ME 4600:483 Lab Notes

Cell Phone Vibration - Experiment

Objective Most cell phones are designed to vibrate. But at what frequency do they vibrate? With an accelerometer, data acquisition and signal analysis the vibration frequency of cell phones can be determined. This is the objective of this experiment. At the end of this lab students should understand, how the accelerometer is calibrated, how to interpret its signal, data acquisition with Labview, conversion of the raw data signal to engineering units and signal analysis of the acceleration signal using FFT. Apparatus 1. 2. 3. 4. Personal computer with LABVIEW software National Instruments PCI data acquisition board and junction box CrossBow Accelerometer and Signal Conditioner Cell phone supplied by student to generate vibration signal (or data downloaded from web-site)

Experiment SENSORS AND SIGNALS: o Review the spec sheet for the Cross Bow accelerometer; it is on-line. o Identify range and sensitivity of the accelerometer o Connect the accelerometer through its signal conditioner to the junction box on an analog input channel

Introduction to Labview and Data Acquisition Cell Phone Vibration

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ME 4600:483 Lab Notes DATA ACQUISITON SETUP: o Build a simple VI to collect analog input data (as voltage) o Setup the DAQ assistant on the VI block diagram Pick an analog voltage input and the correct channel. Set it up to collect 1024 samples at 1024Hz from this channel What is the Nyquist frequency? What is the smallest frequency that can be detected? Add a Graph on the Labview front panel to display the data and wire it to the DAQ assistant Test the VI by pressing the Run button or Ctrl-R The accelerometer voltage signal should now be displayed in the graph window. Move the accelerometer or turn it upside down to confirm that a signal proportional to acceleration is being recorded. Note that you have to hit Run every time you want to rerun the data acquisition. Add a data output file by right-clicking into the block diagram, select Output | Write LVM This will insert a block to write a measurement file; you do not need to change the defaults for writing files but note the location and name of the data file to be written. Wire the data file block to the DAQ output block. The final block diagram should look like the one on the right. Test the VI by collecting data (Hit Run). Check that a file has been written. Open the file in EXCEL and plot the data. It should look like the data in the Labview Graph window.

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ME 4600:483 Lab Notes BASIC CALIBRATION CHECK o Compare the sensitivity of the accelerometer to the spec sheet: Use the VI to measure the gravity signal with accelerometer pointing up (+1g) and down (-1g). Determine sensitivity from voltage change versus acceleration change.

Sensitivty =

V g

Compare to spec sheet. Show your work to the TA. Discuss any open questions you may have! COLLECT VIBRATION DATA o Use rubber bands to attach the accelerometer to a cell phone. Use paper to separate the accelerometer from the phone to avoid scratches. o Put the cell phone on a foam pad. o Be ready to collect data (Ctrl-R in Labview). Or repeatedly press Run until a good vibration signal is captured. o Either call the phone from another phone or make the phone vibrate by turning it on/off. If a phone is not available, sample vibration data can be downloaded from the web-site. When the phone vibrates, start the data acquisition. Visually check the data. If it looks ok, proceed to the next step. Otherwise, try again. An example signal of a ringing phone is shown on the left.

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ME 4600:483 Lab Notes ANALYZE THE SIGNAL o Open the Labview data file in Excel and create a plot of signal versus time. o In Excel remove the mean value of the signal (we are not interested in constant acceleration from gravity). o Convert the signal voltage into an X_Value Voltage Voltage - Mean Acceleration [g] 0 3.010254 0.001194611 0.002389 acceleration value by using the 0.000977 3.010254 0.001194611 0.002389 accelerometer sensitivity (from spec sheet 0.003635611 0.007271 0.001953 3.012695 or calibration step). 0.00293 3.010254 0.001194611 0.002389 o The spread sheet should have the 0.003906 3.012695 0.003635611 0.007271 following columns 0.004883 3.010254 0.001194611 0.002389 o A plot of a detail of the signal for a 1/10 of a second may look similar to the graph on the right. As an initial estimate count the number of cycles in a 1/10 of a second and use it to determine the approximate frequency of the vibration.
Acceleration [g]
0.10 0.08 0.06 0.04 0.02 0.00 -0.02 0.4 -0.04 -0.06 -0.08 -0.10 0.42 0.44 0.46 0.48 0.5 Acceleration [g]

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FFT Signal Analysis Excel will be used to do an FFT of the signal. Download the FFT1024.XLS spreadsheet from the web-site and open it. Make sure Macros are enabled and Analysis Toolpaks Add-Ins are installed. To install the EXCEL Add-in Analysis Toolpaks in Office 2007, select Excel Options, Add-Ins, select the Analysis Toolpaks Add-Ins and click Go. Your TA can help! Copy the Acceleration data into the FFT spreadsheet. Check that the time history is correctly displayed in the spreadsheet. Set the sample rate to the correct value (what is it?) and press Calc FFT The macro calculates the FFT and plots the frequency spectrum. In this example, the peak frequency at 149Hz is the vibration frequency of the phone. How does the frequency from the FFT compare to the frequency estimate from the cycle count in the previous step.

Install EXCEL Toolpaks, if necessary

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ME 4600:483 Lab Notes

Show your data and answers to the TA. Discuss any open questions you may have !

WRAP UP DISCUSSION WITH TEAM AND TA o What could be done to improve this experiment. Where do you see potential sources for measurement or signal errors. o How accurate is the frequency measurement? What could be affecting it? o How accurate is the vibration amplitude measurement? What could be affecting it? Do you have a concern using this accelerometer for this frequency? o Address the following questions and write down your ideas for improving this measurement/experiment. Sensor Calibration Sensor Frequency Range Sensor Mass Signal Conditioning Signal Analysis

YOU ARE DONE ! STORE ALL EQUIPMENT AND LOG OFF FROM THE COMPUTER !

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