Redesign of a Power Slider Taking Into Account Design, Assembly and Distribution Factors

Published in: Proceedings of the 13th Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Engineering and Technology: Engineering Education Facing the Grand Challenges, What Are We Doing?
Date of Conference: July 29 - 31, 2015
Location of Conference: Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Authors: Jorge Rodriguez
Alamgir Choudhury
Refereed Paper: #253

Abstract:

Whenever an improved design is proposed or required, it is important to consider more than just the technical aspects of the new design, e.g., strength, deformation, safety, weight, cost. Nowadays it is essential to take into account several factors regarding the total production cycle of the new or improved product. Ideally every factor in the life cycle of the product should be included, but there are always limitations. In this work, in order to demonstrate the importance of other factors besides the technical one, an automotive subassembly was redesigned and evaluated. The system is a power slider assembly which is currently installed in the rear of cabin trucks and powers the rear window. The current design is bulky, expensive, and takes a long time to install. The objective was to introduce a new design for the power slider, which is more efficient in terms of operation, assembly process, and cost. A CAD model was created for the proposed design with inclusion of the new design features. Free body diagrams represented forces acting on the system, which were evaluated using finite element analysis (FEA). Based upon the results of FEA, the design will see a maximum stress of 33.9 MPa concentrated at the lower segment of a new snap feature, which provides an acceptable safety factor. Failure mode and effect analysis (FMEA) showed potential failures and their possible causes. A prototype and cycle testing to recommended standards was performed, which provided evidence that the proposed design is ready for production. Benchmarking of proposed design versus the current design was done and significant cost savings and other benefits can be realized when all factors are taking into account. Final recommendations are presented for future evaluations. This collaboration industry-university has been a great experience and a successful one.

Keywords—Power slider, management factors, design.