3 DIMENSIONAL DISPLACEMENT TRANSDUCER

JK Controls’ linear displacement transducers using pull wire techniques have proved very versatile in industrial applications for position measurement of valves, dampers, weirs, gates, window openings, thermal expansion, etc. The device is now incorporated into a three dimensional measurement instrument, which will open up other applications such as investigation of flexible joint distortion on boiler plant, pipework displacement, and improved boiler movement analysis.

Unfortunately when measuring in more than one dimension, movement in one plane usually has an effect upon the instruments measuring in perpendicular planes, resulting in error build up. Although these can be compensated for by trigonometrical analysis, it is difficult, especially when displacement is changing in all thee planes with time (4^th dimension).

JK Controls are solving this problem by mounting the linear transducer into a gimballed mounting with angular measurements at each fulcrum. The gimbals are turned by a guide rod that passes through the cross axis. The guide rod is of composite material for stiffness and runs in low friction bearings. The three measurements are combined by a digital processor, which extracts the rectangular cartesian co-ordinates in the X, Y & Z planes. The processed values are then made available as three analogue signals, which can be recorded on any data acquisition system such as a chart recorder, data logger or SCADA system.

The picture shows the gimballed arrangement. The movement envelope for the version shown is typically within a 30cm cube. The grid markings on the background of the picture are at 25mm (approx 1”) pitch.

SIMPLE INSTALLATION

Contact Information: e-mail to info@jkcontrols.co.uk, or telephone +44 2380 892021

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