ContiTech Schwingmetall - Press Releases

Hanover, May 2008With its mobile measuring equipment, ContiTech Vibration Control offers a special service aimed at upgrading the comfort factor on its customers’ industrial vehicles

Trust is good – control is better! The product specialists in the Industry segment at ContiTech Vibration Control are likewise convinced of this. They thus offer their customers a mobile measuring service by means of which vibration-relevant comfort improvements in prototypes and standard production cars can be determined. “In terms of vibration, the actual performance of a mass-produced vehicle may differ from what was calculated beforehand in the development phase,” says Jens Hoffmann, branch manager for industrial vehicles. “That can result in a loss of comfort for the operator and, at worst, pose a health risk.”

Aware of this problem, ContiTech Vibration Control has at its disposal mobile measuring equipment that can analyse the vibrational dynamics of a vehicle in operation. “It allows us to check on-site how well a vehicle isolates and dampens vibration.” It makes it possible to obtain valuable insights already at an early stage in vehicle prototype development,” notes Hoffmann. The inspection tool consists of a handy gauge the size of a shoebox, test sensors and a laptop for analysis. The gauge and sensors are put into place in the vehicle and linked. Readings are transmitted to the laptop via WLAN. In this way, the vehicle can be tested in actual use rather than just on a rig. The readings transmitted to the computer in real time allow the test engineer to obtain an immediate initial impression of the prevailing situation.

Thanks to the closed measuring system, it is possible to test diverse real-life situations – idle, working mode or drive mode. Our testing scenario is versatile. We can test the functionality of a prototype, compare the efficiency of various bearings or check whether a product optimisation has been successful,” says product developer Hendrik Heitjans, who himself carries out these tests at the customer end. “While we do offer this test as a service, we are primarily interested in using the know-how for joint development projects in collaboration with manufacturers,” says Heitjans.

There is a major demand. “Inquiries have increased over the last two years,” indicates measuring engineer Norbert Garbers. Measurements are taken not only on internal transport vehicles, excavators, wheel loaders or mobile cranes, but also on stationary equipment and machines – wherever, in fact, the customers’ needs may lead us.