What is Build Quality of Cars

Build Quality


What is Build Quality of Cars



Hi All,


Welcome to my blogs. Now a day’s people often talk about the build quality of cars which was not the case few years back. Question is do we really know what is build quality for Cars. Build quality is not one metric or factor as a point of considering whereas it comprises multiple metric, factor and key components as a whole. There are several components with which a car is been built so one components can’t be a deciding factor. When cars were first built, the construction quality of cars was different than after half a century and much more distinct after a century. There is been huge difference in cars manufacturing processes when they were invented and in this generation as there are many improvements and technologies development happen over the time. Build Quality of cars is very vast topic and can have an insight of all components and won’t be able to cover all but let’s through some light and understand some of the key components of car building which plays an important role in build quality.  


Information Gathering

Information gathering is the first and most important step in any form of creation. Good information is needed to have good design and it is required at every stage of build process. Automobile industry is one of the biggest sectors which contributes immensely in the global economy with the huge amount of Rs 10,000 Crores or $ 4 trillion every year. A very large amount of investment is done in RND when there is a new product been made, thus in order to increase the success rate of product customer requirements plays a crucial role as a part of information gathering. 

Car Manufacturing

Designing of Cars

Designing cars is another most important step in car manufacturing. Automotive Design is the unique process of developing visual appearance, components and vehicle ergonomics which also involves engineering, creativity, business insight and safety. Designing and development of vehicle is typically done by large team from different disciplines such as automotive engineers, component designers, technology specialists etc. Design team is further bifurcated as Exterior design, Interior design, Color and Trim design and Graphic design.

 

Exterior Design Team: - This team is responsible for the exteriors of the vehicle such as shape, proportions, surface detailing etc. Exterior designing starts from the series of manual sketches and digital drawings. More detailed sketches are performed at the corresponding stage and sufficient layers of higher management approvals are taken, followed by digital image representation. After more progressive refinement digital models are been developed along with drawings and images. The data from this models are used to create clay model which is the first designed in a computer programs and then carved using the machine and large amount of clay. The clay model is the most important tools for external evaluation of vehicle and thus clay model is used throughout the industry.

Clay Model Design


Interior Design Team: - This team is responsible for the interior of the vehicle’s shape, dimensions, surface detailing of instrument panel, seats, door trim panels, headliner, pillar trims, etc. The focus here is on ergonomics and on passenger comfort. The method is the same as for exterior design here (sketch, digital model, and clay model).

Interior Design


Color and Trim design: - The designer of color and trim team (or color and materials) is responsible for the research, design, and development of both the colors and materials used on a vehicle in the interior and exterior. That include paints, plastics, patterns of fabrics, leather, fiber, carpet, headliner, wood trim, etc. To give the vehicle a unique experience of an interior environment, color, contrast, texture, and pattern must be carefully combined. This team works closely with Exterior and Interior design team. This team draws inspiration from other area of development such as industrial design, fashion, Wildlife, home furnishing, architecture and often product design.

Color Design


Graphic design: - For products such as badges, decals, dials, buttons, kick or tread strips, emblems, the design team also designs graphics.

Graphic design


Engine design: - Team is responsible for designing the heat of the vehicle that is Engine which is a power generating machine. It a design to converts the potential energy of fuel into heat and that heat is used to generate rotary motion. Engine designers develops the engine based on the principle such as performance, efficiency, durability, torque, cost effectiveness, mileage and pollutant emissions norms.

Engine design
Engine design



Safety

Safety is which cannot be replaced by any other object. Safety plays a significant role in the car industry, ensuring that the assembled components of the body and the frame/ Chassis meet the quality test. There are two major safety procedures in the automatic industry which are measured as crashworthiness and penetration resistance. 

Car Crash test



Crashworthiness is the process which determines the ability of absorption of the energy by regulated crash modes and mechanisms.

Penetration Resistance is concerned with the complete absorption without allowing fragment penetration.

Car Crash test1


Car Body Construction and Materials Used

Car body construction relies on the legal and regulatory concerns of the manufacturer, and some of the requirements of the consumers. Almost all of the manufacturers prefer featured material which are light weight, economic, safety and recyclability. With the evolutions of technology there are improvement in materials over the years.

Steel body


Steel: - Steel is the oldest and the first choice of the material manly because a wide range of characteristics, such as thermal, chemical or mechanical resistance, production performance and longevity. This characteristics are involved in the main elements of material selection, particularly for the body. The change or increase in the steel industry made the steel thicker, lighter and more rigid than the previous one. Steel contains not just car bodies, but also engines, wheels, chassis, and many other elements. Iron and steel are low-cost and create the essential elements of the structure for the bulk manufacture of cars.

Aluminum Parts


Aluminum: - Aluminum is one another metal widely used in chassis and body structure. The main reason for using aluminum is that it can reduce the weight of the vehicle. Its most significant characteristic are low weight and high energy absorption and precise strength. It is resistant to corrosion, but it does not replace steel sections because of its poor flexibility modulus. Therefore, to follow the same mechanical power, certain components need to be re-engineered.

In the automotive industry, aluminum castings have been used for pistons, cylinder heads, intake manifolds and transmission. In chassis it is used as wheels, for brackets, brake components, suspension, steering components and instrument panels. Aluminum is also used for body structures, finishing and exterior attachments such as crossbeams, doors or bonnets.

Magnesium: - Magnesium is another light-weight metal in vehicle manufacturing that is rapidly rising next to aluminum. Since pure magnesium cannot be used because it has poor mechanical strength, it must be alloyed with other materials. For room temperature the most common alloying components are the Mg-Al-Zn group, which incorporates aluminum, manganese, and zinc.

 

Car assembly

Car Body construction Type:-


1)    Body over frame construction: - In this type of construction the frame is the vehicle foundation. The body and all the major parts of vehicles are attached to the frame.

Body over frame construction


     Integral or Mono-construction: - This type of construction does not have a separate frame. It is a stressed hull structure in which structural support and strength are provided to the whole vehicle from each of the body sections.  The major advantage of mono-construction vehicle is that they tend to be more tightly constructed because the major parts are welded together.

 

Integral or Mono-construction

Corrosion and Protection of body Structure

 The life of automotive body structures increased significantly during the period 1985–2002 due to improved design, more effective cathodic electro painting, increased use of aluminum and the adoption of zinc coated steels. Test reviews issued by informed customer associations plus annual corrosion and strip-down testing performed on vehicles rivals fuel the motivation for quality improvement. A 12-year anti-perforation warranty is now offered on body components by leading car manufactures.

 

Corrosion

Corrosion

Designing adhesive joints for fatigue and creep load conditions

 

Car body Welding

Automotive body structure are exposed to wide variety of fatigue loading conditions (fatigue relates to a failure of body structure under repeated or fluctuating pressures, stain or stress strengths locations on structural component) which provide an excellent example of real life where fatigue and creep analysis plays an important role in car design process and build quality. The significant advantages that can be accomplished by integrating adhesives with complementary point joining strategies such as spot welds or self-piercing rivets are represented by automobile joints.

Car part Welding1
 
Car part Welding



NVH Refinement

 

Would you like to site in a car with lots of noise and vibration. NVH is referred to as Noise, Vibration and Harshness which is the study and modification of noise and vibration characteristics of vehicle. In simple terms noise is what you can hear, vibration which you can feel and harshness is how much of an effect thumps and bumps you can feel in the cabin.

NVH


Now you may think what the sources of NVH are:

Aerodynamics- the noise made by wind from vehicle body, cooling fans of HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning).

 Mechanical- Sound made by engine, tire portion with is actual contact of road surface and brakes.

 Electrical- Coil whine is audible sound produced directly by materials vibrating under electromagnetic forces. Such electromagnetic induced noise coming from electrical actuators, alternator or traction motor in electrical cars.

 

NVH

Car manufacturers are spending good amount of money in reducing NVH level by various means like reducing the source strength, making the noise source quitter with the help of muffler and improving the balance of rotating mechanical. With the time and evolution of new technologies and innovation the NVH levels are refined.

 

All this above list of factors are key components and combining them makes a good build quality of car.

   


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