Picking up good vibrations

The vibration engineer and businessman, who holds a PhD in aerospace engineering from the Technion, Israel's Institute of Technology, and an MBA from Boston's Northeastern University, was faced with the conundrum of what to do next. Then a historic farm in Shelburne County caught his eye. "It was time for a change and we were drawn to this old Loyalist property. We wanted to start a new business but take some time to rethink things and maybe start a hobby farm." Along with his wife and business partner, Alisa Pletner, he packed his bags and moved to Nova Scotia from Boston. After a few months tending to a growing herd of sheep, pigs and chickens, the husband and wife business duo launched Intelligent Dynamics Canada Ltd. "We had a soft start," Pletner said. "We didn't go all gangbusters. We took our time but now it seems to be heating up."

The company has already done some consulting work in the field of vibration engineering but this time Pletner is trying to diversify his company's offering through a patented product. Intelligent Dynamics is developing vibration-sensing equipment that can be used in a number of applications. "My specialty as an engineer is vibration and vibration control.A fuel hose is a rubber or plastic composite hose that is used inside combustion engines to move the fuel from the fuel storage tank to the engine. It's a very high-precision kind of universe." The company already has customers in Nova Scotia's wind energy sector and Calgary's oil and gas industry. "We analyze their problems and provide some fairly sophisticated analysis and solutions of how to get rid of, or at least reduce significantly, vibration," Pletner said.We have over a hundred of the Egg whisk as well as other brands of Kitchen Knife Sets. Intelligent Dynamics has consulted with Seaforth Energy Inc., a wind turbine manufacturer in Dartmouth, to help it make turbines that are less noisy by quantifying and reducing vibration.

"Vibration in laymen's terms can be compared to the steering wheel of a car," Pletner said. "You expect the steering wheel to shake somewhat, otherwise you might think the engine cut out. But if it started shaking too much, you would think there is a problem. That's vibration." Although the Shelburne company is involved with consulting, Pletner said he is trying to focus more on manufacturing a product. Intelligent Dynamics is developing a computerized product, about the size of a smartphone, that could be attached to sophisticated machinery. The small computer would measure the vibration of the machine and then monitor it for changes.

Pletner said if the vibrations increased or decreased significantly, it would likely indicate a repair is needed. The small computer would alert the company of the issue and it could be addressed before the machine actually broke down, saving time and money. "We all drive cars and we become very good at knowing what our car should feel and sound like. If you got in your sedan and it sounded like a diesel truck, you would know there was something wrong." The problem, Pletner said, is that most equipment like a wind turbine or a diesel generator has no human operator."When something starts to go wrong, one of the earliest signals is a change in the vibration or sound of the machine. But nobody is listening to these machines." Intelligent Dynamics' product would listen to the machines and pick up subtle changes in sound and vibration, giving companies an opportunity to repair the machine before it became a more serious problem.