Showa Corporation implements a top-notch steering simulator with new variable damper based on VI-grade technology

Press Release: Showa Corporation implements a top-notch steering simulator with new variable damper based on VI-grade technology

Japanese supplier of components for the automotive and motorcycle industries will officially premiere new static simulator at the 2015 edition of the Frankfurt Motor Show

Marburg, Sep 14^th, 2015 – VI-grade, the leading provider of best-in-class products and services to bridge the gap between real world testing and technical simulation, today announced that Showa Corporation, the Japanese supplier of components for the automotive and motorcycle industries, has completed the implementation of a high-quality steering simulator model with new variable damper.

The advanced simulator, based on the VI-CarRealTime and VI-GraphSim software solutions installed on RedHawk technology, has been used since its launch in 2014 to evaluate the performance of electric power steering (EPS) systems in early stages of the development process. In addition, the steering simulator has been used to develop and finetune a cooperative control model in conjunction with a revolutionary variable damper model. This model, based on a theoretical approach property of Showa, estimates the vehicle states using the wheel velocity instead of sensors, enabling to obtain dramatic improvements (also in terms of weight of the damper component) with respect to the usage of a conventional variable damper.

The new steering simulator with variable damper will be officially premiered at the forthcoming Frankfurt Motor Show to be held from Sept 15^th to Sept 18^th, 2015.

Showa Corporation widely utilizes software products such as VI-CarRealTime, VI-Motorcycle and VI-GraphSim as well as professional support from VI-grade in the development process of their new products for the automotive and the motorcycle racing industries – for example new variable dampers and new EPS steering systems. The software solutions are also used for MOTO GP racing studies.

“Thanks to the simulation technologies developed by VI-grade, our company could develop an advanced environment for cooperative control by implementing our new variable damper model into our steering simulator already presented at the previous editions of the Japanese SAE Exhibition” said Mr. Hirata, Managing Director of Showa Corporation. “We are confident that this new simulator will highly contribute to the strategic development activities of Showa, such as the investigation of cooperative control between steering and damper.”

“We are happy to report that our long-lasting cooperation with Showa lead to yet another exciting piece of technology based on our products and services,” says Shunichi Yamauchi, Managing Director, VI-grade Japan. “This demonstrates the efficiency of VI-CarRealTime and related products to virtually optimize the design of transportation components as well as the cooperative control between different components. We are looking forward to further contributing to the success of the Showa development team!”

About VI-CarRealTime

VI-CarRealTime provides a vehicle simulation environment where the same, simplified vehicle model can be used by vehicle dynamics and controls engineers to optimize vehicle and control system performance. The product enables engineers to quickly and easily perform large Design of Experiments (DOE) and multi-objective optimization studies. VI-CarRealTime is the only real-time solution available in the market that can automatically and seamlessly export a real-time vehicle model directly from ADAMS/Car™. Similarly, VI-CarRealTime also enables to share component property files such as tires, springs, dampers, and bumpstops with ADAMS/Car™. VI-CarRealTime provides validated models which can be used by controls and hydraulic engineers to optimize the controller design based on accurate vehicle performance. VI-CarRealTime can be integrated with Matlab Simulink for controls systems. For further information please visit: http://www.vi-grade.com/index.php?pagid=vehicle_dynamics_carrealtime.

About Showa Corporation

Showa is a leading supplier of automotive and motorcycle components. Headquartered in the city of Gyoda, Japan, Showa responds to its customer demands with the corporate mission statement, “We target Showa as global trusted company. We will continuously innovate ourselves and provide leading products based on high level technologies and quality to meet users’ needs”. For additional information, please visit http://www.showa1.com/en.

About VI-grade

VI-grade is the leading provider of best-in-class software products and services for advanced applications in the field of system level simulation. VI-grade, established in 2005, delivers innovative solutions to streamline the development process from concept to sign-off in the transportation industry, mainly automotive, aerospace, motorcycle, motorsports and railways. With office locations in Germany, Italy, UK, Switzerland, Japan, China, and the USA, and a worldwide channel network of 20 trusted partners, VI-grade is a dynamic and growing company with a highly skilled technical team. For further information about VI-grade please visit: www.vi-grade.com.

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