Typical cruising altitudes for business and commercial aircraft are up to 50,000 feet or more. Occupants could not survive in this environment without pressure inside the aircraft being controlled to maintain oxygen concentrations consistent with those at lower altitudes. A cabin pressure warning system typically lets pilots and crews know when pressure becomes dangerously low, but these can malfunction or be accidentally switched off. The result can be insidious and deadly, as those on the plane become slowly incapacitated by hypoxia — oxygen deprivation — without being aware of it.

Cockpit Module Analysis Using Poroelastic Finite Elements

2014-01-207806/30/2014

Strategies for weight reduction have driven the noise treatment advanced developments with a great success considering the already mastered weight decreases observed in the last years in the automotive industry. This is typically the case for all soft trims parts. In the early 2010's a typical european B-segment car soft trims weights indeed 30 to 40% less than in the early 2000's years. The main driver behind such a gap has been to combine insulation and absorption properties on a single part while increasing the number of layers. This product-process evolution was conducted using a significant improvement in the simulation capacities. In that sense, several studies presenting very good correlation results between Transmission Loss measurements and finite elements simulations on dashboard or floor insulators were presented. One may consider that those kinds of parts have already achieved a considerable improvement in performance. But the challenge of weight reduction continues due to

Rondeau, Jean-Francois, Dejaeger, Ludovic, Guellec, Antoine, Caillet, Arnaud, Bischoff, Lars

Development of Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU) Material

2014-01-102704/01/2014

The enhancement of material durability is a key development theme for automakers since customers own cars longer. Research is being carried out to extend the lifetime of current thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU) materials by enhancing hydrolysis resistance while maintaining excellent low-temperature properties and scratch resistance. This development of enhanced hydrolysis resistance without degrading the melting properties of the material was achieved by introducing a new resin structure that is resistant to the invasion of water, acid, alkalis, and other substances causing hydrolysis.

Taniguchi, Daisuke, Tokuhara, Wataru, Miyake, Yuichi

Implementing Simulation Driven Product Development for Thermoforming of an Instrument Panel

2013-01-064204/08/2013

In this case study, the thermoforming of an automotive instrument panel is considered. The effect of different oven settings on the final material distribution is studied using structural FEA simulation. The variable thickness distribution of the thermoformed part is mapped onto a structural model using a new simple mapping algorithm, and a structural FEA simulation is carried out to examine the final warpage of the instrument panel. The simulation predicts that the minimum thickness of the formed part can be increased by 10% by optimizing the oven settings. Although the optimized process uses oven settings that are less uniform than the baseline settings, the model indicates that warpage experienced by the optimized part will be less than that of the baseline case.

Metwally, Hossam, Ding, Peiran

Flight Deck Environment

ARP4101/4A (Current)07/31/2012

This document is intended to specify the environmental conditions for transport aircraft necessary to permit the crew to perform their duties and functions in comfort, with minimum fatigue and no distraction. Environmental conditions should cause no short or long-term effects deleterious to health or physical well-being, nor significantly impair ability to perform normal or abnormal crew functions.

S-7 Flight Deck Handling Qualities Stds for Trans Aircraft

Application of Human Factors and Cognitive Neuroscience Principles in the Design of Vehicle Information Displays

11VCV4060112/12/2011

The present paper provides a general review of trends in vehicle information display designs, specifically dashboards, noting that the purpose of those dashboard displays is to provide information that allows for safe and lawful operation of those vehicles. Presenter William H. Havins, Ph.D., Havins Designs

H., William

Instrument and Cockpit Lighting for Commercial Transport Aircraft

AS264E (Historical)11/16/2011

The desired system for aircraft instrument panel and cockpit lighting is one that will furnish light of adequate intensity and distribution under all conditions of external lighting so that the crew may read instrumentation, placards, check lists, manuals, maps, instrument color coding, distinguish controls, etc., without undue interference with their vision outside of the aircraft.

A-20A Crew Station Lighting

Advancing optical films

11AEID0920_0109/20/2011

Researchers look to technology gains made in LCD displays for TVs and other devices to improve the functionality of displays inside vehicles. Demand for optimum brightness, better visibility, and lower power consumption for illuminating automotive instrument panels and displays has been steadily increasing. Printed clear or matte plastic films have been used to provide necessary local diffusion of light to hide the lamps and structural details behind the display while transmitting light where illumination is needed. However, such films may be limited in meeting the necessary functionality without additional lighting and surface treatments to reach adequate brightness and contrast levels. Recent developments of advanced display films for the LCD TV and monitor markets enabled the extension of certain light-management capabilities of those films to automotive displays and IPs. Researchers from SABIC Innovative Plastics and GE's China Technology Center addressed the introduction of

Costlow, Terry

Boundary Condition Effect on the Correlation of an Acoustic Finite Element Passenger Compartment Model

2011-01-0506

04/12/2011

Three different acoustic finite element models of an automobile passenger compartment are developed and experimentally assessed. The three different models are a traditional model, an improved model, and an optimized model. The traditional model represents the passenger and trunk compartment cavities and the coupling between them through the rear seat cavity. The improved model includes traditional acoustic models of the passenger and trunk compartments, as well as equivalent-acoustic finite element models of the front and rear seats, parcel shelf, door volumes, instrument panel, and trunk wheel well volume. An optimized version of the improved acoustic model is developed by modifying the equivalent-acoustic properties. Modal analysis tests of a vehicle were conducted using loudspeaker excitation to identify the compartment cavity modes and sound pressure response to 500 Hz to assess the accuracy of the acoustic models. The optimized acoustic model is also coupled with a structural

Lee, Sangyun, Park, Kwangseo, Sung, Shung H., Nefske, Donald J.