“What if vibration could be used to make an improvement?”

Mechanical Vibration: Oscillation and reciprocation.

Good vibes

A vibrator is used to remove air pockets from poured concrete. Gall stones or kidney stones can be broken up by ultrasonic resonance.

Ultrasound can be used to improve cleaning performance.

“Vault-like” doors

A common complaint about car doors is that as engineers achieve lighter construction, the sound of the door closing is “tinny”.

The 2006 Acura TSX achieved that coveted “thump” of substantial construction using a special “bumping door seal” that was tuned to transmit a low-frequency vibration to the door when closed.

Active dampers

The 2018 Ford Mustang features active MagneRide dampers using ferrofluid in their shocks that can be made more or less viscous for a firmer or softer ride. They can even be made to resist rebound more than compression, or vice versa. This means that as the car takes a turn it can take the vibration from the tires to selectively let the inside wheel drop down and the outside wheel compress, making the vehicle corner flatter – it actually takes advantage of road texture to create the ride quality desired.

More examples

As I stumble across real world examples of this Inventive Principle in action I add them here.

Your turn

What problems do you face that this inventive principle could help solve? Have you used this principle before?