Knobs and Buttons Tension Torsion Testing

While the world is moving towards touch technology where we interact with swipes, knobs and buttons are still very common in the interior of automobiles.  Knobs and buttons enable the driver to keep their eyes on the road and use haptic sensing to change the radio, switch on the air conditioning, turn on their seat warmer etc. Haptic sensing refers to a user applying a force or touch to an object and that object applying a force, vibration, click, or motion back to the user. For example, when a driver turns their windshield wipers on there is a mechanical stop accompanied with a click that notifies the driver of the different windshield wiper level. 

tHE CHALLENGE

For automobile manufacturers, quantifying the force and torque to click, twist, press, and pull the various parts in the interior of a vehicle is an important measure. Irregularly shaped parts in the automobile's interior such as steering components, windshield wiper control levers, and dashboard knobs are often small and challenging to grip. In addition to this, the low forces and torque required to twist, press, push, and pull various panel parts also can be challenging.
our Solution

Instron offers a range of t-slot tables and component test plates for both single and dual column test frames for clamping and fixturing difficult to grip components. In addition to this, manual screw side action grips are ideal to use because the grip face can be offset in order to keep forces within the center of the load string. A variety of jaw faces can also be interchanged to provide an optimized gripping surface.

Low force and low torque measurements are especially difficult to measure using bi-axial load cells. Bi-axial load cells measure both axial load and torque. Noise from a load cell generally comes from two areas: the load cell design and the signal conditioning electronics. The design of a biaxial load cell is considerably more complicated than a standard axial-only or torque-only load cell as there is cross interference between channels. Instron offers load cells ranging in capacity.

   
Torsion Add-On Button and Switch Testing
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