Safety: New ESP sensor clusters

There is a new material for protecting electronic devices in your car:

For the housing of their ESC sensor cluster, Continental Automotive Systems uses glass-reinforced, heat-stabilised Zytel ST (Super-Tough) nylon, developed by DuPont. "In the past we used aluminium for such housings", says Kai Allissat, manager, Program Planning & Control ESC Sensors, in Continental's Automotive Systems, "but to save costs we looked for alternatives. Our new design is made of two halves injection-moulded from heat-stabilised Zytel SST (Stiff-Super-Tough) nylon reinforced with 25 % glass fibre. With this material we were able to cut the housing's manufacturing costs by 40 % compared to metal."

Mounted centrally in a vehicle, the new plastics housing holds the yaw rate sensor, the lateral acceleration sensors and a CPU for internal preprocessing, and a CAN (Controller Area Network) interface which transmits the collected data to the electronic braking and safety system. The cluster design and the housing material isolate the sensor module from mechanical shock and vibration and shield it from electromagnetic influences.

The precise detection of a vehicle's movements through measurement of the inertia values of yaw rate and lateral acceleration is the basis of modern electronic vehicle stabilisation systems and for roll-over protection, active steering and airbag systems. That is why Continental chose a modular design for the cluster, which allows for incorporation of other sensor functions which may be needed in future. "Based on the successful use of Zytel SST for the current sensor cluster, there is every reason to believe that the next generation will have a housing of the same high-impact DuPont nylon", says Allissat.

Related news: Foursprung, safety

Source: all4engineers

Read more

Read what others are saying about it: Bloglines, Feedster, Technorati