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Fundamentals of Unibody Construction - Honda/Acura Collision Safety Technology (G-CON)
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Honda/Acura Collision Safety Technology (G-CON) |
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Managing both collision absorption and securing maximum cabin survival space at a high level
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When considering collision safety during automobile body design, the coexistence of “energy absorption” and “securing maximum cabin survival space” are the keys to improving body safety. Although those two concepts contradict each other, balancing them is essential to mitigation of passenger injuries. Honda and Acura have developed a technology, called G-CON (Gravity Control). In a full-lap collision, G-CON maximizes “survival space”. In an offset collision, it maximizes “energy absorption”. G-CON technique has been incorporated into the new collision resistant body for small size vehicles. This reduces passenger compartment deformation and degree of injury to the driver and passengers in both collision types. | |
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Achieving high performance by Honda / Acura unique ideas
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When cabin survival space is prioritized, the usual approach is a highly rigid frame to minimize the degree of passenger compartment deformation. However, in this also transfers more impact force to the passengers, generally causing greater injuries (Method A in the figure below).
When passenger safety is prioritized, the impact absorption structure is designed with a comparably low-rigidity frame. This reduces the injury rate, while increasing passenger compartment deformation. (Method B in the figure below).
A new collision resistant frame designed by Honda and Acura controls the G-forces applied to the body. This minimizes both passenger compartment deformation and passenger injury rate, balancing the two contradictory concepts at a high level.
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Achieving the world’s highest collision safety standard for small size vehicles
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Traditionally, achieving ‘‘impact absorption’’ while ‘‘securing maximum survival space’’ has been viewed as difficult for small cars. While considering this proposition, Honda and Acura found the solution with a new technique called ‘‘G-CON’’, which produced the world’s highest standard of collision safety for small size vehicles. |
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Wave-form for the frame and for the passengers under the ‘‘G’’ force of a full-lap collision
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When the same level of impact is applied, the total surface of G-wave will be the same regardless of the approach/ passage. To mitigate the G-force to passengers, it is critical to design the body based on the optimal timing and wave dispersion path of G-force. | |
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Approach A - Prioritize passenger compartment survival space
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In order to secure passenger compartment survival space, the frame is of rigid design. However, passengers would receive high collision G-forces: |
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Highly rigid frame with small deformation. | |
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Sufficient survival space is secured, but injury rate is high. | | |
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Approach B - Prioritize reduction of passenger injury rate
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In order to reduce collision G-forces on passengers, frame rigidity is reduced, and its deformation rate will increase. Therefore, the frame size needs to be expanded: |
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Reduce injuries by reducing frame rigidity. | |
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Larger frame size is required to secure survival space. | | |
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New collision safety frame for small size vehicles
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By controlling G-forces to the frame, passenger G-forces are reduced, while maintaining almost the same level of frame deformation. Small size vehicles can secure a survival space and mitigate the injury rate at the same time, by balancing the cabin deformation rate and passenger injury rate at a high level.
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G Control with 3 Stages: Crash, Bend and Withstand
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The crash safety frame is a structure which controls impact G in three stages:
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In the first stage, focus is placed on the timing difference between body G generation and passenger G generation.
Front Side
The body is designed so that a high body G is generated through compressed collapse of the front side frame’s front portion (compressed collapse: a cylindrical can is collapsed in an axial direction like a bellows or an accordion). By doing so, the passenger G generation timing will be accelerated. In the early stages of the crash where the passenger G is still in a lower state, the passenger G is intentionally forced to occur so that most of it can be evenly absorbed. | |
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In the second stage, the body G that was increased during the first stage is reduced when the narrow high-offset rear portion of the front side frame deforms quickly. This constrains the increase in passenger G and makes it possible to reduce the peak of the passenger G. | |
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In the third stage, while controlling the passenger G constrained during the second stage, the rigid passenger compartment absorbs impact energy while reducing body deformation as much as possible. | |
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With these steps, the collision performance of body helps protect the passengers.
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