What is the Acceleration (on Drum of Dancing Washing Machine?

[madsi]

I have bought a washing machine on sale. It is rated at:

Its gross weight with clothes and water=100kg,
At least 50kg of the machine's weight is due to concrete blocks attached to the inner drum.
Max Centrifuging Speed=1400rpm, Max Clothes load=7kg.

It dances(when taken for a spin, that is.)

I want to buy an accelerometer chip to measure the g-forces in XYZ on the top surface of the internal drum which is suspended by 2 large springs and also has attached 4 seemingly incompetent dampers.

I attached two additional dampers to the top concrete block, these were salvaged from a discarded washing machine and they help a bit, but the rotational forces cause the machine to find vibrational patterns that best avoid their encumbrance.

Please Note: on the top and bottom of the internal suspended tube are two attached large (approx. 25kg) concrete masses.

If I can detect when the machine needs to be stopped and re-balanced, then I will avoid having to occasionally sit on this machine during the machine cycle to get it to stand still while it is working and instead, try to implement stop, jiggle the clothes mass back and forth, then retry to dry again.

I have have torn out the internal machines logic board and have attached my own MCU to control the motor and all valves and motors and sensors with my own washy code.

The accelerometers that I have found have easiest to interface with are from Analog Devices and have analog XYZ outputs, come in ranges of Full Scale of +- 1G, 4g, 16g, 200g.

I am no millionaire..(or else I would have bought a better machine), but pray tell, which is the correct accelerometer FS range device to order?

 

[gtoguy97]

Given the information provided, it would be best to use a device with a full scale range of +- 4g. This should provide enough sensitivity to detect any changes in the g-forces while the machine is operating, without being overly sensitive and causing interference or false readings.