Vibro-acoustic engine testing in production environments

The increase in the demand for quieter engines and engine-driven machinery has been increased. The response to these demands Medav GmbH, Uttenreuth, Germany, has developed acoustic analysis methods which allows an assessment of assembly faults, damage, and other abnormalities in combustion engines after a test period of just a few seconds. The range of faults that can be identified using vibro-acoustic engine testing include imbalance in the crankshaft and the engine balancer, gear tooth defects, faults in chain drives like, chain humming, tooth damage, camshaft defects, valve train faults, and fault in oil pumps and high pressure pumps. The company uses both time-domain and frequency-domain analysis techniques.