Test rig

Details Test rig Test rig

1998-01-30

2000-03-14

Noland, Thomas P.

Measuring and testing

Testing by imparting motion

73 1201, 738664, G01M 1700

Patent

active

060357282

DESCRIPTION:

BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a test rig and particularly to testing apparatus for simulating the dynamic characteristics of a vehicle crash in a laboratory situation, for testing safety restraint apparatus.
Traditionally test rigs comprise dynamic sleds mounted on tracks for rapid acceleration. For practical reasons safety restraint testing is done under conditions of acceleration rather than deceleration.
However, traditional reverse acceleration dynamic test rigs are extremely expensive and space consuming and do not accurately simulate the conditions prevalent from transverse components of crash forces such as occur in side impacts.
In particular it is difficult in known test rigs accurately to reproduce the deployment gap due to the intrusion of a vehicle the door and B-pillar in a lateral impact and therefore difficult to correlate the contact times of the vehicle occupant with the door and B-pillar sills or trims. In addition, different vehicles have door and B-pillar arrangements with different characteristics and the three dimensional nature of the side impact velocity profile will shape the sills and the force will be transferred in different degrees to different sections. Hence accurate representation of the acceleration and velocity profiles for different sections of different vehicles is virtually impossible with known test rigs.
Accurate side impact test results have only hitherto been achieved by using virtually a complete vehicle body coated with a honeycomb foam barrier. Such a test is prohibitively expensive since a new body and new foam barrier is required for each test.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a relatively inexpensive re-usable and compact test rig capable of accurately simulating a wider range of side impact crash velocity profiles and pulses and of a variety of intrusion profiles, than hitherto possible.
The invention also aims to provide for pole testing, i.e. to simulate the conditions of impact with a single object such as a tree. This has not otherwise been possible with known dynamic sled arrangements.
According to the present invention there is provided a test rig for impact testing on vehicles, actuators in a direction towards the mounting platform, arrangement to be mounted at any one of a plurality of positions relative to the array of actuators.
Preferably there is provided means for controlling the extension and the acceleration of each actuator, in accordance with predetermined crash and vehicle profile characteristics, and means for recording the reaction forces on each actuator.
According to a preferred embodiment removable shaped padding is fixed to the actuator array.
For a better understanding of the present invention and to show how the same may be carried into effect, reference will now be made to the accompanying drawings in which:


BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a part cross-sectional, part schematic view of a test rig according to the invention.
FIGS. 2a and 2b are cross sectional side and top views respectively of the actuators of FIG. 1.
FIGS. 3a, 3b, 3c are side views illustrating a sequence in the operation of the actuators of FIG. 1.
FIG. 4 is a side view of a crash dummy in a test rig according to the invention.
FIG. 5 is the same view as FIG. 4 overlaid on an actuator array.
FIGS. 6, 7, 8 and 9 show side views of alternative arrangements of test rig according to the invention.


DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an automotive seat 1, a test buck 7, and an actuator arrangement 4, showing the location of each part in relation to the others. The test buck is made of rigid metal bars holding the seat 1 on a sliding fixture 14 and comprises a simulated door/b-pillar arrangement with the actuators 4.
The actuators 14 are covered with padding 6 which may be of foam or other resilient material and which is shaped to simulate the internal upholstery of a vehicle door. In the example shown in FIG. 1 this shaping includes arm rest 5 and door trim 3. This padding 6

REFERENCES:
patent: 5373749 (1994-12-01), Strand et al.
patent: 5635624 (1997-06-01), Cerny
patent: 5641917 (1997-06-01), Hurite

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