Topic: New toys for noise and vibration work

Tracerline have a product called the TP-9370 Marksman™ Ultrasonic Diagnostic Tool which has a sensor to detect ultrasonic noise sources and convert them to an audible signal for listening through a pair of headphones. The tool is intended for detecting the location of leaks.

TMC have released an actively vibration isolated floor system that uses piezoelectric actuators. The platform is available in two options to isolate 3 or 6 degrees of freedom.

For more information see the TMC web site.

Finis have released an MP3 player for use by swimmers that uses bone conduction to transmit sound instead of conventional loudspeakers.

For details see the Finis Inc. web site.

A UK company has released a CD containing pre-recorded road noises that when played back through a car stereo should excite the rattles in a car, which will help in locating these annoyances. See the Rattle Buster web site.

A new Bluetooth mobile phone headset is now available that uses the vibration from facial bones and a microphone to reduce background noise. See the Jawbone headset website for more information.

The new Nikon S7c camera has inbuilt vibration reduction to help take shaper pictures. An angular velocity sensor is used with in built image processing software to reduce blurry pictures.

For more information see the Nikon press release.

VIP Sensors have released a new accelerometer calibrator, Model 5900. The vibration amplitude is adjustable from 0.02 g to 2 g at 100 Hz using the internal generator, or 50Hz to 2 KHz using an external oscillator.

Benstone Instruments have several hand held dynamic signal analyzers.
- Impaq: 4 channel real time up to 40 kHz BW, Cross channel analysis, with Compact Flash storage.
- Fieldpaq: 2+1 real time analyzer.
- v-Pod II: Simple vibration meter with memory for downloading routes.
- 3524B Ultra low frequency Integrator

See their web site for more information.

Lamerholm Electronics have released the RD404 tilt and roll accelerometers for their ShockLog vibration data loggers.

Quest Technologies have released a new sound level meter called the SoundPro® SE/DL Series.

For more information see the product information here.

M+P Internationl have released a new ruggedized spectrum analyzer. The ToughAcq is metal cased laptop computer that can analyze between 4 and 16 channels. It is vibration and shock tested to MIL-STD 810F, with drop protection from a 1 m drop to concrete. The FlexAcq model can analyze up to 48 channels. For more information see their web site.

PCB Piezotronics have released a new tri-axial force transducer. The 260A series features full-scale measuring ranges from 2.2 kN to 18 kN in the X and Y directions and 4.5 kN to 45 kN in the Z direction. Single axis models are also available.

STMicroelectronics have released some new MEMS chip type tri-axial accelerometers. The LIS3LV02DQ device is a 3-axis low-g accelerometer with a standard SPI/I˛C digital interface. The LIS3L02AL/LIS3L06AL sensors have analog-outputs. The accelerometers can measure both tilt and acceleration along all three (x, y and z) axes at a very low noise level and minimized power consumption.

See the ST Micro web site for more details.

A Japanese company called Let's Corporation has released a product that consists of a vibration shaker attached to a plastic tube that can vibrate a bunch of flowers. The vibrating flowers emit sound.

See the Let's Corporation web site for more details.

Gillette have released a new razor blade that has a tiny rotating eccentric mass to create a vibrating razor head. The vibrating head is meant to loosen hair folicles so that the razor blade will give a closer shave than a non-vibrating razor head.

See the Gillette web site for more information.

National Instruments have released new products for noise and vibration measurements:
- a four-slot PXI card, model NI PXI-1031, and an eight-slot version, NI PXI-1042Q, for measuring noise and vibration.
- three new NI hardware devices that have TEDS capabilities to read the calibration of sensors: NI SC-2350, NI BNC-2096 and SCXI-1314T.
- a 24-bit analogue input/output data acquisition module for the PXI platform, model NI PXI-4461.

Plane Quiet are active noise control headsets that are meant to reduce noise. They are claim to reduce noise levels by 17dB across the frequency spectrum.

Read more on the Plane Quiet web site.

LDS / Dactron have released the Focus II signal analyzer, which uses USB 2.0 on a laptop or PC. The real time analyzer has four to twenty analog inputs, and designed for vibration and noise measurement and analysis. The analyzer can also read TEDS sensors that have in-built calibration data, so that measurements are automatically calibrated.

Read the news article on the Dactron web site.

ST Microelectronics have released a new MEMS accelerometer model LIS3L02, that can measure motion in 3 directions, or inclination.

Read the product information on the ST Micro web site.

Vishay has released a new range of sealed weldable strain gauges.