Vertical movement sensor

[lukebarber]

Hi,

I am wondering if anyone knows a sensor that only detects a vertical up and down movement?

I came across a sensor that could work for my application but it's very expensive. https://www.clrwtr.com/Products/B2N60H-Q20L60-2LI2-H1151

I thought of using a single axis accelerometer but the sensor will be rotating in my application. I tried using an altimeter/pressure sensor; but it was too sensitive to interference from local airflow near the sensor.

The location is not fixed. I may have to get a 3DOF or 9DOF IMU and read out only one of the axes. I'm not sure if it would work either.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

[tpowell1830]

You may have noticed that this has been read many times without a response. The reason that I can't respond is because I need to know more about what you are trying to accomplish. You have presented your solution to something that no one else can see the problem. 

Welcome to the forum. 

[mikeselectricstuff]

3-axis acccelerometer, because that's what everyone makes.
 Ignore 2 of the axes.

[IDEngineer]

Having designed 3-axis accelerometer and inclinometer modules for a variety of applications, I can tell you that the most straightforward and mechanically reliable approach will be to use a 3-axis accelerometer. Detect the 1G gravity vector, then watch for changes along that vector to indicate vertical motion. I presume it is unlikely that you can keep the sensor perfectly orthogonal to gravity, so you cannot ignore the "other two axes"... you will need to do 3D coordinate rotations and some filtering to differentiate between orientation changes and actual vertical movement.

None of this is overly difficult, and will yield a sensor with no moving parts (other than the internal MEMS element) that requires no maintenance.