Test and Measurement Forum

Hi,

I would like to messure the force history of a drop-weight impact test with an piezo sensor ( http://www.pcb.com/contentstore/docs/PC ... 208A45.pdf ) and think that the PicoScope 2203 might be a suitable device for that.

The data of the sensor are:

- upper frequency limit of 25kHz
- excitation voltage of 20-30 VDC
- full scale output +5V
- constant current excitation 2-20mA
- output bias voltage 8-14 VDC

Did I chose the right system for this application?
Thanks in advance

Ben

Hi Ben,

Whilst the sample rate and bandwidth of the device may be sufficient. A couple of things you have to take into account:

How long you wish to look at that data for, the 2203 memory is 8KS for one channel so if you were to look at a 25kHz signal you may need to sample at 250kS/s. As such you would use a time base of 2ms/division giving you 20ms of data. The more memory you have on a device the longer you can sample at higher rates.

Second thing is the vertical resolution, the device is 8 bits and as such in your +/-5V range, you will have 256 steps. If you used a 12 bit device you would get 4096 points.

So it depends really on what you are looking for. If the memory and resolution are not a major factor then the 2203 should be fine. If not then you can go for something like the 3224. Which has 512kS and is 12 bits.

http://www.picotech.com/pc-scope.html

Kind regards