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Case Study:
Paccar Technical Center, Mount Vernon, USA

Commercial vehicles are tested for ride and handling performance

Summary

As a multinational technology company, PACCAR manufactures heavy-duty, on- and off-road Class 8 trucks sold around the world under the Kenworth, Peterbilt, DAF and Foden nameplates. PACCAR maintains exceptionally high standards of quality for all of its products: they are well-engineered, are highly customized for specific applications, and sell in the premium segments of their markets, where they have a reputation for superior performance and pride of ownership.

As an industry leader, PACCAR contracted Advanced Measurements to develop and implement the Ride Quality Analyzer. The Ride Quality Analyzer is a specialized system for measuring and recording vibration energy during vehicle operations, and analyzing the data to report ride quality and exposure limits. Ride quality is commonly equated to operator comfort, but it also has a very strong influence on operator fatigue, particularly in operations such as long haul trucking.

Increased vehicle “roughness” leads to shorter time frames before an operator will become mentally and physically tired. Corporate and industry standards such as ISO 2631 are used to objectively measure and evaluate the amount of vibration energy to which a human operator can be exposed, before safe exposure limits are reached. The data is presented graphically so that it can be compared to operating limits in different frequency bands.

Details

Problem

The requirement was to develop a system using off-the-shelf components to record, display, and analyze the vibration characteristics of commercial vehicles.

• The system must be fully automatic to help ensure consistency, increase efficiency and reduce observer bias
• Data is collected from moving vehicles so a sturdy, but lightweight portable case is required
• Vehicle position and speed must be recorded so vibration data can be referenced to specific road conditions
• The system must be able to read and process data from earlier generation test systems

Solution

• Use a general-purpose data acquisition card for a modular, flexible design with capacity for expansion
• Custom LabVIEW software was developed to acquire, analyze and present the data:
  • Software logs time domain data to a disk for 3 to 8 accelerometer channels including vertical, lateral, and fore/aft orientations
  • System processes the data using power spectral density and octave analysis
  • System reports total computed energy as a ride quality index value for specific vehicle configuration and input conditions
  • System presents data graphically so you can compare it to operating limits in different frequency bands
• Signal conditioning modules and a PCMCIA data acquisition card provide measurement capabilities for accelerometers, as well as auxiliary channels such as temperature and pressure
• Anti-aliasing filters in a portable field case connect the accelerometers to the lap top computer
• Anti-aliasing filters in a portable field case connect the accelerometers to the lap top computer
• The Panasonic Toughbook laptop PC is suitable for field-testing use by design personnel, manufacturing, and operations staff

Ridemeter System and Sensors

About Paccar International

PACCAR International was established in 1972 to service the specialized needs of international markets for PACCAR trucks. In the ensuing years, the division further developed its expertise not only in specializing trucks, but also in shipping, and servicing the units sold internationally through an ever growing network of quality dealers. Today, it is putting new technology to use to improve communication links with its offices and dealers to enhance its service to the customer. All the while, it has never deviated from its goal of providing the best transport vehicle on, and off, the road, as well as the service to keep it going.

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