PRODUCTIONISATION OF ADVANCED MODULAR PASSENGER AUTONOMOUS SEATING (PAMPAS)
The Productionisation of Advanced Modular Passenger Autonomous Seating (PAMPAS) project is a feasibility study funded through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme to prove the economic potential for the mass production of Gordon Murray Design’s innovative light-weight automotive seats.
Gordon Murray Design recently revealed its new seat innovation – the iStream® lightweight seat, which incorporates glass or recycled carbon-fibre composite bonded to a tubular frame to achieve a dramatic 30% weight saving vs a conventional modern seat. The building of composite car seats has traditionally been expensive due to the unsuitability of the composite manufacturing process for mass production, but the revolutionary iStream manufacturing process overturns this convention, utilising a composite sandwich panel structure and metallic frame combination, which costs no more than a conventional car seat.
To ensure the already technically proven seating system can enter into series production as a commercially viable proposition, major deliverables from the PAMPAS project will be to undertake a study to establish market trends and growth expectations of seating systems within the automotive industry and to investigate and assess manufacturing business model options.
*** Key advantages of iStream lightweight seat:
- 30% weight saving vs conventional modern seat.
- iStream lightweight composite structure (glass or carbon).
- Full four-way adjustment and fold-flat mode.
- ECE R17 Luggage retention.
Professor Gordon Murray, Chairman of Gordon Murray Design said: “Gordon Murray Design is pleased to announce the Productionisation of Advanced Modular Passenger Autonomous Seating (PAMPAS) project as an important further development of the revolutionary iStream® manufacturing technology and is another example of a new innovation that can be implemented in a cost-effective and robust manner, appropriate for mass production”.
This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 827005.
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Notes to Editors:
Gordon Murray Design’s iStream lightweight seat is currently on display at the Advanced Engineering show at the NEC between 31st October to 1st November 2018 on Stand M80 in Hall 3/3A.
About Gordon Murray Design Limited
Gordon Murray Design is a visionary design and engineering company with its headquarters in Shalford in Surrey, plus R&D and manufacturing facilities in Dunsfold. It was established in 2007 with a focus on developing an innovative and disruptive manufacturing technology trademarked iStream®, and has since built a global reputation as one of the finest automotive design teams in the world.
The company’s unique approach and truly creative thinking enables Gordon Murray Design to deliver complete car programmes in a highly efficient and innovative way from concept and design, through to prototype and development for production.
About iStream
Rather than the traditional method of combining hundreds of panels of stamped metal, iStream uses tubular metal with 10 – 15 structural composite panels. iStream Superlight® is the ultimate automotive lightweighting technology as it maximises the iStream approach by using cored honeycomb carbon fibre composite and an aluminium frame to save almost 50% in weight against a standard stamped metal chassis.
iStream is an acronym for iS = Stabilised; T = Tube; R = Reinforced; E = Exo-frame; A = Advanced; M = Manufacturing.
About iStream lightweight seat
***Advantages of the iStream lightweight seat:
- iStream lightweight composite structure (glass or carbon)
- Full four-way adjustment and fold-flat mode
- 30% weight saving vs conventional modern seat
- Satisfies all applicable European automotive requirements (UN ECE), including luggage retention requirements
- Ultra-low tooling and developments costs
- Flexibility of design through low cost tooling
- Low part count
- Simple, high-speed assembly
- Suitable for low and high-volume applications
- Can achieve low seating position
- Excellent package performance
- Anti-submarining design
- Competitive piece cost
- Patent protected
Enquiries:
For further information please contact Sarah Smith, Communications Officer at Gordon Murray Design Limited sarah.smith@gordonmurraydesign.com +44 (0)1483 484700.