Hey,
Anyone here have any idea if vibration does have any destructive effect on the performance of Arduino boards or any other Electromagnetic device ? I am working on a project about effects of offshore conditions on EM devices, and can't find much on Google. By vibration here I mean the forces from sea waves that vibrate an oil & gas platform in the sea.
Thx for the help in advance.
Shahab
Without proper hazardous and explosive environment testing, I doubt an Arduino will be going anywhere near an oil or gas platform.
What is it you are trying to find?
"Any Electromagnetic device" seems to make your search parameters to include anything that uses electricity. In which case, vibration will affect any components which exhibit piezoelectric characteristics. Mechanically everything that vibrates will eventually fail.
I am working on robotics & offshore application (a mobile robot for offshore environment). What I am trying to find out is that if having micro-controllers, motor drivers and motors would be effected by vibrations on a platform ? Well as you mentioned I am concluding that the chassis of the robot and the motors (as long as they are doing something mechanical in a closed area) would be effected(I am not sure how big the effect would be), but what about the exact EM parts I mentioned ? If we look away from the effects on the soldering points (that they might break) , the effects on sensor readings and etc, will it have anything to do with the actual performance of the micro-controller, motor drivers and other types of EM devices that a robot might have on board ?
I am asking this here, as in my thesis prototype is using Arduino micro-controllers. I am not suggesting Arduino usage before testing and redesigning for industrial purpose to be used in an offshore application.
I can't see vibration being a big issue for small surface mount boards - however it is an issue for socketed parts, non-locking connectors and heavy parts, but the frequency spectrum of the vibration is all important, without knowing that there is no information to go on...
It is certainly possible to engineer very robust electronics to meet a given vibration environment, otherwise we wouldn't have oil and gas platforms in the first place.
I think your question is perhaps better phrased as "what are the financial implications of engineering for an oil/gas platform environment" and this isn't the best place to ask, a specialist engineering firm with experience in the area would be a good place for this information.
I doubt that the effects of vibration on the semiconductors themselves would be more significant than the effects on the soldered joints used to hold them in place. If you're worried about vibration, you could mount the electronics on rubber bushes, or even encase the electronics in gel (which is what I have seen done to protect the flash memory in black box flight recorders).
Since I mentioned it, I'll expand. Most ceramic capacitors are based on barium titanate. This material exhibits a piezoelectric effect. When these capacitors are vibrated they will create electrical noise. (And when they are stimulated electrically, they will general mechanical noise.)
That is an example where vibration will have an effect of the electronics of the circuit.
Hi again,
Thx alot for all your answers. Your answers were very good starting point for my further investigate about this issue in platforms 