Plain sailing: A new high-frequency multi-axial simulation table dubbed MAST can ease design, testing and analysis integration

摘要

Market pressure to decrease the product development cycle has driven the need to understand systematic approaches to product design. The days of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing' are not tolerable in today's fast-paced product development programs. Streamlining and integrating the design, development, testing, and analysis functions of product development are key to getting products to market before the competition. The need to employ this integration strategy has profoundly influenced the development of a next-generation tool needed by vehicle and component makers. Critical in its capabilities is the capacity to perform high frequency, multi-axial simulation. This new Multi Axial Simulation Table (MAST), was engineered by MTS Systems Corporation, headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, USA. Designated the Model 353.10 MAST, it is part of an integrated suite of analytical, physical and virtual simulation solutions that help to accelerate the product development process. The configuration of the 353.10 high frequency MAST system is a hexapod or Stewart Platform. The system is controlled in six degrees of freedom (DOF) by six inverted-design, servohydraulic actuators. This inverted design promotes the high stiffness needed for this system to replicate frequency content in excess of 250 Hz. The actuators are arranged in prismatic form, and are connected to a cast and bolted aluminum table structure by specially engineered, patent-pending swivels. Premature specimen failure due to control problems are the plague of the testing industry, but the unique swivel design employed by this device is directly aimed at preventing such control problems caused by backlash as well as by other fit and maintenance problems.