Vibration data transfer

[mark sheldon]

i am looking at building a circuit that would receive data from an accelerometer fitted to a Modal engine (to replicate a helicopter engine),

it would then store the data of flight duration before transferring the data via Bluetooth to a laptop/tablet.

my query is what type of board would be the most beneficial to use?

Also is it possible to fit an accelerometer (piezoelectric sensor) to the pc board?

thank you in advance for your time over this,

 

[jpanhalt]

Typical multiple axis accelerometers today are quite small -- often 3mm x3mm (i.e., QFN 12 or 16 packages). So, finding a place to put the chip is not that hard. However, you do need to consider associated circuitry, and it seems unlikely and difficult that you could fit that onto an existing PCB.

I recommend that you design a PCB with MCU for your project. Then, it can be mounted piggy back onto an existing device such as the receiver.

Are you are considering a mulit-rotor copter like popular drones or a single rotor helicopter?

 

[mark sheldon]

Thank you very much for your reply,

It is a for university project, the idea is to enable vibration data from various areas of a Wildcat helicopter (HUMS) to be stored and then transferred via Bluetooth to a laptop/tablet. I just have to prove the concept would work but am very inexperienced when it comes to building or designing pcbs.

I was thinking about using a model engine (Haynes internal combustion engine for example) to reciprocate vibration but it’s just how to transfer the data from the accelerometer to a laptop that I am worried will be unfeasible.

 

[jpanhalt]

If you are talking about the full scale Wildcat, that is turbine powered and has a fairly low rotor speed.

Is this model engine you are suggesting: **broken link removed**

If so, that does not seem to be a very good model of the type of vibrations the real helicopter has. Nevertheless, getting your chosen accelerometer to detect and record any vibrations is probably the first step. A simple DC motor with a slight imbalance would give you vibrations and allow you to control both frequency and magnitude to validate your measurement system. Or even a piezo buzzer would probably work.

What is your question?

 

[mark sheldon]

Thank you for taking the time to help. I hadnt considered using a dc motor but as long as i have something that can produce vibration then this would be ideal. I am looking at using a piezo electronic sensor that would be fitted to the dc motor to sense vibration. The data would be sent to a microprocessor board (Arduino, adafruit) where the data would be stored before being transferred via Bluetooth to a laptop/tablet.
My question is are there specific components that you would recommend using to achieve this circuit? And only having limited electronic knowledge would this idea be feasible to achieve? Thank you in advance for your time