TY - JOUR

T1 - Development of a temperature controlled weathering test box to evaluate the life cycle behaviour of interior automotive components

AU - Zindove, Tumai

AU - Van Niekerk, Theo

AU - Wilm, Thomas

AU - Mercorelli, Paolo

N1 - Conference code: 13

PY - 2015/6/1

Y1 - 2015/6/1

N2 - It is the desire of every motorist to drive an exquisite vehicle, so it is very crucial for players in the automotive industry to keep on improving the quality of vehicles. While the interior components of a vehicle are the most critical components to the overall durability and comfort of a vehicle, it is important to guarantee the quality of these components. Vehicle interior components are usually made of plastic, leather, fabric and painted components which can all be prone to quick ageing. Fading, cracking and distortion are rife in vehicle interior components, and these effects are caused by natural factors such as radiation, moisture and extreme temperature. This phenomenon is known as "weathering". Tireless work has been done over the decades to carry out weathering tests on automotive components in order to address critical areas during the design process of the components. This paper explores one method of carrying out weathering tests on automotive dashboards in which a metallic testing box is used to simulate the conditions inside a vehicle. The main concern is that the temperature inside the test box can go above the necessary testing range which causes test samples to be destroyed before sufficient data is collected. A temperature control system was developed and installed to monitor the temperature inside the box. Weathering tests are being carried out in extremely harsh environments; therefore both the weathering test box and the temperature control system have to be robust. A solar-powered programmable logic controller (PLC), which has the ability to withstand harsh conditions, was used to monitor and control the system.

AB - It is the desire of every motorist to drive an exquisite vehicle, so it is very crucial for players in the automotive industry to keep on improving the quality of vehicles. While the interior components of a vehicle are the most critical components to the overall durability and comfort of a vehicle, it is important to guarantee the quality of these components. Vehicle interior components are usually made of plastic, leather, fabric and painted components which can all be prone to quick ageing. Fading, cracking and distortion are rife in vehicle interior components, and these effects are caused by natural factors such as radiation, moisture and extreme temperature. This phenomenon is known as "weathering". Tireless work has been done over the decades to carry out weathering tests on automotive components in order to address critical areas during the design process of the components. This paper explores one method of carrying out weathering tests on automotive dashboards in which a metallic testing box is used to simulate the conditions inside a vehicle. The main concern is that the temperature inside the test box can go above the necessary testing range which causes test samples to be destroyed before sufficient data is collected. A temperature control system was developed and installed to monitor the temperature inside the box. Weathering tests are being carried out in extremely harsh environments; therefore both the weathering test box and the temperature control system have to be robust. A solar-powered programmable logic controller (PLC), which has the ability to withstand harsh conditions, was used to monitor and control the system.

KW - Engineering

KW - Automobile manufacture

KW - Automotive industry

KW - Control systems

KW - Digital storage

KW - Embedded systems

KW - Radiation effects

KW - Solar energy

KW - Temperature control

KW - Weathering

KW - Automotive component

KW - Harsh environment

KW - Programmable logic controllers (PLC)

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84992511234&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.ifacol.2015.07.018

DO - 10.1016/j.ifacol.2015.07.018

M3 - Conference article in journal

VL - 48

SP - 117

EP - 122

JO - IFAC-PapersOnLine

JF - IFAC-PapersOnLine

SN - 2405-8971

IS - 4

T2 - 13th IFAC and IEEE Conference on Programmable Devices and Embedded Systems - PDES 2015

Y2 - 13 May 2015 through 15 May 2015

ER -