Search Results

To date, Federal Mogul Tri-Way Ltd. has relied on past experience to design machinery, a system of belts or gears providing torsion and thrust to cutting tools. If a shaft within a spindle system is not properly sized, it can deflect under the action of the tangential cutting effort resulting in a poor finish of the machined component. Of even more importance, if rotation of the tool approaches a natural frequency of the shaft, deflections of the spindle under load amplify. In fact, Tri-Way has at instances replaced shafts during trials, causing delays in delivering machinery. On the other hand, over-designing spindles cost money. A literature search by the Canadian Institute for System Technologies Information did not locate tools to help Tri-Way optimize spindles. The company has turned to Windsor Industrial Development Laboratory to develop and validate a computer model to simulate the static and dynamic behavior of spindle systems.

Trends in the automotive industry to develop better products, faster and at a lower cost create a need for simulation rather than testing prototypes. Modeling requires a laboratory to characterize rubber and high-end software to carry out nonlinear analysis typical to rubber applications (contact, large deformations and hyper-elastic material response). This paper describes some tests on rubber necessary to building quasi-static models. It also presents several analytical studies WIDL completed on behalf of molders of rubber components for the automotive industry. Computer predictions were within 5% of test results in most cases presented.

This paper summarizes a study aiming at saving weight on the 4.3 L rocker cover Versatech Sealing Systems (VSS) molds for the General Motors (GM) Vortec engine. The search consisted of characterizing rubbers and plastic in the assembly and modeling via Finite Element Analysis (FEA). The paper presents aspects to testing and simulation in optimizing a full sealing system. It also lays tests geared at validating the analytical work.