GREENVILLE, SC – Cross Company’s testing group, located in Greenville, SC, is pleased to announce the addition of new cutting-edge vibration software technology. In addition to the ability to conduct standard vibration testing, the company can now create custom vibration profiles based on real-world conditions.

The new technology gives test engineers the ability to attach accelerometers to equipment in the field and monitor vibrations and shock pulses during operation. This data is then used to create a test profile that mimics the impacts the product will experience during actual use.

Lisa Messenger, Testing Division Manager at Cross Company, explained that “When a manufacturer is developing a brand new product there often isn’t always an existing test standard to evaluate how it will hold up in real-world conditions. In the past, product designers or test engineers would have to find an existing test profile that might be close or make guesses based on known manufacturing materials and processes. This type of guesswork can cause under-testing which will lead to breakdowns in the field or over-testing which can result in over-engineering and unnecessary costs.”

Vibration testing is an important component when determining how equipment or parts will hold up during transportation and day-to-day use. Having a real-world profile is imperative to getting accurate test results and ensuring product capability. This type of testing is standard for most industries, including aerospace, automotive, rail, electronics, and consumer products. Even food and beverage products have vibration profiles for transportation and packaging. Cross now has the capability to complete all phases of vibration testing from creating the profiles to testing the products in all three axes. They can also run the vibration profiles at climate, testing both temperature and humidity effects at the same time as vibration. Operational function and cycling can also be performed during climate and vibration testing to ensure complete functionality of the test part/product. With a full complement of monitoring equipment such as accelerometers, thermocouples, and data acquisition systems Cross can monitor the test parts during all phases of the testing process.

“We believe this new capability will be especially beneficial for manufacturers of industrial and off-road equipment that do not have existing vibration test standards in place. It’s our hope that this real-world data will help them to better understand the vibratory loads and/or shock impulses that the product experiences in the field”, said Messenger.