Inertial sensors for high-performing delivery vans

Vehicle components such as driver's doors, rear and sliding doors of delivery vans are exposed to extreme stress. A global manufacturer of popular vans, therefore, attaches great importance to ensuring long-term operational stability of its products. Accelerometers and gyroscopes made by ASC help to adequately design delivery vehicle components based on solid measurement data and to dampen vibrations through suitable measures and materials. This enables the automotive producer to live up to its claim of offering vehicles of outstanding quality and longevity.

Optimizing heavily stressed vehicle components

Imagine you are delivering parcels. Every few minutes, you pull open the door of your van and slam it shut again, with varying degrees of force or patience; on level, ascending or descending roads. Guiding the side door manually, too, generates different forces from jerking it open, accelerating and stopping it abruptly. All this hundreds of times a day, six days a week, 45 weeks or more a year.

Uneven road surfaces play a role, too. When you drive through a pothole, the vehicle jerks upwards at extreme speed. Parts twist, rub and bump against each other. It is no surprise, therefore, that original manufacturers put vehicles and component parts through their paces in elaborate test procedures. At this particular producer, inertial sensor systems from ASC are used in week-long endurance test set-ups in order to help with suitable dimensioning, material selection and damping on the basis of highly precise measurement data and to increase the operational stability of important vehicle components.

Precision sensors in continuous use

Testing a new vehicle door can take six weeks or more – in perpetual mode. Analog ASC 4415LN-025 accelerometers and ASC 271-300 gyroscopes are used to realistically depict various stress scenarios, intensively test the durability of different door designs and the effectiveness of diverse interventions to reduce stress and increase longevity.

ASC’s capacitive sensors are installed at selected measuring points. While the doors are opened and closed in a wide variety of ways, the sensors record exact accelerations, rotational movements, maximum speeds and reversal points. All other relevant forces are calculated from this. On the test bench, components are then subjected to the same forces and stress over an extended period.

Uniaxial accelerometers from the ASC 4415LN range are particularly suitable for these intensive test series. Their flat design simplifies quick installation – a fundamental advantage in test bench applications. With a measuring range of 2 to 400 g, they are based on proven MEMS technology and the capacitive measuring principle. ASC’s low-noise (LN) accelerometers provide an outstanding signal-to-noise ratio, essential for demanding measurements of smallest frequencies and amplitudes.

The uniaxial gyroscopes of the ASC 271 series consist of MEMS vibrating ring sensor elements whose micro-mechanical silicon structure makes them extremely insensitive to external shocks and vibrations. Therefore, they are ideal for use in harsh environments. They meet industrial grade requirements in terms of maximum achievable precision and offer an outstanding choice for dynamic roll, pitch and yaw angle measurements in automotive applications and beyond.

Robust, reliable, collaborative

Today, innovative sensor technology is not only used on van doors, but on many vehicle components. At least, wherever vibrations or rotational movements emerge or bear an effect.

The collaboration between ASC and the van manufacturer is running well. "We place great importance on really listening to the needs of our customers and on developing solutions that exactly meet those needs,” says Renate Bay, Managing Director of ASC Sensors. “After all, every sensor installation means a lot of work for the customer, so we focus closely on ensuring its benefits and outcomes."