THE CHALLENGE:

A unit of a major Tier 1 automotive supplier needed to upgrade their off-road leisure and utility vehicle differential NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness) test station. The existing PLC/PC controlled test station was a combination of vendor supplied hardware and internally supplied controls and software.

The controls engineer responsible for its programming and maintenance was relocated and the plant no longer had knowledge of the equipment operation to have confidence in the test data. A Dempsco sales engineer, who was in the plant on another project, discussed the current NVH test station issues with the customer and laid out a plan to explore development of a new test station. A key was to be able to find defective gears, bearings, and other internal components based upon unique noises which could be “heard” electronically and identified automatically while running the product on a dynamic test stand.