, wherein the vibration meter measures a vibration of the structure using the electrical signals of the vibration sensor and a selected sensitivity curve for the vibration sensor, wherein the selected sensitivity curve is selected from a plurality of sensitivity curves based on a contact force measured by the force sensor. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11)
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12. A method for measuring vibrations of a vibrating equipment using a vibration meter, comprising:
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sensing vibrations of the vibrating equipment by a vibration sensor in contact with the vibrating equipment; producing a vibration sensor response by the vibration sensor; measuring a contact force between the vibration sensor and the vibrating equipment; and adjusting the vibration sensor response based on the contact force to generate an adjusted vibration sensor response, wherein said adjusting the vibration sensor response includes selecting one of a plurality of sensitivity curves of the vibration sensor based on the measured contact force and using the selected sensitivity curve when adjusting the vibration sensor response. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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Specification