Faurecia: Getting to the bottom of car seat design

LMS Virtual.Lab Motion impacts the design process at Europes leading automotive seating manufacturer

Engineers at Faurecias Methods and Systems Research and Development department tackle some of the toughest mechanism design problems and work against the product development clock using LMS Virtual.Lab Motion simulation software to efficiently develop optimal seating mechanisms that balance safety, comfort, ergonomy, and most certainly, functionality.
Car seats, obviously the most direct contact between people and machine, help create an overall feel for the vehicle and important perception of brand value. Even as perspective buyers sit in a car on the showroom floor, seating systems give a first and lasting impression and they often are a factor in the purchase decision. So carmakers go all out to incorporate a range of seating functions made to impress including a mind-boggling array of convenient front-seat adjustments and controls for lower-back, shoulders, seat height, cushion angles, back tilt and body contour as well as retractable, adjustable and foldable rear seats. requirements from automakers, cost and weight must be minimized, and seat suppliers must work against the clock to create workable designs that meet platform and production requirements. To handle this type of complex mechanical design that typically balances hundreds of contact and friction points, seat engineers typically combine manual calculations, experience with past designs, and numerous build-and-test prototypes to develop new seating mechanisms. The process is time-consuming and typically results in a workable design, but not optimal performance due to time and budgetary constraints. France-based Faurecia is taking a huge step beyond these standard industry procedures. Europes leading automotive seating system manufacturer and one of the top three worldwide, the company also designs and manufactures door panels, instrument panels, acoustic packages and other assemblies for major automakers around the world. Customers include Audi, BMW, Cadillac, Peugeot, Renault, VW, Ford, Mercedes Benz and Toyota.

Quick, error-proof seat mechanism modeling

One recent project required kinematic and load calculations to be performed on a seat height adjuster mechanism controlled by the driver/passenger using a pump lever with a low operating torque for easy actuation. Pressing the lever rotates a gear set that moves the seat up and down. A rotating ring with fingers that engage slots on the perimeter of the assembly serves as a clutch that holds the gear in place after adjustment. Inside the ring, a rotating cam moves ball bearings that compress a set of springs, creating a return torque that retracts the pump lever into its original position. The design is a compromise of three important functions of the mechanism: the fail-safe ability of the system to stay locked into position during a crash, the pump force needed to actuate the

Buried under fabric and foam

Hidden beneath layers of cushion fabric and foam padding are some of a vehicles most complex mechanisms. Gears, levers, cams, ratchets and other parts often must operate with the precision of a Swiss watch while being able to lock into place instantly for crash protection. To meet the strict technical

Key to the successful model was LMS Virtual.Labs ability to represent nonpermanent contact between parts. In this case, the height adjuster mechanism has 18 contact points represented between the cam, ring and bearings.

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The design of seating mechanisms can be significantly improved and performed much more efficiently using LMS Virtual Lab Motion.
Dr. Tanguy Moro, Fauricia, R&D engineer

LMS Virtual.Lab analyzed the kinematic motion of the backrest and related loads as well as a range of spring torques. This determined relative movements and loading due to contact and friction between different mechanism parts, especially between the backrest fabric and seat cushion.

mechanism and the return torque of the ball-and-spring assembly of the command device, explained R&D engineer Dr. Tanguy Moro. In particular, the role of friction between the bearings, cam, ring and springs is critical in providing sufficient return torque for the lever. In this study, a virtual model of the mechanism was created in LMS Virtual.Lab Motion by importing data from CAD in this case, the CATIA V5 system used by Faurecia design engineers. Because of the tight CATIA integration, data on part geometries, assembly joints and kinematic constraints was transferred directly into LMS Virtual.Lab Motion with a single click of a button without conversion. Modeling was quick, straightforward and much less error-prone. Key to the successful model was LMS Virtual.Labs ability to represent nonpermanent contact between parts an important feature since contact plays a critical role in determining friction between so many moving parts. In this case, the height adjuster mechanism has 18 contact points represented between the cam, ring and bearings.

Modeling these contacts in LMS Virtual.Lab Motion lets seat engineers accurately predict normal and tangential forces on these components.

Finding the counterintuitive solution

Using optimization capabilities within LMS Virtual.Lab, a series of design of experiment (DOE) simulations were then automatically performed on the mechanism model based on boundary conditions and constraints entered by Dr. Moro. By automatically running simulations and comparing results for a set of numerous different combinations of mechanism design parameters particularly friction coefficients between the various parts the software performed a sensitivity analysis identifying the variables with the greatest impact on mechanism performance and the trade-offs necessary for an optimal design. Results were mapped on a response surface plot to visualize the influence of these design variables. The sensitivity analysis showed that the coefficients of friction between the cam, the bearings and the ring are not the

main parameters which determine the return torque of the assembly and the retraction of the pump lever. The LMS Virtual.Lab sensitivity analysis found a solution that was not intuitively obvious and totally different from what the design engineers expected, noted Dr. Moro. By focusing on bearing friction, they were barking up the wrong tree.

Using LMS Virtual.Lab to blend CAE and test

On another project, LMS Virtual. Lab simulation was used to study the backrest fold-down capability to increase rear-vehicle storage capacity. Dynamic simulations were also used to study the real-life behavior of the car seat under actual passenger seating conditions. Currently under development, this Easy Break function relies on springs at the lever joints to help actuate the seat with minimal applied pressure. The springs must provide enough torque to overcome friction and easily fold down the seat without imposing an impact danger to a child or pet, said Dr. Moro. The system absolutely must provide interference-free motion

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with a high level of control throughout the entire fold-down process. LMS Virtual.Lab analyzed the kinematic motion of the backrest and related loads as well as a range of spring torques. A critical aspect of the simulation was determining relative movements and loading due to contact and friction between different mechanism parts, especially between the backrest fabric and seat cushion. Frictional losses in such areas were determined empirically and integrated into the unified virtual model using LMS Virtual. Lab for blending actual test and CAE representations. In this way, the study determined an optimal spring torque, which was validated by experimental tests on a hardware prototype.

1-2-3 model template for future designs

More broadly, this fold-down function will hopefully be the basis for a generic backrest model used by designers for numerous future seating systems. With this model, designers simply enter key parameters into a simulation template instead of recreating models from scratch each time. This template workflow is possible thanks to LMS Virtual.Lab Motions ability to automate repeated processes with macros written in VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) scripting for parameterized models. Result postprocessing would also be automated; as would the optimization of mechanism designs according to target requirements.

Simulation and optimization based on LMS Virtual.Lab would have a tremendous impact on automotive seating system development and a deep understanding of the complex mechanical behavior of these systems, said Dr. Moro. The design of seating mechanisms can be significantly improved and performed much more efficiently using LMS Virtual.Lab Motion. More importantly, designs developed in virtual space can be optimized beyond the capability of manual processes. From a business perspective, the implications are staggering, allowing a supplier to increase project throughput and respond to automaker orders much faster with better products than was ever before possible.

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