Art Illustration
Data measurement is one of the key factors that allow test engineer to properly tailor their specific test procedure.
When some of the test engineers try to run vibration test to simulate the actual vibration experience, they may experience a situation when they think their vibration test result is not valid. Why is it not valid? One simple answer, because the test procedure is unable to re-produce the same failure mode.
Non-valid vibration test procedure can be caused by:
incorrect test method selection
incorrect combination of test method
incorrect test duration
incorrect test severity, etc
All above reasons may arrive from one source, inaccurate and/or insufficient vibration data measurement. Data measurement is one of key factors that allow test engineer to properly tailor their specific test procedure.
Underestimating this key factor may easily lead to incorrect test procedure and non-valid test result.
Vibration Data Measurement
Photo credit: Vibration Research
How to run data acquisition properly?
1. Correct sensor selection.
To determine the suitable sensor for data acquisition, we need to understand the failure mode. Since we are dealing with dynamic signal acquisition, we may need also to check the frequency range. We may want to check also the sensitivity and/or the measurement range.
2. Sensor location.
Definitely we will need to put sensor at the location near the broken component/area. Though, when we are dealing with structural dynamic analysis, placing one sensor will not be enough. We need to deploy as many sensors as possible to be able to capture dynamic characteristic of the structure.
Sensor Location
Photo credit: Vibration Research
3. Data acquisition system (DAq) selection.
We need to make sure that the DAq we are using is compatible with the type of sensor we are going to use. We may want to ensure as well if it has enough number of channels. We also need to check that the DAq can provide synchronized data acquisition with enough sample rate. When applicable, we may want to use DAq that can provide online analysis.
4. Acquisition setting.
We need to ensure that we use enough sample rate. When we choose the sample rate, you may want to consider the type of post processing we need to perform later. We may want to check also the filter setup.
