Application of SST810 Dynamic Inclinometer on Ship for Attitude Monitoring

A marine vessel, as an indispensable tool for water transportation, is a watercraft used for transportation and construction operation which relies on sails or motors to move on the water. Collision accident of navigation is horrible and unfortunate that nobody wants to encounter on voyage. However, the scary accidents do happen due to operation error or other external natural factors.

Sensor Plays an Important Role in Real-Time Safety Monitoring of Ships

To ensure the stability and safety of the ship during travel on the sea, modern ships are equipped with a variety of sensing devices such as inclination sensor, acceleration sensor, vibration sensor, speed encoder, gyro inertial navigation system and etc. These sensing devices can monitor the pitch and roll angle, tri-axial acceleration, vibration, speed, yaw and other parameters of the ship during sea voyage. These parameters can enable the driver to grasp the current status of the ship in real time and adjust the operation in time, which effectively ensures the safe navigation of ships, reduces the incidence of water traffic accidents and avoids economic losses and casualties.

Great Importance of SST810 Dynamic Inclinometer in Ship Attitude Monitoring

The traditional static inclinometer, which is based on the principle of liquid capacitance or MEMS solid-state capacitor, determines the tilt angle of the measured carrier relative to the water level by detecting the component magnitude of the earth's gravitational acceleration ''g'' in the direction of the sensor's sensitive axis. The component of the non-gravity acceleration is weak under static conditions and it is easy to eliminate by filtering, so the static sensor can exhibit higher measurement accuracy under static conditions. After serious tests and comparative analysis by Vigor Technology, the interference acceleration of 1mg can produce a measurement error of 0.057°, and the continuous acceleration will produce a larger measurement error.

During maritime navigation, the ship is affected by the Earth's gravitational acceleration and the acceleration of its own travelling direction, as well as the acceleration of external forces such as wind and waves. Therefore, the traditional static inclination sensor is not suitable for monitoring the real-time attitude information of the ship during travelling.

Vigor Technology's SST810 gyro-enhanced inclinometer, which is developed on the basis of three-axis accelerometer and the three-axis gyroscope principle, can realize a combination of static measurement and dynamic measurement to monitor the ship's roll/pitch angle, triaxial acceleration, triaxial angular velocity and heaving displacement in real time. SST810 adopts an intelligent algorithm inside, and the MCU can automatically judge the running state of the ship (static or dynamic). When the ship is in static state, the sensor automatically receives the data of the internal accelerometer and converts the angle of the ship through the algorithm. When the ship is in dynamic state, the sensor automatically receives the angular velocity data of the gyroscope and integrates with the time to obtain the roll/pitch/heaving displacement attitude information of the ship.