This comprehensive approach to testing posed a particular problem for Joe Griffin, a test engineer in the Product Validation Engineering (PVE) Shaker Lab in Portland. As a test engineer in the structural durability test lab, his job was to develop a solution that ties together field test data and lab test data to ensure that lab tests simulate real-world conditions, thereby ensuring the reliability of DTNA products. To accomplish this, Griffin selected sensor, hardware and software from Hottinger Brüel & Kjær (HBK), including:
- Automation for data management and collaboration
- GlyphWorks for data analytics
- SomatXR data acquisition with catman software
In addition to making sure that lab tests accurately simulate real-world road conditions, Griffin was also tasked with streamlining the way that DTNA runs tests in the structural durability test lab. He needed to find a way to dramatically reduce test setup time, while simultaneously producing highly reliable and repeatable test results.
In 2016, DTNA upgraded its lab by purchasing Instron Labtronic 8800ML shaker controllers. One of the reasons the team chose the Instron controller was because it enabled them to connect the data acquisition hardware to the controller via a real-time, Ethernet-based bus called EtherCAT™.