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Starting point / Task definition |
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 | | Can a car seat withstand conditions at the North Pole? |
Car seats have to withstand a lot. The weight of the driver, for example, his movement while waiting impatiently at a red light, or extracting a wallet from his back trouser pocket.... Furthermore, cars are being driven all over the world. Some are parked in the blazing sun of Arizona, while others are stationed in the frozen conditions of Siberia. What materials can withstand such conditions? To find out the answer, car manufacturers must subject their seats to rigorous load testing – at all conceivable temperatures. Yet there is indeed a prime candidate for this job: the KUKA KR 210-2 robot. This robot has already taken up its first position at Volvo in Sweden.
Volvo has been testing the durability of car seats for a long time now. Car seats were previously tested using a pneumatic seat tester. This system, however, could only place a two-dimensional load on the seats. It merely carried out either horizontal or vertical motions.
Volvo went looking for a flexible system in which all conceivable climatic conditions and the full range of motions of a vehicle occupant could be simulated. | |
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Implementation / Solution |
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The manufacturer’s high quality standards led to the company investing in a state-of-the-art system that allowed it not only to subject the seats to extreme climatic conditions, but also to provide authentic simulation of the motions of a wide range of different vehicle occupants.
A KUKA robot fitted with a special protective suit and located in a climatic chamber imitates the motions of a human driver, thereby testing the durability of the seats. The KR 210-2 works day and night at varying temperatures. Five seats are set up around the robot in the climatic chamber. The robot executes the preprogammed motions in sequence, holding a padded dummy shaped to mimic the human from. | |
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System components / Scope of supply |
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| Force/torque sensors enable it to reproduce human movements. It can be flexibly programmed and has a high degree of repeatability. The measuring system provides six measurement dimensions for forces and torques and ensures absolute accuracy. This provides the user with data about the actual forces being exerted on the contact surface between the dummy and the seat. The robot motions are also regularly adjusted in relation to the wear on the test object. To adapt the overall system to a new seat, it is merely necessary to redefine the base coordinate system. The robot and climatic chamber are controlled externally from a main computer. The robot is contained in its own climatic unit, being clothed in a fabric suit. Cool air is blown in at three points. The temperature around the robot is thus maintained at a constant 20 °C. | |
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Results / Success |
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The robot treats all seats equally. It is also flexibly programmable. It is therefore possible to subject all test objects to the same loading. A standard program is generally executed. If, however, a new seat is introduced part way through a test series, the robot notes the arrival of this “newcomer” and knows exactly which test cycles are still required for this seat.
A test phase can last up to ten weeks. This yields results for five seat types. With the old test system, it took four weeks to test just a single seat. | |
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Number of report |
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| R 295 |
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Industry |
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Automotive manufacturers
Automotive suppliers |
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Application |
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Measuring, testing and inspection
Other handling operations |
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Product |
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| High payloads (80-270 kg) |
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Customer |
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