The tilt angle sensor is an important sensor widely used in fields such as instrument measurement, industrial automation, and aviation navigation. It can convert the magnitude of the tilt angle (non-electric quantity) into a corresponding electrical output signal.

       The tilt angle sensor is an important component of angle measurement, which is a type of geometric measurement. The range of angle measurement is broad, and planar angles can be divided based on the spatial position of the plane into: horizontal angles (or azimuth angles) in the horizontal plane, vertical angles (or tilt angles) in the vertical plane, and spatial angles which are the combination of horizontal and vertical angles; based on range, they can be divided into circular degree angles and small angles; based on nominal values, they can be divided into fixed angles and arbitrary angles; based on composition units, they can be divided into linear angles and surface angles; based on formation methods, they can be divided into fixed angles and dynamic angles. Fixed angles refer to the angles of components processed or assembled, which return to a static angular position when the instrument is rotated; dynamic angles refer to the angles of objects or systems during motion, such as the angle between a satellite's orbit and the Earth's equatorial plane, axis angle drift during the rotation of precision equipment, and real-time angle signals output by angle measuring devices during motion at a certain angular velocity and angular acceleration.

How to install the tilt angle sensor?

     Tilt angle sensorInstallation requires certain skills. Generally, tilt angle sensors have built-in zero position adjustments, so users can customize the zero position adjustment button according to their requirements, achieving the function of zeroing at a certain angle. Before installing the tilt angle sensor, you need to determine your installation position and what angle you need to measure relative to which plane. As long as the sensor is fixed to a certain plane, use the zero position button to achieve the zeroing function before measurement, which mainly facilitates reading the angle and reduces unnecessary errors.

       1. The installation of the tilt angle sensor is divided into horizontal installation and vertical installation. However, whether installed horizontally or vertically, the sensor's installation surface should remain parallel to the surface of the object being measured, while minimizing the effects of dynamics and acceleration. For example, horizontal installation means placing the tilt angle sensor horizontally on a plane, typically on the ground or a table. Vertical installation means mounting the tilt angle sensor on a stable surface that is perpendicular to the ground, commonly on a wall. However, in general, tilt angle sensors are calibrated to an ideal horizontal plane when they leave the factory to suit the general public. The plane we use for installation may not necessarily be ideal. If the sensor is simply placed on a platform during installation, there will generally be an angle output, indicating that the plane is not horizontal. Therefore, adjustments to the table surface are needed, and some suggest that the base of the fixed tilt angle sensor should be adjustable. This phenomenon also applies to vertical installations.

       2. In addition to keeping the sensor installation surface parallel to the measured object's surface, the sensing line must also be parallel to the axis of the measured surface, meaning that the two axes should not form an angle.

       3. Generally, tilt angle sensors have built-in zero position adjustment systems. Customers can customize the zero position adjustment button according to their requirements, achieving the performance of zeroing at a certain angle, which allows for easy reading of the angle and reduces unnecessary errors.

Application scope of tilt angle sensors

       Tilt angle sensors, also known as inclinometers, tilt meters, and level meters, are often used for measuring changes in the horizontal angle of systems. The evolution from simple bubble level meters to modern electronic level meters is a result of advancements in automation and electronic measurement technology. As a detection tool, it has become an indispensable measurement tool in fields such as bridge construction, railway laying, civil engineering, oil drilling, aviation navigation, industrial automation, intelligent platforms, and machining. Electronic level meters are highly precise tools for measuring small angles, allowing for the measurement of the tilt of a surface relative to the horizontal position, as well as the parallelism and verticality of two components.

       Additionally, piezoelectric micro-displacement vibration tables, electronic microscope fine-tuning, astronomical telescope lens fine-tuning, and precision micro-displacement measurements also require the use of tilt angle sensors. For example, a single channel high-performance linear displacement measurement system, innovative capacitive displacement measurement technology provides nanometer measurement capabilities, is cost-effective, and suitable for measuring any conductive target. It can be used for measuring small vibrations, is easy to install, and has high sensitivity and accuracy.

Other application areas

On water heaters

       Solar water heaters are now commonly seen on rooftops. With the extreme consumption of non-renewable resources, solar energy has become a primary focus for energy companies. How to better and more fully utilize solar energy has become a major issue in solar development today. Humidity sensor probes, stainless steel electric heating tubes, PT100 sensors, cast aluminum heaters, heating rings, and fluid electromagnetic valves.

Horizontal measurement

       Tilt angle sensors can be used to measure the change in tilt angle relative to the horizontal plane. The theoretical basis is Newton's second law, which states that according to basic physical principles, speed cannot be measured within a system, but acceleration can be measured. If the initial speed is known, linear speed can be calculated through integration, and thus linear displacement can be calculated. Therefore, it is essentially an acceleration sensor that utilizes the principle of inertia. When the tilt angle sensor is stationary, meaning there is no acceleration acting in the lateral and vertical directions, the only force acting on it is gravitational acceleration. The angle between the gravitational vertical axis and the sensitive axis of the acceleration sensor is the tilt angle.

Construction machinery

       In heavy industrial machinery, whether it is excavators, cranes, elevators, or graders, tilt angle sensors (tilt modules) play a crucial role in these heavy machinery. They not only ensure that the angle range of these machines is within safe limits but can also trigger alarms if the range is exceeded, thus protecting personal safety. For example, in a telescopic mechanical arm, the tilt angle sensor measures the attitude of the driver's cabin and the tilt angle of the boom, ensuring driving safety.

Drones

       A large number of tilt angle sensors are installed on drones to monitor the flight attitude of the aircraft in real-time, transmitting data to the ground control center via radio waves. High-precision tilt angle sensor series belong to the high-precision and high-stability series, with wide applications in aircraft attitude calibration and sailboat attitude control.

Hovercraft

       Tourist air-cushion boats are very common in the country, especially in coastal tourist cities and tourist islands, where air-cushion boats have become the main means of transportation. An air-cushion boat is a type of vessel that uses air at a pressure higher than atmospheric pressure to create a cushion between the bottom of the boat and the supporting surface, allowing the entire or part of the hull to detach from the supporting surface and travel at high speeds. One advantage of air-cushion boats is their ease of boarding, which is particularly valuable on tourist islands. Typically, tourist islands have many places where boarding is needed. However, it is not feasible to set up docks or berths everywhere on tourist islands. In this case, the characteristics of air-cushion boats can be utilized to board freely on beaches, mudflats, and grasslands. With the extensive use of air-cushion boats in tourist areas, many people who have never encountered air-cushion boats can try to drive them for fun on the sea. Due to the lack of experience in driving air-cushion boats, capsizing may occur at times, and safety issues have gradually become a top priority. Therefore, air-cushion boat manufacturers and personnel in tourist areas thought of using tilt sensors to detect the real-time posture of air-cushion boats during operation and display the corresponding tilt angle values on an LCD instrument in the cockpit. At the same time, certain speed limits were imposed on the air-cushion boats, greatly increasing their operational safety. With tilt sensors, even those who have never driven an air-cushion boat can easily and simply operate them.

Four-wheel alignment

       The main solution of the four-wheel alignment instrument is to use tilt sensors for testing each wheel. If any abnormalities are detected, adjustments are made. High-precision tilt sensor modules are designed for various industrial-level measurement and control applications that have strict requirements for zero-point calibration, sensitivity calibration, and wide temperature characteristic compensation, suitable for automotive four-wheel alignment, industrial leveling, and other applications.

Medical applications

       The control handle of the automatic control surgical bed hopes to install a dual-axis tilt sensor in the handle, controlling the motor drive process by moving the handle in the roll and pitch directions to operate the movement of the surgical bed (only roll and pitch movements in the X and Y directions). Since it needs to be installed in the handle, it is hoped that the size will not be too large.

Posture control

       The stability of an aircraft's posture is usually controlled by tilt sensors, including the following methods: The first is three-axis stabilization, relying on the attitude control subsystem to keep the yaw axis direction of the aircraft consistent with the local vertical line direction, ensuring that ground observation sensors are always aimed at the ground. The second is spin stabilization, such as fixing the orientation of the satellite's rotation axis to a certain point in space to maintain stable posture. The third is gravity gradient stabilization. Under the influence of the Earth's gravitational field, the rotation axis of a rotating object gradually reaches a balanced state, aligning with the direction of the gravity gradient, which is consistent with the local vertical line direction, to maintain the stability of the aircraft's posture. We place the origin of the Cartesian coordinate system on the celestial body, with the Z-axis pointing to the ground reflecting the yaw direction, the Y-axis reflecting the pitch direction, and the X-axis reflecting the roll direction. The celestial body operates in the local vertical direction and orbital vector direction at high altitudes, occasionally causing deviations in the three axes. To ensure the stability of the celestial body's posture during operation, the tilt sensor's Z-axis pointing accuracy should reach an error of ≤° with the local vertical direction, preventing excessive pitch and roll transitions, and for yaw, the deviation of the velocity vector should also be kept within °.

How to maintain tilt sensors

       In fact, sensors are very simple instruments for a developer, and similarly, they are also very simple for a user. When selecting a tilt sensor, you must first know whether you are using a sensor IC or a sensor module. However, in practice, what is usually purchased is the sensor module directly. The tilt sensor collects the component size of gravitational acceleration on the sensitive axis through the sensor chip, and the control unit processes the pulse signals transmitted by the chip to calculate the tilt angle, which is then output to the network or display screen through the communication unit. Therefore, the core of the tilt sensor is the chip technology and the writing of the control program. Regarding these two cores—the sensor chip and the control unit, manufacturers mainly choose suitable chips and programming controls to produce tilt sensors. Just like a mobile phone, you do not need to know the internal circuit principles and communication protocols; you can use it at the application level, and the same applies to sensor chips. The basic principle of the tilt sensor is to etch a polycrystalline silicon surface micro-mechanical sensor on a silicon chip and integrate a set of precision signal processing circuits, which can convert the analog signals generated by the surface micro-mechanical sensor into duty cycle modulated digital signals for output.

       According to physical mechanics, it can be understood that when an object has an angle with the reference plane, the ratio of its acceleration in the direction of motion to gravitational acceleration differs from the angle α when there is no angle. Based on the decomposition of forces, gravitational acceleration will have a component acting in the Ax direction, and Ax=gsinα, thus the tilt angle α=sin-1(Ax/g). However, when the object undergoes variable acceleration in the direction of the reference plane, its Ax is also a changing value, making it impossible to distinguish between the object's static acceleration and dynamic acceleration for accurate judgment. Tilt sensors can be classified into dual-axis and single-axis types, capable of continuously measuring changes in angle. The specific use of single-axis or dual-axis depends on the application environment and usage form. Applications in measuring radar antenna angles, bridges, mountains, dam engineering robotic arms, and other posture detections all require tilt sensors. The range and precision requirements of tilt sensors are generally directly selected based on the parameters of a specific sensor. The range can achieve 360-degree tilt measurement through dual-axis coordination. Currently, the products are very stable. In some situations requiring full-range tilt measurement, choosing a 360-degree product is ideal.

       The lifespan of tilt sensors is generally relatively short and is related to their operating environment. Therefore, when using tilt sensors, it is important to protect them in harsh environments. It is especially important to regularly check and replace sensors on mechanical vehicles, as high temperatures and prolonged operations are detrimental to the lifespan of the sensors. Thus, when selecting tilt sensors, one must consider the safety hazards associated with their use.