CAD program simplifies interior ergonomics; a software bundle from Engineering Solid Solutions Inc. claims three months and up to $1 million savings on interior design work

Automotive Industries, May, 1998 by Gerry Kobe

A software bundle from Engineering Solid Solutions Inc. claims three months and up to $1 million savings on interior design work.

The key to staying ahead of the competition is simple: Obsolete your own product before somebody else does. And obviously, the management of Engineering Solid Solutions Inc. (ESS) in Dearborn, Mich., understands and embraces the concept.

ESS established itself as a design and engineering consultancy in 1994, with an impressive client list that includes Chrysler, General Motors, Bosch, Siemens, Delphi, GE Plastics and other automotive-related fines. And one of the services for which it became well-known is interior packaging -- a time-consuming discipline typically done on paper using engineering calculations and anthropometric data, followed by physical mock-ups and evaluations.

Although ESS cut its teeth as an engineering service, President Fred Karam knew that its real product was the knowledge it gained with every program. As a result, the company decided to bundle its expertise into a software package, offering automakers and suppliers the option of buying its experience outright.

The result is a computer program called Automated Vehicle Interior Packaging Process (AVIPP). It was initially designed as an add-on program to ESS' in-house CAD software, Pro/ENGINEER from Parametric Technology Corp.

The program has however, also been designed to work through an IGES translation of other CAD data for companies that may not have seats in Pro/ENGINEER.

The AVIPP program automates ergonomic testing of a vehicle interior and, according to Karam, offers productivity improvements on the order of 3,00096. AVIPP works within a fully parameterized model of a basic ear, interior and its occupants, taking into consideration the physical limitations and range of those occupants. The program also balances about 50 ergonomic regulations and equations from the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) and the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS).

If an interior is already finished or is well along in process, engineers can feed the information to AVIPP either in the form of a Pro/Engineer model or an IGES translation of its resident CAD data. The program will then analyze the design and produce a graphic that indicates, at a glance, where problems with reach or vision are occurring.

By creating a color band in the graphic, the program visually indicates the range of the 95th percentile, making it easy to see if the design is adequate, merely by checking if reach or vision concerns fall within the colored band.

A more effective way of using AVIPP is to use the software as a guide before the interior is even started. Users will be prompted to provide very basic information such as whether the vehicle is a sports car, minivan or truck, right-hand drive or left and number of occupants. Then the engineer will be prompted for the location of the occupants' hip and heel, and the vertical distance between them.

The software will then suggest optimal seat back angles, steering wheel position and ergonomically acceptable zones for components, taking into consideration SAE and FMVSS data.

One of the real advantages of this approach is that it allows automakers to make good feasibility decisions, before a team gets attached to an interior that looks good but is uncomfortable.

Karam is confident his software can benefit any interior design process, noting that a second program specifically for seat design is now under development.

ESS will also do software customizing, training and annual updating to keep the program current with changing motor vehicle safety standards.