Handheld sound analyser wins design award

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Jun 23, 2005

Bruel and Kjaer has received an award for the high-quality design of its Type 2250 handheld analyser.

International sound and vibration innovator Bruel and Kjaer has received the red dot design award: product design 2005 for the high-quality design of its Type 2250 handheld analyser.

One of the most prestigious international design awards, red dot is celebrating its 50th anniversary in 2005 and this year the awards attracted entries from 36 countries.

The red dot award is the second major design award Bruel and Kjaer has received in a matter of months.

The company also recently received the Danish Design Prize 2004 for the Type 2250 handheld analyser.

Bruel and Kjaer involved 70 professional users from the UK and three other countries in the development of the award winning instrument which is easy and reliable to use, even under extreme conditions.

The 4th generation platform is specially designed to be adaptable to future needs, while meeting the ergonomic requirements of users.

Every year the most renowned worldwide companies submit their product designs to the red dot award's international jury.

The jury's selection is a declaration of the best designs of the times.

The coveted trophy is the red dot, the international seal of quality for outstanding design.

An award ceremony for all winners takes place on 4th July 2005 at the Aalto-Theatre in Essen, Germany.

Last year's ceremony was attended by more than 1200 international guests from the worlds of design, culture, business and politics.

All the winning product designs will be on show to the public at a 4000m2 special exhibition in the Red Dot Design Museum, Essen, which is the world's largest exhibition of contemporary design.

The professional users Bruel and Kjaer involved in the development of the award winning instrument set many design requirements for the new generation of sound analysers by demanding a combination of user-friendliness, superior ergonomic design and innovative technology.

Besides providing a series of intelligent solutions to users' practical problems, the analyser can be held securely and easily operated with only one hand.

The analyser's display is easily read under all conditions ranging from bright sunshine to total darkness.

The Type 2250 analyser is designed to make it easy to find and review data and features a large, high-resolution, touch-sensitive colour screen offering clear status and measurement progress indication using "traffic light" indicators.

The analyser's built-in microphone allows spoken comments to be attached to measurements for easy documentation, and different colour schemes for the display make it easy to view in bright daylight as well as at night.

The instrument has a 120dB dynamic range with a 3Hz to 20kHz broadband linear frequency range and with the use of optional modules is capable of real-time frequency analysis in 1/1- or 1/3-octave bands.

Prof Dr Peter Zec, the initiator of the red dot design award says: "The design standards have risen constantly - not only in the high price segment, but finally also in the general market".

"This leads to increased competition and has the effect that companies have to become even more innovative in the future and have to achieve a long-term customer loyalty through design".

"This development makes it increasingly difficult to receive one of the awards in the international design competition".

"Now, the importance of such an award becomes even greater for companies, because it enables them to communicate their innovative achievements to business partners and customers via an objective quality label for good design".