Author: SealIt Inc.
Article:
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration,
"In 2008, NASA will continue to plan how best to transition any
needed Shuttle workforce and infrastructure to the Constellation
program. The Constellation program includes funding for the
Orion and Ares projects, as well as for ground operations,
mission operations, and extravehicular activity projects and a
dedicated in-house effort for systems engineering and
integration."
To gear up for the implementation of that plan, NASA is in the
process of making infrastructure improvements at many of its
centers. Among those improvements will be "modifications to the
Space Power Facility (SPF) at Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook
Station (Ohio) in support of Orion environmental testing,
enabling the SPF to perform vibration and vibro-acoustic
testing."
To that end, in November 2007, NASA chartered the Thrust
Oscillation Focus Team to precisely define the frequency
spectrum and oscillation amplitudes that the five segment (Ares)
motor is expected to produce. In parallel, the team is
evaluating vehicle structural assessments in order to provide
additional vibration isolation to critical launch vehicle
systems and uncouple the vehicle's natural frequency from motor
induced loads."
The rocket scientists at NASA may have the brain power to figure
out their vibration control needs on their own--and they
definitely have the brain power to realize how important
vibration isolation is to their Constellation program. However,
not every organization that needs vibration control has a team
of rocket scientists on staff to turn to for such computations.
That's where having a vibration control expert at one's disposal
comes in handy. The first thing to look for when shopping around
for vibration control products is a company that offers an
exhaustive line of isolators and mounts for the control of
noise, vibration and shock. Regardless of whether one's
vibration isolation needs are of the one pound or the one ton
variety, such companies will have the right type of mount to the
fit application.
The variety of styles and sizes that Vibro-Insulator vibration
isolators come in are designed to handle most vibration
isolation problems. The reputable company that produces
Vibro-Insulators also offers a product guide showing all the
different styles of mounts it has available for purchase. This
way, the vibration control seeker can see all of his or her
options in one convenient place.
Produced with either natural rubber or neoprene elastomers,
depending on the application, Vibro-Insulators' mounts are
designed to be used in either the compression or shear
direction. Typically, natural rubber is a good choice for most
industrial applications but is affected by oil. Neoprene, on the
other hand, is resistant to oil.
Still feeling like you need a rocket scientist at your disposal
to make the right vibration isolation and control decision?
Well, there's no need to contact NASA for assistance. Step by
step instructions on how to select the proper Vibro-Insulator
for a specific application are also provided by the company that
produces them. For those who are math phobic, an example
calculation is even provided to show you exactly how to crunch
the vibration isolation numbers.
About the author:
Karman Rubber is a world leader in
Control Products.
1 comment:
That's really cool! It just goes to show all the millions of things that you need to take care of when preparing for space, even little things like vibration isolators are important. Thanks for the post! The pictures are cool!
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