Looking for a Budget-Friendly Solid-State Inclinometer?

[dduardo]

Anyone know of a good and cheap single axis solid-state inclinomter? I want to interface the sensor with a microprocessor in order to know what angle a lcd panel has been rotated so I may adjust to portrait or landscape mode.

 

[FredGarvin]

I don't know of any "cheap" ones with a data output. You might try Starett or Omega.

 

[dduardo]

Apple has built an inclinometer into their PowerBooks and people have actually used as an input device to orient the windows depending on how the person is viewing the lcd.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudden_Motion_Sensor

The microcomputer that I'm using is the Gumstix and it very small (Literally the size of a stick of gum) therefore I need small components. I would think the solid-state route would be best in this senario.

 

[dduardo]

I found the part I needed. It is the ADXL322 from Analog Devices.

http://www.analog.com/en/prod/0,2877,ADXL322,00.html

"The ADXL322 is an ultra small package (4 x 4 x 1.45 mm LFCSP) and low power (340 µA at Vs = 2.4V) ± 2g iMEMS® Accelerometer designed to accommodate the integration requirements of mobile phones and other portable devices for a variety of motion, tilt, and inertial sensing features (e.g., data entry, menu and display control, power management, situational awareness, navigation, and portrait vs. landscape display orientation). The ADXL322 also enables hard disk drive protection systems and security features in notebook computers, as well as position and tilt sensing for PC and gaming peripherals such as mouse and joystick devices."

It is also cheap: $8.33 at digikey

 

[faust9]

I found the part I needed. It is the ADXL322 from Analog Devices.

http://www.analog.com/en/prod/0,2877,ADXL322,00.html

"The ADXL322 is an ultra small package (4 x 4 x 1.45 mm LFCSP) and low power (340 µA at Vs = 2.4V) ± 2g iMEMS® Accelerometer designed to accommodate the integration requirements of mobile phones and other portable devices for a variety of motion, tilt, and inertial sensing features (e.g., data entry, menu and display control, power management, situational awareness, navigation, and portrait vs. landscape display orientation). The ADXL322 also enables hard disk drive protection systems and security features in notebook computers, as well as position and tilt sensing for PC and gaming peripherals such as mouse and joystick devices."

It is also cheap: $8.33 at digikey

Analog is usually pretty good about selling in small quantities. I bet you could save a few bucks by getting them from Analog instead of digikey.

Here's and EDN article on accelerometers.
http://www.edn.com/article/CA472836.html

 

[FredGarvin]

Ahhh...so it's not an inclinometer per-se. It is a great use of accelerometers though. You learn something new every day.