In recent years, the term microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) has become synonymous with the reference to such low-cost sensors, generally implying the use of a micro-machined silicon structure as the heart of the sensing element. More recently, however, advances in ceramic processing and production have spawned a new generation of low-cost, low-power piezoelectric accelerometers. These devices rival most MEMS sensors in price, while offering a new range of performance choices for many industrial vibration monitoring applications.
Read More
Fibers to sense airplane vibrations
Japanese researchers have developed sensors that use fibre optics to measure vibration.
Read More
Cray and MCube Develop Unique Software to Perform Aero-Acoustic Simulations Significantly Faster
Cray Inc. and MCube, a provider of simulation software, announced results from their two-year collaboration to optimize a highly efficient multi-processor version of Radioss-CFD. Simulations that took several weeks to complete on RISC machines now can be performed within a few days on Cray systems.
Read More
Acoustics sound out strained steel
Japanese researchers have found a way of predicting the remaining lifetime of stressed steel. The researchers have shown that structural faults in carbon steel make it absorb sound very effectively at a certain point in its life. The non-contact technique is based on the effect of this absorption on a magnetic field, and could be used to monitor the condition of axles in trains and motor vehicles.
Read More
GE Power Systems Completes Acquisition of Bently Nevada
GE Power Systems announced today it has completed the acquisition of Bently Nevada Corporation, a company that provides machinery monitoring and diagnostic equipment and services.
Bently Nevada Wins Exxon Account for Equipment Health Monitoring
Bently Nevada announced today that ExxonMobil, the world’s largest oil company, has named Bently Nevada as global supplier of products and services for their Equipment Health Monitoring (EHM) program. EHM is a methodology that uses automated monitoring instrumentation for assessing the mechanical condition of rotating equipment, and combines this equipment health information with information from the process control system. The combination is more powerful than using only process data or only rotating equipment data, allowing operators and others to make better decisions regarding how the process is operated and its effect on equipment assets. When applied properly, EHM can reduce overall maintenance costs, unplanned outages, and equipment failures while increasing process and machine availability and reliability.
Read More
Emerson Receives Patent On New Method of Wear Debris Analysis
Emerson Process Management has patented a new approach to the analysis of metal particles removed from production machines. Their new process can determine the root cause and severity of mechanical wear problems detected through routine oil analysis.
ESI Group make a strategic investment in Vibro-Acoustic Sciences
ESI Group, a software developer announced its intent to make a strategic investment in Vibro-Acoustic Sciences, the company that developed AutoSEA, a Statistical Energy Analysis software package.
Read More
Method to Calibrate Acoustic Emission Sensors
National Physical Laboratory has completed a collaborative project with Lloyd’s Register of Shipping and Airbus UK, to develop a method for the calibration of acoustic emission (AE) sensors. The application of the sensors is the detection and location of discrete micro-fracture events that accompany stable crack growth in metals, due to fatigue and stress corrosion.
The first one-mega watt thermo-acoustic device
Praxair has won a $2 million grant to develop one of the world’s largest thermoacoustic device
Read the Praxiar news article here.