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This paper describes a method for optimization of engine settings in view of best total cost of operation fluids. Under specific legal NOX tailpipe emissions requirements the engine out NOX can be matched to the current achievable SCR NOX conversion efficiency. In view of a heavy duty long haul truck application various specific engine operation modes are defined. A heavy duty diesel engine was calibrated for all operation modes in an engine test cell. The characteristics of engine operation are demonstrated in different transient test cycles. Optimum engine operation mode (EOM) selection strategies between individual engine operation modes are discussed in view of legal test cycles and real world driving cycles which have been derived from on-road tests.

Current developments in automotive industry such as hybrid powertrains and the continuously increasing demands on emission control systems, are pushing complexity still further. Validation of such systems lead to a huge amount of test cases and hence extreme testing efforts on the road. At the same time the pressure to reduce costs and minimize development time is creating challenging boundaries on development teams. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to utilize testing and validation prototypes in the most efficient way. It is necessary to apply high levels of instrumentation and collect as much data as possible. And a streamlined data pipeline allows the fleet managers to get new insights from the raw data and control the validation vehicles as well as the development team in the most efficient way. In this paper we will demonstrate a data-driven approach for validation testing.

Vehicle driveability evolves more and more as a key decisive factor for marketability and competitiveness of passenger cars, since the final decision of customers to buy a car is usually taken after a more or less intensive test drive. Car manufacturers currently evaluate vehicle driveability with subjective assessments and by having their experienced test drivers fill out form sheets. These assessments are time and cost intensive, limited in repeatability and not objective. The real customer requirements cannot be recognized in detail with this method. This paper describes a completely new approach for an objective and real time evaluation of relevant driveability criteria, for use in a vehicle and on a high dynamic test bed. The vehicle application enables an objective comparison between vehicles and an application as a development tool in many development and calibration phases, where ever fast and objective driveability results are required.

Today combustion analysis has to be used in every step of the engine development process and is no longer a tool for some specialists but most test bed operators have to deal with combustion analysis (also called Indicating). AVL reacts on the widened area of application and the broad spread of the Indicating measurement technology by introduction of user friendly user interfaces, which make the work during preparation of measurements as well as during measurements itself easier.

This paper presents the results of a long haul truck Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) system from simulation, test bench and public road testing. The WHR system uses exhaust gas recuperation only and utilizes up to 110kW of exhaust waste heat for the Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) in a typical European driving cycle. The testing and simulation procedures are explained in detail together with the tested and simulated WHR fuel consumption benefit for different real life cycles in Europe and USA reaching fuel consumption benefits between 2.5% and 3.4%. Additionally a technology road map is shown which discusses the role of WHR in fulfilling the future CARB BSFC target value (minimum in map) of around 172 g/kWh.

Local air pollution, noise emissions as well as global CO2 reduction and public pressure drive the need for zero emission transport solutions in urban areas. OEMs are currently developing battery electric vehicles with the focus to provide emission free urban transportation combined with lowest total cost of ownership and consequently a positive business case for the end customers. Thereby the main challenges are electric range, product cost, system weight, vehicle packaging and durability. Hence they are the main drivers in current developments. In this paper AVL describes two of its truck and bus solutions - a modular battery concept as well as a concept for an integrated electric axle. Based on the vehicle requirements concept designs for both systems are presented.

The reduction of CO₂ emissions represents a major goal of governments worldwide. In developed countries, approximately 20% of the CO₂ emissions originate from transport, one third of this from commercial vehicles. CO₂ emission legislation is in place for passenger cars in a number of major markets. For commercial vehicles such legislation was also already partly published or is under discussion. Furthermore the commercial vehicles market is very cost sensitive. Thus the major share of fuel cost in the total cost of ownership of commercial vehicles was already in the past a major driver for the development of efficient drivetrain solutions. These aspects make the use of new powertrain technologies, specifically hybridization, mandatory for future commercial powertrains. While some technologies offer a greater potential for CO₂ reduction than others, they might not represent the overall optimum with regard to the total cost of ownership.

The development process of a combustion engine is now a days strongly influenced by future emission regulations which require further reduction in fuel consumption and precise control of combustion process based on Intake air measurement, during engine development. Intake air flow meters clearly differentiate themselves from typical industrial gas flow meters because of their ability to measure extremely dynamic phenomenon of combustion engine. Thus, high internal data acquisition rate, short response time, ability to measure pulsating and reverse flows with lower measurement uncertainty are the factors that ensures the reliability of the results without being affected by ambient influences, sensor contamination or sensor aging. The AVL developed FLOWSONIX™ is based on ultrasonic transit time measuring principle with broad-band Capacitive Ultrasonic Transducer (CUT) characterized by an excellent air impedance matching strongly distinguishes itself by fulfilling all those requirements.

The safety of BEVs in driving, charging and parking condition is essential for the success of electrification in automotive industry as well as key driver of any future development of Li-Ion HV battery. AVL has developed a unique simulation approach in which the multi-physical behavior of the single cell in thermal runaway is modelled and applied to module, pack or vehicle level. In addition and beside this cell behavior, various more physical phenomena during thermal propagation on pack level are considered and predicted by the simulation method: component melting, ignition and flammibilty of venting gas and HV failures.

Best fuel efficiency is one of the core requirements for commercial vehicles in India. Consequently it is a central challenge for commercial vehicle OEMs to optimize the entire powertrain, hence match engine, transmission and rear axle specifications best to the defined application. The very specific real world driving conditions in India (e.g. traffic situations, road conditions, driver behavior, etc.) and the large number of possible commercial powertrain combinations request an efficient and effective development methodology. This paper presents a methodology and tool chain to specify and develop commercial powertrains in a most efficient and effective way. The methodology is based on the measurement of real world driving scenarios, identification of representative Real World Driving Profiles and vehicle system simulation which allows extended analysis of the road topography, the traffic situation as well as the driver behavior.

With the increased number of variants, the preservation of a brand-specific vehicle DNA becomes more and more important. Paired with growing customer expectations, brand DNA can be a crucial point in the decision-making process of buying a new vehicle. Whereas the customer will assess the DNA subjectively during driving by evaluating the vehicle drive quality (“driveability”), most manufacturers are not merely relying on subjective evaluations by having test drivers perform maneuvers with prototype vehicles. Nowadays, the assessment is performed objectively during the vehicle development process. As a supporting measure, the Anstalt für Verbrennungskraftmaschinen List (AVL) has made the objective assessment tool AVL-DRIVE commercially available. Up to now, the AVL-DRIVE ratings had to be manually analyzed and checked for outliers. Low ratings and high deviations to a priori specified target values are a good starting point for the search of outliers.

Brake wear particles are recognized as one of the dominant sources of road transport particulate matter emissions and are linked to adverse health effects and environmental impact. The UNECE mandated the Particle Measurement Program to address this issue, by developing a harmonized sampling and measurement methodology for the investigation of brake wear particles on a brake dynamometer (dyno). However, although the brake dyno approach with tightly controlled test conditions offers good reproducibility, a multitude of changing vehicle and surrounding conditions make real-driving emissions measurement a highly relevant task. Here we show two different prototypes for on-road particle measurement with minimal impact of the measurement setup on the emission behavior, tested on a brake dyno.