Development of a High-Precision and Low Cross-Axis Sensitivity 3-D Accelerometer for Low-Frequency Vibration Measurement

A new high-precision and low-frequency 3-D accelerometer that utilizes a symmetrical parallel vibration-sensing mechanism and a low cross-axis sensitivity high-precision 3-D sensing system is proposed in this study. The parameters of the vibration-sensing mechanism were determined by theoretical modeling and simulation analysis, and the performance of the 3-D accelerometer was tested experimentally. The dynamic response characteristics of the accelerometer were first determined using kinetic modeling, which showed reasonable amplitude–frequency and phase–frequency characteristics in the frequency range below 10 Hz. The accelerometer was calibrated using the comparison method. The sensitivities of the accelerometer inX-,Y-, andZ-axes are 25.3, 25.3, and 21.1 V/g, respectively, with a cross-axis sensitivity of less than 1%. The resolutions of the accelerometer in theX-,Y-, andZ-axes were 48, 45, and50 μ g, respectively. The proposed accelerometer with high sensitivity and high resolution can be widely used for low-frequency microvibration measurements in engineering applications.