Walmart are now selling a range of headphones that use active noise control technology.
See the Walmart web site.
Gillette releases vibrating razor blade
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.
Mattel has signed a deal with NXT
The toy company Mattel has signed a deal with NXT to investigate the use their loudspeaker technologies in their toys. NXT make Distributed Mode loudspeakers, which uses a vibrating plate to generate sound.
Read more on the NXT web site.
MTS and National Instruments have formed an alliance
MTS and National Instruments have announced a long-term contractual agreement where MTS plan to use National Instruments’ LabVIEW software for their noise and vibration measurement systems. Readers can find out about each company’s long term strategy on the National Instruments and MTS web sites.
New Products from National Instruments
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.
Abstracts for ASA Conference Now Available
Abstracts for the Acoustical Society of America conference in New York are now available online. See the ASA web site for the abstracts.
Active noise control headsets
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.
Benjamin Franklin Medal awarded to Prof Newnham for acoustic imaging
Professor Robert E. Newnham will receive the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Electrical Engineering. The award is made in recognition of Professor Newnham’s pioneer groundwork in understanding the properties of composite piezoelectric materials for use as transducers, sensors, and actuators. His early papers in this field demonstrated the importance of connectivity patterns and various strain amplification mechanisms within the composites, and provided a frame of reference for scientists and engineers working in underwater acoustics, bioengineering, and materials science.
Read more details about the Franklin Awards.
Thermosonics used to detect cracks
Researchers at Imperial College are investigating using thermosonics to detect cracks in materials. The technique involves vibrating parts with ultrasonic vibration in the 20-100kHz frequency range, which causes the surfaces of a crack to rub together and generate heat, which can be detected with a thermal imaging camera.
Read more about this on the Imperial College web site.
Vibrating accelerator pedal saves petrol
Engineers at DaimlerChrylser have tested a vibrating accelerator pedal that warns drivers of impeding traffic congestion at upcoming intersections. The system is linked to a GPS system to determine the location of the car on the road network and a vehicle detection radar determines the proximity of the nearest vehicle in front of the car. Trials with 70 volunteers found that that fuel consumption dropped by 11%.