Muzzle velocity measurement – application example
Challenge
A weapon manufacturer wants to modernise a shooting tunnel for the muzzle velocity measurement of machine guns. During the test single shots and salvoes are fired off. The bullets pass two light barriers which measure their velocity. The time the bullet needs between the two light barriers is counted and the speed is calculated. The system has to be precise enough to be able to measure times from 500 µs to 10 ms.
Solution
In order to measure the time that one bullet needs to get from the first light barrier to the one, the intelligent multifunction counter system MSX-E1701 is used. Two counter inputs are used for the light barriers. The time is calculated using the difference between the time stamps of the two inputs. As the system is IP65 compliant, it is resistant to gun powder dust that arises in the shooting tunnel. A PC is not necessary because the system calculates and evaluates the acquired values in stand-alone mode.
The Ethernet connection allows the data transfer to a display screen in another room.