What Is an Impact Sensor?

An impact sensor is a device designed to transmit signals to other electronic equipment.

What Are Its Application Fields?

Impact sensors cover a wide range of application scenarios, including but not limited to:

1. Vehicle Safety

Widely installed in automobiles and other transportation vehicles, impact sensors detect acceleration variations during collisions or external impacts. They can activate airbag deployment to deliver enhanced safety protection.

2. Motion Monitoring

Impact acceleration sensors track athletes’ motion states and postures, measuring impact force and acceleration generated during exercise to evaluate training outcomes and lower the risk of sports injuries.

3. Industrial Control

Commonly deployed in industrial settings, these sensors monitor vibration and shock of machinery and equipment, spot malfunctions or abnormal operations, and trigger corresponding safety responses.

4. Structural Health Monitoring

Impact sensors monitor vibration and deformation of buildings, bridges and other infrastructures, helping engineers assess structural safety and stability and identify hidden risks in a timely manner.

Besides, impact sensors are adopted for vibration signal analysis of rotary compressors. By capturing shocks produced by the unique reversing motion of reciprocating machines, they can predict typical failures such as loose bolts, widened clearances and cracked valve plates, enabling accurate monitoring of equipment operating conditions.

What Is Its Working Principle?

Impact sensors mainly rely on piezoelectric crystal sensing elements, which integrate innovative measurement methods with conventional 4~20 mA loop-powered sensor technology to deliver signals to external electronic devices. Developed with MEMS and microelectronic technologies, the sensor integrates an accelerometer, signal converter, power converter, signal filter circuit, saturation control module and temperature compensation unit. It features compact size, low power consumption, low noise, high integration, great stability, strong reliability, low temperature drift and outstanding environmental adaptability.

It supports measurement and control of ultra-wide-range impact acceleration up to 100000 g, with a measuring range of ±100000 g, frequency response of 0.1~10000 Hz, adjustable output signal ranging from 0.15±50 mV to 4800 mV. Its linearity, repeatability and hysteresis errors are all less than 1%. Widely used in industrial automatic control, automotive engineering, seismic measurement, military and aerospace systems, such sensors require high resonant frequency and excellent dynamic performance under harsh working conditions, so as to measure impact force and acceleration rapidly and precisely.

Beyond acceleration measurement, impact-related detection devices also include impact flowmeters for bulk solid powder flow measurement based on momentum theory: powder flow rate is calculated from the force exerted on the detection plate. The concept of impulse voltage (such as lightning and switching impulse voltage) refers to voltage with an extremely short duration that generates huge instantaneous current and energy. These examples reflect the versatile applications and vital value of impact sensors across industries.

What Core Functions Does It Perform?

Combining advanced measurement methods and standard 4~20 mA loop power supply technology, the piezoelectric-crystal-based impact sensor transmits electrical signal data to peripheral electronics and outputs statistical measurement data.

How to Configure the Sensor?

Threshold setting is available after sensor installation and normal startup of the compressor.

Note that the power polarity for the test mode is reversed compared with normal operation mode.

A 250 Ω resistor converts current pulses into voltage pulses for oscilloscope display.

Calibration can also be completed with a handheld 6850 impact tester connected to the sensor via a dedicated jack.

What Are the Key Specifications?

Built-in piezoelectric crystal sensing element with a timing function for shock intensity detection.

An impact event counter and memory module log events exceeding the preset amplitude threshold.

The 4~20 mA output signal corresponds to the count of threshold-exceeding impact events recorded within a preset time window named reset time.