Dampers are one of the most critical components on a vehicle. They contribute heavily to many aspects of vehicle performance, including handling, traction and comfort. It is therefore important to understand the role your dampers play in the performance of your vehicle.

Dampers contribute to vehicle performance in a number of ways. Most notably through their damping functions, but also through less desirable characteristics such as friction, heat sensitivity, mis-matched dampers, mis-adjusted dampers, etc.

It is therefore important to understand your dampers, and to be sure that they are working correctly, and exhibiting suitable damping characteristics for your application.

The damper dynamometer (commonly referred to as a "damper dyno") can shed light on many of the above issues.

Here is a brief overview of the operation and functions of a damper dyno:

• How does a dyno work?
• There are different types of damper dyno, the most common type being a "crank" dyno. This consists of a motor that spins an eccentric cam which compresses and expands the damper in a sinusoidal motion (it bounces it up and down). The dyno has a series of sensors which take measurements of displacement, force, velocity and temperature whilst the damper is moving, and this data is then organised into graphs by the computer software.
   
• What can a dyno test tell me?
• The results of a dyno test can provide a wealth of information on the damper to the damper engineer, both from a health and performance perspective. If the damper has any problems then these will normally be apparent on the relevant graphs. But the more important role of the dyno is as a performance indicator.
   
• A skilled damper engineer will be able to evaluate the performance of a damper for a specific application based on its "damping characteristics" (essentially the forces that the damper creates over a range of damper velocities) using both experience and calculations. This information can then be passed onto the customer in as much depth as they require.
   
• What do I get out of dyno testing my dampers?
• The end result of having your dampers dyno tested can be as in-depth or as basic as you want it to be. Some customers simply want to know what settings are best to run their car at in a given situation. Some just want to get a better understanding for how their dampers work. Whilst others may want to acquire technical data with which they can perform their own calculations and draw their own conclusions.
   
• One particularly beneficial function of dyno testing is the ability to run "adjustment sweeps" on an adjustable damper. This involves running the damper at a wide range of settings and generating graphs so that the customer knows exactly what their dampers are doing when they make adjustments at the race track or on the road.
   
• Other customers could have more specific requirements. For example, they may be running a rally car that gets increasingly soft over the course of long rough stages and want to find out why. The dampers could be run at high intensity over a period of time to replicate its running conditions so as to analyse its performance and identify the problems.