Novel Elastomer Vibration Sensor for Machine Health-Monitoring Applications

Condition-based maintenance strategies for monitoring the state of health of machinery utilize vibration sensors as early indicators of anomalous operation. Large-scale deployment of commercially available vibration sensors for such Internet of Things (IoT) applications is cost-prohibitive. We present an elastomer-based vibration sensor prepared using a low-cost sensor synthesis process with performance suitable for machine health-monitoring applications. A water-soluble polyvinyl alcohol mold manufactured using 3D printer is used to cast a polydimethylsiloxane matrix that is subsequently coated with conductive elastomeric ink to impart piezoresistivity to the sensor. The 3D printing process used for manufacturing the mold allows control over its pore size and could be used to tune the stiffness and sensitivity of the sensor. Through electro-mechanical characterization experiments baselined with a reference micro-electromechanical systems accelerometer (ADXL335), we demonstrate the capability of this elastomer sensor to discern change in vibration spectrum of a motor due to fault introduced in inner race of the motor bearing.