We're not just really nice rubber distributors, we're engineering solutions experts and a customer of ours recently brought us a unique challenge in vibration isolation that required a unique application solution. Together with the team at Parker LORD, we joined forces with our customer's engineering team and found that solution.
The Challenge
Our customer was installing a new audio system that required vibration isolation for the wall mounts that held the speakers. These are not your run-of-the-mill home or even professional speakers. These particular speakers produce sounds in a very high decibel range, as much as 10x the range of traditional entertainment systems. They were installing up to 42 individual speakers in the environment to create an immersive, multi-channel sound system - rattling and vibration were not allowed.
"While speakers were not new to our customer, this was a brand-new design and they were in the middle of upgrading their systems," shares our own Mike McNeil.
While rattling and vibration would be distracting and against the immersive experience our customer was looking to achieve, there was also the very real danger of the vibration causing the speakers to become loose and even shake out of the traditional brackets used to install them.
The cost of maintaining and repairing these brackets was not something the customer was thrilled about, but the potential of harming a person from a falling speaker was the top priority in solving this challenge.
Additional Considerations
As we've said before, partnering with our customers to solve problems just like these is why RPM exists. Our engineering team worked closely with our customer's internal teams, understanding the specifications of the design and the functionality required. Ultimately, what was needed was a vibration isolation mount that would reduce any vibration while the speaker was being used. In addition, these speakers were being installed facing multiple directions on the chassis and the solution was required to work regardless of the direction of mounting.
The Solution
After studying the situation, our engineering team made the recommendation to use Parker LORD's Plateform Mounts. Teresa Mann, the Industrial Equipment Channel Partner Manager for Parker LORD, says, "These mounts are ideal for protecting equipment against damaging vibration. To provide the protection needed, each bracket used 3-4 mounts to isolate the vibration. Constructed with high-strength bonds and specially compounded elastomers, these vibration isolation mounts have a high load-carrying capacity and long life needed for this application. Normally used in industrial equipment, this was a new, but exceptional use for these mounts."
While not the first solution that comes to mind, elastomeric mounts provide simple, reliable, and cost-effective solutions to isolate vibration and shock, accommodate motion, and decrease noise.
We’re proud to have partnered with both our customer and Parker LORD, to solve this unique challenge. Our customer now has a vibration isolation solution that will be applied across their environments globally, safely and with the sound quality they set out to create.
Parker LORD & RPM
RPM is a Parker LORD Channel Partner, serving the Eastern United States and Canada. Our customers expect us to have access to best-in-class materials and solutions for their gasketing, isolation, and rubber needs. Our partnership with Parker LORD allows us to do just that in the vibration isolation solution products.