Entry-level sound and vibration analysis

A new, easy-to-use sound and vibration analyser provides quick, cost-effective solutions for sound and vibration measurement, analysis and troubleshooting applications.

A new, easy-to-use sound and vibration analyser developed to provide quick, cost-effective solutions for sound and vibration measurement, analysis and troubleshooting applications has been launched by international acoustics and vibration specialist, Bruel and Kjaer.

Pulse Lite is an entry-level analyser platform based on proven Windows technology that enables engineers to immediately start troubleshooting or studying the sound and vibration aspects of a wide range of engineering applications.

The system's user-friendly software has been developed to minimise an engineer's setup time and ensures that error-free sound and vibration measurements can be made after only three clicks of a mouse by using predefined display templates that cover many standard measurement tasks.

Ideal for troubleshooting investigations, Pulse Lite is also an excellent cost-effective R and D tool for manufacturers in the automotive, consumer goods and IT industries.

Rotating machinery manufacturers will also find the system well suited for machine diagnostics/troubleshooting applications such as investigating motors, engines and compressors.

An excellent futureproof platform for universities, Pulse Lite enables students to quickly learn how to make general sound and vibration measurements at a basic level but with the benefit of being able to scale up the system to tackle much more complex tasks quickly and easily.

Pulse Lite is readily scalable to Bruel and Kjaer's well-proven Pulse platform that is the result of one of the largest software development programmes in the history of sound and vibration measurement.

There are more than 3000 Pulse systems operating worldwide and the Pulse multi-analyser platform is the global leader in the mid range sound and vibration analyser market.

The Pulse Lite system allows operators to make measurements in the field or the laboratory, process data wherever they want, connect a PC to a front-end via a standard LAN or a wireless LAN, operate the system's front-end remotely, or hot-swap batteries without disrupting the measurements or compromising the data.

Pulse Lite comes in three configurations: a basic two-channel FFT analyser-based system with a run up/run down analysis option; a basic four-channel FFT analyser-based system with a run up/run down analysis option; and a basic two-channel CPB analyser-based system.

The task-oriented user-interface consists of a simple menu bar with standard functionality, default setup values and a task bar.

The task bar contains two menus or task groups (setup and display) and is designed to save measurement time and limit errors.

The setup menu consists of four icons: project information, hardware setup (not necessary if you use TEDS transducers), measurement setup (preset with most common measurement values) and export.

Clicking on each item in turn and following the instructions enables users to be guided error-free through each measurement step.

The display menu consists of predefined displays tailored to different measurement tasks.

Pulse Lite features status indicators to give users complete control of the measurement task.

The indicators are a time saving feature that clearly show measurement progress as well as quickly highlighting if something goes wrong so that the measurement can be immediately interrupted and restarted.

The system has a comprehensive help facility online at all times.

A future-proof investment choice, Pulse Lite is suitable for those who do not require a system as sophisticated as a full Pulse system in the short term but may wish to grow their measurement capabilities in the longer term.

For novices a basic introduction to sound and vibration measurements is included.

However, if a user's measurement needs suddenly change Pulse Lite can be easily upgraded to a more powerful Pulse solution.

The hardware will remain the same but users can simply scale up their system by adding extra functions from the extensive library catalogue of Pulse software applications.

To immediately start making measurements a user simply only has to use Pulse Lite's TEDS transducers with pre-set measurement configurations that cover up to 80% of typical sound and vibration measurements.

Pulse Lite's hardware database stores information when a transducer is added to a channel.

This information is automatically retrieved if an IEEE P1451.4-capable transducer with standardised TEDS is connected to the front end.

The data captured by Pulse Lite is saved in ASCII format and can be easily exported to other processing applications or directly to Microsoft Excel.

The software's provision of standardised data templates offers major time saving benefits by simplifying the postprocessing of data.

An online demo of Pulse Lite's capabilities is available on the Bruel and Kjaer website or alternatively a free demo CD-ROM can be ordered from the company.

(This was Engineeringtalk's Top Story on 10 June 2002).

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