The goal of this project was to create an in-house method for my FSAE team to test and validate our shock absorbers. This is useful to determine the extent of hysteresis, measure and run simulations with more accurate rebound stiffness numbers, as well as ensure there is no air in the shocks. 

Recently, we rebuilt a set of 4 shocks as they had completely worn out. Seeing as this will be a fairly common occurrence, I co-designed this shock dynamometer to be able to conduct testing on the shocks we have rebuilt without having to send them to an expensive certified shop.

The dyno begins with steel plates and a simple mounting mechanism for the shock to be connected to the machine from the bottom. There is then a custom dual threaded insert which allows the end of the shock to screw in and an in-line load cell to screw into the other end. This then is attached to a rotating disk to receive the compression and rebound forces. 

For data collection, the load cell is sampled as well as a linear transducer that is attached to the shock and can be matched up with the load cell data to define what part of the stroke the data was taken from.