Various types of pressure measurement devices, with an inventory of more than 10,000 different components, are available from OMEGA. This vast range of products enables the company to provide a wide choice of solutions for all types of automotive needs. OMEGA offers excellent support and a range of solutions to the automotive customer. It satisfies the high demand for performance and quality required by the competitive automotive sector.
Pressure Measurement
Pressure Transducers
Adjustable fuel pressure is employed for fuel delivery systems in modern car engines. In this technique, pressure is adjusted so as to satisfy the varying power output of the engine. The amount of injected fuel in the cylinder is varied by manipulating the injector opening time and the fuel pressure. Such a system needs a good fuel pressure sensor, a high pressure fuel pump, and fuel metering valves. OMEGA’s robust pressure sensors are designed to operate in harsh environments.
The OMEGA PXM409 range of micro-machined silicon wet/wet differential pressure transducers measures the fuel injection pressure. These transducers are designed in rugged stainless steel to satisfy harsh environment conditions. Additionally, OMEGA's PX6000 series of compact pressure transducers are highly stable and reliable, and are well-suited for automotive testing purposes.
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Load Cells/Miniature Load Cells
The automotive industry increasingly depends on the reliability and build-quality of their cars. Testing of each car component is a part of the manufacturing process for manufacturers, and for this purpose, good-quality load cells are needed for various applications. OMEGA offers a wide range of load cells to satisfy automotive applications such as door opening and closing, small component testing, impact testing, structural testing, and others. The OMEGA range includes: miniature, canister, tension, compression, thin-beam, button, through-hole, and in-line load cells. Custom-made load cells are also designed for specific requirements.
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Strain Measurement
Force and Distance Measurement in a Test Bed
In the car development process, strain gauges are required to perform stress analysis in order to ensure structural integrity. A common test for car chassis and body panels is to measure the force and distance. Potentiometer strain gauge-based testing is used for this purpose where a custom-built test jig is employed to subject the car component to stress. Force and travel are measured, and both are logged employing potentiometer (resistance)-based sensors. Electrical resistance strain gauges are the most commonly used for this type of structural testing application. An electrical resistance strain gauge comprises of a wire conductor, joined to a carrier, which is fixed to the car body structure. The electrical resistance of the conductor is increased when it is subjected to stress and stretched. The connector contact resistance is the most important factor to obtain the required accuracy when measuring force and travel in an application.
Therefore, for such applications, OMEGA recommends that connectors with silver-plated contacts be employed so as to ensure a reliable low impedance connection to the data acquisition system. The iNet-400 provides an integrated transmitter supply as well as multichannel data acquisition capabilities, and hence, this data acquisition system was selected for the measurements. OMEGA also recommends Cu/Ni alloy as the material for the strain gauges for temperatures up to 300 °C, and platinum for higher temperatures.
Strain Gauges
OMEGA offers a number of strain gauge systems suitable for all automotive applications as well as reliable and compatible data acquisition systems for successful and cost-effective strain analysis experiments.
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Car Crash Simulations
Omega’s SGT range of strain gauges is preferred by companies for their car crash simulations because of their high flexibility and reliability. The data after the crash test is fed into the data acquisition systems for analysis, and the findings are offered to the car manufacturers.
It is necessary for automotive crash testing companies to accurately measure the impact of force on several locations of their crash test in order to conform to the European Testing Standards. One of the two methods of car crash testing is the Compact Impact Simulator (CIS) testing. This is a servo-hydraulic accelerator sled space-saving system for testing vehicle components including safety belts, seats, and air bags.
The second method is the Horizontal Impact Simulator testing. The simulator can test up to two test bodies to be hydraulically accelerated and either allowed or guided to fly freely into an airbag or any other type of structure desired.
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This information has been sourced, reviewed and adapted from materials provided by OMEGA Engineering Ltd.
For more information on this source, please visit OMEGA Engineering Ltd.