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A Simple Frequency Response Function

The following article will attempt to explain the basic theory of the frequency response function. This basic theory will then be used to calculate the frequency response function between two points on a structure using an accelerometer to measure the response and a force gauge hammer to measure the excitation.

Fundamentally a frequency response function is [...]

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10 Great Fourier Transform Links

Following a discussion in the office about Fourier Transforms we did a little searching on the web. As always, we discovered that the Internet is packed with some great resources on Fourier and his work. So rather than keep all of the information to ourselves we thought we should share it with our readers. We [...]

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Measurement And Analysis Of Torsional Vibration

Torsional vibration is of key importance in the area of vehicle development and refinement. The main contributory source is the engine where periodically occurring combustion cycles cause variation in the crankshaft rotary vibration. This vibration is transmitted to and modified further by other components in the powertrain such as the gearbox and by other equipment [...]

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Prosig Awarded Contract To Upgrade Online Vibration Monitoring System At Wylfa

Prosig have been awarded the contract to upgrade the Online Vibration Monitoring System at Wylfa nuclear power station.

Wylfa is located on the north coast of Anglesey and has two Magnox design nuclear reactors and four turbine generators. The station supplies 23 million kilowatt hours of electricity, enough to meet the needs of two [...]

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Shaft Displacement Measurement Using A PROTOR System

Shaft displacement is an important vibration measurement for rotating machines. Shaft displacement is usually monitored by non-contact shaft displacement probes such as eddy-current probes. These probes produce a voltage proportional to the distance of the shaft surface relative to the tip of the probe. For maximum benefit, ideally two shaft displacement probes will be fitted [...]

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What Are dB, Noise Floor & Dynamic Range?

Most engineers are probably familiar with or have come across the decibel or dB as a unit of measurement. Its most common use is in the field of acoustics where it is used to quantify sound levels. However, as will be explained in this article, it is also useful for a wide variety of measurements [...]

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Vibration Monitoring Phase Measurement And The Tacho Signal

Any vibration signal may be analyzed into amplitude and phase as a function of frequency. The phase represents fifty percent of the information so it is most important to measure phase for vibration monitoring. Most vibrations on a rotating machine are related to the rotational speed so it is clearly important to have a measure [...]

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Human Exposure To Vibration In Buildings (DIN 4150-2:1999-06 & DIN 45669-1:1995-06)

Standards DIN 4150-2:1999-06 and DIN 45669-1:1995-06 provide a means of assessing the effect on human beings of vibration caused by vehicle traffic, trains both above and below ground, construction work and occasional impulsive type vibration caused by, say, blasting and the like.

DIN 45669-1 describes the signal processing actions and DIN 4150-2 details how these are [...]

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Measuring Torsional Crank Shaft Jitter

Using Prosig’s P8000 series data acquisition system with DATS signal analysis software, torsional analysis (crank jitter) was performed on an automotive engine attached to an engine dynamometer. The significance of this is that only one tachometer channel was required to identify crank jitter.

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What Is Resonance?

First, in order to explain resonance we have to explain the terms we will use.
• A resonance is a particular frequency.
• A period is the amount of time it takes to complete one cycle
• The number of cycles in one second is the frequency of an oscillation.
• Frequency is measured in Hertz, named after the [...]

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Evaluating A Closed Loop Control System For High Pressure Pumps

Prosig were recently involved in the validation of a closed loop control system for an automotive pump supplier. The customer has a large number of test cells, each test cell has 8 pumps continually on test. Each pump is instrumented with a revolution or tachometer sensor, giving a once per revolution tachometer pulse. Additionally, [...]

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Acceleration, Velocity & Displacement Spectra – Omega Arithmetic

Accelerometers are robust, simple to use and readily available transducers. Measuring velocity and displacement directly is not simple. In a [...]

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Measuring For Success

The following application note shows the steps taken to perform a structural analysis on an automotive exhaust pipe structure with the aim of improving the structural damping properties of the exhaust pipe mount. This application note is a follow up to a previous article – “Preventing Component Failure In The Fast Lane”.

A recent signal [...]

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Made To Measure

In this note the different types of transducers that can be used with the Prosig P8000 series data acquisition system are discussed. The article deals with the design and function of the different types of transducer and the applications they are normally associated with.

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Analyzing Shaft Twist And Repairing Damaged Tachos

A shaft has been instrumented with two shaft encoders, one at each end. Each shaft encoder gives out a once/rev pulse and a 720 pulses/rev signal. Each signal was digitised at 500,000 samples/second. The objective is to measure the twist in the shaft and analyze into orders. The test stand was already equipped with a [...]

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A Simple Noise Test

In a recent article we described how the Prosig P8000 hardware and DATS software had been used to help Dalmeny Racing diagnose a problem with an exhaust [...]

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Dynamic Range And Overall Level : What Are They ?

Accurate measurement of a signal depends on the dynamic range and the overall level of the data acquisition system. The overall level setting may be thought of as determining the [...]