Data acquisition
By assembling real-life data, Idea are able to make better models of machines. A better model allows you to make a more efficient or lighter machine.
Idea carry out dynamic measurements of stresses, strains, pressures, temperatures, motions (using inductive sensors) and practical situations like the angles of inclination for a shipboard crane. The forces that affect the crane in practice can then be used in dynamic analyses, providing a better picture than a static calculation.
Data acquisition is also useful for troubleshooting. Engineers Jan de Graaf and Kenny Hoolwerf demonstrate troubleshooting using strain gauge measurements. On a bench in Idea's workshop sits a block of steel covered with strain gauges, tiny copper sheets from which emerge a number of wires. The little sheets are protected by blobs of silicone.
The steel block is the beak of a clamping block, used when vibrating steel sheeting into the ground. These beaks frequently break off in use. By using the strain gauges and a data logger the forces involved can be recorded over time, providing De Graaf and Hoolwerf with a good impression of all the forces created during the operation. "The stress we measured was quite different to what the model predicted," says Hoolwerf. This data allowed them to make a better model. "We could use real-life data in FEM, helping us to design a beak that doesn't break."