CRASH TESTING IN U.K.

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31658, 19 April 1968, Page 16

CRASH TESTING IN U.K.

A WHOLE new science is growing up as a result of increased knowledge of what happens to car occupants in an accident. Manufacturers and motorists are becoming conscious that many injuries and deaths can be prevented by new designs and manufacturing techniques. Motoring safety involves responsibility. The manufacturer owes it to his customer to design cars which include the maximum number of safety features, combined with inherent safety. The motorist owes it to himself and society to make maximum use of the safety features which the manufacturer provides. The Motor Industry Research Association at Nuneaton, England, has recently

added an important new test facility to the services it already offers the British motor industry a vehicle-impact testing rig. The new rig is capable of carrying out the crash testing which is essential for certification for export to certain markets, such as the United States. PRECISION Up to now, crash testing has been somewhat haphazard and it has been almost impossible to simulate precise conditions of impact time after time. Methods used throughout the world have included radio control, catapult launchings, and even dropping vehicles from high buildings. Reproducing the same conditions exactly has. almost always, been reduced to a matter of chance. As a result of their experience of crash testing, the M.I.R.A. has developed what it considers the most accurate method available a controlled guidance system which tows a test vehicle along a rail to an impact point. So the rig can be housed in a building, an unusual electric system of propulsion for the test-vehicle trolley has has been adopted. This involves the use of a new type of electric motor, the linear motor. The linear electric motor has been described as an >pcned-out conventional electric motor. Normally the centre of the motor rotates and drives a shaft, within a magnetic field. In the linear motor the magnetic field is placed ahead of the rotor. When a current is induced in

the field it causes the rotor unit to drive along the reactor or track. The rotor or moving primary as it is called is in fact a trolley which runs along the track. The trolley tows the vehicle under test along the track, finallly detaching itself 10 feet from the impact point. The trolley and track have been so designed that the trolley passes under the impact point, a 100-ton steelfaced, concrete block, and is stopped by nylon ropes. ACCURATE ‘ The rig ensures accurate control and continuous testing can be carried out at 30 to 31 m.p.h., although the rig has been designed to reproduce speeds up to 50 m.p.h. The whole test rig can be supplemented by electronic equipment and cameras. Anthropometric dummies with electric sensors, together with accelerometers and event markers can be used to record possible injuries, degrees of crash damage and various other information about the impact.. The test facility is intended to show the effects of head-on collisions, the most serious form of car accident, but it has also been designed to ensure the ultimate in safety for those conducting the tests. Particularly dangerous areas are all separately locked and the keys must be placed in a control console interlock system before the main electrical supply can be operated. Other safety features include limit switches to ensure that the current is off before impact, or to cut it off if there is debris on the track, warning lamps, and a

manual override to stop the test. The whole rig is covered with fire extinguishing equipment to flood the transformer sub-station, pit and crash areas if necessary.