Vehicle Class Based Validation Program for Electrified Powertrain Vibration Testing

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Vehicle Class Based Validation Program for Electrified Powertrain Vibration Testing

Leighton, Michael

Vibration testing is common in automotive industry validation and gains greater significance with increasing numbers of electrical components, which are particularly suspectable to vibration related failures. While the nature and intention of vibration testing is common, many contradicting testing standards claim to be a one-size-fits-all solution, leading to questions of which standard is correct for any specific application. This is compounded by the vast variation in vehicle types and applications (suspension systems, dampers, powertrain mass, tire radius, intended usage, etc.)This paper seeks to offer and demonstrate a method to determine characteristic vibration profiles, based on vehicle classes, and illuminate the process to accelerate these to an appropriate test profile. This can either be used to directly validate a system or to support the selection of the most appropriate vibration profile from options within standards. By isolating the contributions from usage tracks, a modular test can be built to the application and scaled for reliability targets. This allows a simple process to guide the selection of a profile for an application without perilous over-testing.Tailoring of the test to the specific application allow the design and development process to be streamlined and focused on what matters to keeping a product competitive (such as vehicle range or production cost) instead of over-engineering the system to meet uncertain targets.