Strategy and numerical modelling of a vehicle seat with a lightweight sandwich design for large-scale production

Authors

  • Song Ren Department of Lightweight Structures and Polymer Technology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Reichenhainer Straße 31/33, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany
  • Kay Schäfer Department of Lightweight Structures and Polymer Technology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Reichenhainer Straße 31/33, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany
  • Daisy Nestler Department of Lightweight Structures and Polymer Technology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Reichenhainer Straße 31/33, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany
  • Dominik Krumm Department of Sports Equipment & Technology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Reichenhainer Straße 70, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany
  • Stephan Odenwald Department of Sports Equipment & Technology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Reichenhainer Straße 70, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany
  • Lothar Kroll Department of Lightweight Structures and Polymer Technology, Chemnitz University of Technology, Reichenhainer Straße 31/33, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany
  • Marc Fleischmann Professorship Textile Technologies, Chemnitz University of Technology, Reichenhainer Straße 31/33, 09126 Chemnitz, Germany

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21935/tls.v1i2.96

Abstract

A lightweight vehicle front seat with a sandwich structure, which consists of skin layers made of glass fibre-reinforced thermoplastic prepregs and a core consisting of a warp knitted spacer fabric filled with polyurethane foam, was developed. The strength test simulations of the seat structure were performed using a Finite Element Analysis approach. The results validate the new sandwich design of the vehicle seat with its adequate strength under a static load. With the innovative lightweight design, the mass of the seat was reduced up to 57 % in comparison to the reference seat from conventional mass production. In addition, a manufacturing process was advised for a large-scale production of the lightweight design within one workstation.

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Published

2018-03-22