In the past, acceleration sensors have mostly been used for measurements of earthquakes or in aerospace applications. In recent years they have found new applications in the fields of machine monitoring and diagnostic. The automobile sector is another new application area for acceleration sensors, e.g. as a colision sensor for airbags or for driving safety control systems. The application of acceleration sensors in heavy and large machines has not been researched yet. Silicon micromechanic delivers decisive advantages. Micromechanic acceleration sensors with on-chip readout circuits can detect small signals and translate them into an interference-proof signal, such as a digital data format. Micromechanical sensors are produced in batch fabrication, with low cost and consistently high performance. In this work a sensor system has been developed that meets the special requirements of heavyload manipulation systems. The geometrical structure of the sensor has been adapted to the acceleration range of large manipulators. In addition, a new almost exclusively digital readout circuit has been developed. This special circuit allows the measurement of high precision accelerations during regular operation, but can also detect very high accelerations (shock), e.g. those generated by the collision of the manipulator with another object. First measurements of the fabricated sensorstructures and the readout circuit demonstrate the performance of the design.