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Brose takes pinch out of automatic windows in stepped-up China move
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CHINA’S increasing awareness of the injury risks to children in cars is leading to wider adoption of intelligent systems, such as safety mechanisms that ensure automatic windows will stop or reverse if they encounter an obstacle while closing.
German specialist company Brose is a leader in the niche market of mechantronic devices and systems for vehicles. The company is promoting its electronic “anti-pinch” window system in China, hoping it will be adopted as a technical standard here as it has been in advanced global car markets.
Lina Zheng, drive units manager of door systems at Brose China, recently shared with Shanghai Daily some of her company’s insights on the industry.
Q: How would the anti-pinch system affect the manufacturing cost of carmakers?
A: The anti-pinch system made its debut in cars in 1986. Since then, its cost has been coming down and is now at a level where it won’t add too much to the budget of carmaking.
Q: Since such a system has little impact on overall cost, why is it still absent in many new cars sold in China?
A: It’s not just about cost of materials. Carmakers are more concerned with the cost of testing a new feature before putting it into wide application. Brose, as a leading supplier in its field, offers anti-pinch systems at a great price, but they don’t appeal to everyone. Many technology followers choose to opt out of some value-added features available on the market just to beat their direct competition in overall price competitiveness.
Q: Are there any national standards in China with regard to the use of anti-pinch systems?
A: Their installation is mandatory for window regulators with automatic up and remote control functions since 2012. If carmakers choose to put window regulators under manual control, they are not obliged to install anti-pinch systems. But manual control doesn’t rule out accidents. When a man gets his neck caught between the frame and the window, the one who is rolling up the window could panic and do the opposite of what is required. We have seen cases like that abroad.
Up to 95 percent of global carmakers equip their models with anti-pinch functions, and Chinese original equipment manufacturers like Geely and Chery are quickly following suit to align their products with international standards.
Q: China’s national standard for anti-pinch features requires the window to stop and reverse if more than 100 newtons of closing force are exerted on objects to be trapped. That closing force, which corresponds to about 10 kilograms, may not hurt one’s arm, but it still could pose the risk of injury to fingers. Why set the maximum closing force at this level?
A: The point of setting up such a standard is to minimize injuries rather than completely avoid them, which cannot be achieved by today’s anti-pinch technologies. According to Brose’s joint study with hand clinics, in most cases, a closing force of less than 100 newtons won’t cause injuries to hand bones, though it could leave some bruises or make a kid burst into tears. China, Europe and US all seem to apply the same closing force standards, but they are actually quite different. The first two are developed based on the same mass co-efficient, 10 newtons per millimeter, while the one used by US, at 65 newtons, is more demanding for the anti-pinch system’s response speed and performance stability.
Q: The anti-pinch function is currently activated by direct contact. Is it possible to make it more sensitive, such as setting a trigger point with reference to a certain range of window openings in which an object is detected by sensors?
A: Sensors are very important in today’s anti-pinch systems, which use hall sensors to monitor the speed of the window regulator motor and transfer the information to the micro-controller that stops and reverses the motor.
There is only a brief history of applying sensors in the way you suggest because that would make the whole anti-pinch system very unstable.
But such technologies have proven their effectiveness in automatic opening and closing functions for trunks developed by Brose. The difference of sensor applications lies in the function’s usage frequency and the auto part’s mechanical structure.
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