The following terms are commonly used at the GM Tech
Center while developing a concept vehicle. You will
see them in other stories on this site.
Blueprints: Paper prints of a view
of a vehicle design or part.
Body style: The shape of a vehicle’s
exterior. Designers often use the style of the vehicle’s “body” to
express a characteristic of the vehicle, like the
Chevrolet SSR.
Clay model: Using modeler’s
clay to build the shape of a vehicle. An automated
machine using 3-D math data can build a clay model;
or the clay model can be carved by hand, and then
digitized by a computer in order to generate 3-D
math data.
Computer-aided design: Computer
software that uses mathematical expressions, such
as x- and y-coordinates, to express (or draw) a surface,
model or illustration.
Concept vehicle: A one-of-a-kind
car or truck that is built in order to prove that
an idea will work, or to get opinions of people who
are likely to buy it.
Eero Saarinen: The architect who
designed the General Motors Technical Center. The
Tech Center opened in 1956.
Formability: GM's stamping engineers
use special software to analyze the design of GM's
sheet metal parts for strains and stresses. Using
this software, engineers construct math models of
the stamping die surfaces and analyze simulations
of the forming of the parts before they develop physical
models or prototypes.
GM Design Center: The central hub
of vehicle design for General Motors.
Harley Earl: Began the first “Art
and Colour Section” of General Motors in 1927.
The first such department of its kind in the automotive
industry.
Math data: Mathematical expressions
of the shape and size of a vehicle or its parts.
Often expressed in x- and y-coordinates, key points
on a part of a vehicle are marked and stored to use
in computer-aided design software and virtual reality
studios.
Tape drawing: Using tape to mark
on a wall or board the contour or outline of a vehicle
design. This is one of the first steps in visualizing
a designer’s vehicle sketch.
Virtual Crashing: Modelers can
watch individual, color-coded components of a car
reacting to a crash over and over, freezing frames,
spinning around the model, and even getting inside
to view it from the driver's seat. The software used
for virtual crashing includes the shape and size
of all the parts, how they are attached to one another,
and the physical properties of each different material.
It also captures the physics associated with the
crash event, so components bend and break realistically.
Virtual Factory: GM designed the
Lansing Grand River manufacturing plant in math data
to help ensure that the equipment and processes would
support the shop floor employees, as well as the
product they're building. In the past, GM couldn't
validate how everything worked together -- equipment,
tools, fixtures and machinery -- until it all reached
the plant floor. Now, because vehicles are also designed
in math data, GM has a single source of master data
that can be used throughout every stage, from product
engineering to tooling to manufacturing. The same
mathematical coordinates that determine a single
point on the vehicle help employees develop tools
for the body shop, or program assembly and paint
robots.
Workcell Modeling: Math also helps
improve employee safety. GM is now designing workcells,
the areas in the manufacturing environment where
employees work with the manufacturing process, long
before the product is actually running down an assembly
line. Through the use of math-based software, GM
can now see a 360-degree view of the workcell to
ensure that it is ergonomically efficient - that
it enables the shop floor employee to work as efficiently
as possible, while staying safe.
Virtual Wind Tunnel: GM is using
software that allows aerodynamic characteristics
to be measured and modeled with quick feedback. A
virtual stream of smoke flows over the car body,
just as it would in a real wind tunnel test, and
engineers see how a design change will affect the
flow. Reduced testing of full size clay models means
faster, less costly design.
