Enhanced handheld VSA-series vibration analyzers and software

Datastick Systems, Inc., today announced six new handheld vibration analyzers in its VSA product line, along with an upgrade of its Spectrum software suite for handheld computers and smartphones, and new InSpect(TM) route-creation and execution software for PCs and handheld computers, said Michael Scandling, Datastick Vice President of Marketing for the company at the PdM Predictive Maintenance Technology Conference in Omaha. Datastick VSA-series Vibration Spectrum Analyzers are used in predictive maintenance and troubleshooting for machine health monitoring New Datastick InSpect route creation and execution software makes it easy for a supervisor to create an inspection route on the pc and download it to the handheld computer so that a less highly trained technician can collect vibration data in a simple pushbutton process. When the inspection route is complete, the supervisor uploads the data to his PC where he can easily create machine-health trends and reports. The collected data can also be used for detailed analysis in either of Datastick's two vibration analysis software applications.On the hardware front, Datastick announced six new products: three each in the new VSA 6-Series and 7-Series.The three new 6-Series VSAs--the VSA-1216 for Palm handhelds, the VSA-1226 for Hewlett-Packard iPAQ handhelds, and the VSA-2216 for Palm Treo smartphones--add to capabilities of the existing 5-Series with the inclusion of pressure-sensing capability and the ability to interface with displacement sensors and displacement-based machine monitoring equipment such as Bently Nevada systems.The three new 7-Series VSAs--the VSA-1217 for Palm handhelds, the VSA-1227 for Hewlett-Packard iPAQ handhelds, and the VSA-2217 for Palm Treo smartphones--add to the capabilities of the 6-Series by enabling automatically triggered impact tests (bump tests) with maximum frequencies of up to 1 kHz.To round out the VSA announcements, Datastick Spectrum handheld vibration analysis software has been updated to version 1.9. It now includes a new password-protected supervisor mode to prevent unauthorized changes to settings; and a Period Tool in time-domain waveform views to help vibration analysts quickly quantify periodic wave anomalies. Version 1.9 of Datastick Reporting System PC software also adds a Period Tool for time-domain waveforms."Datastick VSAs have always been excellent troubleshooting tools; now we have made them even easier to use as data collectors. With routes now being defined on the PC, supervisors can use less highly trained personnel for data collection," said Scandling. "We already have customers learning how to collect data in less than a day. The new InSpect software will reduce training time and data-collection time even more. And we all know that time is money.""Taking measurements from displacement and pressure sensors and enabling threshold-enabled triggering and bump tests are capabilities that specific customer segments have requested. Once again, Datastick responds to customer needs while maintaining affordable pricing," said Steve Sabram, Chief Technology Officer and President of Datastick.Datastick VSA hardware modules attach to PDAs and smartphones, and ICP-compatible sensors attach to the hardware. Datastick Spectrum software displays waveform or FFT spectral information on the PDA. Data can be shown in terms of acceleration, velocity, displacement, and vibration decibel, as well as overall vibration. After the data is captured on the PDA, the user exports it to Datastick Reporting System(TM) software on a Windows XP or Windows Vista PC for further analysis and trending.