US vibration testing gadgets for IAF

quot;With this system, monitoring vibration levels of aero-engines during post-overhaul tests would be faster and more accurate. It would also cut down on manhours and operating costs,quot; an officer commented. The project was initiated two years ago.

The equipment, referred to as the 8500-C Vibrating Monitoring System VMS, will be used to monitor vibration levels of the AN-32 transport aircraft8217;s turbo prop engine. Besides overhauling the AN-32 engines, 3 BRD is also tasked with the repair and overhaul of Soviet origin helicopters, including their airframe, power plant and avionics.

Similar American vibrating testing equipment for helicopter engines and rotors had also been installed at the Depot over an year ago.

Unlike Soviet equipment, the VMS is a portable gadget and gives a digital output, along with a facility to record and print the data generated in a graph. Soviet equipment presently being used gives out the measurements in analogue form and the data has to be manually recorded by technicians. An another advantage with the VMS is that the gadget is also computer compatible.

Wire linked sensors are attached to five stipulated points of the engine, which is mounted on a test rig and run under various test conditions. Vibration levels are picked up by the sensors and passed on to the microchip based processor.