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. 2019 Jun 16;19(12):2705.
doi: 10.3390/s19122705.

A Low-Cost Chamber Prototype for Automatic Thermal Analysis of MEMS IMU Sensors in Tilt Measurements Perspective

Giuseppe Ruzza  1 , Luigi Guerriero  2 , Paola Revellino  3 , Francesco M Guadagno  4
Affiliations

A Low-Cost Chamber Prototype for Automatic Thermal Analysis of MEMS IMU Sensors in Tilt Measurements Perspective

Giuseppe Ruzza et al. Sensors (Basel). .

Abstract

In this work, a low-cost, open-source and replicable system prototype for thermal analysis of low-cost Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) sensors in tilt measurement perspective is presented and tested. The system is formed of a 3D printed frame, a thermal cell consisting in a Peltier element mounted over a heat sink, and a control and power system. The frame is designed to allow the independent biaxial tilting of the thermal cell through two servomotors. The control board is formed by an Arduino® and a self-made board including a power drive for controlling the thermal unit and servomotors. We tested the chamber analyzing the behavior of multiple MEMS IMU onboard accelerometers suitable for measuring tilt. Our results underline the variability of the thermal behavior of the sensors, also for different sensor boards of the same model, and consequently the need for the adoption of a thermal compensation strategy based on thermal analysis results. These data suggesting the need for the analysis of the thermal behavior of MEMS-based sensors, indicate the potential of our system in making low-cost sensors suitable in medium-to-high precision monitoring applications.

Keywords: Arduino®; Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS); Peltier; accelerometer; thermal chamber; tilt.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Top view of the developed thermal chamber prototype. Main components are labeled.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Diagram showing thermal chamber prototype components and functional connections.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Electronic diagram of the thermal chamber and connections with the Arduino® UNO board.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Flow chart showing the structure of the code used to control the thermal chamber.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Graph showing Kp term and associated temperature error.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Example of temperature variation of the chamber during a complete thermal cycle (i.e., warming and cooling cycles).
Figure 7
Figure 7
Example of temperature variation of the chamber during a warming cycle.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Wiring diagram of the LSM9DS0 Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) with the Arduino® MKR board.
Figure 9
Figure 9
Flow chart showing the logic of the code used for reading the LSM9DS0 Micro Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensor.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Schematic of sensor positioning within the cell.
Figure 11
Figure 11
Results from the thermal analysis of MEMS IMU at different selected inclination.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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