Abstract
Within the framework of ACE, the Dutch Automotive Centre of Excellence a consortium has been set up in which academic and industrial partners cooperate to research, develop, design, realise and test concepts of lightweight suspension for automotive applications. The scope of the program is broad with several pillars addressing issues of materials, manufacturing, de-sign, application (e.g. joining) and testing. An important aspect of the program is the multi-disciplinary set up with a wide range of industrial partners (e.g. materials, manufacturing, bearings, tyres, engineering et cetera). Crucial to the success of the program is the realisation phase, in which prototypes will be tested using vehicles that are commercially available.
The program is set up so that activities are conducted within pillars that are directed by rele-vant industrial partners. Within these pillars projects are defined that are suited for students of the academic partners to work out in internships for their graduation theses. Primarily these are B Eng students that have specialised in light weight construction and design, following their minor-courses at the universities of applied sciences. Additionally there are students fi-nalising their M Eng projects in the recently set up Master of Automotive Systems specialisa-tion of Lightweight Design.
The original impetus may have been from the Automotive Universities of Applied Sciences, but from the start there has been cooperation with the Dutch Technical Research Universities, so that the program need not be limited to the applied side of research and development. There is room for and there are activities that are more academic in nature. Thus the scope of the program is expanded to more fundamental research at BSc, MSc, and PhD level.
The stated goal of the program is to research, develop, design, realise and test concepts of lightweight suspension for standard commercial automotive customers. As mentioned the realisation and testing is key as this is what should distinguish the program from efforts al-ready undertaken in the automotive industry, which have been focused primarily on high per-formance vehicles or at least high end models of commercial vehicles. A secondary, but not less important outcome of the program is educational. The program will first of all give stu-dents a chance to work within a wide framework, giving opportunities to gain valuable expe-rience in their working careers. Additionally the academic institutions will gain knowledge and experience in a field that is of great importance to the future of automotive, allowing them to improve their courses, offering students and industry a more valuable education.
Though there is no stated aim that the program should be focused on the application of com-posite materials, the nature of the consortium, the trends in education and research and the interests of students, do tend to put a focus on the use of these materials in the program. Care is taken that this preference should not become a limitation. The philosophy is that solutions should originate from an approach without constrictions. A second possible constraint to pro-gress within the program is the focus on student work, which may limits the scope and time-frame of individual project-activities, therefore an important task of the consortium is to en-sure that communication is fluent and information is shared freely ensuring progress and op-timal efficiency of activities.
The program offers the participants in the consortium an unique opportunity to benefit from each other’s specific strengths to rapidly increase their knowledge and experience working on an application that is both of interest to the industry and the academic partners. Additionally it offers young professionals a valuable learning opportunity and great experience to start their careers.
KEYWORDS – Automotive, Lightweight Suspension, Academic Industrial Partnership, Ap-plied Sciences.