The Research Organ at the Fraunhofer IBP in Stuttgart

Abstract

At the Fraunhofer IBP in Stuttgart a research organ has been built for scientists. Its transparency and unique design allows the demonstration of research results, the investigation of technical and sound problems in organ building as well as the audible testing of sound ideas. Some of the special design features are: The wind system can be switched from traditional to innovative design. Newly developed swell shutters which allow a better dynamic of the sound are mounted in the swell organ. The dimensioning of pipes and wind systems was conducted by means of scaling software developed within the context of European research projects. One wind chest of a division can be exchanged to allow the testing of valves and pipe layouts. In order to test newly designed stops a blind slider is available. There are several blind grooves to analyze the effect of wind flow, of resonances in the grooves and of different outlet holes on the pipe sound. The blowers are driven by a frequency converter for continuous adjustment of wind pressures. The motion of a beating and a free reed can be visualized by means of a stroboscope installed. Some of the research results will be demonstrated.