Design of Flush Handle for Luxury vehicles - Study of flush handle kinematics for end-of-line quality check and mechanical validation test

Barbara Ciuffarella

Design of Flush Handle for Luxury vehicles - Study of flush handle kinematics for end-of-line quality check and mechanical validation test.

Rel. Alessandro Scattina, Alberto Tropini, Alessio Gajoni. Politecnico di Torino, Master of science program in Automotive Engineering, 2024

Abstract

This master thesis in cooperation with the company Minebea AccessSolutions presents a comprehensive study of the mechanic functioning and fatigue characterization of an external luxury handle, typically used in high-end automotive applications and premium architectural fittings. The primary objective of this research is to enhance the understanding of the handle's mechanical behavior, applying a revision to the end-of-line acceptability threshold. By a deep analysis of the system mechanism, it has been possible to highlight critical elements that affect the performance of the handle. A kinematic analysis has been pursued over the transmission of the forces, starting from the simplest hypothesis and adding contributions, to make a comparison between the value measured in the last assembly station deputed to the final check of the components and the theoretical ones.

The second part and objective of this work is represented by the fatigue tests realized for the launch of a new vehicle external handle