Bringing know-how on-site

“Antivibration technology is a complicated subject. Many people are reluctant to get involved,” explains Jennifer Scherhag. Angst+Pfister has positioned itself as an effective engineering partner with far more to offer than the implementation of production drawings. “We also look at all the so-called details in small devices.” Franke’s A400 is making professional full automatic machine technology available to everyone: convenience shops, retail, offices, the hotel trade, bookshops and bakers – in other words, premium enjoyment also for small businesses everywhere. Franke’s approach is: “It’s about more than coffee – it’s about the moment.” And loud vibrations ought not to spoil it.

The fluid pump was transferring vibrations to a plate, even though it was attached to   it with rubber corners. This plate, in turn, was also connected to the machine base and transferring vibrations through to the housing. This was creating the unwanted noises. A look inside the open machine revealed to Jennifer Scherhag: The plate would have to be uncoupled. Usually rubber vibration dampers are the solution. “However, the pump is relatively small and weighs just about 650 grams. Very small, soft antivibration elements were required. But there was no such thing around.” Jennifer Scherhag took out her pocket calculator and worked out the required stiffness to meet the noise specifications, and suggested to the Franke technicians that they jointly develop new rubber vibration dampers.
 

Overcoming barriers

There were several new challenges to be faced in developing the vibration dampers. The machine housing had already been engineered – as had its tools. The spatial conditions allowed a vibration damper height of just about ten millimetres. “For the softness of the vibration dampers that we were aiming at, more height, of course, would have made sense,” said Jennifer Scherhag. The housing already included M4 screw threads. This was where a very soft, but equally small vibration damper with extra large thread was needed. The standard products in this size have smaller M2 or M3 threads. Further requirements: It had to be easy for Franke to install the vibration dampers - during servicing as well. And, of course, the market launch was fast approaching.

Three small vibration dampers with about the calculated stiffness were found in Angst+Pfister’s logistics warehouse – but they were all too long and the thread too small. However, they could be used for the first vibration tests. One of the vibration dampers seemed far more promising than the others – with the optimum stiffness. The noise values fell under the desired level. The next step was to tackle the 15 millimetre construction height and M3 thread – with a new design. Jennifer Scherhag used a measuring device to determine the critical force displacement curve and then reduced the size of the design to ten millimetres.

Meanwhile, Angst+Pfister Turkey was taking care of the rubber formulation – it had to have the same stiffness as the standard vibration damper under test. “This rubber vibration damper still had two threads to fix it to the plate and also the machine housing,” says Jennifer Scherhag. Hence, the next problem to arise was assembly: Because the vibration dampers were so soft, they twisted as they were screwed in, which meant the rubber would be damaged.