Vibration analysis is universally performed to identify defects or drifts in electronic equipment across various stages of its life. Vibration test systems are first employed to detect latent defects and faults in electrical, electromechanical, electronic and mechanical hardware at the manufacturing stage. Later, vibration tests at lower assembly, higher assembly and packaging levels to develop advanced confidence in product quality are common.
Electrical vibration analyzers find their applications in military and defense electronics, where they play a crucial role in meeting budgetary and quality requirements of electronic design and product architecture in the design phase. Vibration test systems help address structural problems and guarantee successful completion of the project.
On the commercial front, market demands are compelling the product development cycle to get shorter. In such scenarios, redeveloping a printed circuit board due to physical defects would only delay the release of an electronic product. Some other common challenges faced whilst assembling an electronic product are placement of electrical components, electromagnetic and radio frequency interference, signal integrity, etc. Most of the times, problems in the structural dynamics of a printer circuit board are addressed only after the failure has occurred. The introduction of vibration test systems has brought about a positive change in this scenario.
Vibration analysis is the preferred techniques of assessing electronic equipments for vibration defects. Most new-age vibration test systems demand random vibration requirements though sinusoid vibration analyzers are still employed by facilities abiding by older testing standards.
The reason why random vibration test systems are more accepted across the industry is because their acceptance, screening and qualification tests are more closely representative of the true environment in which a piece of electronic equipment typically operates. Random vibration testing is not time-bound and all the frequencies in a specified bandwidth are consistently present. This means that each and every structural resonance within the same bandwidth can be stimulated at the same time. This feature allows engineers to identify failures, which ideally cannot be delivered by sinusoidal
vibration analysis. The random nature of the analysis is also commonly known as white noise.
There are a number of low-cost and quality vibration analysis systems that are commercially available for testing electronic products and their components for loose solder connections and hardware defects. Now,
vibration analyzers also offer software support, which further enhances the assessing capabilities of
vibration test systems.
