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The road transportation sector is undergoing significant changes, and new green scenarios for sustainable mobility are being proposed. In this context, a diversification of the vehicles’ propulsion, based on electric powertrains and/or alternative fuels and technological improvements of the electric vehicles charging stations, are necessary to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The adoption of internal combustion engines operating with alternative fuels, like methanol, may represent a viable solution for overcoming the limitations of actual grid connected charging infrastructure, giving the possibility to realize off-grid charging stations. This work aims, therefore, at investigating this last aspect, by evaluating the performance of an internal combustion engine fueled with methanol for stationary applications, in order to fulfill the potential demand of an on off-grid charging station.

Error in suspension asymmetry or tire parameters may lead to vehicle drifting laterally from its intended straight-line path, which is called vehicle pull. Driver then needs to apply constant steering correction to maintain the vehicle in straight line which will lead to high driver fatigue and deteriorate driving experience. Manufacturing a perfectly symmetric suspension system is impractical, however an insight into the manufacturing tolerances of suspension system at the early design stage can be extremely useful. Also tire force and moment parameters at straight line operation and its maximum allowable variations will help in defining the tire parameter specifications and tolerances. The objective of this study was to develop a 1D model of suspension and tire system which can predict the torque experienced in steering and drift of the vehicle from straight line due to the tire force and moment and asymmetric suspension geometry.

In order to investigate the soot formation process in a diesel spray flame, simultaneous imaging of soot precursor and soot particles in a transient spray flame achieved in a rapid compression machine was conducted by laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) and by laser-induced incandescence (LII) techniques. The 3rd harmonic (355nm) and the fundamental (1064nm) laser pulses from an Nd:YAG laser, between which a delay of 44ns was imposed by 13.3m of optical path difference, were used to excite LIF from soot precursor and LII from soot particles in the spray flame. The LIF and the LII were separately imaged by two image-intensified CCD cameras with identical detection wavelength of 400nm and bandwidth of 80nm. The LIF from soot precursor was mainly located in the central region of the spray flame between 40 and 55mm (270 to 370 times nozzle orifice diameter d0) from the nozzle orifice. The LII from soot particles was observed to surround the soot precursor LIF region and to extend downstream.

This study focuses on variable amplitude loadings applied to automotive chassis parts experiencing carmaker’s specific proving grounds. They are measured with respect to time at the wheel centres and composed of the six forces and torques at each wheel, within the standard vehicle reference frame. In the scope of high cycle fatigue, the loadings considered are supposedly acting under the structure yield stress. Among the loadings encountered during the vehicle lifetime, two classes stand out: Driven Road: loads measured during the vehicle manoeuvre; Random Road: loads mainly coming from the road asperity. To separate both effects, a frequency decomposition method is proposed before applying any lifetime assessment methods. The usual Rainflow counting method is applied to the Driven Road signal. These loadings, depending on the vehicle dynamics, are time-correlated. Thus, the load spectra is set only thanks to the vehicle accelerations time-measurement.

This paper presents a novel battery degradation model based on empirical data from the Racing Green Endurance project. Using the rainflow-counting algorithm, battery charge and discharge data from an electric vehicle has been studied in order to establish more reliable and more accurate predictions for capacity and power fade of automotive traction batteries than those currently available. It is shown that for the particular lithium-iron phosphate (LiFePO₄) batteries, capacity fade is 5.8% after 87 cycles. After 3,000 cycles it is estimated to be 32%. Both capacity and power fade strongly depend on cumulative energy throughput, maximum C-rate as well as temperature.

A 2D finite element program, known as FAST_FORM2D, was developed at FTI to carry out section analysis in die design. Incremental method is employed and plane strain condition is assumed for 2D sections. Contact behavior and friction force are simulated by a developed algorithm. Therefore, the divergence problems related to the conventional contact techniques can be reduced or avoided. An adaptive mesh generation scheme is implemented to achieve computation efficiency. With the code, it is possible to evaluate tension, strain, thickness distributions and punch force at different stages for any 2D section cut from 3D panels. User can easily input or modify forming conditions to get the best solution.

A historical review of the patents and literature pertaining to 3-valve stratified charge engines is presented in this paper. This very old invention appears to be a practical approach for the “clean engine” being sought for vehicular use since it has the intrinsic capability of simultaneously giving good fuel economy and producing minimal objectionable exhaust emissions. The prime requisites of this engine are a rich prechamber charge and a very lean main chamber charge regardless of prechamber volume, nozzle diameter, valving and spark plug location. Fuel-air equivalence ratios of the charges in the two combustion chambers are significantly important in order to achieve the proper optimization. These ratios should be about 15% rich for the prechamber and 15 to 30% lean for the main chamber at the moment of ignition.

A 3-D analysis of the flow through a multihole, V.C.O. (Valve Covered Orifice) nozzle for D.I. Diesel Engine has been carried out. The analysis was performed by means of a finite element code. The nozzle comprises five injection holes. Aims of the analysis were: the investigation of the pressure drops along the conical clearance between the needle and the nozzle; the evaluation of the energy losses in the injection holes; the disclosure of the velocity profile at the injection hole outlets. the differences of flowrate for each hole with geometrical asymmetries. This kind of analisys is the first step of a more complete spray analysis; in fact, the spray from an injection hole is influenced by the injection pressure and the velocity profile. In particular, the needle lift and the needle tip deviation have been parametrized. The analysis betters both the theoretical knowledge of this kind of nozzle and the hydraulic phenomena occurring inside.

A novel computer vision technique for rapid measurement of surface coordinates is presented. The technique is based on the marriage of a digital fringe projection technique and a fringe-phase extraction algorithm. A digitally controlled video signal in the form of linear and parallel fringes of cosinusoidal intensity variation is projected onto an object. The fringe pattern is perturbed by the three-dimensional object surface with fringe-phase containing information on the depth of the object. A phase extraction algorithm is used to determine the fringe-phase distribution, from which the three-dimensional surface coordinates are determined. The theoretical basis of this technique and some experimental results are presented in this paper.

The urea Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) exhaust system has been proved to be the reliable aftertreatment device with the capability of reducing tail pipe NOx emission by 75% to 90%, HC by 50% and Particulate Matter (PM) by 30%. Constrained by increasingly stringent packaging envelope, flow mixing in front of substrate is becoming one of the major concerns to achieve ideal performance of higher NOx conversion and lower ammonia (NH3) slip. Three dimensional CFD simulations are performed in current study to investigate flow mixing phenomenon in a SCR system. First, for a traditional tube injector with single or multiple nozzles, the effects of mass flow rates of injected NH3 and exhaust gas on flow mixing and pressure loss are investigated. Then, a concept of ring shape injector with multiple nozzles are initiated and built for 3-D CFD simulations. The comparisons of flow mixing index and injection pressure are made between two type injectors.

3-D shell components are used intensively in the automotive industry. Many structural topology optimization techniques were developed to reduced the total weight of shell structures while retaining its structural performance. One common approach is to utilize the concept of the design domain, such as the homogenization method and the density function approach. In this paper, a new micro-structure based design domain method is introduced to solve 3-D shell topology optimization problems. Based on physical micro-structure model, simple closed-form expressions for effective Young's modulus and effective shear modulus are rigorously derived. Using these simple relations, topology optimization problems can be formulated and solved with sequential convex approximation algorithms. Two design examples obtained from the new method are presented.

In this paper, we present a real-time 360 degree surround system with parking aid feature, which is a very convenient parking and blind spot aid system. In the proposed system, there are four fisheye cameras mounted around a vehicle to cover the whole surrounding area. After correcting the distortion of four fisheye images and registering all images on a planar surface, a flexible stitching method was developed to smooth the seam of adjacent images away to generate a high-quality result. In the post-process step, a unique brightness balance algorithm was proposed to compensate the exposure difference as the images are not captured with the same exposure condition. In addition, a unique parking guidance feature is applied on the surround view scene by utilizing steering wheel angle information as well as vehicle speed information.

In this paper three-dimensional Large Eddy Simulations (i.e., LES) by using a PLIC-VOF method have been adopted to investigate the atomization process of round liquid jets issuing from automotive multi-hole injector-like nozzles. LES method is used to compute directly the effect of the large flow structure, being the smallest one modelled. A mesh having a cell size of 4 μm was used in order to derive a statistics of the detached liquid structures, i.e. droplets and ligaments. The latter have been identified by using an algorithm coded by authors. Cavitation modeling has not been included in the present computations. Two different mean injection nozzle flow velocities of 50 m/s and 270 m/s, corresponding to two mean nozzle flow Reynolds numbers of 1600 and 8700, respectively, have been considered in the calculations as representative of laminar and turbulent nozzle flow conditions.

48V mild hybrid powertrains are promising technologies for cost-effective compliance with future CO2 emissions standards. Current 48V powertrains with integrated belt starter generators (P0) with downsized engines achieve CO2 emissions of 95 g/km in the NEDC. However, to reach 75 g/km, it may be necessary to combine new 48V powertrain architectures with alternative fuels. Therefore, this paper compares CO2 emissions from different 48V powertrain architectures (P0, P1, P2, P3) with different electric power levels under various driving cycles (NEDC, WLTC, and RTS95). A numerical model of a compact class passenger car with a 48V powertrain was created and experimental fuel consumption maps for engines running on different fuels (gasoline, Diesel, E85, CNG) were used to simulate its CO2 emissions. The simulation results were analysed to determine why specific powertrain combinations were more efficient under certain driving conditions.

Diesel common rail injectors are required to utilize a higher injection pressure and to achieve higher injection accuracy in order to meet increasingly severe emissions, less fuel consumption, and higher engine performance demand. In addition to those requirements, in conjunction with optimized nozzle geometry, a more rectangular injection rate and stable multiple injections with shorter intervals are required for further emissions and engine performance improvement by optimizing the combustion efficiency.

The transition towards More Electric Aircraft (MEA) architectures has challenges relating to integration of power electronics with the starter generator system for on-engine application. To efficiently operate the power electronics in the hostile engine environment at high switching frequency and for better thermal management, use of silicon carbide (SiC) power devices for a bi-directional power converter is examined. In this paper, development of a 50 kVA bi-directional converter operating at an ambient temperature of about 2000C is presented. The design and operation of the converter with details of control algorithm implementation and cooling chamber design are also discussed.

A finite element model of a folded airbag with the module cover and steering wheel system was developed to estimate the injury numbers of a 5th percentile female dummy in an out-of-position (OOP) situation. The airbag model was correlated with static airbag deployments and standard force plate tests. The 5th percentile finite element dummy model developed by First Technology Safety Systems (FTSS) was used in the simulation. The following two OOP tests were simulated with the airbag model including a validated steering wheel finite element model: 1. Chest on air bag module for maximum chest interaction from pressure loading (MS6-D) and 2. Neck on air bag module for maximum neck interaction from membrane loading (MS8-D). These two simulations were then compared to the test results. Satisfactory correlation was found in both the cases.

Unguided sounding rockets, also known as sub-orbital rockets, are vehicles that carry scientific experiments and/or sensors to collect data during their trajectory. These rockets lack active control but are capable of traversing the Earth’s atmosphere. It is crucial to thoroughly analyze the flight parameters during the preliminary design phase. The Open Rocket flight simulation software, developed by Sampo Niskanen, is a widely used open-source project. However, it has some simplifications in comparison to its documentation. It does not specify the calculations of critical parameters required for the rocket’s stability during its flight. Additionally, it does not calculate data related to dynamic stability, which encompasses the system’s ability to make disturbances corrections during the rocket’s trajectory. Consequently, this study presents a flight simulation of a rocket with 6 degrees of freedom using Matlab/Simulink.

The experimental procedure employed to define the natural modes of vibration of the 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and Space Shuttle Orbiter mated configuration is described. A discussion of test results and comparison to structural analysis results is also included. Random transient signals were used as inputs to electromagnetic shakers to provide excitation to the mated vehicle test configuration. Acceleration signals were processed via the Fast Fourier Transform algorithm. Magnitude and phase transfer functions were formed and processed to produce modal frequencies, damping, and modal displacements.

Multi-Target tracking is a central aspect of modeling the surrounding environment of autonomous vehicles. Automotive millimeter-wave radar is a necessary component in the autonomous driving system. One of the biggest advantages of radar is it measures the velocity directly. Another big advantage is that the radar is less influenced by environmental conditions. It can work day and night, in rainy or snowy conditions. In the expressway scenario, the forward-looking radar can generate multiple objects, to properly track the leading vehicle or neighbor-lane vehicle, a multi-target tracking algorithm is required. How to associate the track and the measurement or data association is an important question in a multi-target tracking system. This paper applies the nearest-neighbor method to solve the data association problem and uses an extended Kalman filter to update the state of the track.