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Every year the trucking industry demands lighter weight and lower cost truck components. But it is very difficult to achieve both these targets. This paper describes the example of a suspension system design which was conducted by computer simulation, so called CAE. The computer simulation by FEM was used completely to decide the detailed shape of each part. This paper also introduces a casting method to strengthen the aluminum alloy cast using high pressure during casting. By using this method, products have a precise metallographic structure. As a result, both the development cost and period were reduced by over the half the time required of the current system and lighter and strong parts were created.

When a heavy duty truck with 2 rear axles is turning a curve at slow speed, a large side bending force to the chassis frame occurres as vehicle turning radius becomes smaller. In the past, the stress produced by side bending forces was little analyzed. By our research work of FEM, side bending stress of heavy duty truck could be analyzed accurately.

Recently engin output and vehicle speed are much improved and there received much requests for better brake system with high performance and safety. In order to meet these reguests research work was initiated to develop new retavder system as auxiliary brake, and new compact & light weight retarder without requiring electricity consumption was successfully developed by using very strong parmanent magnet of Nd-Fe-B base for the first time in the world. This new retarder was marketed in the last January for the heavy duty truck followed medium duty tyuck in this April. This new retarder well matched with market needs has been highly commented upon beyond engineer expectation, and it is believed that this new system will be popularized very rapidly in Japan.

This paper shows one example of cooling system, optimized by utilizing computer simulation in the early development stage. First, a numerical simulation is conducted to obtain the air flow rate through engine compartment room by the software “STREAM”. Second, ΔTw are calculated by the software “KULI”, developed by Steyr-Daimler-Puch AG, to evaluate the original cooling system. Third, the optimization of this system is conducted by the design of experiment for cost saving and weight reduction. The test value was well matched with the calculated one and CAE was confirmed to be very helpful for saving the proto-build cost and time period.

In fleet uses, heavy-duty trucks with turbo, inter-cooled engines are popular in Japan. These trucks usually experience congested traffic and/or frequent road grade change in expressways. As a result, frequent vehicle speed and engine load fluctuations are observed. This paper describes the typical, on road driving data from the field and presents one sample of engine control optimization for better fuel economy in actual road conditions.