Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - October 2021 - 24

DIGITALIZATION of
PRODUCT
ENGINEERING
Liebherr used a system
modeling approach to
improve the dynamics of
a telescopic handler using
ESI's SimulationX.
Simulating operator safety and comfort for machine operation,
servicing and maintenance in virtual reality (VR).
Virtual test platform for an emergency braking function, used to simulate sensorbased
functionalities in operations.
Validating ergonomics via VR
To produce products without checking that human operators fit well
in the new product would be reckless; ergonomics and human factors
for operators, technicians and assembly workers need to be evaluated.
Designs should be checked for accessibility, reachability, visibility
and whether they are well suited for the intended purpose.
Simulating a brief 30-second interaction using common Digital MockUp
(DMU) or ergonomics solutions can take hours for experts and
possibly days for others. Conducting reviews using real people with
physical products postpones critical lessons learned, delaying improvements
or making changes too expensive to implement.
Digital on-screen evaluation of ergonomics conventionally requires
hours of effort to evaluate " ease/difficulty " to reach machine controls,
access service areas or install subassemblies. Each movement
24 October 2021
or " pose " requires positioning a digital human model,
or manikin, limb-by-limb. Each new population increases
the required investment in effort and time.
Real-world testing with physically constructed mockups
requires investment in materials, time, space and
human resources to achieve improved testing fidelity.
With immersive virtual reality (VR), it is possible to
bring the benefits of these two different approaches
while minimizing the downsides of either approach.
Visibility and reachability can be validated in VR
without waiting for construction of physical mock-ups
or requiring access to prototype parts and production
environments. CAD models can be placed within a virtual
reality scene where users can enter VR and experience
for themselves what is easy/difficult to reach or
see. Once the scene exists, it takes little time to put on
VR glasses to validate many procedures and processes
TRUCK & OFF-HIGHWAY ENGINEERING
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: MCI/LIEBHERR; ESI GROUP; ESI GROUP
Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - October 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Truck & Off-Highway Engineering - October 2021
