At
present, the company has a modern and one of the biggest
free-field rooms in the Czech Republic, which started operation
at the beginning of 1995. Further, extensive
measuring equipment for reading of sound and vibration is available
here, including means for analysis of signal and experimental modal analysis.
Attention is also paid to the influence of the climate on material features of
resonance wood.
Recently, the research activity has been
focused on cooperation with universities,
research centres in Czech Republic and abroad. The results gained from
academic research are then applied and used in practice. The research
is concentrated on the question of creating
numerical models of individual parts of the piano having influence on its
acoustic features. For that purpose, measuring methods are developed
in order to allow for the obtaining input data for numerical models and to
allow for assessing the validity of such models. At the same time, the
developed measuring methods serve directly to objective assessment of the
quality of our production.
Empirical knowledge obtained from
collaboration with manufacturers and musicians have been significantly
completed with music acoustics and technical physics recently. The development
of these branches actively solves the related improvement of the sound of the
instruments.
Research
on the impact of changes in material and
technologies used is possible and imperative, both from the point of
view of long-term stability, and from the point of view
of acoustic qualities of all instruments.
The creative work
is based on systematic activity extending the
accuracy of understanding, which leads to the use of the obtained
knowledge and creation of hypotheses in new or considerably improved
technologies introduced into the practical production of musical instruments.
Petrof always strives to satisfy their
clients by ensuring their manufactured goods to be of the highest quality
through systematic research & development, innovation and improvement.
The PETROF brand is based on tradition - tradition of our instruments made by
qualified people with years of experience.
Commercial use
The Petrof company uses its big volume free-field measuring room for acoustic measurements in order to achieve the best possible sound quality of its own instruments and their balance whilst simultaneously preserving the typical colour of the PETROF sound character. PETROF also allows other companies to use the big volume free-field measuring room under very favourable conditions. These companies need to test the technical parameters of their products so that they comply with the demands of the market and of the European ISO 3745-77 standards and the big volume free-field measuring room allows for this.An integral part of the research centre consists of the climatic-technological Feutron chambers. They are intended for the verification, testing and evaluation of research, but also for the use in industry for quality control, climatic-technological tests (e.g. of glues - glued joints, resistance of paints), research on the influence of temperature and humidity on building materials, industrial products, influences on biological processes, creation of stress temperature conditions, acceleration of periods of material aging etc.