Transportation Forces On Vehicles and Products New Light on Old Problems
Measuring transportation forces in Asia.
Diagnosing problems associated with transportation vehicles themselves, or the shipping of products, packages or equipment has always been a challenge. The relationship between geographic location, forces and stresses associated with the real world transportation environment have historically been difficult to sync in real time. Advances in sensor and software technology, combined with SES’s uniquely broad instrumentation experience, make it much easier to collect this critical data.
'Location' Was the Missing Link Even as measurement capabilities improved, the missing link in field measurement systems has often been location. Where did the abusive event occur? Micro-scale GPS changed everything. In addition to being able to quantify the forces acting to damage the vehicle or goods during shipment, the location of the event can be accurately pinpointed along the route. These data can be viewed in near-real time via direct cellular link or recorded for later analysis. Service truck route (in red).
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Vehicle route (in red). Vector Sum PSD
figure 1 (above, right): Data collected during actual service use is invaluable to establish performance requirements, validate analyses and establish warranty programs. SES brings all the pieces together to satisfy these needs. Figure 1 illustrates a vehicle that was custom instrumented and operated in a suburban environment. The project's objective was to characterize vibration forces and shock events on various components in the vehicle, and log the specific location of their occurrence for detailed analysis at a later date. An example involving the monitoring of shock events on products being shipped via rail is shown in figure 2. Data gathered from this effort was used to negotiate warranty responsibility with the carrier and provide performance requirements for the development of improved packaging.
Frequency (Hertz)
The integration of sensors, digital data acquisition and GPS enables manufacturers to: • Optimize product, package and equipment design by better defining the transportation environment • Diagnose and solve transportation-related problems • Settle disputes in contract carrier situations • Provide data to help establish product life and warranty
Transportation Force Experts Stress Engineering Services (SES) has a long history of developing and configuring measurement systems for real world applications in the transportation environment. We specialize in raising the bar of what is possible, both by developing custom systems, and by integrating the latest sensor technology into “mixed measurement” environments.
figure 2: Products and equipment shipped by box car.