Patent ID: 7913566

Claim:
A process device for coupling to an industrial process for use in monitoring or controlling the process, comprising: a device housing configured to physically couple to the industrial process; a plurality of accelerometers, including: a coil of wire mounted to the housing; a magnet configured to move through the coil of wire along a path in response to vibrations in the industrial process thereby inducing an electrical current in the coil of wire; first and second springs arranged at opposed ends of the path configured to receive the magnet in a first direction and responsively urge the magnet in a second, opposed direction, the springs thereby configured to reverse a direction of movement of the magnet relative to the coil, the path having a path length and the magnet having a magnet length which is less than the path length whereby the magnet touches at most one of the first and second springs at any time; electrical circuitry in the housing having an input to receive the electrical current from the coil of wire, the electrical circuitry responsive to the electrical current from the vibrations; and a microcontroller coupled to the plurality of accelerometers configured to monitor outputs from the plurality of accelerometers over a period of time and identify an orientation of the magnet and coil of wire based upon a selected criteria, the microprocessor further configured to instruct an operator to orient the magnet and coil of wire through a local operator interface based upon the identified orientation.