Could you provide recommendation for vl53l1 in industrial environment with vibrations?

[mkuma.2]

Hi Team,

We are using Vl53L1 for distance measurement in one of use cases related to high vibration environment.We understand that the sensor cannot shocks.We are almost at the end of the project that we cannot change much.

Do you have any adaptive recommendation for the use case?

[John E KVAM]

I don't see why a little vibration would case the sensor to return the wrong answer. The sensor integrates over a number of milliseconds and returns a statistical estimate of the distance. I'm sure the answer would still be correct.

But if you were thinking about physical damage then that is a possibility. The sensor contains mostly air.

The silicon is rock solid, but the filter and some baffles are in the cap which is glued onto the substrate.

So with enough vibration and shock I imagine you could knock something loose.

If I were worried about I'm mount the sensor on a small PCB or flex. I'd then mount the sensor to a bit of coverglass and mount the whole thing on a bit of foam. Let the foam absorb the shocks.

• john

[mkuma.2]

Hi Jhon,

Do you have any numbers on measure of shock that sensor could hold?(eg.10g,100g)

Since you mentioned about the cover glass ,Does cover-glass guidelines for an5231-cover-window-guidelines-for-the-vl53l1x work for vl53l1?(i assume they both work on same sensor principle)

Could we possibly re-use hornix cover glasses?

[John E KVAM]

The sensors are rigid enough to withstand being dropped in a cell-phone, but in the end, it's a glued together module and not a solid bit of silicon encased in plastic. We put that line in the datasheet so you would think about and be a little careful. I think you have to figure a way to soften the shock if you can. And then do a lot of testing.

There is a coverglass from Hornix for the VL53L1. In fact there are 3. One has low crosstalk, one very low crosstalk and one has no crosstalk and is used in really dirty environments - think robotic vacuum cleaners. It's very similar to the others - just a bit taller as the VL53L1X is 0.5mm taller.

However the principles are exactly the same. And that app note is still quite valid for all our sensors.

• john