Scientific Instruments
Enhanced product performance, precision, and durability for sensitive scientific, medical, and technical instrumentation.
Durability By Design
DTI's damping solutions strengthen product structures without modification of the structure itself, resulting in more durable products.
ProtectionFrom Vibration
Our solutions target vibrations that lead to premature cyclic wear on delicate parts, internal electronics, and sensitive measuringdevices.
Increased Efficiency & Enhanced Precision
Minimizing vibration leads to more accurate measurements and readings, enhancing the efficiency and precision of important instrumentation.
CASE STUDY: Synchroton Radiation Facility
The customer contacted DTI regarding a resonance-related vibration issue which was diminishing the efficiency of a Synchrotron Radiation Facility that is used to generate very high-power X-rays for use in physics experiments.
The Synchrotron Radiation Facility consists of a quantity of about (100) very large magnet assemblies arranged in a large “storage ring” facility. The magnets are utilized to focus an energized photon beam in the storage ring. Extremely high-power X-rays are harvested tangential to the photon beam. These X-rays are utilized in physics-related experiments. Note that it takes about 45-minutes to walk the storage ring. This is a very large scientific instrument facility.
It takes a large amount of energy to energize the photons and release them into the storage ring. The tighter the focus of the photon beam, the higher the X-ray intensity and the longer the energized photons can be used without powering-up a new photon beam. The steering magnets are supported on large steel girders. Resonances of the magnet + girder assembly near 8 Hz and 12 Hz delivered rocking motion of the magnets which “blurs” the photon beam and diminishes X-ray intensity and storage ring life. Temperatures on/near the girders is (+72 F).
DTI took delivery of an FEA model of a complete magnet assembly along with its support girder. Upon animation of the mode shapes for resonances near 8 Hz and 12 Hz, it was apparent that the girder and magnet assemblies were exhibiting rocking motion for those resonances. There was considerable rocking motion in the girder assembly and no motion at the ground boundary condition. The magnet assemblies and girder were rigid-body. Several countermeasures were considered including Tuned Mass Dampers (TMDs), a damped mounting plate design (whereby the support girder rocks on a viscoelastic material layer inserted between the girder mounts and ground), as well as the Damping Link design that was ultimately utilized. The Damping Link countermeasure was attractive because it was very effective for attenuation of the “problem” motion and was also very effective for both resonances.
The Damping Links coupled the girder assembly (rocking motion) to ground (no motion) through a viscoelastic material designed with a very high material loss factor along with the appropriate dynamic stiffness.
Significant effort went into the design of the Damping Link fixturing, such that motion of the girder assembly was transferred to the VEM damping material. If there is yielding of the fixtures, motion of the girders will not be transferred to the VEM. Also due to the large amount of instrumentation, installation site locations were very limited.
The magnets are cooled with water flow. The water flow is a potential excitation source, so tests were conducted with and without the cooling water flow.
DTI obtained very good correlation between FEA model output and experimental measurements acquired on the actual structure (with and without the Damping Links installed).
