High-performance inclinometer with wide-angle measurement capability without damping effect

This paper reports a high-performance impedance-type inclinometer fabricated in a glass-SU-8-glass sandwich structure for wide angle and rapid angle response measurement. The output signal of the proposed inclinometer is reading from a movable metal pendulum based on the electrical potential measurement scheme. Two kinds of metal of Ga-In-Sn alloy and mercury are used as the pendulum mass of the inclinometer. The friction force between the liquid metal and substrate surfaces is dramatically reduced by applying the organic-based surfactant of SDS. Results show the proposed inclinometer has a very wide linear range of 320deg and a high angle resolution of 0.3deg (S/N=3). The measured results indicate that there is no time lag for the sensor output under the rotation speed of 1/8 RPS and also no damping effect for an instant stop from a rotation speed of 457s. The proposed inclinometer provides a simple yet high performance solution for tile angle measurement.