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Featured Article...
Upcoming Events at MGA-MI
Helen Kaleto, Troy, MI (helen.kaleto@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.
Roof Crush Technical Workshop and Open House:
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 from 11:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
The schedule for the worksjop 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
Continuing Webinar Series: FMVSS 202a:
Thursday, November 5, 2009, 1:30 pm-3:00 pm.
The next installment in MGA's continuing webinar series will focus on FMVSS 202a - Head Restraints.
This newly implemented rule is significantly different than its predecessor, so the test procedure for both the static and dynamic options will be reviewed. Participation is open to all of MGA's customers. A special edition invitation will be sent out to our readers in the next two weeks.
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Child Restraint System Appendix
An Update for FMVSS 208
As part of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 208 "Occupant Crash Protection" Program, MGA tests the airbag suppression system and low risk deployment system of vehicles to ensure that they meet compliance by minimizing the risk of serious air bag-induced injuries to infants and small children. Both suppression and low risk deployment testing rely on the CRS (child restraint system) and how they interact with the test dummy, as well as the vehicle. When the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) developed Appendix A, the first list of CRS to be used for compliance testing, it contained CRS that represented "a large portion of the CRS market and CRS with unique size and weight characteristics." Recently, the NHTSA re-examined the CRS Appendix A, and decided it was time for an update.
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A Higher Level Impact
DJ Whiteside - Troy, MI (dj.whiteside@mgaresearch.com)
Knowing how your design is going to react to a dynamic event is just as important as knowing how strong it is under static loading conditions. However, finding a way to obtain this data can be a difficult challenge. You may be asking yourself what specific test methodology to use, or how vital is it to know the strength threshold? When all the factors are combined,
they are the key to solving the problem.
For many years, we have offered linearly guided impactors as the solution, and they have worked great for components requiring impact energy of about 1 kJ or less. Now we have expanded our services with a test unit that accommodates customers with much higher levels of impact requirements: the drop tower.
 Our drop tower is ideal for high-energy impact tests ranging from 1kJ to over 10 kJ. The structure of the drop tower stands 10 feet tall and has a frictionless rail system that supports drop masses of up to 1,000 lbs. Whether the goal is to make direct contact or to "shock" the sample, the drop tower can be used for a multitude of purposes.
Peng Lee is the MGA test engineer responsible for the drop tower test system. He has a background in dynamic test events including 208 simulations on the accelerator sled. He and his crew have conducted numerous military test applications such as the Mine Blast Simulation testing, and were even featured in the Army Times for their support with a blast-mitigation seat design competition.
Read More...
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In the United States, 1.4 million people sustain head trauma caused from accidents on a yearly basis. Direct and indirect medical costs are estimated at approximately $60 Billion as of 2000 [NINDS]. In many industries, impact testing is conducted to evaluate products from the standpoint of injury prevention in the event of head impact. In the auto-motive industry, Free Motion Headform testing is conducted to evaluate the upper sections of a vehicle's interior. In the aerospace industry, dynamic sled testing that simulates a crash event is typically employed to evaluate the head impact properties of the back of an airliner seat. In certain cases, a component-level test is used to evaluate the head impact protection properties in a commercial airliner environment.
Our Head Impact Criteria (HIC) test, also known as Delethalization testing, provides the aerospace industry with the opportunity to test their designs to help bring safer products to aviation. This particular test, now conducted at MGA's South Carolina lab, is used to demonstrate compliance with FAA regulation 25.785. The regulation simply states that a passenger making proper use of the equipment provided shall not receive serious injury as a result of emergency landing. This test simulates what an individual may encounter in the event of an emergency landing and impacting the seat back immediately in front of them.
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Up Close & Personnel
Meet Tom Young
 Tom Young is a technician at our South Carolina Laboratory. He has been with MGA for two years, and initially started his career at our Michigan facility. Tom has had the experience of working on many different projects and in various test groups. This has helped him to gain the knowledge and understanding of how we conduct our various testing projects.
Tom wears many hats at our SC facility. You can usually find him working hard on a test set-up, conducting monthly maintenance on our test equipment, or tidying up the laboratory for our next tour.
In his spare time Tom enjoys watching NASCAR. Since moving to South Carolina he has been able to visit several NASCAR facilities, and has seen hands-on how the cars are built and serviced. He also loves spending time with his nieces and nephews who have all had a chance to visit South Carolina and see where their uncle works. His niece even wrote a school report on MGA.
Lately, he has been spending his free time outside of work getting ready to move into his newly purchased house with his girlfriend Jennifer. Tom is a very hard worker; when it comes to MGA no task is ever too big for him to make sure it gets done. He has been a very good addition to the MGA family and because of his dedication and drive he will be a great asset for us for many years to come. | |
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Touching Base
with Dr. Patrick Miller - Akron, NY
A Baseball
Trip
Although there are many versions of a baseball road trip, my approach is to spend the days traveling to a different location each day to see a baseball game. Such a trip may result in a somewhat hectic few days, but it also provides an opportunity to visit different venues and experience their cultures.
With my wife and two relatives, we undertook a baseball trip during August. Because our schedule coincided with that of several teams, we decided to visit both major and minor league teams. The minor league teams are an important part of professional baseball.
Our first visit was to Toronto, Canada to see the Blue Jays play the Boston Red Sox. In spite of the terrible traffic and less than ideal parking, the evening was somewhat special beyond baseball. During the early part of the game, the area experienced a tornado with a severe rain storm. Of course, the Rogers Center has a retractable dome and the game went on with little notice of the weather. The game itself was rather mundane with Boston winning by a score of 8 to 1. What was really interesting, from an engineering standpoint, was the opening of the dome near the end of the game. It took about 30 minutes to move two large sections of the roof under the permanent outfield dome section.
The next night we were in Erie, PA, where the double A Erie Seawolves (Tigers) played the Akron, OH Aeros (Indians). The game was well played, with Akron winning 4 to 1. During the game, one could not help but wonder how many, if any, of these players would someday in the future face each other while playing for the respective parent teams, the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians.
It was then on to Cleveland, OH to see the Indians play the Seattle Mariners. The game was very well played with Cleveland winning 4 to 3 with a two out walk-off homer in the 11th inning. But, with this hit, the fireworks were just beginning. Each year, Cleveland the home of the National Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, puts on a Rock 'n Blast fireworks show following the game. The fireworks went on for almost an hour and the "blast" was choreographed to about twenty popular rock and roll songs.
The next day the Reds beat the Pirates 4 to 1 in Pittsburgh, PA. Again, the game was well played but what was more noteworthy was the home team gave out yellow batting helmets to all the children in attendance. It was gratifying to see so many youngsters wearing their newly acquired batting gear, as most will cherish the day for the rest of their lives. From Pittsburgh, we traveled to Scranton, PA to see the local team (Yankees) play Buffalo (Mets). The game was a pitcher's duel until the 9th inning when Buffalo scored 3 runs to win 4 to 1. An interesting feature here is to observe the skyline around the stadium as it is nestled within the Pocono Mountains. Read More... | |
