Tachometer | Measurement Device - Britannica

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tachometer, device for indicating the angular (rotary) speed of a rotating shaft. The term is usually restricted to mechanical or electrical instruments that indicate instantaneous values of speed in revolutions per minute, rather than devices that count the number of revolutions in a measured time interval and indicate only average values for the interval.

Mechanical tachometers utilize the fact that the centrifugal force on a rotating mass depends on the speed of rotation and can be used to stretch or compress a mechanical spring. A resonance, or vibrating-reed, tachometer uses a series of consecutively tuned reeds to determine engine speed by indicating the vibration frequency of the machine.

Related Topics: angular velocity mechanical tachometer eddy-current tachometer electrical tachometer resonance tachometer (Show more) See all related content

Electrical tachometers are of several types. The eddy-current, or drag, type is widely used in automobile speedometers; a magnet rotated with the shaft being measured produces eddy currents that are proportional to angular speed. Electric-generator tachometers work by generating either an alternating or a direct current. The stroboscope, an instrument that illuminates rotating objects so that they appear to have stopped moving, can be used as a tachometer.

Britannica Quiz Fun Facts of Measurement & Math This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen.