HYGE^TM 6-Inch
Vertical System

Shock testing is not new; in order to study the effects caused by shock waves to an object many devices have been created. Precise study requires a testing device that will produce a shock which is predictable, reliable and repeatable. The 6-Inch Vertical HYGE system is designed to simulate the effects of a shock in an acceleration rather than deceleration mode. The 6-Inch Vertical HYGE system develops thrust in the 40,000 lbf (178 KN) range, it can also produce acceleration values to several hundred times gravity for milliseconds duration and it can produce several different waveforms at various levels.

The 6-Inch HYGE Vertical system consists of a 72” (1.8 m) long 6” (15.2 cm) ID set cylinder attached to a primary load cylinder (12” (30.5 cm) id x 12” (30.5 cm) long) this is secured to the mounting base. The other end of the mounting base has a load cylinder 48” (1.2 m) long 6” (15.2 cm) ID Both the set and load have floating pistons to vary the chambers volume.

The thrust column is attached to the thrust piston with an acceleration stroke of approximately 36” (91.4 cm). This system design provides extremely repeatable and reproducible acceleration pulses, enabling accurate simulation. The system has proven its repeatability over time. HYGE systems over 40 years old routinely demonstrate repeatability of better than +/- 2%.

The test specimen is mounted to a light weight carriage that is attached to the rail system. Pneumatic brakes are mounted on the carriage. Additional rail sections and different carriage sizes are available.

The HYGE system offers precise control of pulse shape, excellent test repeatability and universal acceptance within the automobile manufacturing community.

Principle of Operation

Systems are in use worldwide for a variety of automotive and aircraft safety testing applications. Some typical applications include:

• Aircraft ejection seat testing
• Hand held equipment and small appliances
• Components and subassemblies

• Proven Accuracy -- capable of simulating actual crash pulses to within +/-2%.
• Reproducibility -- pulses can be accurately reproduced on various systems, enabling sharing of test programs and results between components suppliers and OEMs.
• Versatility -- can perform velocity and acceleration tests.
• Mechanically Simple –Very few moving parts.
• Low Cost Energy- 2200 psi nitrogen

The system consists of four major components:

• The Actuator, including Load and Set Cylinders and the Thrust Column.
• The Rail System and Carriage.
• The Pneumatic System, which provides pressurized gas for firing the piston.
• The Control Center containing hardware to monitor pressure, pressurize and fire the system.

Actuator
The 6-Inch HYGE Vertical system consists of a set cylinder attached to a primary load cylinder this is secured to the mounting base. The other end of the mounting base has the secondary load cylinder. Both the set and secondary load cylinders have floating pistons to vary the chambers volume. The thrust column is attached to the thrust piston for the acceleration stroke. The base is attached directly to the reaction plate and the foundation. This type of instillation is typically mounted below floor level for ease of access to the carriage and to provide additional clearance for the rail system. Adding or removing fluid will vary the volume of the set and load cylinder.

Rail System and Carriage
The rail system guides the carriage and specimen during deceleration in order to maintain a low deceleration. The standard rail rails are 20 feet (6 meters) (different lengths available). The lightweight carriage incorporates a pneumatic brake system.

Metering Pin
The purpose of the metering pin is to throttle the amount of energy transferred to the carriage at any given time during firing, thereby determining the shape of the acceleration pulse. A particular component, in a particular crash situation, will have a waveform determined by modeling or by actual crash tests. Each metering pin is machined to produce the desired pulse shape for a given specimen and set of crash conditions. In addition, aspects of the waveform can be varied through changes in the set and load cylinder volume and the gas pressures in each cylinder prior to firing.

HYGE, INC. offers a metering pin design program, which enables the engineer to enter the characteristics of the desired waveform and automatically generate the required metering pin profile.

Compressed Nitrogen
The primary energy source is 2200 psi compressed nitrogen, the customer provides standard bottles

Control Center

The control system includes all valves, switches, pressure transducers, and displays for system operation.
The control panel includes a graphic interface for the firing sequence. This graphical interface allows the operator to visually determine name, location and pressure of each area plus the overall status of the system at a glance.

The control system allows the operator to input and monitor the following parameters:

• Set Pressure
• Load Pressure
• Trigger Pressure
• Brake Pressure

The operator is led through the process in the proper sequence and prevents loading of incorrect, unsafe, or out of sequence parameters. Interlocks are hard wired to minimize errors.
The actual firing control can is performed manually from the panel. The operator loads the trigger pressure, disengages the lock yokes and begins the countdown sequencing to firing.

The system is capable of producing a wide variety of shock pulses.

A standard half sine wave metering pin is supplied with the system.

The pulse may be modified by adjusting the HYGE^TM systems firing parameters.

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