Automotive Testing Show and Conference, Mexico 2018

Automotive production is one of the most dynamic of industries in Mexico. The country has become a global player in both the automotive OEM and auto parts sectors. Many leading motor companies have made their move towards manufacturing in Mexico, so the need for vibration testing and instrumentation has increased as well. Conferences and trade shows have seen an uptick as a result, with a generation of intrigued engineers fiercely researching the possibilities and specialties of the testing and simulation industry throughout the country.

Anastassia Tolpygo - Application EngineerApril 30, 2018Non-applications

Multiple Shaker Table Systems

There are many different shaker table arrangements based on various types of MIMO testing applications. The Multiple Shaker Table System ranges from Multiple Exciter Single Axis (MESA) to Multiple Exciter Multiple Axis (MEMA) with 2 to 6 shakers involved (e.g., three axis translational shaker table, four-poster, 6 DOF Multi Axis Shaker Table (MAST), etc.)

Multi-Exciter Single-Axis (MESA) is a type of application in which multiple exciters provide dynamic input to a test item along a single axis. For cases in which two exciters are driven to a common specification with respect to both phase and amplitude, the output may be described basically in one axis of excitation. For cases in which two exciters are driven to independent magnitude and/or phase specifications, the output may need to be described in terms of a forward axis and aft axis and, perhaps, a rotational axis about the test item’s center-of-gravity (CG).

Jeff Zhao, Ph.D.April 29, 2018Environmental Testing

Crystal Instruments International Sales Meeting - Europe

During the second week of April, Crystal Instruments hosted an International Sales Meeting for our European distributors. With 4 employees from CI, we had over 28 people in attendance in Barcelona, Spain. Our attendees consisted of our partners in Europe: Belotti Sistemi, Akron, Kvalitest, dBVib, ViaXys, ADM, DIRA, Alava Ingenieros, MotionTech, EmTEST, THP, AcSoft, VibroAkustik, Amtest – TM Kft., Kistler Eastern s.r.o., ProgramTeh, Sartorom, Ecspdm, and Dynamic-TM.

Vibration Training Course in Gothenburg, Sweden

Kvalitest (Crystal Instruments’ Distributor for Sweden & Finland) organized a vibration training course for their customers in Gothenburg, Sweden from April 18-19, 2018.

The course presenter was Mr. José Luis López from Advensys. Mr. Lopez has extensive experience in the field of vibration testing and provides training courses all over Europe.

The training included an overview of theoretical concepts needed to understand the physical basis behind vibration testing and the equipment required. The testing technicians were provided with the opportunity to understand and perform tests according to relevant standards.

Jordi Gargallo - Europe Sales ManagerApril 28, 2018Non-applications

Announcing DIRA representing Crystal Instruments (Data Acquisition Products) in Spain

Crystal Instruments and Dira Serving the Spanish Territory
Dira is a Spanish company dedicated to offering digital solutions for predictive maintenance. Dira has been testing rotating machinery by operating the CoCo-80X in VDC (vibration data collector) mode with very successful results. Dira has confirmed that the CoCo-80X capabilities are sufficient in detecting mechanical failures such as: unbalance, misalignment, looseness, gear box defects, etc. The CoCo-80X has built-in electronic filters to envelope detect which are very useful to detect bearing failures in early stage.

Dira highlights Crystal Instruments’ full support by Mr. Jordi Gargallo (European Sales Manager) and Trung-Duong Nguyen (Application Engineer) to install and to use the software. The customized support offered to the clients by Crystal and Dira is appreciated by the end users of this technology.

With Crystal Instruments’ full support and commitment, Dira will offer complete predictive maintenance solutions in combination with a high level of technical service oriented to the digital transformation of the plant maintenance.

Jordi Gargallo - Europe Sales ManagerApril 25, 2018Dira, SpainNon-applications

Vibration Tests for Seismic Qualification

Earthquakes are one of the most destructive forces of nature with the potential to cause devastating life and property losses. In addition to buildings and structures, equipment damaged by earthquakes may directly or indirectly generate hazards for people or the environment. For the safety of employees and the public, equipment designed to perform safety measures (e.g. shut down a reactor) or to function under certain levels of earthquakes for specified periods of time should pass a seismic qualification or a verification of earthquake resistance.

Tim Hsiao - Senior Product ManagerMarch 28, 2018Environmental Testing

Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) Vibration Control vs. Single Shaker Vibration Control

Vibration testing has been carried out since the 60’s of the 20th century. Concurrently, vibration control systems evolved into the current network-based 4th generation systems. During the last several decades, single shaker vibration testing has been performed for a wide range of industries and has contributed to the progress of modern industries. Many products have been qualified through single shaker vibration control testing to ensure their survival through launching, operating or transportation environmental conditions.

With the development of multiple shaker table systems, the availability of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) controllers and Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) vibration control started emerging a couple of decades ago. Due to the readiness of standards, (e.g., Mil STD 810G, Method 527 and IEST DTE 022 working group recommendation) MIMO Testing has gained a huge momentum in the past decade. The increased usage of multiple shaker testing systems has been adopted by not only our military and defense industries, but also NASA, automotive, and many other commercial industries as well.

Jeff Zhao, Ph.D.March 27, 2018Environmental Testing

IMAC 2018

Oh my! We now have both EMA and OMA!

Crystal Instruments is routinely a proud supporter of IMAC and 2018 proved to be no different. IMAC XXXVI had a broader focus in topics with the tagline being “It’s not just modal anymore.” The conference took on a note of more general-purpose data acquisition while still maintaining a strong academic focus on the modal analysis principles. The 2018 conference saw more topics including shock, and non-linear mechanics.

Brady Hiob - Sales EngineerMarch 22, 2018Non-applications

Announcing New Distribution Agreement with Kvalitest Nordic Ltd. for Finland and Sweden

Crystal Instruments (CI) is proud to announce a distribution agreement with Kvalitest Nordic Ltd. for the distribution of our products in Finland and Sweden. Kvalitest Nordic Ltd. has offices located in Muurame, Finland and in the cities of Västerås and Gothenburg in Sweden.

Jordi Gargallo - Europe Sales ManagerMarch 15, 2018Non-applications

Announcing New Distribution Agreement with Akron for BeNeLux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) Region

Crystal Instruments (CI) is proud to announce a distribution agreement with Akron (located in Belgium) for the distribution of our products in the BeNeLux (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) region.

Jordi Gargallo - Europe Sales ManagerMarch 15, 2018Non-applications

Small Sat Symposium 2018

Small satellites have gained popularity because of their miniature size and their multitude of data acquisition techniques. With a current market value close to $9 billion in manufacturing as well as an average growth of over 12%, the Small Satellite industry is one of the fastest growing and lucrative sectors of technology.

Anastassia Tolpygo - Application EngineerMarch 5, 2018Non-applications

Remote Condition Monitoring (RCM)

Remote Condition Monitoring (RCM) by Crystal Instruments is designed for the remote monitoring of equipment or structures that are inaccessible to configure within a local network. Common applications and examples of remote condition monitoring include the monitoring of vibrations during the transportation of equipment, monitoring vibrations on bridges and structures close to rails or roadways, and monitoring vibrations caused by rotating windmills on the ground.

Sandeep Mallela - Director of EngineeringFebruary 20, 2018Machine Condition Monitoring

Introducing EDM Multi-Shaker Control (MSC) Feature

In the recent EDM 7.0 release, Crystal Instruments introduced Multi-Shaker Control (MSC) in EDM software as a new feature. The EDM MSC function enables users to view and monitor multiple shaker tests from one PC station. The user can observe the testing status, view individual signals from different shaker systems, and send commands to each controller from one centralized application. The MSC feature is especially useful for production applications, increasing efficiency and simplifying control processes. Up to 12 controllers can be accessed simultaneously.

Matt Chen - Application & Sales EngineerFebruary 15, 2018Environmental Testing

Announcing Crystal Instruments’ Italy Distributor: Belotti Sistemi S.r.l.

Crystal Instruments (CI), a leading manufacturer of vibration testing, condition monitoring, and data acquisition solutions, is proud to announce the selection of a new distributor for our products in Italy.

Belotti Sistemi S.r.l.is located in Peschiera Borromeo, Italy, in close proximity to Milano, Belotti is a historic Italian group with a market history dating over 110 years old.

Belotti’s sister company, Centrotecnica, offers complementary solutions. Together, both companies provide a 360º service for vibration analysis, shock analysis, and more. They are considered an authority in the world of vibration and testing for the Italian and European markets.

Jordi Gargallo - Europe Sales ManagerJanuary 22, 2018Non-applications

14 New Desktop Icons Introduced for EDM 7.0 Release

In the next few days, we will launch the largest software release in Crystal Instruments’ company history: the EDM 7.0 software release. After spending over 10 months in development, including major software restructuring, bug fixes and feature enhancements, we are proud to unveil a grand new look for our EDM software.

In EDM 7.0, users can now run multiple EDM applications in parallel on the same computer. For example, while one EDM instance is activated to run a 64 channel Spider controller, another EDM instance can run in dynamic analyzer mode to acquire real-time data using the Spider-20, while a third instance can be activated to conduct post analysis. Running multiple instances of EDM on one PC will allow users to conduct sophisticated tests with greater efficiency.

James Zhuge, Ph.D. - Chief Executive OfficerJanuary 19, 2018Non-applications