Week 6 Lab Activities

With the prototype and preliminary testing phase of our project complete, we spent the duration of today's lab period planning for final push of the term: the construction of the final stands/isolation system and the rounds of subjective and objective testing to demonstrate their effects on the sound quality of the speakers that they support.

The tasks that were completed include:

Planning the Final Stand Build: After our testing on each of the two prototype stands, our vibrational analysis of the stand points to the single column, 3" PVC structure stand as the more rigid of the two prototypes (see previous posts outlining testing procedures and results). Thus, this structural system will be used for the final stand build. We chose a date for this final build (Saturday afternoon, May 7th), and inventoried the materials that we had left over from our first build to determine a list of materials that we still need to buy in preparation for this activity.

Research on Damping Quality of Various Materials: In preparation for the creation of the isolation system that will sit on the top plate of the stand, research was continued on the qualities of an ideal isolative unit. This led to an investigation into the loss factor, dynamic modulus, and other material and mechanical properties that accompany the various materials that we have purchased as potential components of the final designs. Other sources contained math models and other equations that may be helpful in numerically predicting the performance of these materials as damping agents.

Fusion 360: Blake spent much of his time in the lab modeling the different sheets of materials that may be integrated into the isolation system. We will be able to utilize these to model our isolation systems before we physically construct them.

Similarity App: Gabe continued his research into the features of the Similarity PC app that he has downloaded and that we plan to use to analyze the quality of the music produced by the speakers on top of the stand. We are hopeful that this will provide an objective source of data to support any subjective conclusions that we are able to make.