Wireless detector for translational and rotational motion of spherical-particle flow

Abstract

To measure the translational and rotational motion of spherical particles in a three-dimensional granular flow, a wireless spherical detector with a built-in wireless module and a three-axis gyroscope and three-axis accelerometer was developed. The three-axis acceleration and three-axis angular velocity can be measured and stored by the detector in real time. The attitude angle, the spatial rotation of the detector coordinate system relative to the laboratory coordinate system, described via the Euler angle is obtained with a Quaternion algorithm and Kalman filter. The gravity acceleration component in the acceleration data can be removed with the attitude angle. The test results show that the acceleration error is ±0.02G, and the average cumulative angle error is 0.02°/s. Finally, the detector was tested as a tracer particle in hopper flow. According to the results, the variation value of the rotation angles of the spherical detector obeys an exponential distribution.