Small Vibration Test Systems are available from LDS Test & Measurement. They range from "coffee-cup" size to about the size of a 2 gallon bucket.

    

The smallest models are known as "Permanent Magnet" shakers. These models employ an AC-driven coil on the armature, that is suspended in a permanent-magnet field inside the shaker body.

Applications for these small shakers include:

	Modal Testing
	Accumulating Fatigue Cycles
	Stressing of Components
	Transducer Calibration
	Education/Research

At the simplest level, they are analogous to a home audio system. The shaker is equivalent to a loudspeaker. The shaker is powered from an amplifier. The amplifier is "fed" an electrical signal from a source (equivalent to an FM-Tuner or CD-player).

There are two significant differences from the home audio analogy:

• in some cases, the shaker is forced-air-cooled. A blower fan draws air thru the shaker body to cool the armature coil.
• in some cases, the shaker is close-loop controlled. An accelerometer is placed on top of the moving armature to "report" actual vibration conditions. This feedback signal is used to adjust the output signal in real-time.

For small systems generating single-frequency Sine excitation, the Vibration System can be driven from a simple Sine Generator that you may already have in your lab. However, for Swept Sine, Random or other test profiles, a closed-loop Vibration Controller is required:

  Naturally-cooled Models

  Forced-Air-cooled Models  (incl. fan & duct)