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News and Press: Company News
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[10/08/2007] |
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Rexroth Case History: New simulation rig helps “tighten” racecar performance
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Bosch Rexroth worked with Livingston & Haven's innovative associate engineering division, Accelerating Developments International (ADI), to develop the K-RIG and the KD-RIG, the most up-to-date vehicle suspension and chassis diagnostic testing equipment in the motorsport industry today.
In today’s highly competitive world of racing it takes more than driver skill and engine/drive train performance to cross the finish line first. Suspension and chassis design can be the deciding factor in winning the race.
Until recently, fine-tuning a racecar’s chassis and suspension was done at the track through a process of trial-and-error. Livingston & Haven, a leading industrial technology provider with extensive experience supplying the automotive industry, partnered with ADI in developing these semi-dynamic – and they counted on Bosch Rexroth to supply the right power and motion control solutions to power both rigs.
L&H and ADI developed two versions of its chassis and suspension testing systems. The first version, called the K-RIG, is a four-post system that uses the Rexroth AA10VSO hydraulic pump, and four 4WREE6 proportional directional valves and CDT4 cylinders in each leg of the rig to lift the vehicle and provide the independent movement that simulates changes in the road surface. A Rexroth VT-HACD force/position digital hydraulic controller controls the motion sequences.
Vehicles are driven on to the rig, so that each wheel rests on one post or “tower.” The car is held rigid via tie-downs between the rig frame and the car chassis. The vehicle is then lifted high enough off the floor that technicians can view the underside of the car during testing.
To test, each corner of the rig can be actuated – independently, in combination, or all four synchronously -- to measure the effects of different forces on the position of suspension components such as springs and tie rods.
The newest version of the testing system is called the KD-RIG, which uses a combination of Bosch Rexroth linear Ball Rails®, ball screws and EcoDrive servo motors and drives for each leg of the rig to provide the movement simulation.
“Simulation is the key - the watchword of the day at NASCAR right now,” explained Clifton Vann IV, president of Livingston & Haven. “The new generation of crew chiefs and crews have gone from an attitude of ‘feels good, let’s see how it works’ to a different mindset – they want to see the data.”
Using the rig offers major savings: race teams can gather more data about chassis and suspension setup without the time and expense of taking the vehicles to the track. It also reduces risks – safety risks for the driver, and extremely expensive risks of damaging the car in testing.
Vann also said that bringing both rigs to market was made much easier by the engineering support and high quality of all the Bosch Rexroth products used.
“One reason we partnered with Bosch Rexroth is that they have the crucial drive and control components we needed,” he said. “We really appreciated the innate compatibility of the Rexroth products across all the technologies they offer. Because they have such a large breadth of products, we were able to work with them as the main automation supplier to build the whole thing.”
Download the complete application story from the Bosch Rexroth Success Stories web page.
Bosch Rexroth AG, part of the Bosch Group, achieved sales of approximately $5.7 billion (4.6 billion Euro) in 2005 with over 28,200 employees. Under the brand name of Rexroth the company offers all drive and control technologies, from mechanics, hydraulics and pneumatics to electronics and associated service. Over 500,000 customers worldwide utilize Rexroth’s unique technological know-how to implement their innovative and future-oriented systems and machine concepts. The global player, represented in over 80 countries, is an extensive supplier of components and systems for industrial and factory automation and mobile applications. For more information visit www.boschrexroth-us.com.
For more information, please contact
Godfrey Public Relations
Todd Walter
40 North Christian Street
Lancaster, PA 17602
Telephone (717) 393-3831 ext. 133
Fax (717) 393-1403
twalter@godfrey.com
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