Framtagning av en ny infästningen mellan damasken och växelspaken till företaget Kongsberg Automotive AB.

This thesis deals with the development of a specification regarding a push-button, which will be used to control the gear-shifting function in an automobile. In addition to this the author will describe different techniques and theories that have been helpful in achieving data and results for the specification. Kongsberg Automotive AB, is located in Mullsjö, Sweden, the company supplies parts to the automotive industry. In the research and development department, R&D, there is a group that works with development of Shift-By-Wire systems. In an automobile with a Shift-By-Wire system the communication between the gear-shifter and the gear-box occurs electronically. The mechanical link is, in most cases, taken away and replaced by the digital system. Within this group an internal Kongsberg project is in motion dealing with the development of a number of gear-shifters, finalizing in the mounting of the shifters in a Smart Car. These concepts will be displayed to customers by Kongsberg as a demonstration of what the company has to offer. To be able to decide what appears in the specification the author has done a thorough push-button examination. Tightness is one of the most important elements in a push-button; it determines what the push-button conveys and its character. The choice of mechanical solution will affect both the tightness and the character of the push-button. To illustrate this, the author has chosen to use a version made of silicon rubber. The silicon rubber part is ordered from a supplier company specializing in customer-specific push-buttons. The method is simple, cost-effective, enables regulation in tightness, compressive force, illumination, density, repelling liquids, penetrating objects and other parameters. All of these properties are desirable when developing push-buttons. The specification consists of seven chapters. The first chapter describes the document. Chapter two is an introduction chapter. The following three chapters present the requirements made concerning the product. The sixth chapter concerns laws and regulations and the seventh and last chapter is an appendix. The requirements concerning the product consist of functional, qualitative and electrical requirements. Belonging to the functional requirements are the following: stroke, force, illumination etc. To the qualitative requirements belong: performance, reliability, applicability etc. The electrical requirements consist of preparing the button for Kongsbergs own patented sensor system. The specification will be handed over to Kongsberg on the finalization of the thesis. The result will work as a template, with the intent that the document is to be used and followed up by the company. The functional and qualitative requirements and data have been assumed by the author and will later be tested, followed up and if necessary altered by Kongsberg. / Detta examensarbete behandlar framtagandet av en kravspecifikation för en knapp som skall användas till att styra växelfunktionen i en bil. Utöver detta går författaren in på olika tekniker och teorier som har hjälpt till att nå resultaten i kravspecifikationen. Kongsberg Automotive AB ligger i Mullsjö, Sverige, företaget levererar delar till bilindustrin. På utvecklingsavdelningen finns det en grupp som jobbar med utveckling inom Shift-By-Wire system. I en bil som använder ett Shift-By-Wire system sker kommunikationen mellan växelväljaren och växellådan elektroniskt. Den mekaniska länken är i många fall helt borttagen. Ett internt Kongsbergprojekt pågår inom denna grupp som behandlar att ta fram ett antal växelväljare som skall monteras in i en Smart Car. Dessa koncept skall visas upp mot kunder till Kongsberg, som en demonstration på vad företaget har att erbjuda. För att bestämma vilka krav som ska finnas med i kravspecifikationen har författaren gjort en grundlig ”knapp-undersökning”. Tryckkänslan i knappen är ett av de viktigaste momenten, den avgör till stor del vad knappen förmedlar och vilken karaktär knappen får. Valet av mekanisk lösning i knappen kommer till stor del att påverka knappens karaktär och tryckkänsla. Författaren har valt en silikongummivariant som exempel och bygger upp knappens karaktär runt denna grund. Silikongummidelen beställs av ett leverantörsföretag som specialiserar sig på kundspecifika knappar. Metoden är enkel och kostnadseffektiv och gör det möjligt att styra parametrar som tryckkraft, tryckkänsla, belysning, täthet, tålighet mot inträngande föremål och vätskor och diverse annat. Alla dessa egenskaper är önskvärda vid utveckling av en knapp. Kravspecifikationen består av sju kapitel. Det första kapitlet redogör kortfattat för dokumentet. Nästa kapitel är ett inledande kapitel. Sedan följer tre kapitel där de olika kraven på produkten läggs fram. Det sjätte kapitlet berör lagar och regleringar och i det sjunde och sista kapitlet kan man hitta bifogade dokument. De olika kraven består av funktionella, kvalitativa och elektronikrelaterade krav. Till de funktionella hör slaglängd, krafter, belysning o.s.v. De kvalitativa kraven utgörs av parametrar som prestanda, tillförlitlighet och användbarhet. Det största elektronikkravet ligger i att förbereda knappen för Kongsbergs egna patenterade variant av sensorering. Kravspecifikationen kommer att överlämnas till Kongsberg vid examensarbetets slut. Resultatet blir en typ av mall, med avsikten att dokumentet skall kunna användas och vidareutvecklas av företaget. De funktionella och kvalitativa kraven och data som författaren har antagit kommer att testas, vidare arbetas och vid behov ändras av företaget.

Constantly growing demands from the costumers in the Automotive industry forces the subcontractors to seek alternative ways to compete. One parameter of quality is the components tolerance against NVH(Noise, Vibraion & Harshness) aspects. Kongsbergs Automotive has developed a new gear shifter platform (Shift-by-Wire) that is sold to Alfa Romeo and used in of their car models. However, the company is not pleased with the components sound quality, therefore the main purpose of this thesis is to develope a number of concepts that is supposed to enhance these NVH-aspects. To get an understanding of the problem an analysis of the causes of the emitted sound has been done parallell to a product decomposition, function decomposition and a Ishikawa-diagram. Together with these methods has a litterature study been performed to get familiar with the physics of an impact and especially the emittment of noise. The concepts has been generated through a combined brainstorming and brainwriting session. A number of concepts has been developed that should reduce emitted noise. To evaluate the concepts generated has well proven methods for screening been used, such as: analysis of pros and cons, feasibility analyis and Go/No-Go. The definite concept uses a method that absorbs the kinetic energy induced by the user through a built-on component and an energy absorbing foam. The idéa is that the built-on component and the foam should transform more of the kinetic energy to heat energy. The consequenses of this study is that the company now has a fully applicable concept to evaluate the idés effectiveness regarding reduction of noise. Next step is to make a prototype and evaluate the idéa. Since the making of a prototype has not been done, the biggest restriction in the thesis  is that the developed concept is not evaluated regarding its effectiveness of reduction of noise.

This projects aims to develop design automation in product development. Design automation causes increase in producibility and decrease in product cost and manufacturing lead time. The study at hand is proposed to provide a new method and to introduce procedure to the design of wiring pattern for a car seat heater for Kongsberg Automotive, KA. KA is a Norwegian company and a global provider of engineering, design, and manufacture for seat comfort, driver and motion control systems, fluid assemblies, and industrial driver interface products. The method that currently is used in the company to create a wiring pattern is neither sufficient enough nor automated. In order to design the wiring pattern, at first procedure is handled by the designer. Secondly, car seat heater 2D layout is imported and then, the dimensions of the elements are defined as constraints. Then VBA codes are opened and the program is run. The result will be a wiring pattern in different 2D layouts. To make the design process easier, we have modeled five different layouts; wiring pattern of one element, two elements, three elements, five elements (with two back sides) and one element trapezoidal 2D layout. The algorithm written in VBA (Visual basic for application) creates the pattern according to the dimensions of the elements which are used as inputs to define constrained parameters. The created macros are simple to use and easy to modify, independent from the programming knowledge. The user is only responsible with parameter input and running the program. The solution gives wiring pattern for a car seat heater.