VI-grade today announced that Applus+ IDIADA has chosen the newly developed motion platform DiM250 (Driver-in-Motion) designed by VI-grade and engineered and manufactured by Saginomiya. The driving simulator is completely equipped with software developed by VI-grade and is to be installed at the Applus+ IDIADA site in Tarragona, Spain, where the company is to use it to deliver high-quality engineering services to its customers.
“We are extremely excited to report the adoption of our new DiM250 driving simulator at Applus+ IDIADA, marking the 3rd commercial success for a simulator of this kind in the last 5 months”, said Guido Bairati, International Sales Director, VI-grade. “We are looking forward to a continuous collaboration with such an important partner, which provides engineering services to several major automotive companies worldwide.”
“The DiM250 driving simulator is a powerful tool that will play a major role in the chassis development projects IDIADA undertakes and will also complement our existing facilities in this area of expertise.” said Alexandre Català, Vehicle Dynamic and NVH Manager, Applus+ IDIADA. “Driving simulators are becoming more and more instrumental in the vehicle development process and we, at Applus+ IDIADA, are always keen to offer to our leading customers top-edge technologies to support them in their development and testing activities.”
To reproduce vehicle movements and accelerations, the DiM solution takes a different path into driving simulation based on a patented revolutionary design with nine actuators. The resulting configuration has nine degrees of freedom and allows users to go beyond the basic six-actuator design of a simple hexapod, providing a larger workspace while maintaining a high degree of stiffness. The result is a system suitable for the high and low frequencies occurring in automotive chassis design. As a consequence, the DiM platform allows both vehicle dynamics and ride comfort to be analyzed on the same motion platform.
The DiM250 configuration has been adopted by two other major automotive OEMs and provides an extended workspace in comparison with the standard DiM150 configuration. It has been installed in nine instances worldwide and guarantees an improved driving experience while complying with the compact dimensions characterizing all DiM driving simulators.
About DiM (Driver-in-Motion)
The revolutionary driving simulation turnkey solutions from VI-grade provide automotive engineers with a complete set of innovative integrated driving simulators for a new-generation approach to system-level simulation. This allows companies to bridge the gap between virtual prototyping and testing. The dynamic configuration provides motion feedback to the driver thanks to an innovative moving platform with nine degrees of freedom, reduced overall dimensions and large travels. The machine architecture is known as Driver in Motion (DiM), and for the first time in the history of motion platforms, its kinematics have been designed to ensure the best possible implementation of the motion cueing technology developed and tested by VI-grade. This family of simulators is based on a much more compact and considerably less expensive driving simulator architecture in comparison with conventional simulators with a similar workspace. In addition, the solutions are fully scalable, so it is possible to upgrade from a static to a dynamic simulator while re-using all components already purchased. The driving simulation solutions from VI-grade are based on VI-DriveSim, the product which provides the core software environment for all driving simulation solutions from VI-grade. Please go to www.driverinmotion.com for more information.
About Applus+ IDIADA
With over 25 years of history, Applus+ IDIADA is a leading engineering company providing design, testing, engineering and homologation services to the automotive industry worldwide. Its reputation is founded on the expertise of an international team of more than 2,400 engineers and technical experts, first class facilities, client focus and a constant drive towards innovation The company has an international network of subsidiaries and branch offices in 25 countries which ensures that its clients get customized, added-value solutions.
About Saginomiya
Saginomiya is the leading provider of automatic controls and test systems in Japan as and is very highly reputed throughout the world for the quality of its products. Saginomiya started developing, manufacturing and selling test systems in 1964, expanding in several business fields such as civil engineering and construction, industrial machinery, railway services, power generation, aviation and automotive. Saginomiya’s “Dynamic Servo” has been developed as the ideal test systems utilizing state-of-the-art core technologies such as electric and hydraulic hybrids as well as a next-generation simulator. Saginomiya is highly committed to serve the needs of the most technically advanced customers in the global market. For further information, please visit http://www.saginomiya.co.jp/en/.
For more information on Applus+ IDIADA, please go to http://www.applusidiada.com/en/