E-TECH Testing Services, Inc.
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E-TECH celebrates successful completion of their one-thousandth service order and a client list that now represents over 50 manufacturers of highway safety related products. E-TECH’s new side impact test facility was demonstrated for the first time on March 28, 2001. The addition of this facility adds a new test capability in full compliance with the March 8, 2000 test criteria contained in "Preliminary Recommendations for Performing Side Impact Crash Tests of Roadside Features." These recommendations for performing side impact crash tests of roadside safety hardware were formulated by Dr. Malcom Ray at the Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The purpose of performing side impact crash tests is to assess the risk of injury to vehicle occupants in the event of side impact collisions and in turn develop techniques for minimizing this risk. Each year about 225,000 people are involved in side impact collisions with roadside objects at an estimated cost to society of three billion dollars annually.
On March 6th, 2001 E-TECH put into service a new Espec LHU-113 Programmable Temperature and Humidity Cabinet. The cabinet adds a new and specialized environmental test capability to those currently in place. The "chamber" is ideally suited for cycling extreme temperature and humidity environments on such products as printed circuit cards, electronics for automobiles, and switches and electrical connectors. The 4.0 cu. ft. chamber has a temperature range of –20 to 85 deg C with a 40 to 95% relative humidity.
E-TECH’s new pendulum test fixture was put into operation on October 5th, 2000. The pendulum provides a new service ideally suited for dynamic testing of energy absorbing materials, break-away supports, guardrail blockouts, guardrail posts, and the like. The pendulum design is an improved version of the one in place at the Federal Outdoor Impact Laboratory (FOIL). The FOIL is a part of the Turner-Fairbank Highway Research Center (TFHRC), a federally owned and operated research facility in McLean, Virginia. E-TECH’s pendulum has a variable mass swing weight. The mass can be varied from 200 kg to 820 kg with higher masses possible through special fixturing. The drop height can be varied up to 9 m for impact speeds to 13.4 m/s. A multipurpose foundation design allows test articles to be anchored in strong or weak soil, to a rigid steel deck plate, or against a rigid backstop. |
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