- An instrument for indicating speed.
- An instrument for indicating distance traveled as well as rate of speed.
- An odometer.
Dictionary:
speed·om·e·ter (spĭ-dŏm'ĭ-tər, spē-) ![]() |
| 5min Related Video: speedometer |
| How Products are Made: How is a speedometer made? |
Background
A speedometer is a device used to measure the traveling speed of a vehicle, usually for the purpose of maintaining a sensible pace. Its development and eventual status as a standard feature in automobiles led to the enforcement of legal speed limits, a notion that had been in practice since the inception of horseless carriages but had gone largely ignored by the general public. Today, no automobile is equipped without a speedometer intact; it is fixed to a vehicle's cockpit and usually shares a housing with an odometer, which is a mechanism used to record total distance traveled. Two basic types of automobile speedometer, mechanical and electronic, are currently produced.
History
The concept of recording travel data is almost as old as the concept of vehicles. Early Romans marked the wheels of their chariots and counted the revolutions, estimating distance traveled and average daily speed. In the eleventh century, Chinese inventors came up with a mechanism involving a gear train and a moving arm that would strike a drum after a certain distance. Nautical speed data was recorded in the 1500s by an invention called the chip log, a line knotted at regular intervals and weighted to drag in the water. The number of knots let out in a set amount of time would determine the speed of the craft, hence the nautical term "knots" still applied today.
The first patent for a rotating-shaft speed indicator was issued in 1916 to inventor Nikola Tesla. At that time, however, speedometers had already been in production for several years. The development of the first speedometer for cars is often credited to A. P. Warner, founder of the Warner Electric Company. At the turn of the century, he invented a mechanism called a cut-meter, used to measure the speed of industrial cutting tools. Realizing that the cut-meter could be adapted to the automobile, he modified the device and set about on a large promotional campaign to bring his speedometer to the general public. Several speed indicator concepts were introduced by competing sources at the time, but Warner's design enjoyed considerable success. By the end of World War I, the Warner Instrument Company manufactured nine out of every 10 speedometers used in automobiles.
The Oldsmobile Curved Dash Runabout, released in 1901, was the first automobile line equipped with a mechanical speedometer. Cadillac and Overland soon followed, and speedometers began to regularly appear as a factory-installed option in new automobiles. Speedometers in this era were difficult to read in daylight and, with no lamp in the housing, virtually illegible at night. The drive cable in early models was attached to either the front wheels or the back of the transmission, but the integration of the drive cable into the transmission housing wouldn't happen for another 20 years. After that improvement was made, the basic technical design of a speedometer would remain untouched until the advent of the electronic speedometer in the early 1980s.
Raw Materials
Materials used in the production of speedometers vary with the type of gauge and intended application. Older mechanical models were entirely comprised of steel and other metal alloys, but in later years about 40% of the parts for a mechanical speedometer were molded from various plastic polymers. Newer electronic models are almost entirely made of plastics, and design engineers continually upgrade the polymers used. For example, the case of a speedometer's main assembly is usually made of nylon, but some manufacturers now employ the more water-resistant polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) polyester. The worm drive and magnet shaft are also nylon, as is the speedometer's gear train and spindles. The glass display lens of the recent past is now made of transparent polycarbonate, a strong, flexible plastic that is resistant to heat, moisture, and impact.
Design
In a mechanical speedometer, a rotating cable is attached to a set of gears in the automobile's transmission. This cable is directly attached to a permanent magnet in the speedometer assembly, which spins at a rate proportional to the speed of the vehicle. As the magnet rotates, it manipulates an aluminum ring, pulling it in the same direction as the revolving magnetic field; the ring's movement, however, is counteracted by a spiral spring. Attached to the aluminum ring is the pointer, which indicates the speed of the vehicle by marking the balance between these two forces. As the vehicle slows, the magnetic force on the aluminum ring lessens, and the spring pulls the speedometer's pointer back to zero.
Electronic speedometers are almost universally present in late-model cars. In this type of gauge, a pulse generator (or tach generator) installed in the transmission measures the vehicle's speed. It communicates this via electric or magnetic pulse signals, which are either translated into an electronic read-out or used to manipulate a traditional magnetic gauge assembly.
The Manufacturing
Process
Steel components
Plastic components
Assembly
Calibration
Quality Control
Probably the most direct method of quality control is the calibration process. Auto parts manufacturers work under the measurement standards developed by International Organization for Standardization (ISO), which ensures that universal guidelines between gauge manufacturers are used. In-house quality assurance teams develop specifications for each new product before it moves to the assembly line, and the same teams later report whether those guidelines are adhered to on the factory floor. Gradual levels of assembly also involve inspection by factory personnel to make sure that the automation is working smoothly.
Byproducts/Waste
No byproducts result from the manufacture of gauges. Waste materials include scrap metals and plastics, some of which can be reused in later production runs. Because the raw materials involved are prepared outside of the factory, no significant amount of hazardous industrial waste results from manufacture. Emissions from factory automation are government-regulated and surveyed by environmental protection groups.
The Future
Design firms are currently experimenting with improvements in speedometer readout, an effort to eliminate the moment of distraction needed for a driver to look down and gauge his or her speed. Digital readouts projected onto the windshield appear to be the next developmental step. Some proto-types for these speedometers actually make the readout appear as though it is floating over the engine hood. Because this type of display looks as though it is several feet beyond the steering wheel, drivers will be able to continually monitor speed without having to take their eyes off the road. The mirrors and projection devices used in this system could also be adjusted to suit the driver's position, much in the same way that a rear-view mirror does. In addition, speedometer projection systems will eventually be integrated with navigation tools, allowing directional information to appear with gauge readouts.
Where to Learn More
Other
Devaraj, Ganesh, et al. "Automating Speedometer Calibration." Evaluation Engineering Web Page. December 2001. <http://www.evaluationengineering.com/archive/articles/1100auto.htm>.
"How a Tachometer/Speedometer Works Using a Magnetic Sensor." Manual. Stewart-Warner Co., April 2001.
"How an Electrical Gauge is Put Together." Manual. Stewart-Warner Co., April 2001.
"How Odometers Work." Marshall Brain's How Stuff Works. December 2001. <http://www.howstuffworks.com>.
"Speeding Through Time." Transport Topics Electronic Newspaper. November 1998. December 2001. <http://www.ttnews.com/members/printEdition/0000395.html>.
"Speedometer." Complete Computer Software Web Page. December 2001. <http://www.iao.com/howthing/Default.htm>.
"The Floating Speedometer." Siemens.com Web Page. December 2001. <http://www.siemens.com/page/1,3771,257095-1-999_5_4-0,00.html>.
[Article by: Kate Kretschmann]
| Sci-Tech Encyclopedia: Speedometer |
A device for indicating the speed of a vehicle. There are three types of speedometers in general use: mechanical analog, quartz electric analog, and digital microprocessor.
The mechanical analog speedometer is driven by a cable housed in a casing and connected to a gear at the transmission. This gear is designed for the particular vehicle model, considering the vehicle's tire size and rear axle ratio. In most cases, the speedometer is designed to convert 1001 revolutions of the drive cable into registering 1 mi on the odometer, which records distance traveled by the vehicle. The speed-indicating portion of the speedometer operates on the magnetic principle. In the speedometer head, the drive cable attaches to a revolving permanent magnet that rotates at the same speed as the cable. Floating on bearings between the upper frame and the revolving permanent magnet is a nonmagnetic movable speed cup. The magnet revolves within the speed cup, producing a rotating magnetic field. The magnetic field is constant, and the amount of speed cup movement is at all times in proportion to the speed of the magnet rotation. A pointer, attached to the speed cup spindle, indicates the speed on the speedometer dial.
The quartz speedometer utilizes an accurate clock signal supplied by a quartz crystal, along with integrated electronic circuitry to process an electrical speed signal. This signal is generated by a permanent-magnet generator mounted in the transmission. This permanent-magnet generator, designed to be used with both quartz and digital speedometers, provides a sinusoidal speed signal that is proportional to vehicle speed at the rate of 4004 pulses per mile (2503 per kilometer).
In the digital microprocessor speedometer, the vehicle speed is monitored by the permanent speed sensor mounted in the transmission. The signal is transmitted to the microprocessor where the counter converts the speed signal to a digital signal and stores it in memory. The timing circuit has the capacity to handle the counter and memory storage in less than 0.25 s. Memory circuit signals are sent to the electronic display circuit, which selects the display numerals representing the vehicle's speed, according to the number of pulses received from the speed sensor. See also Automotive transmission; Electronic display.
| Hacker Slang: speedometer |
A pattern of lights displayed on a linear set of LEDs (today) or nixie tubes (yesterday, on ancient mainframes). The pattern is shifted left every N times the operating system goes through its main loop. A swiftly moving pattern indicates that the system is mostly idle; the speedometer slows down as the system becomes overloaded. The speedometer on Sun Microsystems hardware bounces back and forth like the eyes on one of the Cylons from the wretched Battlestar Galactica TV series.
Historical note: One computer, the GE 600 (later Honeywell 6000) actually had an analog speedometer on the front panel, calibrated in instructions executed per second.
| Columbia Encyclopedia: speedometer |
| Word Tutor: speedometer |
I became nervous as the speedometer needle moved closer to 70 miles per hour.
| Wikipedia: Speedometer |
A speedometer is a device that measures the instantaneous speed of a land vehicle.
Now universally fitted to motor vehicles, they started to be available as options in the 1900s, and as standard equipment from about 1910 onwards.[1]
Speedometers for other vehicles have specific names and use other means of sensing speed. For a boat, this is a pit log. For an aircraft, this is an airspeed indicator.
The speedometer was invented by the Croatian Josip Belušić in 1888, and was originally called a velocimeter.
Contents |
The eddy-current speedometer has been used for over a century and is still in widespread use. Until the 1980s and the appearance of electronic speedometers it was the only type commonly used.
Originally patented by a German, Otto Schulze on 7 October 1902,[2] it uses a rotating flexible cable usually driven by gearing linked to the tail shaft (output) of the vehicle's transmission. The early Volkswagen Beetle and many motorcycles, however, use a cable driven from a front wheel.
A small permanent magnet affixed to the rotating cable interacts with a small aluminum cup (called a speedcup) attached to the shaft of the pointer on the analogue instrument. As the magnet rotates near the cup, the changing magnetic field produces eddy currents in the cup, which themselves produce another magnetic field. The effect is that the magnet "drags" the cup, and thus the speedometer pointer, in the direction of its rotation with no mechanical connection between them.[1]
The pointer shaft is held toward zero by a fine spring. The torque on the cup increases with the speed of rotation of the magnet (which, recall, is driven by the car's transmission.) Thus an increase in the speed of the car will twist the cup and speedometer pointer against the spring. When the torque due to the eddy currents in the cup equals that provided by the spring on the pointer shaft, the pointer will remain motionless and pointing to the appropriate number on the speedometer's dial.
The return spring is calibrated such that a given revolution speed of the cable corresponds to a specific speed indication on the speedometer. This calibration must take into account several factors, including ratios of the tailshaft gears that drive the flexible cable, the final drive ratio in the differential, and the diameter of the driven tires.
Many modern speedometers are electronic. A rotation sensor, usually mounted on the rear of the transmission, delivers a series of electronic pulses whose frequency corresponds to the rotational speed of the driveshaft. The sensor is typically a toothed metal disk positioned between a coil and a magnetic field sensor. As the disk turns, the teeth pass between the two, each time producing a pulse in the sensor as they affect the strength of the magnetic field it is measuring.[1] Alternatively, some manufactures rely on pulses coming from the ABS wheel sensors.
A computer converts the pulses to a speed and displays this speed on an electronically-controlled, analog-style needle or a digital display. Pulse counts may also be used to increment the odometer.
Another early form of electronic speedometer relies upon the interaction between a precision watch mechanism and a mechanical pulsator driven by the car's wheel or transmission. The watch mechanism endeavors to push the speedometer pointer toward zero, while the vehicle-driven pulsator tries to push it toward infinity. The position of the speedometer pointer reflects the relative magnitudes of the outputs of the two mechanisms.
Changing your cars tires size can throw off your speedometers accuracy.
Speedometers for bicycles measure the time between each wheel revolution. The sensor is mounted on the bike at a fixed location, pulsing when the spoke-mounted magnet passes by. These digital devices can be programmed by tire size or by wheel circumference in order to make accurate distance measurements.
Most speedometers have tolerances of some 10% plus or plus due to wear on tires as it occurs. Additional sources of error are; tire diameter variations due to temperature, pressure, vehicle load, and nominal tire size.
Modern speedometers are said to be accurate within 10% but as this is legislated accuracy, this may not be entirely correct. This can make it difficult to accurately stay on the speed limits imposed; most countries allow for this known variance when using RADAR to measure speed, although levels of some 3 km/h or 3% are also used in areas of tough enforcement. This causes many arguments due to motorists complaining that they were not doing the speed as reported. Revenue[3] is being increasingly blamed for these stricter measures. There are strict United Nations standards in place but it seems not being enforced leaving this matter in limbo for many countries. Excessive speedometer error after manufacture can come from several causes but most commonly is due to nonstandard tire diameter, in which case the
Nearly all tires now have their size shown as "T/A_W" on the side of the tire (See: Tire code), and the tire's
For example, a standard tire is "185/70R14" with diameter = 185x70/1270 + 14 = 24.20 in. Another is "195/50R15" with 195x50/1270 + 15 = 22.68 in. Replacing the first tire (and wheels) with the second (on 15" wheels), a speedometer reads 24.19/22.68 = 1.0670 times the correct speed or 6.7% too high.
In many countries the legislated error in speedometer readings is ultimately governed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) Regulation 39[4] which covers those aspects of vehicle type approval which relate to speedometers. The main purpose of the UNECE regulations is to facilitate trade in motor vehicles by agreeing uniform type approval standards rather than requiring a vehicle model to undergo different approval processes in each country in which it is to be sold.
European Union member states must also grant type approval to vehicles meeting similar EU standards. The ones covering speedometers [5] [6][7] are similar to the UNECE regulation in that they specify that:
The standards specify both the limits on accuracy and many of the details of how it should be measured during the approvals process, for example that the test measurements should be made (for most vehicles) at 40, 80 and 120 km/h, and at a particular ambient temperature. There are slight differences between the different standards, for example in the minimum accuracy of the equipment measuring the true speed of the vehicle.
The UNECE regulation relaxes the requirements for vehicles mass produced following type approval. The upper limit on indicated speed is increased to 110 percent plus 6 km/h for cars, buses, trucks and similar vehicles, and 110 percent plus 8 km/h for two or three wheeled vehicles which have a maximum speed above 50 km/h (or a cylinder capacity, if powered by a heat engine, of more than 50 cc). European Union Directive 2000/7/EC, which relates to two and three wheeled vehicles, provides similar slightly relaxed limits in production.
All vehicles manufactured on or after 1 July 2007, and all models of vehicle introduced on or after 1 July 2006, must conform to UNECE Regulation 39.[8]
The speedometers in vehicles manufactured before these dates but after 1 July 1995 (or 1 January 1995 for forward control passenger vehicles and off-road passenger vehicles) must conform to the previous Australian design rule. This specifies that they need only display the speed to an accuracy of +/- 10% at speeds above 40 km/h, and there is no specified accuracy at all for speeds below 40 km/h. There is also the added problem of cars not complying with the United Nations standards, being imported and allowed to be registered, making the situation even more complicated. This needs further investigation.
[9] State assemblies may also set their own requirements but (as of 2004) none specified tighter limits on the accuracy. [10] This has caused some controversy since it would be possible for a driver to be unaware that he is speeding should his vehicle be fitted with an under-reading speedometer. [11]
The amended Road Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations 1986 permits the use of speedometers that meet either the requirements of EC Council Directive 75/443 (as amended by Directive 97/39) or UNECE Regulation 39. [12]
The Motor Vehicles (Approval) Regulations 2001[13] permits single vehicles to be approved. As with the UNECE regulation and the EC Directives, the speedometer must never show an indicated speed less than the actual speed. However it differs slightly from them in specifying that for all actual speeds between 25 mph and 70 mph (or the vehicles' maximum speed if it is lower that this), the indicated speed must not exceed 110% of the actual speed, plus 6.25 mph.
For example, if the vehicle is actually travelling at 50 mph, the speedometer must not show more than 61.25 mph or less than 50 mph. There is also the added problem of cars not complying with the United Nations standards, being imported and allowed to be registered, making the situation even more complicated. This needs further investigation.
As of 1997, Federal standards in the United States allowed a maximum 5% error on speedometer readings (per "Auto Tutor", American Automobile Association of California magazine, Oct. 17, 1997). Aftermarket modifications, such as different tire and wheel sizes or different differential gearing, can cause speedometer inaccuracy.
GPS devices are capable of showing speed readings based on how far the receiver has moved since the last measurement (a second ago). As the GPS is an independent* system, its speed calculations are not subject to the same sources of error as the vehicle's speedometer. Instead, the GPS's positional accuracy, and therefore the accuracy of its calculated speed, is dependent on the satellite signal quality at the time. Speed calculations will be more accurate at higher speeds, when the ratio of positional error to positional change is lower. The GPS software may also use a moving average calculation to reduce error.
As mentioned in the satnav article, GPS data has been used to overturn a speeding ticket; the GPS logs showed the defendant traveling below the speed limit when they were ticketed. That the data came from a GPS device was likely less important than the fact that it was logged; logs from the vehicle's speedometer could likely have been used instead, had they existed.
* some satnav devices may also use data from the car's systems to improve accuracy
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Speedometer (Category) |
| Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Speedometer |
| Look up speedometer in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)
| Translations: Speedometer |
Dansk (Danish)
n. - speedometer
Nederlands (Dutch)
snelheidsmeter
Français (French)
n. - compteur de vitesse, indicateur de vitesse
Deutsch (German)
n. - Tachometer
Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ταχύμετρο, κοντέρ ταχύτητας
Português (Portuguese)
n. - velocímetro (m), aparelho que mede a velocidade de um veiculo
Русский (Russian)
спидометр, тахометр
Español (Spanish)
n. - velocímetro, indicador de velocidad
Svenska (Swedish)
n. - hastighetsmätare
中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
速度计, 里程计
中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 速度計, 里程計
日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 速度計, 走行記録計
العربيه (Arabic)
(الاسم) عداد السرعه
עברית (Hebrew)
n. - מד-מהירות, מד-אוץ
If you are unable to view some languages clearly, click here.
To select your translation preferences click here.
| Shopping: speedometer |
| electronic speedometer (engineering) | |
| meter wheel (engineering) | |
| drive-by-wire (technology) |
| What is measured by an speedometer? Read answer... | |
| How do you replace the speedometer? Read answer... | |
| How to make a speedometer? Read answer... |
| Is the the cluster were for speedometer? | |
| Is there a fuse for a speedometer? | |
| Where is speedometer censor? |
Copyrights:
![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | How Products are Made. How Products are Made. Copyright © 2002 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Sci-Tech Encyclopedia. McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology. Copyright © 2005 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Read more | |
![]() | Hacker Slang. The Jargon File. Copyright © 2007. Read more | |
![]() | Columbia Encyclopedia. The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition Copyright © 2003, Columbia University Press. Licensed from Columbia University Press. All rights reserved. www.cc.columbia.edu/cu/cup/. Read more | |
![]() | Word Tutor. Copyright © 2004-present by eSpindle Learning, a 501(c) nonprofit organization. All rights reserved. eSpindle provides personalized spelling and vocabulary tutoring online; free trial. Read more | |
![]() | Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Speedometer". Read more | |
![]() | Translations. Copyright © 2007, WizCom Technologies Ltd. All rights reserved. Read more |
Mentioned in