Patent · US Expired

Apparatus for measuring the vertical motion of a floating platform

US4986121A · kind A · utility

20Cited by
3References
13Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventor

Key dates

Filing dateSep 12, 1989
Grant dateJan 22, 1991
Priority date
Expiry dateSep 12, 2009

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC G)Physics
  • CPC primaryG01C21/185
  • WIPO fieldMeasurement
  • WIPO sectorInstruments

Abstract

An apparatus and method for measuring the vertical motion of a floating platform e.g. a survey vessel, caused by wave action. The apparatus includes a sensor having three accelerometers (11,12,13) arranged on mutually perpendicular axes (Ax,Ay,Az) so that one accelerometer acts in a vertical plane and the other two act in a horizontal plane. Output signals (S1,S2,S3) from the accelerometers are continually sampled through a multiplexer (14) and are passed through an ADC (19) and a shift register (21) to provide output signals for a data processor (D) which provides a signal A indicative of the vertical position of the platform. In the method, the accelerometer output signals (S1,S2,S3) are corrected for offsets by use of a reference signal (So) and the corrected signals are used to derive the signal (A) which may be double integrated to obtain the final signal (A3) relating to vertical displacement.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.