Vibrations are all around us!

NVH (noise, vibration and harshness) comfort is surely essential in the passenger car segment, but also concerns a much broader industry. In fact, whenever people are asked where they would be most bothered by sound and vibration discomfort, examples of in-flight noise from aircraft jets, or vibrations in sleeping cabins on ships are always listed.

For VIBES, it is exciting to put their newest technologies into practice in such areas. Admittedly, most of the technology and expertise that VIBES now puts into software and consulting services has been gained from working closely with the automotive industry. Read our latest post on Transfer Path Analysis and our research & application papers on this page.

However, even though a high-tech lithography machine and an offshore wind turbine are very far apart in terms of scale, we often see that the measurement equipment and tools that are being used, are actually the same. Also, the process to gain in depth insights, are similar.

Last week, VIBES was invited by Doosan Bobcat – a leading manufacturer of heavy equipment – to help innovate their sound and vibration analysis and simulation. Their Bobcat division in Dobříš, Czech Republic, develops and manufactures a variety of utility vehicles, such as compact excavators and loaders.

For this occasion, VIBES’ Maarten van der Kooij and Maarten van der Seijs, experts in the field of the VIBES’ software and TPA, immersed themselves in the sound and vibration issues of Bobcat’s products. During a 3-day on-site workshop, the potential of new technologies such as Blocked Force TPA, virtual point models and Dynamic Substructuring were discussed. Based on an actual Bobcat vehicle measurement, VIBES demonstrated how to start from simple analysis of time data, and leverage this to build an increasingly insightful analysis:

• From just an engine run-up measurement, an Operational TPA analysis can be performed straight away, providing insights in the relative importance of the transfer path’s contributions, including the air-borne path.
• Also, by measuring some transfer functions, for instance with DIRAC software, a Blocked Force TPA can be obtained that leverages the same operational measurement, but yields a characterisation that can be used to predict NVH performance in new-to-design vehicles.
• Using virtual points, any measurement on a component can be made compatible with CAE models, so virtual vehicle simulations become an engineering reality.

Everything was easily set up in the VIBES Toolbox for MATLAB, using the well-designed interactions between time data, frequency data and transfer functions. Although VIBES’ methodology hasn’t been commonpratice in the heavy machinery industry (and neither are the data acquisition systems often seen at the automotive companies) the VIBES Toolbox for MATLAB proved to be a very successful solution to streamline and set up the various analyses. It was inspiring to see how the result analyses were set up in no-time and proved to be more versatile than many out-of-the-box solutions.

Technology trainings is what VIBES is constantly promoting as the best way to innovate current processes and to see the merits of new technologies in the perspective of everyday engineering. Combined with a growing portfolio of software solutions and engineering services that adapt to specific needs, VIBES is dedicated to solving all sorts of sound and vibrations challenges for all types of companies.

Do you want to know what solutions we can offer your company? Please get in touch with us!