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Featured Article...
Roof Crush Workshop and Open House Wednesday, October 21st
Fern Gatilao, Troy, MI (fern.gatilao@mgaresearch.com)
MGA-Michigan is holding a technical workshop and open house for Roof Crush Resistance testing. Participation in the workshop is extended to all of our customers. The event will be held on Wednesday, October 21, 2009 from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at MGA's Hydraulic Test Laboratory in Troy, MI.
The tentative schedule is as follows:
11:30 a.m. - 12:00 p.m.: Doors Open/Meet and Greet
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m.: Luncheon
1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m.: FMVSS 216a and IIHS Roof Crush presentation and demonstration
2:00 p.m. - 3:00 p.m.: Q&A and facility tours
A newly designed roof crush system was installed at MGA-Michigan earlier this year. Fabricated and designed by MGA's Manufacturing Center in Akron, New York, the system was designed to accommodate the higher loads that the new regulations require. An identical system has been built for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and will be installed later this year. MGA-MI had the pleasure of working with IIHS this past July on conducting roof crush tests on several vehicles.
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Pull a Fast One...Or Slow
As plastic and composite materials increasingly replace parts traditionally made of steel, the need for determining the behavior of these components in high speed environments is extremely critical. To meet this increasing demand, MGA has built a high speed tensile tester that utilizes servo-hydraulics to match the required test parameters. Whether your test needs call for low speed or high speed tensile testing, we have the equipment and the expertise required for your needs.
Low Speed Tensile: We have several Instron test machines. Load capacity ranging up to 120,000 lbs; with a maximum test speed of 1.0 m/min. We also have an extensometer to add part elongation/strain data to the measurements. High Speed Tensile: Hydraulic actuators can be utilized to achieve speeds of up to 5 m/sec (depending on the sample weight). Load capacity can range up to 22,000 lbs. In addition, high speed film can be utilized to measure part elongation. Read More... |
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September 1st - Why is it Significant?
Helen Kaleto - Troy, MI (helen.kaleto@mgaresearch.com)
Each year, September 1st is a very significant day to vehicle manufacturers in the United States, as it typically represents the model year change over and more so, it is the effective date of all amended or new safety regulations published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
This year, September 1st signifies several key changes to the regulatory schedule. Four important vehicle safety standards in particular are affected this month.
FMVSS 201U: Upper Interior Head Impact Protection. This rule first became effective on September 1st, 1999 for original vehicle manufacturers with a four-year phase-in. For vehicle alterers and vehicles built in two or more stages, several extensions were granted over the last five years. Finally, this September 1st marks the day when all applicable vehicles, regardless of build status, must meet FMVSS 201U.
FMVSS 202a: Head Restraints. The original FMVSS 202 rule has been in effect since 1971. In 2005, the NHTSA issued a final rule which essentially eliminated this old version and created a new rule under 202"a". This upgraded standard is intended to improve the effectiveness of head restraints on occupant protection during rear crashes, specifically in an effort to reduce whiplash-type injuries. It uses using a two-year phase-in for both front seats as well as rear out-board seats equipped with head restraints. This September 1st marks the effective date for 80% compliance of front seat head restraints to this new rule with 100% compliance occurring next year. As for rear seats, their compliance is offset one-year and will begin a similar phase-in next September 1st.
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Eye on Equipment FMVSS 216a Head Positioning
The FMVSS 216a final rule has been released for several months now, and a significant addition to the rule involves the Head Positioning Fixture (HPF). Because the HPF is not defined specifically in the final rule, the design of the structure has raised several questions within the testing community. MGA has developed a universal fixture for this purpose.
The fixture is constructed out of aluminum to allow it to be lightweight and easily installed inside the vehicle. It is equipped with a head form meeting the specifications of FMVSS 201 which is adjustable in the X, Y, and Z directions. The fixture base is designed to bolt to the floor pan through the existing seat mounts and is adjustable to accommodate virtually any seat mount dimension.
A tri-axial load cell is mounted beneath the head form in order for the resultant load to be monitored throughout testing. The head form and load cell are mounted on a quick release cylinder which will cause the fixture to collapse in order to, not only prevent damage from excessive loading during the test, but also to provide a visual point of reference when the form is loaded to 50 pounds (headform load limit). Additionally, the fixture is equipped with several point lasers to easily mark the position of the head form prior to and after the test.
For more information on the Head Positioning Fixture, contact Jason Gilham at (716) 542-5672 or by e-mail at jason.gilham@mgaresearch.com.
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Up Close & Personnel
Meet David Wilcox
David Wilcox is the MGA Blast Testing Expert. He developed the methodology to our component level blast testing. Beyond all in-house blast projects David choreographs, he also assists with off-site blast testing for our customers. Other projects David supports include dummy and instrumentation calibration, semi rollovers, and quasi-static testing. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience on data acquisition equipment, instrumentation specifications and applications, system modification and repairs, program modification and generation, and control systems.
He has been a part of the MGA family for 6 1/2 years at the Burlington, WI Proving Grounds. David's first big project was installing the controller and control panel for the crash system upgrade. He recently traveled to PATAC (Pan Asia Technical Automotive Center) in Shanghai, China, where he installed that crash system as well.
David holds a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering. The thesis project for his Masters is a data acquisition system with a test circuit linked to the calibration database that checks calibrated values to measured values. It uses 2,000 samples per second real time mode for troubleshooting and repair of instrumentation. He interned at Argonne International Laboratories in the Chemical Technology Division. While at Argonne, he tested batteries (from cell phone batteries to hybrid vehicle battery packs), fuel cells, and repaired battery cycling equipment and data acquisition hardware.
David is most intrigued by green technologies, robotics, computers, programming, and technology in general. He also makes a killer French Vanilla Cappuccino Cheesecake! | |
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Touching Base
with Dr. Patrick Miller - Akron, NY
A Somewhat
Level Playing Field
As Major League Baseball goes through the final month of the season, it is noteworthy that a majority of the teams still have hopes of making the playoffs. Of all major league sports, baseball is the only one that does not have a player salary cap. Yet, baseball seems to be highly competitive, where, from year to year, different teams make the playoffs and advance to the World Series.
Conventional wisdom would suggest that the teams with the highest player salaries will dominate the playoffs. Nevertheless, teams with relatively modest payrolls often represent the World Series. This somewhat level playing field for baseball is likely due to the vision of Branch Rickey.
He is best remembered for signing Jackie Robinson, an African-American, to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947. With this signing, the color barrier in baseball was broken, resulting in Rickey's greatest contribution to baseball and society in general. However, Rickey is also the one who set up the current model for the development of major league baseball players.
In the 1920's he was an innovative baseball executive, first with the St. Louis Browns, and later with the St. Louis Cardinals. His acute talent for evaluating baseball players was well known. In fact, he was so good that whenever he appeared at a game to scout a player, the press and others would report his presence. Other wealthier Major League teams would quickly outbid the St. Louis Cardinals for the services of the player, often without ever scouting him.
Frustrated by these events, Rickey envisioned a farm system where the St. Louis Cardinals would own several teams in order to develop their players. Working with a local auto dealer, Sam Breadon, he soon bought teams in the Texas, Nebraska, Arkansas-Missouri and New York leagues for the Cardinals. This was the beginning of the modern Major League Baseball minor league system. As a result of his vision, the Cardinals had a .566 winning percentage, with three pennants and two World Series championships, during the 1930's.
Soon other teams developed their own systems. Today most Major League teams have five or six minor league teams playing in Class A through Triple A levels. Major League teams normally have over 150 players under development in their system. The teams that focus on minor league player development, indeed, can compete with much wealthier teams. Recent examples are the Minnesota Twins, who always seem to be competitive, and the Tampa Bay Rays who won the American league pennant last year.
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