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Portable exploration seismographs are exposed to levels of shock and vibration, dust and humidity that are daunting to most designers of electronics instrumentation. At Geometrics, we have been building rugged, robust instrumentation for over 30 years and understand that reliability is top priority.
Geometrics continually invests in ways to make our instruments more tolerant of the tough conditions that are the everyday workplace of earth science professionals. We are pleased to announce the successful completion of the latest phase of improvement of the StrataVisor NX series of instrumentation, our flagship line of true 24 bit recorders. The NX passes the brutal MIL810E vibration test which shakes the instrument vigorously for an hour in each of the X, Y, and Z component directions. After this treatment the NX works flawlessly.
To revise the NX to pass this test, the sheet metal housing that holds all boards has been reinforced to damp movement of the 10 or 14 slot passive back planes that the 24-bit A/D cards and CPU plug into. The bottom of the chassis is now removable to allow faster access to the power supply if repair is needed. But the key to the new system is a series of reinforcing plates (see figure) that bolt to each A/D card and provide rigidity and positive coupling. The reinforcing plates are fastened to the bottom and sides of the external chassis. This dampens shock and ensures that all cards move as a unit so no abrasion occurs at card edges. Even the CPU receives a special mounting card that supports the new cantilevered for factor of the new Pentium chips and holds the memory SIMMs so they won't work loose.
All reinforcing is made of aluminum so there is minimum weight increase. Vibration tests were done by Quanta Labs, an independent testing facility.
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