KENT, OHIO: When securing a camera to a race car with a 600 hp engine screaming at 12,000 rpm, shock and vibration are much more than a minor problem.

That is why John Porter, of Broadcast Sports Technology, decided to use Sorbothane, a viscoelastic material to attenuate this vibration. John Porter said, “Sorbothane’s high damping material made the difference. Their engineering services and ability to react quickly and economically to small volume customer prototypes was pivotal in the successful design of off- board camera technology.”

The Sorbothane isolator absorbs forces in the axial and lateral direction, which enables the camera to focus at speeds greater than 180 mph. When a car is traveling at these kinds of speeds, one can imagine that shock is not the only problem, so is vibration. Normally, engineers cannot design a system to both isolate vibration and absorb shock. With Sorbothane, a designer can achieve both.

Sorbothane, and its high damping ratio, allows design engineers the ability to isolate shock and vibration in the same application. The material actually moves transient energy perpendicularly away from the location of impact or vibration. It is effectively used in applications from circuit board isolation grommets to shipping pallet bumpers.

Ideal for a variety of design engineering applications, Sorbothane can be custom-molded to most any shape, color, and size specifications.

Kent, Ohio: Codar Technology, Inc., has designed corner bumpers made of Sorbothane for maximum protection of its Cougar Ruggedized Portable Workstation, an industrial computer for mobile1 in-plant, and military applications.

When designing the workstation, Codar’s engineers evaluated a variety of materials to help guard the unit against the shock and vibration inherent to a portable field instrument.

David Breakfield, PE, Director of Mechanical Engineering at Codar, comments, “We selected Sorbothane because the material offered excellent rebound properties (approximately 1.1) and performance stability over a wide temperature range and reduced the acceleration profile from 329 g’s to 45 g’s. These characteristics are critical to our application.”

Sorbothane viscoelastic polymer is a material, widely recognized for its excellent vibration and shock absorption abilities. The material actually moves transient energy perpendicularly away from the location of impact or vibration. It is effectively used in applications from circuit board isolation grommets to shipping pallet bumpers. The material can be custom- molded to meet various specifications.

Codar Technology, Inc., located in Longinont, Colorado, designs, manufactures, integrates and supports ruggedized computer systems and subsystems for the U.S. Department of Defense and its subcontractors and allies. In addition, the company offers these systems for use in commercial and industrial applications where ruggedized equipment is required.

Sorbothane, Inc. introduces isolation mounts for the audio and electronic/computer markets. These viscoelastic mounts dissipate virtually all unwanted external and/or internal vibration and shock in the audio and electronics systems.

Made of Sorbothane, a material known for its vibration isolation properties, these mounts absorb harmful energy from the component and from the environment, thereby enhancing the integrity of the sound.

Sorbothane dampens low impact frequencies, and high harmonic frequencies, making Sorbothane mounts significantly more effective than other available isolation products.

Sorbothane audio mounts are excellent for use with CD players, phonographs, turntables, tape decks, speakers and all other equipment components.