International Dealer News IDN 139 October/November 2017 | Page 30
PRO GuIDe
Can suspension tuning and
diagnostics ever get any
EXHIBITOR
better than this?
Italian suspension specialist Andreani’s DB4 test
bench is now ready to ship and is a major step forward
from the DB3 that Giuseppe Andreani introduced
eight years ago.
“We have rebuilt the entire concept,” Giuseppe says.
“The new DB4 is an evolution of our previous
experience with our DB3, which was for the last eight
years one of our best suspension machines. Our
engineers have developed new software and
hardware, with the software marking the revolution.
“We focused on precision, ease of reading, managing
and comparing data. This is giving the suspension
technicians the final tool to develop and test material,
PARTS AND ACCESSORIES
and my technicians, together with the engineers,
worked on a professional and problem-free software
and hardware.”
This new suspension dynamometer features
optimised design, engineering and software. The 4kW
powerful motor, the load cell that allows reading up
to 5.000 Newton force, the 800 mm side rods and
the simple and versatile software are all said to make
the DB4 “easy to use, but very accurate”.
“The process is very simple: turn on the dynamometer,
adjust the stroke you need according to the
suspension that has to be measured (it is adjustable
from 20 to 100 mm), fix the suspension on the
machine, adjusting height and position according to
the stroke, then enter the required speeds and cycles
for each speed, and start the test. The powerful 4kW
AC motor allows you to test shock absorbers and
forks in a wide range of speed and loads, choosing
between several stroke settings.”
DB4 advanced features allow any suspension
operator to visualise real time shock and fork load vs
velocity graphs, compare different click settings and
valving options, measure dynamic suspension
parameters and detect any operating anomalies.
It includes a state-of-the-art, real-time dedicated
controller board that ensures a stable and reliable
automatic and deterministic data acquisition, while
the software provides an intuitive graphical user
interface for data acquisition and simple but powerful
tools for suspension analysis. It is compatible with the
most common operating systems, and, as it is plug-
and-play, does not require a dedicated laptop.
Hall 24
I57
“The graphs and numerical outputs of the software
and its sophisticated algorithms allow you to fully
characterise the suspension thanks to peak velocity,
load displacement and instantaneous velocity
graphs,” says Giuseppe. In addition to the viscous
response of the suspension, a suspension dyno
provides the following outputs: gas preload, mean
gas-spring rate and static friction.
Custom versions of the software can include
hysteresis analysis, dissipated energy and damping
coefficient calculations.
ANDREANI GROUP INTERNATIONAL
Pesaro (PU), ITALY
Tel: +39 0721 209021
[email protected]
www.andreanigroup.com