Anthony Best Dynamics (ABD) has released version 5.75 of the company’s Plato system, an objective noise/vibration/harshness (NVH) measurement and analysis system for powertrain and power-steering testing. Designed for end-of-line, off-line audit, R&D and durability testing, through to in-vehicle and pass-by-noise measurement and analysis, Plato provides a wide range of NVH data. The wide range of test environments where Plato can be used has been further extended v5.75, with an expanded version of the Nuren add-on for engine fault finding, the company says. This uses work-cycle noise/vibration mapping that allows the system to be used for hot engine testing and higher speed cold testing. Plato’s Nuren add-on was originally designed for relatively low crank speeds (typical of cold-cranking tests).
At crank speeds of a few hundred rpm, the system was able to utilise ‘super-impulse’ time-weighting to deliver sufficient angular (within work-cycle) resolution, says ABD. The new, instantaneous one-third octave spectrum mode now allows the system to be applied to crank speeds measuring rpm into the thousands, as is typical for hot (fi red) engine testing and also in higher-speed cold testing where turbochargers are required to be blown at near operational speeds. The new mode also allows the system to be applied to two-stroke engine cycles with half the work-cycle durations of equivalent four-stroke engines. Plato V5.75 further offers improved damage sensor detection, as all data capture actions now include real-time checking for unusually low dynamic range results. This development, coupled with the existing ADC-underload and ADC-overload checks helps ensure that the dynamic signals being measured are within expected range and have an expected character. - www.abd.uk.com
