Automotive test rig manufacturer sets out to improve NASCARs standard chassis test stand with improved dynamic capabilities and reduced maintenance.
　　Programmable multi-axis motion controllers are revolutionizing the performance tuning of mechanical systems because they can simulate real-world stresses on those systems. They can "play back" a sequence of realistic motion stimuli in a laboratory environment and enable measurements to be taken that would be difficult and time consuming to get in the real world.
　　Consider the task of trying to measure how a race car chassis flexes in response to road and aerodynamic forces on the track. There are many different wheel positions that occur as a vehicle goes into corners and its weight transfers between the tires. Front end camber can change, and tires may "bump steer" at different places on the track. Not only is it extremely hard to take measurements of the forces being applied to the chassis while the vehicle is moving, available track time is limited. If a racing team could test and tune its car’s chassis and suspension responsiveness off the track, it could optimize the car’s performance more precisely and gain a competitive advantage.
　　For yearswww.cechina.cn, teams have sought ways to test their chassis adjustments with the car on a test stand. The first such system to be developedwww.cechina.cn, called the "K-Rig" (K for "kinematics"), entered use some four years agowww.cechina.cn, and has become the standard for National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) teams.
　　The K-Rig uses linear hydraulic actuators to apply forces independently to the wheels. It proved effectivewww.cechina.cn, but hard to tune precisely, and it was hard to use for dynamically testing car-body torsional characteristics.
　　With these early-system limitations in mindCONTROL ENGINEERING China版权所有, Accelerating Developments International Inc. (ADI) of Concord, N.C., one of the original K-Rig suppliers, set out to design an upgrade to the system which it called the KD-Rig (D for "dynamics"). This upgrade would improv