Intelligent breakage monitoring in automotive driving simulator

Smart igus e-chains® reliably guide energy, data and media in highly dynamic applications

Moving driving simulators have been used in the German automotive industry for over 35 years. The world's most modern driving simulator now boasts the following key data: 2.2 MW of electric drive power, "22 tons of agility" and a total value of over 25 million euros.

In this simulator, every movement depends on uninterrupted communication between the simulator’s control systems and the vehicle hardware being tested. Any failure in the supply lines, be it power, data, cooling, or pneumatics, would halt testing instantly and risk costly damage. For this reason, the simulator team needed a system that could not only withstand extreme dynamics but also detect early signs of mechanical stress before a failure occurred.

Profile

What was needed: P4.1 rol e-chain®, i.Sense EC.B for breakage monitoring, triflex® R TRE multi-axis cable carrier, and chainflex® cables.
Requirements: Ability to handle high dynamics of up to 10 m/s with an enormous load, while providing the safe guidance of power, data and other media in one, system with intelligent accident protection.
Industry: automotive manufacturing
Success for the customer: An increase in plant safety and availability; complete project implementation from a single source; smart early-warning system.

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Problem

The simulator is primarily used for testing and validating driving dynamics, operating and display concepts, vehicle assistants and autonomous driving. The vehicle's control equipment is connected to the driving simulator's computer control system via data lines. This computer calculates the car's driving behavior over 1,000 times per second and issues the corresponding commands to the mechatronics. It moves the system at a maximum speed of ten meters per second (36 km/h).

With its 360° screen, high-speed electric drive and twelve-meter rail for "air-bearing motion", the plant is one of the most powerful systems in the automotive industry. Therefore, it is necessary to safely guide and protect all required cables for the power supply, control system, network technology as well as cooling water and pneumatic hoses in the most efficient way possible.

Solution

Cable carriers supply energy, data and media, all the while remaining in constant motion. To further increase plant safety and availability, those responsible decided to install new igus® P4.1 rol e-chains®, which including a breakage detection system. Should an unforeseen difficulty arise during actual operation in such a highly dynamic application, this can be identified directly with the unique breakage detection, i.Sense EC.B, one of igus's smart plastic solutions. This detects chain breaks at an early stage and avoids high costs due to downtime of the entire plant.

Additionally, a triflex® R system protects these cables in areas where multi-dimensional motion is required. These dresspacks ensure cables and hoses are safely guided through complex movements, reducing wear and tear and minimizing maintenance costs.

The Decisive Added Value

In the end, the latest generation of e-chain series P41.80 and new chainflex® cables were used, which meet all EMC safety requirements as well as standards and directives such as UL, VDE, CSA, Profibus etc. As the existing guide trough was also specially manufactured and adapted to the tight installation space ten years ago and was still in very good condition, those responsible decided to replace only the damping profiles. In the new P41.80 system, the upper and lower run are offset one above the other. This ensures smoother running and ideal noise insulation. In addition to comb-like glide bars, the system also has tribologically optimized plastic rollers, which significantly increase the durability of the chains. With this solution, we were able to offer our customer everything from a single source: from project planning, delivery and installation through to maintenance.

The cooperation with the Mercedes-Benz Group was excellent and it was simply great fun to be able to support such a fantastic and exciting project from the very beginning. And, of course, it also makes me a little proud to ensure greater safety for such a renowned company.