Search Results

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.

Back in the first two decades of automobile development, electric propulsion was a serious competitor for the internal combustion engine. Electrically-propelled vehicles, however, soon proved unable to satisfy users' increasing performance demands in terms of range, acceleration, top speed and hill-climbing, together with such factors as operating life, initial purchase price, running costs and reliability. Engineers investigating electric propulsion today face precisely the same unwelcome legacy as their predecessors, despite many and varied attempts in the meantime to improve the components of the electric vehicle's drive system (energy storage device, motors, controller). Progress in battery development, particularly in the case of the NaS system, has nevertheless enabled us at least partly to overcome the previous problems associated with electric drive systems, though it cannot be claimed that all obstacles to its commercial application have been eliminated as yet.

Over the next decades to come, fossil fuel powered Internal Combustion Engines (ICE) will still constitute the major powertrains for land transport. Therefore, their impact on the global and local pollution and on the use of natural resources should be minimized. To this end, an extensive fundamental and practical study was performed to evaluate the potential benefits of simultaneously co-optimizing the system fuel-and-engine using diesel as an example. It will be clearly shown that the still unused co-optimizing of the system fuel-and-engine (including advanced exhaust after-treatment) as a single entity is a must for enabling cleaner future road transport by cleaner fuels since there are large, still unexploited potentials for improvements in road fuels which will provide major reductions in pollutant emissions both in vehicles already in the field and even more so in future dedicated vehicles.

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.

In order to avoid the undesired side effect of water condensation occurring under special environment conditions in modern xenon lamps several modifications of the serial automotive headlamps were suggested. The suggestions consist of a) desired leakage in the cover, b) anti-fog coating and c) integrated ventilation tube. These strategies were tested using two types of serial head lamps applying a condensation cycle for the simulation of the urban condition. During this condensation cycle the thermodynamic parameters, like relative air humidity and temperature, were measured at different places in the head lamp and as function of time. The modification with the integrated ventilation tube is able to improve the serial head lamp significantly. The improvement in terms of water condensation for the modification using anti-fog coating depends from the number of cooling cycles.

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 is the third in the series of documents designed to record the progress on the SAE Plug-in Electric Vehicle (PEV) communication task force. The initial paper (2010-01-0837) introduced utility communications (J2836/1™ & J2847/1) and how the SAE task force interfaced with other organizations. The second paper (2011-01-0866) focused on the next steps of the utility requirements and added DC charging (J2836/2™ & J2847/2) along with initial effort for Reverse Power Flow (J2836/3™ & J2847/3). This paper continues with the following: 1. Completion of DC charging's 1st step publication of J2836/2™ & J2847/2. 2. Completion of 1st step of communication requirements as it relates to PowerLine Carrier (PLC) captured in J2931/1. This leads to testing of PLC products for Utility and DC charging messages using EPRI's test plan and schedule. 3. Progress for PEV communications interoperability in J2953/1.

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.

Automatic Crash Notification (ACN) technology provides an opportunity to rapidly transmit crash characteristics to emergency care providers in order to improve timeliness and quality of care provided to occupants in the post crash phase. This study evaluated the relative value of crash attributes in providing useful information to assist in the identification of crashes where occupants may be seriously injured. This identification includes an indication of whether a crash is likely to require a level of emergency response with higher priority than is needed for most crashes reported by ACN Systems. The ability to predict serious injury using groupings of variables has been determined. In this way, the consequence of not transmitting each variable can be estimated. In addition, the incremental benefit of voice communication is shown.

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.

BMW has undertaken a comprehensive program including laboratory simulation rig tests, engine dynamometer and fleet evaluations to evaluate the influence of mechanical and fuel variables on induction system deposits in modern port fuel injected (PFI) spark ignition engines. The primary focus of the program has been the deposit buildup on intake valves (IVD) and associated driveability impacts. Initial investigations of engine modifications yielded only marginal improvements relative to deposit build-up and, therefore this led to investigations of the effect of gasolines and additives. Fuel quality, type, quantity of additives and alcohol content have all been found to be major contributing factors to intake valve deposition. In addition, intake valve deposit weight has been directly related to warm-up phase driveability concerns using a newly developed driveability procedure.

The idea of keeping a vehicle safe and secure throughout its whole life cycle, as well as having the opportunity to add functionality after initial delivery, is the key motivation behind automotive software updates. Today, safety or security issues that appear after vehicle delivery need to be resolved by starting a recall campaign. These campaigns require the vehicle user to visit a car repair workshop to get an update. Over The Air (OTA) software updates, being location-independent, can pave the way for higher update frequencies and more efficiency regarding customer satisfaction, resource consumption as well as safety and security. In this paper we analyze requirements for OTA software updates phrased in various standards and regulations as well as in existing development and type approval processes. Prevailing challenges for OTA updates are extracted to identify necessary activities and artifacts within the procedure.

This paper summarises the potential for the use of a gasoline direct injection engine for fuel economy benefits. Various engine technologies are compared for the greatest reduction in fuel consumption at the steady state point 2000rpm/2 bar. This is an important driving point in the EU cycle. The direct injection engine when used in an unthrottled lean stratified mode shows the greatest potential. Calculations show a fuel economy of a middle class vehicle can be increased by 12% using a DI over the EU cycle. The catalytic aftertreatment system is discussed and it is concluded that a close coupled pre-catalyst, a NOx trap and double injection are a good overall solution for the minimisation of exhaust gas emissions from a DI engine.

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.

To reduce vehicle development cycles it is necessary to perform numerical durability analyses in an early development phase. Typically there is no physical prototype available at that time hence there are no measured data, either from the proving ground or from test rigs. This paper presents an alternative method to predict the required loads. Using Multi-Body Simulation (MBS), the loads prediction process is performed for an unconstrained vehicle, which means that vehicle body position and orientation are allowed to change. Of particular interest are the time series of the loads acting at components of the front-and the rear-suspension, as well as on the body structure of the vehicle. For the loads prediction BMW uses the so called Hybrid-Road-Approach developed by LMS. After an initial pilot project demonstrating that approach's feasibility and potential, the project presented below is the first run of that approach by BMW in their productive environment.