VRHose — Virtual Hydraulic Hose Routing Design

Abstract

Hydraulic hoses, which are used to transport high pressure hydraulic fluid, are key components in many large industrial vehicles. In the design of an industrial vehicle, designers must allow sufficient space for hydraulic hoses to pass through the vehicle. Because these hoses are typically stiff and do not bend easily, planning the routing of the hoses around components in the vehicle is challenging. Currently designers use CAD programs to design vehicles and rely on past experience to plan hose routes and allow sufficient space for the hoses in a new vehicle. Later, during the prototype build, the actual hoses are fit and cut to length to determine exact specifications. This paper describes the program VRHose which provides the designer with a three-dimensional interface to aid in planning hose paths. VRHose allows designers to lay out hose routes through the vehicle by defining points in space which constrain the hose path. Virtual reality (VR) is used as the human-computer interface to provide three-dimensional viewing and interaction with the digital models. The initial development of VRHose has concentrated on providing the user with a three-dimensional input and evaluation tool to lay out hose routings. Future versions of VRHose will include hose material properties which will constrain the hose paths to those which are feasible.