Commission Decision of 20 March 2006 on the detailed technical requirements for carrying out the tests specified in Directive 2005/66/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council relating to the use of frontal protection systems on motor vehicles (notified under document number C(2006) 776) (Text with EEA relevance) (2006/368/EC)

2. LOWER LEGFORM IMPACTOR U.K.

2.1. Static tests U.K.

2.1.1. The lower legform impactor must meet the requirements specified in paragraph 2.1.5 when tested in accordance with paragraph 2.1.7 and the requirements specified in paragraph 2.1.6 when tested in accordance with paragraph 2.1.8. U.K.

2.1.2. For both tests the impactor must have the intended orientation about its longitudinal axis, for the correct operation of its knee joint, with a tolerance of ± 2 °. U.K.

2.1.3. The stabilised temperature of the impactor during certification must be 20° ± 2 ° C. U.K.

2.1.4. The CAC response values, as defined in ISO 6487:2000, must be 50° for the knee bending angle and 500 N for the applied force when the impactor is loaded in bending in accordance with paragraph 2.1.7, and 10 mm for the shearing displacement and 10 kN for the applied force when the impactor is loaded in shearing in accordance with paragraph 2.1.8. For both tests low-pass filtering at an appropriate frequency is permitted, to remove higher frequency noise without significantly affecting the measurement of the response of the impactor. U.K.

2.1.5. When the impactor is loaded in bending in accordance with paragraph 2.1.7, the applied force/bending angle response must be within the limits shown in Figure 16. The energy taken to generate 15° of bending must be 100 ± 7 J. U.K.

2.1.6. When the impactor is loaded in shearing in accordance with paragraph 2.1.8, the applied force/shearing displacement response must be within the limits shown in Figure 17. U.K.

2.1.7.

The impactor, without foam covering and skin, shall be mounted with the tibia firmly clamped to a fixed horizontal surface and a metal tube connected firmly to the femur, as shown in Figure 18. To avoid friction errors, no support may be provided to the femur section or the metal tube. The bending moment applied at the centre of the knee joint, due to the weight of the metal tube and other components (excluding the legform itself), must not exceed 25 Nm. U.K.

2.1.7.1. A horizontal normal force must be applied to the metal tube at a distance of 2,0 ± 0,01 m from the centre of the knee joint and the resulting angle of knee deflection must be recorded. The load must be increased until the angle of deflection of the knee exceeds 22°. U.K.

2.1.7.2. The energy is calculated by integrating the force with respect to the bending angle in radians, and multiplying by the lever length of 2,0 ± 0,01 m. U.K.

2.1.8.

The impactor, without foam covering and skin, must be mounted with the tibia firmly clamped to a fixed horizontal surface and a metal tube connected firmly to the femur and restrained at 2,0 m from the centre of the knee joint, as shown in Figure 19. U.K.

2.1.8.1. A horizontal normal force must be applied to the femur at a distance of 50 mm from the centre of the knee joint and the resulting knee shearing displacement must be recorded. The load must be increased until the shearing displacement of the knee is in excess of 8,0 mm or the load exceeds of 6,0 kN. U.K.

2.2. Dynamic tests U.K.

2.2.1. The impactor must meet the requirements specified in paragraph 2.2.3 when tested in accordance with paragraph 2.3. U.K.

2.2.2. The stabilised temperature of the impactor during certification must be 20° ± 2 °C. U.K.

2.2.3. When the impactor is impacted by a linearly guided certification impactor, as specified in paragraph 2.3.2, the maximum upper tibia acceleration must be not less than 120 g and not more than 250 g. The maximum bending angle must be not less than 6,2° and not more than 8,2°. The maximum shearing displacement must be not less than 3,5 mm and not more than 6,0 mm. U.K.

2.2.4. For all these values the readings used must be from the initial impact with the certification impactor and not from the arresting phase. Any system used to arrest the impactor or certification impactor must be so arranged that the arresting phase does not overlap in time with the initial impact. The arresting system must not cause the transducer outputs to exceed the specified CAC. U.K.

2.2.5. The instrumentation response value CFC, as defined in ISO 6487:2000, must be 180 for all transducers. The CAC response values, as defined in ISO 6487:2000, must be 50° for the knee bending angle, 10 mm for the shearing displacement and 500 g for the acceleration. This does not require that the impactor itself be able to physically bend and shear to these angles and displacements. U.K.

2.3. Test procedure U.K.

2.3.1. The impactor, including foam covering and skin, must be suspended horizontally by three wire ropes of 1,5 ± 0,2 mm diameter and of 2,0 m minimum length, as shown in Figure 20. It must be suspended with its longitudinal axis horizontal, with a tolerance of ± 0,5°, and perpendicular to the direction of the certification impactor motion, with a tolerance of ± 2 °. The impactor must have the intended orientation about its longitudinal axis, for the correct operation of its knee joint, with a tolerance of ± 2 °. The impactor must meet the requirements specified in paragraph 3.1 of Chapter III, Part II, with the attachment bracket(s) for the wire ropes fitted. U.K.

2.3.2. The certification impactor must have a mass of 9,0 ± 0,05 kg, this mass includes those propulsion and guidance components which are effectively part of the certification impactor during impact. The dimensions of the face of the certification impactor must be as specified in Figure 21. The face of the certification impactor must be made of aluminium, with an outer surface finish of better than at least 2,0 micrometers. U.K.

2.3.3. The guidance system must be fitted with low friction guides, insensitive to off-axis loading, that allow the impactor to move only in the specified direction of impact, when in contact with the vehicle. The guides must prevent motion in other directions including rotation about any axis. U.K.

2.3.4. The impactor must be certified with previously unused foam. U.K.

2.3.5. The impactor foam must not be excessively handled or deformed before, during or after fitting. U.K.

2.3.6. The certification impactor must be propelled horizontally at a velocity of 7,5 ± 0,1 m/s into the stationary impactor as shown in Figure 20. The certification impactor must be positioned so that its centreline aligns with a position on the tibia centreline of 50 mm from the centre of the knee, with tolerances of ± 3 mm laterally and ± 3 mm vertically. U.K.