Automakers boost quality via servo-electric test systems with Siemens motion control and automation technologies inside
Advanced solutions from eMpulse Test Systems that incorporate Siemens motion control and automation components offer its customers much more precision and accuracy with up to four times greater frequency response plus energy savings of 80 percent or more compared to legacy servo-hydraulic equipment.
Since the early 1980s, the automotive industry has used hydraulically actuated (servo-hydraulic) test systems to simulate operating speeds and road conditions for testing OEM components and fully assembled vehicles. They have helped unlock vast improvements in the quality, safety, and reliability of the cars and trucks coming off the world’s assembly lines.
Thanks to these 4-poster road simulators, vehicle manufacturers and their suppliers nearly eliminated the “buzz, squeak, and rattle” (BSR) issues that once could plague new cars and trucks, annoy their owners, and cause huge headaches and costs for dealers and manufacturers alike. Other vehicles –– motorcycles, ATVs, and golf carts among them –– are now tested similarly. Durability testing, Noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) characteristics and accelerated life testing can all be assessed.
Today, electrically actuated (servo-electric) test systems have emerged as a preferred alternative to servo-hydraulics that have traditionally been used. Michigan-based eMpulse Test Systems is the world’s leading supplier of these advanced testing systems. The company uses servo-electric actuator (SEA) technology in its 4-poster road simulators, and has more than 200 worldwide installations with all the top vehicle manufacturers. The rapid growth in electric vehicle (EV) production favors these systems over legacy servo-hydraulic ones, as do environmental concerns.
President and CEO Matthew Johnson explains that SEA-based technology offers increased precision, higher performance, and more energy-efficient and environmentally friendly simulation testing. “Compared to servo- hydraulic systems, servo-electric actuators let manufacturers more precisely and accurately conduct a wide range of test applications including durability, accelerated life, NVH and BSR,” he says. “In fact, our SEA test systems use less than 20 percent of the energy that servo-hydraulic systems do, thereby reducing their energy costs and carbon footprint by 80 percent. Plus, they’re extremely clean and can’t leak hydraulic fluid into the environment.”
In addition, the company’s broad portfolio of test equipment includes SEA-enabled multi-axial simulation table (seaMAST) systems, that can apply force and motion in as many as six degrees-of-freedom. “These systems simulate complex dynamic motions by replicating the stresses, strains, and vibrations products may experience in real-world environments over their lifetimes,” Johnson says.
For an in depth comparison between a SEA and Hydraulic actuator please download our white paper.