The global condition-based monitoring (CbM) market has experienced significant growth over the past few years, and this looks set to continue. This growth coincides with the rapid advancement of MEMS accelerometers for use in vibration sensing applications, now rivaling the once-dominant piezoelectric or PZT accelerometer. There is an increased demand for CbM on less critical assets as well as a growing adoption rate of wireless CbM systems, and MEMS accelerometers are the key to this. This article will compare MEMS accelerometers to piezoelectric accelerometers to highlight just how far MEMS sensors have come in their short lifetime. Key design considerations for MEMS accelerometers in CbM applications will also be discussed with a comparison of five MEMS sensors from three different vendors.
