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Chapter 27
Measuring vibration using Nor140
Measuring vibration
using Nor140
Introduction
Most sound level meters and sound analysers can
be used for vibration measurements, even if they do
not provide absolute (linear) units in the display. To
simplify the description, this chapter describes the use
of the handheld sound level meter Nor140 for vibration
measurement. However, the described principles also
apply to other types of sound level meters.
Although several transducer principles are
commercially available, this application note will deal
with the accelerometer only, simply because it is the
transducer type most commonly encountered when
measuring vibration levels. As the name suggests, the
accelerometer measures the acceleration it is exposed
to and provides an output signal proportional to the
instant acceleration.
The accelerometer normally consists of a seismic
mass mechanically connected to the accelerometer
base through a piezoelectric material. Piezoelectric
materials have the property of producing electrical
charge when bent and twisted (even shear forces will
work here). Basically, a charge is generated. Depend-
ent of the type of transducer, this charge may be the
output signal or the transducer includes an ampli-
fier delivering an output signal with low impedance.
A popular type of transducers is the IEPE or CCP type.
These are powered by a constant current through
the signal cable and deliver an output voltage which
is the sum of a constant voltage and an AC-voltage
proportional to the acceleration.
Accelerometer
Many types of acceleration sensitive sensors exist.
For connection to Nor140 sound level meter the
easiest is to apply an IEPE or CCP type. This
type of transducers has low output impedance
and may be supplied through a coaxial cable.
Nor1270 (Sens. 10 mV/ms
-2
; 23 g) and Nor1271
(Sens. 1,0 mV/ms
-2
; 3,5 g) are recommended.
Connect the accelerometer through the microdot/
Lemo cable Nor4571. Select IEPE-mode in the SETUP
- INPUT menue.
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