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Innovative thinking opens up new growth prospects in mechanical and plant engineering. Mechanical and plant engineering has been traditionally very important to the industrial location of Germany [1]. With an export share of 70%, it has a considerable direct influence on economic structure and job market. In addition, mechanical engineering is the “innovation engine” for other core industries in Germany – as supplier of production equipment for industries such as the car manufacture, plastics processing and electrical engineering sectors. Only through this production equipment can innovative products reach production readiness in the first place, and can “Made in Germany” continue to enjoy an excellent reputation all over the world.
Magnetic Resonance (MR) elastography is a method for measuring tissue elasticity via phase images acquired with an MR scanner. The propagation of periodic mechanical waves through the tissue can be captured by means of a modified phase contrast sequence. These waves are generated with a mechanical oscillator (actuator) and coupled into the tissue through the skin. The actuator must be capable of generating a sinusoidal excitation with excellent phase and amplitude stability, while not disturbing the MR imaging process. In this work, an actuator based on a piezoelectric principle was developed. Based on the imaging evaluation of several material samples, the housing for the piezoelectric ceramic was constructed of aluminum. Smaller parts of the housing were manufactured from brass and titanium to fulfill the mechanical constraints. A lever was used to transfer the oscillation generated by the piezoelectric ceramic to the point of excitation. The lever amplifies the piezoelectric motion, allowing for a more compact design. Three different lever designs were characterized by an acceleration sensor both outside and inside the magnet. It was shown that the rigidity of the lever, as determined by its material and form, was decisive in determining the resonant frequency of the system and therefore the maximum practical frequency of operation. It was also shown that the motion of the oscillator is unaffected by the electromagnetic fields of the MR imager. The final design can be placed directly in the magnet bore within a few centimeters of the tissue volume to be imaged without generating significant artifacts. An amplitude range of 0–1 mm in the frequency range from 0 to over 300 Hz was achieved, sufficient for performing most MR elastography applications. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Concepts in Magnetic Resonance (Magn Reson Engineering) 15: 239–254, 2002
In the dynamic testing of jet engines the evaluation of loads on the mount structure is vital for comparison with finite element calculations of such testing. Measuring these loads with the help of strain gauges applied to the structure becomes difficult if the mount is overdetermined and thus not every strain gauge can be assigned to a single load direction. In this study, the overdetermined mount structure of the BR715 engine was examined at one of the three mounting points between the Boeing 717 airframe and the engine, where loads in five directions were reacted. Firstly, the dependence of five measured strains upon known static load conditions at the mounting point had to be determined. For this purpose a static calibration test was carried out where defined forces and moments in known directions were applied to the structure while the output from five strain gauges was measured accordingly. The result was the desired relationship between loads and strains in terms of a matrix, which yields the corresponding load condition of the examined mounting point if multiplied with a set of strains. The same calibration procedure was carried out with a finite element model of the mount, where direct comparison to dynamic load results from the model itself was possible. With this model the validity of the above method was shown as well as possible errors which may occur while evaluating dynamic test results. The method was found to give satisfactory results even for dynamic loading, although some inertia forces disturb the signals in dynamic testing. Finally, the results from an actual dynamic engine test were processed into loads and then compared to the simulated loads from a finite element model of the engine. Good agreement was found and the indication of any remaining discrepancies was used to update the model for an even better representation of the dynamic test loads.