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4-Directional Tilt Sensor - New — Parallax Forums

4-Directional Tilt Sensor - New

Aristides AlvarezAristides Alvarez Posts: 486
edited 2011-01-04 17:22 in General Discussion
Right before closing the office for the holidays we released a neat new sensor. I’m not sure we posted any release, so I’m posting a forum message now.

The new sensor is called 4-Directional Tilt sensor and chances are that most of the gadgets you received as Christmas presents have one of these sensors inside. (If your camera or smart phone knows which way is up it has this kind of sensor inside).
4Direction.jpg


This simple sensor is economically convenient (just $4.99) for applications that don’t require detailed information about inclination angle or acceleration value, as you can obtain from the Memsic 2125 (for $29.99).

For more information please follow this link:
http://www.parallax.com/Store/Sensors/AccelerationTilt/tabid/172/ProductID/722/List/0/Default.aspx?SortField=ProductName,ProductName
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Comments

  • wjsteelewjsteele Posts: 697
    edited 2010-12-29 11:31
    That's a very simple optical design. Nice and very inexpensive!

    Bill
  • $WMc%$WMc% Posts: 1,884
    edited 2010-12-29 17:40
    Parallax:
    '
    Keeping the hobbiest and student in mind here.
    '
    Many thanks for an inexpensive sensor.
  • ElectricAyeElectricAye Posts: 4,561
    edited 2010-12-29 19:54
    Looks like an interesting and very useful gadget. But would it be better to call it a 4 position tilt sensor rather than 4 directions? From what I can tell, there's no definite cylinder position for a non-tilt condition if the sensor were resting flat and waiting for a tilt toward one direction or the other. In other words if the gravitational vector were aiming into the paper (and into the illustration on page 2), how would the cylinder respond to the sensor not being tilted at all? As I understand this, the sensor can only register a non-tilt condition when its axis of rotation (going into the paper) is parallel with the horizontal and it's in position A.
    Also, I'm a little confused by this statement on page 2:
    When the sensor is lying flat and only acted on by g-forces, the cylinder will be in Location C.
    I can see how the cylinder would be in position C if the unit is spinning around by its central axis (the axis going into the paper with the centrifugal effect moving the cylinder "up against the wall"). Is that what they are talking about?

    Well, maybe I'm just splitting hairs here or maybe I'm missing something, but maybe the illustration should indicate which way the gravitational or acceleration vector is meant to be aiming?
  • LoopyBytelooseLoopyByteloose Posts: 12,537
    edited 2010-12-31 06:24
    Interesting new development.
    I had quite a bit of trouble with the difference between an accelerometer and a gyro and a rate gyro - now we are stepping away from 3 axis of roll, pitch and yaw and into a 4 directional Tilt sensor.

    Something tells me that this terminology is going to open a can of worms. But it certainly isn't a gyro or an accelerometer - it seems that it just senses rotation when something is held perpendicular to the ground plane (just one axis).
  • edited 2011-01-04 17:22
    Hi ElectricAye,

    Thanks for the informtion.
    Please notice: We only consider the low speed applications, in the follow discussion we will ignore the centrifugal.

    But would it be better to call it a 4 position tilt sensor rather than 4 directions?
    Yes, it's suiteable to call it 4- position tilt sensor, and would easier to be understood without misleading.(We would consider about this, but we had already put the product in our system. Changing names will cause some issues.)
    From what I can tell, there's no definite cylinder position for a non-tilt condition if the sensor were resting flat and waiting for a tilt toward one direction or the other. In other words if the gravitational vector were aiming into the paper (and into the illustration on page 2), how would the cylinder respond to the sensor not being tilted at all?
    You are right.The sensor need the help from the G-forces to change the status, so the cylinder will not respond if the sensor no tilted at all, and will remains in the last location.
    As I understand this, the sensor can only register a non-tilt condition when its axis of rotation (going into the paper) is parallel with the horizontal and it's in position A.
    Also, I'm a little confused by this statement on page 2:
    When the sensor is lying flat and only acted on by g-forces, the cylinder will be in Location C. I can see how the cylinder would be in position C if the unit is spinning around by its central axis (the axis going into the paper with the centrifugal effect moving the cylinder "up against the wall"). Is that what they are talking about?
    I am afraid not. I'd rather to say that's a slip of the document, in this discussion we would ingore the centrifugal.
    And yes it would cause some issues with the way we say in the PDF document. If we need to say so we should define how the g-force goes first, and how we put the sensor, like this:
    Catch0.jpg



    Thanks again for the messages. We will revise the document soon.
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