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See Big Blue Article in FleetOwner Magazine,"Turning Passion Into Products," July, 2003 Issue

Press Release, July 30, 2003
Ridewell's Big Blue 4-Axis Test Rig
Validates Engineering Efforts

Supporting Ridewell's longstanding commitment to engineering
expertise, the company has installed a proprietary 4-axis test rig
dubbed "Big Blue" that was two years in the making. The unit
was designed and specified in house by R & D Engineer, Jason
Dillard. Big Blue gives Ridewell the ability to validate the engineering
attributes the 36 year old company has learned are necessary to put a product on the road with confidence that it will meet performance and durability requirements.

With market demands for optimum strength vs. weight ratios, integration of working components, and speed in validating engineering efforts, Ridewell found that the investment in the proprietary fatigue test rig would benefit
the buyers and aftermarket users of the suspensions they engineer and build. Road-testing will also supplement
the findings of the test rig.

The computer-controlled system consists of 4 servo-hydraulic actuators capable of measuring and controlling force and displacement. This new equipment compresses test time by accelerating fatigue loading, increases accuracy of measured and controlled variables, and provides continuous or intermittent data acquisition of desired test measurands. The brains of the system are a Windows-based PC, a dedicated controller, and software capable of acquiring data and programming both block cycle and road load tests. Braking force, lateral loads, curb loads, and vibration are applied by overloading the suspension, thus accelerating the test. In this manner, most suspensions are tested to failure.

The Big Blue 4-Axis Test Rig includes these features:

Data Acquisition Capability:
•16 channels, general
•12 channels, dedicated strain gage with reduction to principle strains, stresses, and failure
criteria such as Von-Mises
•Sampling rates up to 2048 samples/second

Test Execution and Control:
•Block cycle tests that repeat waveforms such as sine, square, and triangle
• Real time tests that replay events taken from actual vehicle data acquisition
•Control of displacement, force, strain, acceleration and other parameters

Test Hardware:
•150 horsepower electric motor driving main 75 GPM pump with load sense
• 10 horsepower / 80 GPM continuous recirculation cooling and filtration loop
• 10 horsepower air to oil heat exchanger
•Qty (2) 5 gallon pressure accumulators used to supplement peak flow demands
•Qty (2) 1 gallon return accumulators used to reduce pressure spikes
• Qty (2) 35 kip actuators with 10" stroke, 50 kip load cell, and 60 GPM servo valve
•Qty (2) 28 kip actuators with 10" stroke, 25 kip load cell, and 15 GPM servo valve

By utilizing the Big Blue 4-Axis Test Rig, Ridewell will continue to apply weight savings and new materials to enhance product life and performance based on results. For more information contact Ridewell toll free at
1-877-434-8088.