DESIGN: A design team from BMW in Landshut, working with engineers from JSP and other specialists, has achieved weight savings of 15 per cent and cost savings of 10 per cent in the construction of rear seat-backs for the BMW 5 Series. Manufacturing has just begun in Wackersdorf for delivery to BMW assembly plants in Germany and China.
The design project began in 2005 and series development of the new Sandwich Seatback started in July 2007. The team’s idea was to use an innovative three-part structure to create a lighter seatback, capable of passing statutory impact tests and BMW’s own test schedule: at its centre is a section of energy-absorbing ARPRO®, with an injection-moulded carrier facing the passengers and a layer of carpet facing the luggage compartment. All three components contribute to impact resistance.
The new sandwich seat back design offers great versatility to BMW who have integrated its manufacture into their cockpit production facility.
BMW calculate that the weight saving totals 1.2 kg on an already ‘weight-reduced’ component. Other benefits include a reduced number of components, the elimination of numerous process steps, and improved recyclability.
New disc magnet motors fit into the design trend of stepping up to closed loop performance while maintaining the cost advantage of stepper motor technology.
At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
A new battery design, which replaces lithium with abundant and low-cost elemental sulfur, is still in its nascent stages but shows real promise for giving batteries more energy potential.
The push to achieving more intelligent, integrated manufacturing is putting a strong focus on networking and connectivity as key enabling technologies.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
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