Method and system for evaluating structural vehicle component performance

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9976935-B2
Application number	US-201615175546-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 7, 2016
Priority date	Jun 7, 2016
Publication date	May 22, 2018
Grant date	May 22, 2018

Abstract

An assembly to simulate side impacts to a vehicle includes a rocker, a translatable sled, and one or more displacement members. The rocker is secured to a wall. A b-pillar extends from the rocker and a roof rail is secured to the b-pillar and the wall. The translatable sled is arranged with the wall to impact the b-pillar. The one or more displacement members are secured to the wall and spaced from the rocker to simulate a stiffness of a full vehicle frame during impact between the sled and the b-pillar. A first rocker end constraint may secure a first end of the rocker to the wall. A second rocker end constraint may secure a second end of the rocker to the wall. The constraints may be arranged with the rocker such that the ends of the rocker may pivot relative to the wall.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A vehicle side impact simulation assembly comprising:
a rocker secured to a continuous wall, a b-pillar extending from the rocker, and a roof rail secured to the b-pillar and the continuous wall;
a translatable sled to impact the b-pillar; and
one or more rocker displacement members secured to the continuous wall to contact the rocker to simulate a full vehicle stiffness when the rocker receives an impact force from the sled.

2. The assembly of claim 1 further comprising:
a first rocker end constraint to secure a first end of the rocker to the continuous wall; and
a second rocker end constraint to secure a second end of the rocker to the continuous wall, wherein the constraints are arranged with the rocker such that the ends of the rocker may pivot relative to the continuous wall.

3. The assembly of claim 2 , wherein each of the first rocker end constraint and the second rocker end constraint further comprises a base portion secured to the continuous wall, a horizontal member mounted for pivotal movement to the base portion about an axis defined by a rocker pin, and a rocker slot defined by the horizontal member and arranged with the rocker pin to constrain linear movement of the horizontal member.

4. The assembly of claim 1 further comprising:
a first roof rail end constraint to secure a first end of the roof rail to the continuous wall; and
a second roof rail end constraint to secure a second end of the roof rail to the continuous wall, wherein the constraints are arranged with the roof rail such that the ends of the roof rail may move up and down relative to an underlying surface.

5. The assembly of claim 4 , wherein each of the first roof rail end constraint and the second roof rail end constraint further comprises a base portion secured to the continuous wall, a horizontal member including a shaft sized to extend through a roof rail slot defined by the base portion, and a roof rail pin extending from the shaft and sized to constrain movement of the shaft within the roof rail slot.

6. The assembly of claim 1 further comprising one or more stoppers extending from the continuous wall to constrain a distance of sled travel relative to the wall.

7. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein each of the one or more rocker displacement members extends from the continuous wall a length of zero to fifty millimeters.

8. The assembly of claim 1 further comprising one or more roof rail displacement members extending from the continuous wall and spaced from the roof rail at a length of zero to thirty millimeters.

9. The assembly of claim 1 , wherein the sled further comprises a protrusion including an impact region oriented at approximately two hundred and fifty millimeters from a body of the sled.

10. A test apparatus to evaluate b-pillar impacts of a vehicle comprising:
a b-pillar region support structure;
a first rocker end constraint secured to the support structure to support a first end of a rocker;
a second rocker end constraint secured to the support structure to support a second end of the rocker;
a first roof rail end constraint secured to the support structure to support a first end of a roof rail;
a second roof rail end constraint secured to the support structure to support a second end of the roof rail, the end constraints arranged with one another for a b-pillar member to extend from the rocker to the roof rail;
a set of rails for translation of a sled thereupon and aligned with the b-pillar region support structure for delivery of the sled to the b-pillar region; and
one or more rocker displacement members secured to the support structure and spaced from the rocker to contact the rocker,
wherein the end constraints and the displacement members are arranged with the b-pillar member to simulate a full vehicle stiffness when the rocker receives an impact force from the sled.

11. The test apparatus of claim 10 , wherein each of the first rocker end constraint and the second rocker end constraint includes a pin and slot combination arranged with the rocker to facilitate pivotal movement about an axis defined by the pin and constrained by a size of the slot.

12. The test apparatus of claim 10 , wherein each of the first roof rail end constraint and the second roof rail end constraint includes a pin and slot combination arranged with the roof rail to facilitate up and down movement of the roof rail constrained by a size of the slot.

13. The test apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the one or more rocker displacement members are spaced from the rocker at a predetermined length and sized with a predetermined cross-sectional profile, and wherein the predetermined length, the predetermined cross-sectional profile, and the rocker are selected to include stiffness characteristics of a full vehicle frame during impact of the sled and b-pillar member.

14. The test apparatus of claim 10 further comprising one or more roof rail displacement members extending from a continuous wall of the support structure and arranged with the roof rail to simulate stiffness characteristics of a full vehicle frame during impact of the sled and the b-pillar member.

15. The test apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the one or more rocker displacement members are spaced from the rocker a length between zero and fifty millimeters.

16. The test apparatus of claim 10 further comprising one or more stoppers extending from a continuous wall of the support structure and arranged with the rails such that the sled stops traveling toward the continuous wall at a predetermined distance from the continuous wall.

17. The test apparatus of claim 10 further comprising one or more stoppers extending from a continuous wall of the support structure and arranged with the sled such that an attachment of the sled impacts the b-pillar member and does not travel past a predetermined distance threshold relative to the continuous wall.

18. A method to simulate a side impact to a full vehicle comprising:
positioning rocker end constraints on a continuous wall to support opposite ends of a rocker;
positioning roof rail end constraints on the continuous wall to support opposite ends of a roof rail;
securing a b-pillar member to the rocker and roof rail; and
positioning displacement members on the continuous wall each spaced from the rocker and roof rail to simulate a full vehicle stiffness when the rocker and roof rail receive an impact force a sled.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising positioning the roof rail end constraints such that a gap between the roof rail and displacement members is between zero and thirty millimeters.

20. The method of claim 18 further comprising positioning the rocker end constraints such that a gap between the rocker and displacement members is between zero and fifty millimeters.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Belwafa Jamel E
• Barnhart Michael
• Baccouche Mohamed Ridha
• Arora Rahul
• Panoff Stephen Philip
• Nusier Saied

Classifications

• G01M17/0078 Primary

  Shock-testing of vehicles · CPC title