Calibration and evaluation of accelerometers based on multisinusoidal excitation

Vibrational diagnostics of machines is usually based on use of accelerometers. Their calibration is required in order to obtain reliable results. This paper presents method for calibration of accelerometers using a multisinusoidal excitation. There is also proposed a procedure for estimating uncertainty of the obtained characteristics. The routine is based on an analysis of signals in the frequency domain using evaluation of cross power spectral density between the signals from the calibrated and standard accelerometer and evaluation of power spectral density of the signal from the standard accelerometer. The procedure allows to determine the nominal sensitivity, amplitude-frequency characteristics and estimate their uncertainties. The experiments were performed using a piezoelectric sensor PCB 338B35, and a sensor based on ADXL 202 capacitive accelerometer constructed at Silesian University of Technology. Results of this study show that the proposed method can be successfully used. The main advantage of the routine is a very short duration of the measurement experiment. Values of estimated relative uncertainties reach several percent. The procedure can be applied when it is necessary to quickly check the sensor characteristics, for example in the field for periodical maintenance of sensors mounted on the machine.