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From 2009 until present Toyota has had a demonstration program of Prius PHV which is comprised of 600 vehicles throughout Japan, Europe and in the US. The vehicles were given to government agencies, corporations, utility companies and private individuals to use. With these demo units Toyota wanted to understand the market reaction and real world impact of plug-in technology on gasoline displacement with increased use of electricity as a fuel. This presentation shows that approximately 50% of fuel was saved using the PHVs in the US. An experiment in Toyota City shows that if public infrastructure is optimized to be convenient and located where people normally park, there is a potential to achieve an ideal fuel savings of 61%. The demonstration program shows that plug-in technology in fact saves fuel and that the proper infrastructure can optimize the fuel savings of plug-in hybrids. Presenter Avernethy Francisco, Toyota

Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) are entering the market and bring with them new OBD issues. A key one is how to measure in-use monitor performance ratio and where to set a standard for this, as PHEVs will have varying amounts of engine-on operation depending on customer plug-in and driving behavior. Toyota�s Prius PHEV system is described and customer use data from a US demonstration fleet is examined. Some prior denominator proposals by Toyota and CARB are explained, as background for the current CARB/industry agreement for denominator and ratio. Presenter Morton M. Smith, Toyota

National concerns over energy consumption and emissions from the transportation sector have prompted regulatory agencies to implement aggressive fuel economy targets for light-duty vehicles through the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration/Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) program. Automotive manufacturers have responded by bringing competitive technologies to market that maximize efficiency while meeting or exceeding consumer performance and comfort expectations. In a collaborative effort among Toyota Motor Corporation, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), the real-world savings of one such technology is evaluated. A commercially available Toyota Highlander equipped with two-phase cold storage technology was tested at ANL’s chassis dynamometer testing facility.

The SAE FCV Safety Working Group has been addressing fuel cell vehicle (FCV) safety for over 8 years. The initial document, SAE J2578, was published in 2002. SAE J2578 has been valuable to FCV development with regard to the identification of hazards and the definition of countermeasures to mitigate these hazards such that FCVs can be operated in the same manner as conventional gasoline internal combustion engine (ICE)-powered vehicles. J2578 is currently being updated to clarify and update requirements so that it will continue to be relevant and useful in the future. An update to SAE J1766 for post-crash electrical safety was also published to reflect unique aspects of FCVs and to harmonize electrical requirements with international standards. In addition to revising SAE J2578 and J1766, the Working Group is also developing a new Technical Information Report (TIR) for vehicular hydrogen systems (SAE J2579).

The SAE FCV Safety Working Group has been addressing fuel cell vehicle (FCV) safety for over 7 years. The initial document, SAE J2578, was published in 2002. SAE J2578 has been valuable to the FCV development with regard to the identification of hazards and the definition of countermeasures to mitigate these hazards such that FCVs can be operated in the same manner as conventional gasoline IC-powered vehicles. The document is currently being updated to clarify and update requirements so that the document will continue to be relevant and useful in the future. In addition to developing draft revisions to SAE J2578, the working group has updated SAE J1766 and is developing a new recommended practice on vehicular hydrogen systems (SAE J2579). The documents are written from the standpoint of systems-level, performance-based requirements. A risk-based approach was used to identify potential electrical and fuel system hazards and provide criteria for acceptance.

Toyota and BP have performed a collaborative study to understand the impact of fuel composition on the combustion and emissions of a prototype 1.8L lean boosted engine. The fuel matrix was designed to understand better the impact of a range of fuel properties on fundamental combustion characteristics including thermal efficiency, combustion duration, exhaust emissions and extension of lean limit. Most of the fuels in the test matrix were in the RON range of 96 - 102, although ethanol and other high octane components were used in some fuels to increase RON to the range 104 - 108. The oxygen content ranged from 2 - 28%, and constituents included biocomponents, combustion improving additives and novel blend components. Performance and emissions tests were conducted over a range of engine operating conditions. Thermal efficiency was mapped at stoichiometric and lean conditions, and the limit of lean combustion was established for different fuels.

In recent years, engine control systems have become more and more complex because of the growing pressure to develop technical innovations due to social pressures such as global warming and the depletion of fossil fuels. On the other hand, products must be launched on the market in a timely manner and at low cost. For these reasons, calibration processes have become more sophisticated. It is possible to improve the efficiency of calibration by making good use of models, and a calibration process that incorporates models is called model based calibration (MBC). MBC is a valid means of reducing the number of measurement points to some extent by statistical engine modeling and design of experiment (DoE) methodology which places measurement points in order to maximize modeling accuracy. However, it is still necessary to spend much time carrying out boundary detection testing before DoE.

This paper focuses on the development of the centralized air flow system S-FLOW (Energy Saving Air Flow Control System). The S-FLOW system directs thermal energy to each seating position in the vehicle based on occupancy, thus prioritizing the energy usage based on the particular scenario. The thermal environment in a vehicle's cabin is non-uniform. If the climate control system is used to direct airflow exclusively to any one region of the cabin, without special considerations, comfort may be adversely impacted. To solve this concern, a non-uniform evaluation method was developed to evaluate comfort at each body region of the occupant using the SET* (Standard new effective temperature) method. SET* is a parameter that combines the effects of temperature, airflow velocity, humidity, and other parameters to quantify thermal comfort. Next, a method was established that correlated each body region's SET* value to the occupant's overall thermal comfort.

As greater emphasis is placed on the development of small fuel-efficient cars, there is a growing need to reduce the size of the inverter used in hybrid vehicles (HVs). However, semiconductor devices and other components are generating larger amounts of heat and the parts used to cool these components are becoming thinner. One issue resulting from these trends is perforations that propagate from coolant paths. This development secured corrosion resistance by controlling sacrificial corrosion protection performance, optimizing the use of Mn and Si materials to reduce susceptibility to grain-boundary corrosion, and taking a microstructural approach to the flow of the brazing filler metal. The developed material was applied to the inverter cooler of a small HV released at the end of 2011.

The SAE Fuel Cell Vehicle (FCV) Safety Working Group has published and is developing standards for FCVs and hydrogen vehicles. SAE J2578 was the first document published by the working group. The document is written from an overall vehicle perspective and deals with the integration of fuel cell and hydrogen systems in the vehicle and the management of risks associated with these systems. Since the publishing of SAE J2578, the working group has updated SAE J1766 regarding post-crash electrical safety and is developing SAE J2579 which deals with vehicular hydrogen systems.

Spot Welding is now widely used in the fabrication of sheet metals, mainly due to the cost and time considerations. Spot welds are found in nearly all products where sheet metal is joined. Examples range from a single metal toolbox to nearly 10,000 spot welds found in a typical passenger car. Obviously the quality of the spot weld has a direct impact on the quality of the product. The problem of estimating the spot-weld quality is an important component in quality control. If the weld nuggets are improperly or incompletely formed, or the area surrounding the nugget is smaller than required, the structural integrity of the entire part may be uncertain. Furthermore these inconsistencies are usually internal and are seldom visible to Optical Inspection. This study is focused on the non-destructive evaluation of the spot welds using “Digital Shearography”.

The purpose of the 4-SPACE (4-Stroke Powered gasoline Auto-ignition Controlled combustion Engine) industrial research project is to research and develop an innovative controlled auto-ignition combustion process for lean burn automotive gasoline 4-stroke engines application. The engine concepts to be developed could have the potential to replace the existing stoichiometric / 3-way catalyst automotive spark ignition 4-stroke engines by offering the potential to meet the most stringent EURO 4 emissions limits in the year 2005 without requiring DeNOx catalyst technology. A reduction of fuel consumption and therefore of corresponding CO2 emissions of 15 to 20% in average urban conditions of use, is expected for the « 4-SPACE » lean burn 4-stroke engine with additional reduction of CO emissions.

The reasons for the customer demand of improved shift comfort will be presented. Using the hydraulic gearshift system as example, the effects of subjective driver perceptions during the shift sequence will be considered negative perceptions will be emphasized, and the implemented corrective measures described. The physical limitations of conventional synchronization systems will be presented, and the improvement potential through auxiliary power depicted. The function of hydraulic gear shifting will be explained by means of a pneumatic shift with assist. A view into the future of shift systems in heavy trucks and their importance to transmission manufacturers will be presented.

Fuel cells are widely discussed as the alternative powertrain with the highest potential to compete with the internal combustion engine. They offer low emissions, high efficiency and the the possibility of a gradual but serious shift away from today's major source of energy for transportation, petroleum. Four factors are decisive if the fuel cell is to become the power source of the future: Environmental compatibility, performance, cost, and the availability of suitable fuel. This paper outlines the prospects and the technical challenges of fuel cell vehicle development and commercialization.

The oil flow in the oil ring groove was observed in order to improve the oil ejection efficiency in the oil ring groove. The oil flow was visualized with a clear head piston using fluorescing agent and particles under motoring condition. The influences of oil ring specification on the direction and the velocity of the oil flow were evaluated. The velocity of the oil ring with oil vent holes was faster than that of the oil ring without oil vent holes. In the case of the oil ring with vent holes, the reverse flow of the oil toward the front side was observed in the back clearance. Therefore, oil vent holes can change the oil flow and improve the oil ejection efficiency in the oil ring groove.

This work reports the first stage in the experimental optimization of a medium duty truck, equipped with a new engine, with four cylinders and high power, concerning both the noise emission for the environment and the noise level in the passengers' compartment. In the first stage of this work, comparative measurements among the noise levels for vehicles in different configurations were made, in order to identify the most important sources in the vehicle's noise level, as well as to serve as indicative for project improvements. Each system configuration was analyzed separately, in order to obtain a comparative evaluation of the different vehicle configurations along the whole period of measurements.