Engineers benefit as technology facilitates test and measurement training

The continued steady growth in UK manufacturing demands that engineers remain abreast of the latest developments so that they can continue to produce robust designs capable of performing beyond minimum requirements and while being exciting in terms of aesthetics and functionality. Yet this can often be incredibly challenging as time constraints mean that engineers can rarely be spared to attend relevant training courses.

One way of tackling this problem is to utilise technology more effectively. HBM’s approach is to offer a combination of free on-line webinars with specific technology training days. The advantage of webinars is that these normally take a maximum of one hour that includes ample time to raise specific issues of concern. Participants can easily gain from the collective shared experience since these question-and-answer sessions happen in real time.

Equally webinars can be accessed at a later date although generally just the presentation is available with none of the interactive dialogue included and, as such, they can be a useful refresher. HBM believes it provides engineers with maximum benefits by complementing on-line webinars with specific workshops, such as next Thursday’s (26th June) event, “Shopping at the Supermarket”, at the Williams Conference Centre in Oxfordshire while three webinars are available during the same week.

The “Shopping at the Supermarket” event focuses on the need for highly accurate and dependable weighing technology throughout the food industry. It covers the use of effective weighing solutions utilised at every stage of food production – from determining the amount of grain in silos through to ensuring the exact quantity of wine in a bottle.

The event examines different applications using HBM products and features discussions on selecting and implementing the most suitable weighing technology. The presentations look at the key principles of weighing technology and, in addition, HBM will have a number of different products available. There will also be demonstrations such as displays highlighting filling and dosing equipment.

Individuals wishing to register for the event or wanting more information can click here for details.

 

 

The first of the free on-line webinars takes place on Wednesday (25th June) and Thomas Markwitz, Product and Application Manager will look at recent developments in catman^®, HBM’s cutting edge data acquisition software. The webinar will explore the many new features and functions of version 3.5 of the software that includes enhanced post process functionality and an integrated TEDS editor for the sensor database.

The webinar also looks at the various new modules that form part of HBM’s innovative QuantumX data acquisition system and investigates the different possibilities these open to users in their daily work. The webinar will answer a number of frequently asked questions on the software and provide solutions to specific application challenges.

This will be followed on Thursday (26th June) by an in-depth look at the challenges posed in gathering data that investigates how engineers can learn to distinguish inadequate or corrupt engineering data before using it for durability and performance analysis. Virrinder Kumar, Application Engineer at HBM nCode will present the webinar in recognition of the difficulties engineers face in obtaining a reliable set of data. Kumar notes, “Collecting good time series data is not a trivial task”.

The webinar will look at some of the causes and examples of bad data as well as determining what it is that separates good data from bad data. Ways of recognizing bad data will be explored and best testing and analysis practices will be proposed to ensure that the best possible engineering decisions are made.

Finally on Friday (27th June), Alessio Benincasa, Sales & Product Manager at SINT Technology, will present a webinar on residual stress analysis using the hole drilling method. The webinar will show how the strength behaviour of components is influenced by residual stresses that exist without any visible signs showing.

The webinar investigates the use of the high-speed hole drilling method for residual stress analysis so as to determine existing stresses present in any component so that they can be properly accounted for in dimensioning components. HBM has developed a strain gauge rosette specifically for the purpose of recording strain variations resulting from the incremental creation of the bore in the measurement object.

Forthcoming webinars include looking at the challenges and solutions of for evaluating and minimising stresses in printed circuit boards (PCBs) that takes place on Tuesday, 15^th July. PCBs are exposed to high mechanical loads during the production and mounting processes that can easily damage the board or the components mounted on the board and lead to a failure in the field. By measuring the stress in these processes, engineers can uncover potential weak points, improve the process and thus help improve the product quality. This webinar will discuss the problems that may be encountered while stress testing PCBs and how these can be solved. The webinar includes a review on choosing the right equipment, knowing how and where to apply the strain gauges and how to interpret the measuring results.

Then on Tuesday, 5^th August there will be a webinar that introduces the use of the Split-Hopkinson Bar for testing and dynamic strain measurements. Dynamic material testing, such as in a Split-Hopkinson bar test, requires high-speed data acquisition (DAQ) and sensors with enough bandwidth to capture these dynamic impulses. This webinar will give an introduction to the Split-Hopkinson bar tests as well as discuss the required data acquisition systems for this type of testing.

Individuals wishing to register for any of the webinars or wanting more information can click here for details.

HBM

Founded in Germany in 1950, HBM is today the technology and market leader in the field of test and measurement. HBM’s product range comprises solutions for the entire measurement chain, from virtual to physical testing. The company has production facilities in Germany, USA and China and is represented in over 80 countries worldwide.