vibration testing
62 SHOWCASE 2020 \\ AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM
Only once the shaker had been fully
vetted did The Modal Shop begin to make
our 9155 Accelerometer Calibration
Workstation and Air Bearing Shaker
commercially available. Today, 9155
Systems are installed on six continents
(only Antarctica is without one) running
calibrations in private facilities, major
corporations, research institutions, and
national standards laboratories. We couple
our systems with a commitment to Total
Customer Satisfaction. It is our ongoing
mission to simplify people’s lives with
smart sensing solutions.
MAKING CALIBRATION EASIER
While a reliable product ensures its
longevity as part of your process, usability
makes it a tool rather than a hindrance.
From software designed to simplify
calibrations axis after axis, to a typical
cycle time of one minute, the 9155
Calibration System is an ideal calibration
solution. With high-powered users of our
own system in PCB facilities across the
globe, we’ve been able to maintain a high
standard of user-friendly functionality
with regular feedback from technicians
and engineers. This coupled with the
vetting by use in our high-volume
production facilities, allows us to deliver a
proven system and the best possible user
experience to you.
With system capabilities ranging
from laser primary to low frequency
options, PCB Piezotronics and The
Modal Shop are here as your partner to
create a reliable, repeatable, controlled
calibration process. \\
Bob Metz is the director of aerospace and defense
at PCB Piezotronics and Michael Dillon is a project
manager at The Modal Shop, a PCB
Group Company
offering a broad frequency range of 5 Hz to
20 kHz. The shaker minimizes transverse
bending and rocking motions as compared
to traditional flexure-based shakers,
improving uncertainty with the high
stiffness, frictionless support in the
transverse directions.
A Lorentz force coil simplifies
transducer mounting by eliminating the
use of rubber bands. In traditional air
bearing shakers, the use of rubber bands is
equivalent to an experiment yielding
varied results each time the shaker is
adjusted, making truly repeatable
production-line tests a challenge. The
K394B31 Air Bearing Shaker simplifies test
setup and allows for confidence in the
resulting measurements, making it ideal
for calibration applications ranging from
the high-volume production environment
of a sensor manufacturer to a much
smaller research and development lab.
RELIABILITY IS KEY
In the iterative development process of The
Modal Shop’s Air Bearing Shaker, we used
the shaker in PCB Piezotronics’ worldleading,
high-volume accelerometer
production line to evaluate both reliability
and ease-of-use. As the shakers were used
across multiple shifts every day, we were
able to make improvements based on realtime,
real-world input. When damage
occurred to the shaker, repairs were made,
and the design updated. An ongoing
investment was made in PhD-level
engineering and subsequent redesigns to
ensure an optimized calibration shaker. As
of today, the Air Bearing Shakers in PCB
Piezotronics’ production lines have
performed over a million calibrations.
just suitable output. Being able to
demonstrate that your equipment has been
calibrated per ISO 17025 offers a
significant payback in both resource cost
and peace of mind. The Modal Shop and
PCB Piezotronics are here to help you
maintain your instrumentation, so you can
focus on your main priority - growing
your business.
THE IMPORTANCE OF PRECISION
At the core, PCB Piezotronics is a sensor
company focused on delivering the very
best accelerometers, pressure sensors, and
microphones available. With a
commitment to continual improvement, 20
years ago PCB evaluated the available
calibration shakers on the market. It was
determined that while these shakers
offered adequate precision in calibration,
they did not offer the usability and
reliability that was required by the PCB
production line. At this point, the
investment was made to internally develop
our own calibration-grade air bearing
shaker, optimized for both the highest
precision and production line ease-of-use,
rather than to purchase commercially
available flexure or air bearing shakers.
The resulting Air Bearing Shaker Model
K394B31 is now at the heart of vibration
calibration systems from The Modal Shop,
3 // Air Bearing Shaker
Model K394B31 is now at
the heart of vibration
calibration systems from
The Modal Shop
4 // Traditional versus
modern air bearing shaker
5 // Precision Calibration
Workstation Model 9155
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/AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM