IMPROVEMENT OF CLUSTER VISIBILITY VALUATION BASIS BASED ...

IMPROVEMENT OF CLUSTER VISIBILITY VALUATION BASIS BASED ON DRIVING POSTURE Byoung-il Ko*, Jun-yeob Shim* * Advanced Engineering Design Team, Ssangyong Motor Company, Korea Key Words Cluster; Steering Wheel Obstruction; Driving Posture; RAMSIS Research and/or Engineering Questions/Objective A vehicle meter cluster must be designed without obstruction by rim of steering wheel as much as it provides information directly connected to safety. The existing method of cluster visibility valuation is that the area of cluster visibility is checked by rim obstruction from eyellipse corresponding 95 percentile peoples. This method which is defined in SAE is conservative valuation basis which is not considered steering wheel position. The purpose of this study is the improvement of cluster visibility valuation basis based on driving posture which makes changes of position and angle of steering wheel. Methodology Conventional cluster visibility valuation method is constrained to increasing cluster size and reducing steering wheel diameter, increasing steering wheel rim diameter because it is checked by American 95th male based on the premise that steering wheel is fixed. Driving posture set-up has been carried out using RAMSIS, which is computer - aided - anthropometric mathematical system for driver and passenger simulation, in order to evaluate cluster visibility by various body type (from 5th female to 95th male). Results As results of this method, the center of cluster vision area of B segment SUV has been improved about 19mm and the center of cluster vision area of C segment SUV has been improved about 22mm. And driving posture by various body type from RAMSIS makes changes of position and angle of steering wheel. Limitations of this study An important limitation of the current study is the limited body types excluded long torso or short torso. Furthermore, cluster visibility valuation had been carried out only simulation without evaluation in real car environment. What does the paper offer that is new in the field including in comparison to other work by the authors? The improvement of cluster vision area in this paper is new as well the resulting compared with conventional SAE method.. Conclusions Cluster vision area is important guide at an early stage in interior design. If cluster visibility valuation basis based on driving posture is used in this stage, the degree of freedom is assigned in terms of design and marketability.