Lighter and safer large vehicles
Lightening the weight of vehicles and ensuring the safety and physical integrity of people are two important challenges that the design and manufacture of components for large vehicles (buses, construction vehicles, agriculture…) must face. combine. This is the case of the Body-in-White and the superstructure elements.
In the case of rollover accidents, although they are less frequent than other types of accidents, the risk they pose to people inside the vehicle is high. For this reason, the structure of the vehicle must help minimize the risk to people in this type of event.
The Rollover+ anti-roll structure (patent EP3842295A1), developed by AZTERLAN and Irizar S. Coop., combines these two values, strictly complying with the ECE-R66 (EU) and FMCSS 220 (USA) anti-roll regulations.
Body-in-White composed of a tipping safety ring made of high-strength steel tubular profiles with a tensile strength of more than 1,000 MPa.
It delays the appearance of buckling instabilities that, in addition, are displaced towards the roof of the vehicle, ensuring survival space inside it.
The innovative design allows compliance with the Force-Strain Curves specifications of the bending tests indicated in the ECE R66 and FMVSS 220 standards with thinner steel sheets and thinner sections than other materials.
Thanks to this, it is a lighter element that occupies less space in the superstructure of the vehicle.
This structural element has been developed following the AZTERLAN SLIMDOWN methodology (design + manufacturing) and can be applied both to passenger vehicles and other large vehicles such as work vehicles for agriculture or construction, among others, as well as to the development or optimization of all kinds of metal components.
“Solid state forming technologies gather a diverse group manufacturing means, materials and sectors with very different characteristics. However, they face common challenges associated with the incorporation of new materials, demanding production rates and increasing requests for the products they manufacture.
Developing components with advanced features, improving the useful life of manufacturing tools and addressing new markets and industrial applications are some of the areas through which we add value to the companies that design, manufacture and apply these components.”
