Industrial Vibration Meter

The Industrial Vibration Meter was designed for a company involved in the steel industry. The changes in the vibrations in the hydraulic arm of the molten steel ladles were used to identify the exact point at which the steel is finished and slag (impurities) begin. Finding the exact point were slag starts is very important in the steel industry. It is important that all of the usable steel in the ladle be used but if slag gets into the cast, it can cause thousands of dollars in damage. This device finds the exact point were slag starts by identifying the patterns in the vibrations of the ladle that are absorbed through the hydraulic handle.

This rechargeable battery operated device can sense vibrations as small as 4 milli-g. The battery charge lasts for more than 50 hours of continuous use which is an essential feature given the 24/7 nature of most steel plant operations. The battery can be recharged in about 3 hours. The heavy mathematical load of pattern recognition is handled by an industry leading low power DSP (Digital Signal Processor). This device is orders of magnitude smaller than the competition as all of the data is collected using Micro Electro-Mechanical Sensor (MEMS) ICs. It also has better performance than the leading competition in the field of slag tracking and detection.