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MHoll
Associate
March 25, 2019
Question

Can an accelerometer be used to determine when an rotating automotive wheel is pointed toward the ground ?

I assume it will take a Gyroscope as well due to the rotation forward motion. A Gyroscope is

however expensive in the automotive temp range. Can it be done with 2 Accelerometers ?

This topic has been closed for replies.

8 replies

S.Ma
Principal
March 25, 2019

The triple axis accelerometer will give you the gravity vector.

Filtering and wheel under rotation at high speed will make the filtering and instant reporting challenging.

Running at 200km/h vs max Accelerometer samples per second and defactor the speed variations (brakes/speed up)...

MHoll
MHollAuthor
Associate
March 25, 2019

Ok, Thanks for the reply. It actually will be for a tractor wheel application so the speeds will be lower with larger wheel size.

AvaTar
Senior III
March 26, 2019

Generally, you can check out INS (inertial navigation system) examples and algorithms to determine such parameters.

Tractors mostly go relatively slow, but sometimes on quite slanted terrain.

I know of some cases when the driver underestimated the terrain angle ...

Eleon BORLINI
ST Employee
March 26, 2019

hi mike, theoretically it's possible to use the axl stand alone for understanding the position of the wheel, but, as kic pointed out before, it's unpractical due to the complexity of the filtering you have to apply to raw data to select the rotating wheel pattern. For this reason, I would suggest you to use a 6 axis sensor (axl+gyro) such as the LSM6DSO(X), which has and embedded gyro that enables you to directly measure the rotating speed (and costs less then 4€ and has also an embedded FSM to enhance your filtering capabilities), or an L3GD20H which costs little less but it's an only gyro. Regards

MHoll
MHollAuthor
Associate
March 26, 2019

Yes the LSM6DS0(X) part would be the part to use but the dilemma is the environment the product will be in, the max wheel rim temp will be +100 C . The LSM6DS0(X) is only rated to +85C.

S.Ma
Principal
March 26, 2019

Find an industrial grade part, maybe it could sustain +125C...

Eleon BORLINI
ST Employee
March 27, 2019

​I would suggest you the automotive grade (up to 105°C) 6-axis module ASM330LHH

https://www.st.com/content/st_com/en/products/mems-and-sensors/automotive-sensors/asm330lhh.html

Regards

MHoll
MHollAuthor
Associate
March 27, 2019

Yes, the ASM330LHH looks good for this, thanks.