Blogs
New Signal Buffer Conditioner Solves Signal Distribution Challenge
MTI Instruments is solving signal distribution challenges with a new product, the BC804 signal buffer conditioner. Now available as part of a limited production run, the BC804 acts as a buffered amplifier and is optimized for ultra-sensitive measurement equipment. When a single signal must be distributed to multiple instruments, one shortened output can affect the others. The BC804 solves this signal-distribution challenge by providing eight fully independent and isolated buffer amplifier channels. With the BC804, each channel has one input and four buffered outputs. Each output can tolerate a short without failure and won’t affect the other outputs. Equipped with [...]
Webinar: Produce Sensor Signals with a Handheld Signal Generator
Don Welch, MTI Instruments’ Director of Engineering held a webinar where he presented “Simulate, Calibrate and Verify Field Sensor Transmission with a Portable Signal Generator” and then led a Q&A session. MTI is a worldwide supplier of precision measurement solutions and portable balancing equipment. The Albany, New York company held a IEEE GlobalSpec webinar on Friday, November 9, 2018 from 11 AM to 12 PM EST (8 AM to 9 AM PST). Attendees learned how the MTI 1510 Signal Generator can be used to generate various kinds of sensor signals for testing, calibrating a data acquisition system (DAQ), or [...]
TESTING CHARGE AMPLIFIER GAIN AND FREQUENCY RESPONSE WITH A SIGNAL GENERATOR
[Application Note 40518] Piezoelectric transducers produce small electrical charges in response to pressure. Their sensitivity, ruggedness, and stability at high temperatures make them an essential building block of many accelerometers and pressure sensors. Applications include turbine vibration measurement (accelerometers) and combustion dynamics monitoring (pressure sensors). Typically, the high-impedance charge output produced by a piezoelectric transducer must be conditioned and amplified before transmission across system cabling to the data acquisition and measurement instrumentation. This conversion is accomplished with a device called a charge amplifier. Problem Over time, a charge amplifier’s signal response can drift. Damage to the charge amplifier or associated [...]
THICKNESS INFORMATION OF COMPOSITE MATERIALS
Composite materials consist of two or more materials which include a substrate or base material such as paper, cotton cloth, or glass cloth along with a resin or adhesive such as epoxy, melamine, or silicone. To make a thermoset laminate, the base material is coated with the adhesive so that layers of material can be pressed under heat and pressure into sheet form. The Problem: Composite material thickness needed to be verified prior to forming or machining. Due to the size of the sheets typical measurement techniques were not suitable. A consistent method to accurately measure the board thickness [...]
TIRE TREAD INSPECTION WITH 1D LASER SENSOR
Tire manufacturers wants to satisfy their customers, and protect themselves from liabilities, manufacturers are moving to 100% tire inspection for defects and abnormalities. Defects not only cause potential safety issues but they can also introduce unwanted vibration into the vehicle suspension system. Belts can be overlapped, or not cover the complete tire surface, causing weak or bubbled areas and imbalances. The tread depth can be too shallow, leading to decreased service life. An uneven tire can cause excessive runout and vibration. MTI was approached by a major manufacturer requesting a solution to measure tread depth, runout and blistering. They [...]
FIBER OPTIC PROBES MEASURE STATOR BAR VIBRATION
[Application Note 11718] One of the primary concerns in large generator design is vibration. Excessive vibration can lead to premature breakdown of insulation and other materials, ultimately resulting in early failure of the generator itself. The Problem A leading manufacturer of power generating equipment required a sensing system able to measure stator bar vibration in a partial generator mockup. Specifically, the company’s multi-day testing program demanded a sensing system that was immune to the large magnetic field generated by live stator bars capable of withstanding high heat built up from prolonged testing, and compatible with a proprietary stator bar [...]
Neutrinos Study
Neutrinos Study Customer Case Neutrinos are said to be the most elusive and exotic particles in the universe. They are tiny neutral elementary particles that interact with matter via the weak nuclear force. Scientists are still trying to measure the mass and to characterize their properties. A customer who is studying neutrinos will be using photo multiplier tubes (PMT) coupled to a scintillating material to detect them. The PMT will produce a small electrical pulse when a neutrino is detected. These PMTs are located 2 Kilometers deep, in a mine located in Ontario, Canada. The customer is looking for [...]
Laser Excitation of Single Atoms
Laser Excitation of Single Atoms Customer Case The client is an academic department conducting fundamental atomic physics research. The target of a Laser is a single Alkali atom, which enlarges to the size of several microns, upon receiving the pulse excitation. The enlarged atom is called a Rydberg atom and can reach the size of a grain of sand. The enlarged atom has new physical properties that are characterized by a detector that creates fast analog data streams. The setup of the experiment involves generating femtosecond Laser pulses, and capturing a 0 to 15 Volt ramp function with a [...]
Laser Based Position Measurement System
Laser Based Position Measurement System Customer Case In order to test their Laser Based Position Measurement Systems, the customer needs to characterize an output pulse from his circuitry which lasts for approximately 5 microseconds. According to the customer's estimates, he must use a sampling rate of 50 MSPS or higher in order to be able to analyze the signal completely. An additional requirement of the test system is that a specific number of successive pulses be digitized and then averaged in order to eliminate system noise. The number of such successive pulses must be variable. The repeat rate of [...]
High-Power Laser Lamp Array Tester
High-Power Laser Lamp Array Tester Customer Case The customer is building a tester for an array of high-power laser lamps. These lamps draw 35,000 Amps of current. The test involves sending a control signal to the laser lamp and measuring the time between the signal and the switching on of the lamp (which is picked up by a photodiode). This time is representative of the quality of the lamp. The customer currently has a 16-channel system, and would like to explore increasing the number of channels. In the customer's present system, eight CompuScope 512 cards are installed in a [...]