Testing automobile seats

Automobile seats are exposed to continuous loads during everyday use. The quality of such seats shows in perfectly matched components and high-quality fastening technology, including welded, riveted, screwed and bolted joints. Zwick has developed a special flexible testing system for vehicle seats to ensure optimum quality for both new developments and series production.

Zwick’s new testing system is designed for optimization and assurance of automobile seat and seat-frame quality and has as its basis a 100 kN Allround-Line materials testing machine. A cable attached to the crosshead of the machine is connected to the seat frame via two deflection sheaves. The sheaves are mounted on T-slotted platforms, allowing their position to be varied as required to obtain a different load angle on the seat. The seat frame is mounted on a platform which can be tilted through 45°.

Another special feature of this testing system is that the load cell is mounted directly on the attachment to the seat, rather than within the testing machine, avoiding distortions of test results caused, for example, by the weight of the cables or friction in the deflection sheaves.  A special hook is fastened directly to the load cell and can be attached to any part of the seat frame requiring to be tested. A balancer is used to hold the load cell at a convenient working height, allowing the hook to be attached to the seat quickly and easily. During the test, deformation of the seat frame under tensile load is measured via a draw-wire displacement sensor. Operation of the testing system and evaluation of the test results is via testXpert II testing software.

More information about Automotive Testing.