Spectris plc, Roylston, UK, has signed an agreement to acquire the LDS Test & Measurement business from SPX Corporation. The purchase consideration of US$102 million, on a debt and cash-free basis, will be met from existing cash and bank facilities and is subject to routine balance sheet adjustments.
LDS manufactures integrated vibration test and measurement equipment and software for applications in the aerospace, defence, automotive, machinery, electrical and electronics markets. The company will become part of the Spectris Test and Measurement segment in combination with Bruel & Kjaer Sound and Vibration and HBM.
This acquisition comes on the heels of the purchase of Siemens’ Machine Vision Business, formerly Acuity CiMatrix, and nCode.
October 2nd, 2008
The Turbo Technics Vane-Flow Test Rig (VTR) is the first commercially available aftermarket turbocharger variable geometry calibration system. It will allow the industry for the first time to calibrate actuation systems and as a result, offer remanufactured variable geometry turbochargers to the end user at significantly lower costs than a brand new item.
The VTR allows the remanufacturer to set two crucial parameters on variable geometry systems; the minimum opening of the vanes and the operating range of the vane movement. The turbocharger under test is mounted to the VTR and the on-board computer system controls the airflow and measurement through the turbine housing and compares this against the data stored for that turbocharger model.
September 30th, 2008
Automotive DesignLine warns, “Inadequate EMC test means cars could be unsafe.”
It notes:
Clearly untested electromagnetic interferences could lead to dangerous failures on the road.
and
Mysterious malfunctions of electronic or electrical equipment, which may be inconvenient or annoying when the car is stationary, may endanger drivers and passengers at high-speed or if a vehicle is left stranded in a dangerous position.
This article links to another by Keith Armstrong of Cherry Clough Consultants, ‘Why EMC testing is insufficient, and what is necessary’ that says that automotive EMC test methods have not kept pace with the electronics now in cars and that there is a real possibility that the tests are not finding all of the potential EMC problems.
September 30th, 2008
Landmint.com reports that a delay in land allotment by the Uttar Pradesh (UP) government has stalled a Rs100 crore centre in Rae Bareli planned as part of the National Automotive Testing R&D Infrastructure Project, or Natrip, said a senior official associated with the project.
The Rae Bareli unit, which was to employ 500 people, was one of seven planned by the ministry of heavy industries and public enterprises as part of a Rs1,718 crore project aimed at creating an advanced testing, validation and R&D infrastructure for the domestic, as well as global, automotive industry.
Once operational, the Rae Bareli unit would become the nodal centre for homologation, or road-worthiness certification, for tractors, three-wheelers, construction equipment vehicles; would house a road accident data analysis facility; and have a training facility for at least 1,000 drivers of specialized, off-the-road vehicles. It will also be associated with the National Safety Board, proposed by the ministry of road transport and highways in November 2007, with the objective of undertaking systematic analysis of road fatalities and other crucial aspects related to accidents. About 80,000 people die in road accidents every year in India.
September 30th, 2008
Buoyed by initial road-test results and significant technological advancements, UPS announced the U.S. deployment of its first three large package delivery vehicles utilizing hydrogen fuel cells for power.
The first fuel cell Dodge Sprinter was deployed in Los Angeles, CA. The remaining two Sprinters will be deployed in Sacramento and Ann Arbor, Mich. Compared to the first Sprinter, the new fuel cell Sprinters feature a 20% increase in power-train efficiency; a 40% increase in range to 155 miles, and a 45% increase in peak engine power. They now have similar acceleration as a gas- or diesel-powered UPS vehicle.
The vehicles in their new configuration also offer a 10% increase in cargo capacity compared to the diesel-powered Sprinters now in use by UPS, and the fuel cell technology eliminates the need to house an engine in the front of the vehicle, making it easier to explore new automotive designs, he added.
One of the remaining hurdles is the need for more hydrogen refueling stations
September 29th, 2008
Anthony Best Dynamics (ABD) has launched a new version of the company’s successful Suspension Parameter Measurement Machine (SPMM) that can be used for dynamic Kinematic and Compliance (K&C) testing as well as quasi-static testing. The SPMM 4000 HS meets an industry requirement to reduce the time from concept to manufacturing a new vehicle, with increased use of computer analysis and prediction techniques. It can measure suspension characteristics that are important to ride and handling in a wide range of vehicles from the smallest passenger cars to light trucks and MPVs.
Like the existing SPMM 4000 system, the new SPMM 4000 HS can be supplied as either a two or four wheel station machine. The four wheel station model will measure both axles of a vehicle simultaneously and provide a fast turnaround of just a few hours for producing a full suite of suspension and steering measurements for a vehicle. This has been further aided by the development of wheel centring compensation software which reduces vehicle set up time, as it is no longer necessary to manually centre the wheel plates when they are attached to the wheels.
In operation, the SPMM automatically subjects the suspension and steering of a vehicle to a variety of forces and displacements and measures the effects. Dynamic testing has been made possible by equipping the new system with high speed actuators capable of vertical excitation at frequencies of 5 Hz at speeds of 140 mm/s. It utilises ‘Dynamic wheel pad force control’ software which can accurately control wheelpad forces at frequencies of 5 Hz.
The SPMM 4000 HS records the wheel displacements and the forces and moments occurring at the tyre to road interface, caused by bounce, roll and pitch of the vehicle body and also by the application of simulated cornering, braking and traction forces. These include the kinematic characteristics due to suspension and steering system geometries, and compliances due to suspension springs, anti-roll bars, elastomeric bushes and component deformations.
September 25th, 2008
The North Carolina Center for Automotive Research (NCCAR) has awarded an $8.4 million construction contract to PLT Construction Company, Inc. of Wilson, NC.nbsp; The contract is for site improvements, construction of the project’s ride amp; handling course, vehicle dynamics area, on-site roadways and infrastructure.nbsp;
Funding for the project has been provided through appropriations from the North Carolina General Assembly combined with grant awards from the North Carolina Rural Center, the Tobacco Trust Fund Commission and the Golden Leaf Foundation.nbsp; Northampton County funded acquisition of the NCCAR site and the North Carolina Department of Transportation has provided funding for the industrial access road serving the center.
September 19th, 2008
Aicon EngineWatch measures engine movements, and the movements of other relevant parts in the engine bay, in six degrees of freedom (6-DOF). It can make measuerments while the vehicle is on a test stand or while it is in motion. It reports the position and orientation of the measured points with absolute values in the vehicle coordinate system.
The optical measuring system EngineWatch works on a non-contact base i.e. without a mechanical connection between sensor and engine block. This, the company claims, allows the system to make reliable measurements under extreme dynamic conditions. The system can make up to 490 measurements per second, and measuring data can be recorded for an unlimited period of time.
EngineWatch is built around the high speed camera TraceCam F. The camera consists of a high resolution CMOS sensor, an integrated high performance flash, and an image analysis processor. TraceCam F features extremely short shutter speeds of just a few micro-seconds that are necessary for long-duration tests. It also ensures the system is robust and stable over time.
Mounted on a fixture, the TraceCam F camera directly focuses the engine block. The measuring principle is based on the detection of relative movements of two solid bodies. Therefore reference targets are placed on the engine block and on the car body in a way that the camera will focus all targets at the same time. Setup and calibration of the system take less than 30 minutes. The position of the camera to the engine block does not need to be stable as EngineWatch recalculates its position continuously using the reference targets. Hence, camera movements cannot influence the measuring results.
The measuring images are analysed in the sensor. Thus only the digital data are transferred to the notebook computer in real time, not the entire images. EngineWatch calculates the positions of the measuring points in X, Y, Z, and the rotation angle (alpha, beta, gamma) as absolute values in the vehicle coordinate system. For the presentation of the results, a path-time-diagram is created showing the X, Y, Z movements in the vehicle coordinate system. In order to visualize the measured movements in a CAD system, the measuring results can be exported to post-processing software via an interface.
September 18th, 2008
The Ann Arbor Business Review profiles British supplier Ricardo, which provides design and test services not only for automakers, but also for the alternative energy industry. Recent developments include a new $2 million battery systems development center that can test battery packs.
September 18th, 2008
By running a series of simulations, Ford claims it can reduce product-development time by eight to 14 months. The simulation system uses what Ford calls its Programmable Vehicle Model to determine the optimum beltline for a vehicle, which is always a point of contention between engineers and designers.
September 17th, 2008
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