BN Transmitter

Strain gauges
One type of vibration sensor is the strain gauge, which is a foil that’s applied directly to the surface of the machine being monitored. The foil contains an electrically conductive grid. As the grid is stretched or compressed—such as when that piece of equipment is vibrating—it changes the electrical resistance of the grid. By reading changes in the grid’s resistance, an electric current passing through it will take more or less time to get through.

Accelerometers
By far the most common types of vibration sensors, accelerometers measure the changes of velocity of a given component. When attached to a piece of equipment, any vibration will reflect a change in velocity, which will cause the accelerometer to produce an electrical signal. That signal is then interpreted to produce vibration data.

Eddy-Currents
An Eddy-Current sensor is a non-contact sensor that produces magnetic fields which are used to measure the relative movement of a given object. If the sensor is fixed in place and the object is vibrating, that movement will register in the magnetic field. Capacitive displacement sensors work in a similar way, but with strong electric fields instead of magnetic fields.

Laser displacement
Like Eddy-Current sensors, laser displacement sensors are non-contact sensors, except instead of using magnetic fields and electric currents, they use a laser beam with triangulation. The beam is aimed at the asset and reflects back through a receiving lens into a receiving element. Any changes in the object’s position will cause the beam to hit a different part of the receiving element.

Gyroscopes
A gyroscope is a contact sensor that measures angular velocity, which is how quickly something turns or rotates. They do this by using MEMS (microelectromechanical systems) technology, which provides accurate measurements of how many degrees an object rotates per second.

Microphone sensors
Vibrations create sound, and that sound is often beyond the range of human hearing. Microphone sensors—also called acoustic pressure sensors—can provide some basic information on changes that might occur in high-frequency vibrations that equipment operators wouldn’t normally be able to detect.

Vibration meters
A vibration meter is a handheld device used to analyze vibration data and put it into a readable format. They often include accelerometers, but models that do not can be connected to an installed accelerometer to give you a quick look at the current health of the asset.