Abstract: The tilt transducers are destined to detect the small and very small angles to the horizontal and vertical lines to measure them. The measurement range this between values situated in the region of an arc second and several degrees. The most transducers in the apparatuses for determining the tilt (levels or electronic inclinometers) use the principle of the gravitational pendulum through inductive or capacitive methods for the conversion of the mass displacement of pendulum into an electric signal.
Key words: transducers, displacement, ferrofluid, magnetic
1. INTRODUCTION
The tilt transducers are destined to detect the small and very small angles to the horizontal and vertical lines to measure them. The measurement range this between values situated in the region of an arc second and several degrees. The most transducers in the apparatuses for determining the tilt (levels or electronic inclinometers) use the principle of the gravitational pendulum through inductive or capacitive methods for the conversion of the mass displacement of pendulum into an electric signal. Electrolytic, photoelectrical and resistive electrical sensors are also used, especially for the reduced gauge in comparison with that of the transducers with a pendulum, but their performances being rather modest. The electronic inclinometers, analogous or numerical, of high sensitiveness and precision call for a highly accurate mechanical technology and a precise measurement electronic on so that these are made only in countries with advanced technology (Germany, U.S.A., J apan, Switzerland or France).The precision of these apparatuses, expressed through the value of a division of the most sensitive scale, is currently under the value of 10 m ( 2 arc second). The first tilt ferrofluid transducers were made by the Ferrofluidies firm (U.S.A.) and put into practice in drilling equipments that work under hard conditions of temperature and vibrations, ensuring a precision of 0,2 . The functioning of the tilt ferrofluid transducers is usually based on either the inductive detection of the magnetic liquid from a horizontal vessel, cylindrical or of another form or on the level difference of the liquid in two vessel which communicate between them or on the detection of the position of some solid magnetic or nonmagnetic cores through an inductive, respectively, capacitive way, situated in the ferrofluid in which there develop magneto- fluidic forces corresponding to some specific phenomenon (magnetic levitations of the order one and two). These forces ensure the sustentation of the cores to obtain the displacement mobility of these and the elimination of some mechanical links with the transducers carcass and in other cases they represent the negative reaction for the transducers which function on the principle of the forces compensation.
2. TILT TRANSDUCERS WITH THE ACTUATION OF THE FERROFLUID
In these transducers the ferrofluid plays the role of the mobile magnetic core, the tilt being translated into an inductive-way electrical signal by means of a system of electrical windings that make a system of inductive detection of the ferrofluid that can be of a differential inductive type or of the type of the so called variable linear differential transformer, made up of a primary and two identical secondary ones. Three principal types of the tilt transducers with the actuation of the ferrofluid are known, each type having at least some constructive variants : a. transducers with ferrofluid with a continuous free surface ; b. transducers with two vertical columns of ferrofluid ; c. transducers with a gas bubble in ferrofluid.
2.1. Transducers with ferrofluid with a continuous free surface.
Such a transducer presents a cylindrical or toroidal precinct half filled with a ferrofluid that has in this way a single horizontal continuous surface. Those with a toroidal or a ring shaped precinct help to determine the tilt on two rectangular axes(biaxial tilt) whereas the first are destined to detect the tilt on single direction (uniaxial tilt).The first uniaxial tilt ferrofluid transducer having a free surface was patented in 1974,being destined at the same time for the vibrations' measurement[ 0 10].It is make up of a cylindrical chamber partly filled with ferrofluid on whose walls are disposed on the exterior a primary windings and two secondary windings in which tensions dependent on the tilt angle arei nduced. The functioning principle is similar to that of the transducers of the transformer type with solid ferromagnetic care. The secondaries being serially- differentiably coupled, the differential tension is naught for the device's horizontal position and increased with its tilt due to the increase of the ferrofluid inside the secondary winding, downward tilted, together with the
362 same decrease of the ferrofluid quantity in the other winding. In time there have appeared several patented technical solutions of transducer and electronic inclinometers starting from this functioning principle, the distinction being made by the choosing and disposing way of the windings and especially by the electronic circuits used with a view to improving the functioning performance. The commonest solution of a transducer is that in fig.3.a in which the primary winding is disposed on the two secondary windings. The primary is supplied with an alternative tension of 5- 10 kHz. With such a transducer one care measure both big angles of tilt (20 0 ) and small and very small angle(10 minutes circle arc).The variation with the tilt of the output differential tension of the transducer,SU 2 ,is strictly proportional(fig.2.)[1].
Fig.1.Tilt transducer with free surface ferrofluid
Fig.2.The static characteristic of the transducer in fig.1
Extending the principle of the measurement of the inclination from the uniaxial transducer with ferrofluid with a free surface to a device made up of two identical tubes perpendicularly disposed, one can measure concomitantly the inclination on two perpendicular directions(fig.3.). . There have been elaborated several methods for the reduction or the elimination of some errors that come up in the functioning of the transducers of inclination with ferrofluid with a free surface. One takes into consideration the errors caused by the sedimentation of the magnetic particles in the ferrofluid and the values formed at the surface following a sudden inclination or the agitation of the device. For example ,to reduce the long time of the stabilization of the ferrofluid surface after the sudden change of the tilt of the transducer a technical solution was proposed that consists in the introduction of the ferrofluid in a coating or a plastic dielectrical membrane[2].
Fig.3.Tilt biaxial transducer
In this way, the measurement operations are carried on 5- 7 times faster than in the case of a free ferrofluid transducer.
2.2. Transducer with two ferrofluid vertical columns.
The transducers that have a free surface of the ferrofluid afore presented have the disadvantage of the instability of the great liquid surface caused by the smallest shock of the transducer, by creating some waves with a long absorption. The undesirable effect is the answering time increase of measuring device. To eliminate the above mentioned disadvantage there were conceived transducer two ferrofluid vertical columns that consequently present two ferrofluid free surface situated in the same horizontal plane[3]. Two means were used to obtain two columns for a continuous ferrofluid volume. The former represents two identical tanks milled in a basic body, with ferrofluid up to its half in which the liquid can circulate through a channel situated in the lower side, and the air can more through a channel in the upper side The tanks are placed in the center of two electric coils, nd the inductance difference between the identical coils, following the passing of a ferrofluid cuantity from a tank into the other being a measure of the tilt. The latter means used to obtain two ferrofluid free surface is illustrated in the Fig.4. and it also consists in two identical tanks, of a different shape from the previous case, made up of nonmetallic material, that communicate in the lower side through a channel e and the upper side through a channel a. Two identical coils are disposed on the tubular carcasses of the tanks. O ferrofluid cuantity is introduced inside the tanks half way up the coils, and then the free tops of the tanks are sealed with a cork. The assembly achieved in this way is set in a ferrofluid carcass with the role of an electromagnetic screen. A filling resin is poured inside the carcass that, by solidifying rigidifies the assembly in fig.4.
363
Fig.4.Tilt transducer with two ferrofluid columns
The transducer achieved in this way is connected in impedances semibridge assemblage to a measuring electronic amplifier. On the transducer tilt along the longitudinal direction, a ferrofluid quantity passes from a tank into the other through the channel e, and the air passes inversely through the channel a modification results in different senses of the inductance of the two coils. The sizing og the channel is achieved in such a way that on the passage of the ferrofluid from a tank into the other, the flow be without as oscilations or delayed, according to a same technical requirement. The ferrofluid quantity inside the tanks as well as the transducer's tilt along the transversal direction, between certam limits, does not influence the transducer's precision.
2.3. Tranducer with a Gas Bubble in the Ferrofluid.
Starting from the principle of the optical bubble level that consists in the central positioning of the gas bubble in a liquid situated in a curved glass tube on the horizontal disposal of the device that includes the tube, one can obtain a ferrofluid tilt sensor which through adequate electronic means, allows the obtaining of a precise of an object. Such a sensor will therefore contain a curved tube in which there are a ferrofluid and a gas bubble as well as a system of coils disposal on the tube, which allows the obtaining of an electric signal dependent on the coils belonging to the tilt sensor are illustrated in the Fig.5. and Fig.6. The coil 1 is excitation and the coils 2,3 and 4 are signal coil which notifies the bubble's position in the tube. The coil 4 detects the central position of the bubble, so the horizontal position of the sensor and the coil 2,3 set symmetrically to the transversal central palm of the tube detects the bubble's deviation from the central position. The obtaining method of the signal used in the sensor of the Fig.6. is characterized by a great sensitiveness and
Fig.5. Yas bubble transducer provided with an excitation coil and three signal coils.
Fig.6.Yas bubble transducer with an excitation coil and two signal coils
offers optimum condition for the optic or/and acoustic signalization. The ferrofluid used contain 50%Fe 2 O 3 and has the permeability
r =2.1.The sensitiveness of the device is obtained through a corresponding sizing and an adequate setting of the signal and excitation coils.
3. TILT TRANSDUCER WITH A SELF- SUSTAINED MAGNET IN FERROFLUID
A transducer based on the levitation property of the order 2 of the ferrofluid was successfully commercialized in the field of the oil prospecting for control and supervision of the drilling operations[4]. A small permanent magnet immersed into a ferrofluid is self sustained. The interaction between the magnetic filed of the magnet and the magnetization of the ferrofluid creates a magnetic force greater than the weight force of the magnet (the magnet's density is m =7g/ml and of the ferrofluid z lg/ml)Fig.6. shows the achieving way of the transducer. A nonmagnetic cylindrical tube is filled up with a high stability ferrofluid. An axial polarized magnet is sustained in the ferrofluid. Around the tube are two windings in phase opposition that belong to an electronic system of a negative reaction used in the control and the adjustment of the magnet's position.
Fig.6. Tilt transducer with self-sustained magnet in ferrofluid
As it is shown in the Fig.6.b,when the magnet is inclined to an angle to the vertical, the component of the weight mgcos acts along the axis of the magnet from the equilibrium position. The coils detect this change and bringing the magnet back to isti initial position. In the equilibrium position, the current /depends on the cos or on the tilt of the magnet and tube. Additionally if the tilt is known, the acceleration g can be determined. Since such a device can also be used as a sensor for an accelerometer.
364 In the drilling operation it is important to know precisely the position of the willing machine situated at the end of the in-depth hole. Each measuring derrick consists in three such transducers arranged lengthwise three orthogonal axes x, y and z .Also, those magnetometers are fastened along these axes. The inclinometer supplies information about the angular position of the willing machine ( ) and the magnetometer computer to analyze and evaluate. During the drilling operation the temperature can reach 125 0 or even more, and the level or vibrations can be some hundreds g. The precision of the sensor is {0.2 0 } even in these severe conditions. The ferrofluid is an essential component of the device and is specially synthetized for this temperature, having the colloidal stability necessary to the application. Another transducer with sustained magnet with the help of the magnetic liquid, having a single structure, capable of noticing the tilt of some objects with a high precision and applicable to position control systems, is illustrated in Fig.7.
Fig.7. Gilt sensor with a sensors Hall
It is composed of a nonmagnetic material carcass 1,e.g aluminum a lid 2 the same material and the precinct 3 that has curved and polished lower surface A[5]. A sensitive magnetic element (sensor hall) 6 is fastened near the surface A, in central part.
Up on setting the transducer on a horizontal surface B the magnet 4 occupies the lowest position of the surface A, in its central zone. As a result the element 6 will detect a strong magnetic field when the surface B, is inclined, the magnet 4 moves and occupies the lowest position, in another zone of the surface a due to its own weight. By removing the magnet from the sensitive element, the magnetic field detect by this diminishes. The position of the magnet in relation to the sensitive element changes in correspondence with the tilting angle of the carcass 1 getting an electric signal given by the way of the disposed of the elements around the permanent magnet are not limited to the configuration represent in Fig.7.For example, four sensitive magnetic elements can be disposed on the walls of the space closed by the carcass 1, at equal angular intervals, detecting in this way both the value and the direction of the tilt. 4. CONCLUSION
The tilt ferrofliud transducers being more robust and resistant to shocks and vibrations than the conventional ones and having simpler achieving technology become cheaper and accessible so that, depending on the specific application, they can represent an alternative for the pendulum-based transducers or for the other transducers used in the current practice.
REFERENCES
[1] FIEDLER O., J ASKULKE R., MULLER I., Anwendungen magnischer Flussigkeiten zu Neigungswinkemessungen, msr,Berlin32,1989, p.158 -160 [2] SABLIN D., SKOBELEV M., KOLESNIKOV A., Brevet de inventie, URSS, nr 1751643 A1, 1992 [3] IVERS D.E. et al., Two-way magnetorheological fluid valve assembly and devices utilising same, Brevet de inventie SUA, nr. 6 158 470, 2000 [4] RAJ K., MOSCOWITZ R., Commercial Applications of ferrofluids, J ournal of magnetism and Magnetic Materuals, Vol.85, 1990,p.223-245. [5] DRAGOI D.D. Utilizari ale traductoarelor si dispozitivelor magnetofluidice in constructia de masini, Ed Tehnica-Info, Chisinau, 2005
CORRESPONDENCE
Dumitru Dan DRAGOI, Lecteur.Dr. Eng. University of Bacau Faculty of Enginering Str. Marasesti 157 600115 Bacau, Romania dddragoi@ub.ro