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Featured Article...
Air Bag Deployment on the Rise
Occupant safety is a key factor in today's automotive technology and design. This is evident by the numerous air bags and safety devices located throughout the interior of a vehicle. The air bags most consumers are familiar with are the driver and passenger frontal protection airbags, which are located in the steering wheel and instrument panel, respectively. Most consumers are not aware of the many other airbag configurations that are tucked away unnoticed in many vehicle models. These air bags include RRAB (roof rail) or side curtain, A-pillar, side seat, knee bolster, door bolster, and head restraint.
With more safety technology added to vehicles each year, MGA has seen an increase in customer demand for a variety of tests involving air bag deployment. MGA has added additional airbag testing capabilities to meet this demand as well as new impactors to satisfy custom-type test scenarios. For static air bag deployment, MGA uses the latest technology including:
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Eye on Equipment...
Dynamic Impact System Workstation
During the past year, one piece of equipment we have focused on is the re-design of our dynamic impact control system. The new Dynamic Impact System Workstation incorporates all of the tools necessary to perform dynamic impact testing while being packaged in an ergonomic, desk-type setting. All aspects of running an impact test such as pneumatic control, data acquisition, automated data processing, and post-test analysis are performed at the workstation. This allows for a user-friendly test process and results in the optimization of necessary steps when performing a test. Many new features have been incorporated.
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| Focus on Fixtures...
Assembly Holding Fixtures
An assembly style holding fixture has the ability to make life
 much easier when building production parts in a large quantity. They increase efficiency by holding the part in a manner without any scratching or damage, while allowing an operator to work on the component, check dimensions, inspect the part, etc. The fixtures are designed and built according to customer requirements and CAD models. Depending on the purpose, the fixtures can be customized in a variety of ways to benefit the user and simplify the assembly process. Clamps can be added to secure parts, rubberized coatings can be applied to prevent scarring and slipping, and various types of material can be used such as steel, aluminum, plastic, or combinations to provide added durability, strength, or reduce weight.
For any questions or if you would like to discuss assembly style fixtures, please contact Andy Gould (andrew.gould@mgaresearch.com) at (248) 925-8092. We look forward to working with you in the future. |
New Airline Regulation for Spare Batteries
When you pass through any airport, you can't help but notice all of the "electronic road warriors" with their cell phones, PDAs, and laptop computers. Not to mention most families carry electronic toys and DVD players meant to entertain the little ones on long flights to far off vacation lands or grandma and grandpa's house. To assure that these electronic devices don't lose their power midway through the trip, many people bring along spare batteries. If you are one of these people, you should be aware of a new regulation that went into effect January 1, 2008 that applies to spare lithium batteries on aircraft.
The regulation issued by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) applies to lithium and lithium ion batteries only (alkaline, nickel metal hydride (NiMH) and other battery chemistries are not affected). A summary of the regulation is as follows:
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Editor's Note:
Touching Base this month has been written by Mike Miller, Pat's son. As many friends of MGA have heard, Pat fell seriously ill on a cruise celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary on December 28th. Since this time, Pat has been in Miami recuperating and recovering. A full
recovery is expected after a long hospital stay and a lengthy rehabilitation period.
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Touching Base
It's Baseball Time Again
Anyone who knows me and my family knows that March is the time of year that many of us (my family, my parents and other relatives) travel down to Florida to relax and watch spring training baseball. Of course, my favorite team since I was a child is the Detroit Tigers, and their spring training home is in Lakeland, Florida.
As this year approaches, all Tiger fans, including myself, are eagerly looking forward to the '08 season. With the addition of Edgar Renteria, Miguel Cabrera, Dontrelle Willis, and Jacque Jones, the Tigers look like the team to beat in '08.
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