Design of a Shuttle Accelerometer

Abstract

The problem of measuring the acceleration of a shuttle throughout its cycle of movement in a loom is discussed, and previous attempts to solve this problem are reviewed. A system is described that eliminates the inaccuracies and operating difficulties of other schemes. This method consists of placing an FM radio transmitter-transducer in the shuttle to transmit data to a remote receiver. The heart of this system is a flexible diaphragm, capacitance-type acceleration transducer used to modulate the frequency of an oscillator. Major emphasis is placed on the mechanical design of the acceleration transducer and the unique frequency response achieved by this design. A description of the verification of the design equations and principles by the construction and testing of a prototype model is included.