Hardware

Hardware development

On a regular basis, we develop and make available for purchase specific – mostly measurement-related – hardware that we believe offers substantial benefits to engineers.

Sonocat

Sonocat

The Sonocat is a multi-functional spherical microphone array. It consists of eight digital MEMS microphones located in a rigid sphere. They are used to collect all the acoustic data required for the calculation of the sound pressure level, the 3D sound intensity vector, and the sound absorption coefficient. The Sonocat is calibrated at a high standard and can be used to perform both point and scan measurements. For example, a point measurement can be used to measure the sound pressure or the 3D intensity vector to locate where a sound source is emitting. A scan measurement can provide the sound power of a machine or the average sound absorption of a surface.

Heel drop plate

Heel Drop Plate

Sometimes the impedance of a floor has to be known after pre-stressing it. The heel drop method is a known method for doing this; it is executed by the heel drop plate that we developed. Instead of exciting the floor with a hammer, you use your own weight to pre-stress the material and then drop on your heels for excitation. The heel drop plate with three integrated force sensors was developed to perform a heel drop measurement and know the exact force with which the floor was excited. The heel drop plate has to meet several criteria, like weight and stiffness, to use it for this kind of measurement. The heel drop plate is for example used for measuring the OS-RMS90, the parameter used in norms for vibrations in floors.