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It is necessary for vehicle horns not only to satisfy regulations on the sound level but also to fulfill various demands related with sound quality. For example, a disk type horn which is attached on most of small size vehicles has been required to improve its sharp feeling sound. However, the improvement of horn sound has been deterred mainly due to the deficiency of the understanding on how design factors are related with emotional judgments on horn sound. In addition, a proper CAE tool is not available in the process of horn design since it is difficult to describe multi-physical phenomena engaged with horns. The purpose of this study is to improve the sound quality of a disk type horn. In order to achieve this goal, firstly, acoustic characteristics of horns were obtained through a series of experiments. In addition, various sound quality metrics were examined in order to derive design factors affecting sound quality enhancement.

This paper focuses on the vehicle test result of the US fuel economy test cycles such as FTP75, HWY and US06 with model based Cooled EGR system. Cooled EGR SW function was realized by Model Based Development (internal rapid prototyping) using iRPT tool. With EGR, mixing exhaust gas with clean air reduces the oxygen concentration in the cylinder charge, as a result, the combustion process is slowed, and the combustion temperature drops. This experiment confirmed that the spark timing was more advanced without knocking and manifold pressure was increased in all cases with EGR. A positive potential of fuel economy improvement on FTP mode, US06 mode have seen in this experiment but not for HWY where the engine load is quite low and the spark advance is already optimized. As a result, fuel economy was increased by maximum 3.3% on FTP, 2.7% on US06, decreased by 0.3% on HWY mode respectively with EGR.

The new concept oxidation for diesel engine has been developed. It has been designed to use under circumstances of the "dry condition" of exhausted emission, which indicates low soluble organics and high dry soot concentration under high exhaust gas temperature. For the reliability and performance of catalysts in dry condition, several design concepts were established. First of all, extremely low sulfate formation on catalyst at high temperature conditions, and an improved soluble organic burning characteristics was required. A minimization of deposition of the particulate component, especially sulfate, was obtained from the adjustment of washcoat loading and material property. Six different types of catalysts have been prepared and tested in a laboratory. Diesel vehicle test showed the possibility that soluble organic could be removed mostly with minimal sulfate formation.

Polylactide (PLA), which is one of the most important biocompatible polyesters that are derived from annually renewable biomass such as corn and sugar beets, has attracted much attention for automotive parts application. The manufacturing method of PLA is the ring-opening polymerization of the dimeric cyclic ester of lactic acid, lactide. For the PLA composites including stereocomplexed with L- and D-PLA, we developed the unit processes such as fermentation, separation, lactide conversion, and polymerization. We investigated D-lactic acid fermentation with a view to obtaining the strains capable of producing D-lactic acid, and through catalyst screening test for polycondensation and depolymerization reactions, we got a new method which shortens the whole reaction time of lactide synthesis step. Poly(d-lactide) is obtained from the ring-opening polymerization of d-lactide. Also we investigated several catalysts and polymerization conditions.

In order to improve the fuel consumption ratio of the vehicle, a great deal of research is being carried out to improve air-conditioning efficiency. Increasing the efficiency of the condenser is directly connected to the power consumption of the compressor. This paper describes an experimental method of using an additional water-cooled condenser to reduce power consumption and decrease discharge pressure of the air-conditioning system. First, the principle of a combined cooling (water + air) method was evaluated theoretically. Next, experimental proof was conducted with the additional water-cooled condenser. The shape and structure is similar to the plate type of the transmission oil cooler used in a radiator. Through a number of tests, it was found that it is possible is to reduce power consumption of compressor by decreasing discharge pressure.

Recently weight reduction is increasingly needed in automotive industry to improve fuel efficiency and to meet a CO2 emission requirement. In this paper, we prepared composite body panels for the lightweight vehicle based on a small passenger car. Fender, roof, door, side outer panel, and tailgate are made from hand layup using a glass/carbon hybrid reinforcement. Hood is made from low pressure sheet molding compound (SMC) to investigate feasibility of mass production. Both hand layup and low pressure SMC materials are newly developed and their physical properties are examined. CAE simulation was done for strength analysis and optimization of thickness for the body panels.

A technical approach to reduce NOx and to minimize the fuel consumption caused by the DeNOx aftertreatment system was introduced. The NEDC mode test of the HMC (Hyundai Motor Company) DeNOx system was done with a Euro 5 vehicle (ETW (Equivalent Test Weight) = 1,810 kg, 143 kW, 430 N⋅m), which resulted in that the Euro 6 legislation standards were met. The NOx and HC emissions were, respectively, measured to be 0.059 g/km and 0.087 g/km with the hydrothermal-aged catalysts, and CO₂ was increased by ≺ 4%.

A new exhaust system has been developed to cope with post-SULEV (Super Ultra-Low Emissions Vehicle) regulation by newly designed hardware of exhaust system. This paper will describe the various new technologies used for achieving the post-SULEV standards, such as Conicat (cone-type metal catalyst), dual-wall pipe, pipe-type metal catalyst, ultra thin wall monolith and HC trap system for the improvement of catalyst light-off time. The tested data on 2.0L SULEV vehicle indicate that Conicat(cone-type metal catalyst) and HC trap (hydrocarbon absorbing catalyst) have more positive characteristics, and are expected to show the enhanced HC reduction performance with the optimization of emission system.

Urea-SCR system consisted of combined deNOx catalysts with wide range of temperature window, injector, sensor and injection controller. Synthetic gas activity test and NOx conversion efficiency test on the engine bench were carried out to evaluate and improve the performance of this system. To better suit the application of the urea-SCR system without engine modification, temperature of catalyst and engine RPM were used as input data to control amounts of urea aqueous solution that reacts with NOx. We concentrated on designing types of deNOx catalysts and controlling amounts of urea solution under different driving conditions to achieve higher NOx reduction and wider temperature window. Designed urea-SCR system showed substantial NOx reduction performance and relatively wide temperature window under different driving conditions.

Development of eco-friendly vehicles have risen in importance due to fossil fuel depletion and the strengthened globalized emission control regulatory requirements. A lot of automotive companies have already developed and launched various types of eco-friendly vehicles which include hybrid vehicles (HEVs) or electric vehicles (EVs) to reduce fuel consumption. To maximize fuel economy Hyundai-Kia Motor Company has introduced eco-friendly vehicles which have downsized or eliminated vibration damping components such as a torque converter. Comparing with Internal Combustion Engine(ICE) powered vehicles, one issue of the electric motor propulsion system with minimized vibration damping components is NVH (Noise, Vibration and Harshness). The NVH problem is caused by output torque fluctuation of the motor system, resulting in the degradation of ride comfort and drivability.

Today, all manufacturers of vehicles are up for the challenge to abide in automobile emission control laws. Weight reduction is one of the best solutions to reduce both fuel consumption and emissions. The most effective method for the said idea is to have lightweight materials to some parts of vehicle using the FRP(Fiber Reinforced Plastics). In order to obtain good mechanical properties of FRP, continuous fiber should be used. But it is difficult to design and manufacture FRP parts using continuous fiber because of material properties and molding process. In this paper, it is used CF(carbon Fiber) and Epoxy to make a composite material. Properties of this CFRP can be predicted through analysis. Tests and simulations of specimen are performed as every step progresses for correlation. A spring can be designed to meet all requirements for specific performance. The CFRP spring is made by new devices and methods and can be applied to vehicle for practical use.

A nano-sized PM and THC emission characteristics were investigated according to the fuel injection strategy such as a pressure and timing in the GDI engine. On the part-load condition, the particulate emissions exhibited a strong sensitivity to the injection timing. The fuel injection pressure also had a great association with the nano-particles and THC. A size of PM exhausted from the GDI engine located near 10nm on the part-load. In contrast, accumulation mode particles within 60 - 80nm mainly exhausted during the cold transient start phase. Increment of fuel injection pressure positively affected on the nano-particle and THC emissions during the start of the engine, as well.

The shape of unit cell of catalytic converter has great influence on the conversion efficiency and pressure drop characteristics. Therefore, the properties of design parameters of catalyst monolith were analyzed and the parameters of various cell shapes of catalyst were compared. Also, the numerical study of a three dimensional compressible flow in a Close-coupled Catalyst Converter (CCC) system was performed to investigate the flow characteristics and the flow distribution of exhaust gases. Unsteady flow analysis shows that severe interferences of each pulsating exhaust gas flow as well as geometric factors (junction, mixing pipe, cell shape etc.) influence greatly on the flow uniformity and flow characteristic in substrate. The results can be applied for the catalytic converter design.

This paper describes the development of THC reduction technologies compliant with SULEV regulations. Technologies embodied by the developmental work include improvement of fuel spay atomization, quick warm-up through coolant control shut off, and acceleration of fuel atomization for the fast rise of cylinder head temp inside the water jacket as well as the improvement of combustion state. The technologies likewise entail reduced HC while operating in lean A/F condition during engine warm-up with the cold lean-burn technology, individual cylinder A/F control for improvement of catalytic converting efficiency, aftertreatment such as thin-wall catalyst, HC absorber and EHC and etc., through vehicle application evaluation in cold start. We carried out an experimental as well as a practical study against SULEV regulations, and the feasibility of adopting these items in vehicle was likewise investigated.

The sliding surface of the brake friction material is not uniform but composed of random contact plateaus with a broad pressure distribution, which are known to closely related to the triggering mechanism of friction induced noise and vibrations. The non-uniform contact plateaus are attributed to the various ingredients in the friction material with a broad range of physical properties and morphology and the size and stiffness of the plateau play crucial roles in determining the friction instability. The incorporation of friction surface inhomogeneity is, therefore, crucial and has to be counted to improve the accuracy of the numerical calculation to simulate brake noise. In this study, the heterogeneous nature of the friction material surface was employed in the simulation to improve the correlation between numerical simulations and experimental results.

A model based control algorithm for the pressure control type CVT has been developed. First, a P-line is proposed from the steady state relationship between the primary and secondary pressure for the given speed ratio to predict the shift performance. The P-line shows the pressure difference from the steady state primary pressure to the maximum(or minimum) pressure available for the given secondary pressure. It is found from the P-line that the bigger the pressure difference, the faster the shift speed. Based on the steady state characteristics of the pressure control type ratio control valve(RCV), the model based control algorithm is proposed. In the model based control, ratio control solenoid valve(RCSV) control duty is supplied in the feedforward loop.

Generally, the widely used hydraulic control system in automatic transmissions is pulse width modulation (PWM) type. It consists in a PWM solenoid valve and a reducing type second stage valve, so called pressure control valve (PCV), to amplify pressure or flow rate. In this study, the mathematical models of the PWM solenoid valve and the PCV with moderate complexity are proposed. Then, their behavior is analyzed from the steady state characteristics. Finally, we find that there are good matches between the dynamic simulation results and the experimental data.

In order to extend the operability limit of the gasoline compression ignition (GCI) engine, as an avenue for low temperature combustion (LTC) regime, the effects of parametric variations of engine operating conditions on the performance of six-stroke GCI (6S-GCI) engine cycle are numerically investigated, using an in-house 3D CFD code coupled with high-fidelity physical sub-models along with the Chemkin library. The combustion and emissions were calculated using a skeletal chemical kinetics mechanism for a 14-component gasoline surrogate fuel. Authors’ previous study highlighted the effects of the variation of injection timing and split ratio on the overall performance of 6S-GCI engine and the unique mixing-controlled burning mode of the charge mixtures during the two additional strokes. As a continuing effort, the present study details the parametric studies of initial gas temperature, boost pressure, fuel injection pressure, compression ratio, and EGR ratio.

In recent years, emission regulations have been getting increasingly strict. In the development of engines that comply with these regulations, in-cylinder pressure plays a fundamental role, as it is necessary to analyze combustion characteristics and control combustion-related parameters. The analysis of in-cylinder pressure data enables the modelling of exhaust emissions in which characteristic temperature can be derived from the in-cylinder pressure, and the pressure can be used for other investigations, such as optimizing efficiency and emissions through controlling combustion. Therefore, a piezoelectric pressure sensor to measure in-cylinder pressure is an essential element in the engine research field. However, it is difficult to practice the installation of this pressure sensor on all engines and on-road vehicles owing to cost issues.

This study suggests new types of catalysts that show low hydrogen sulfide emission without scavenger such as NiO. Hydrogen sulfide can be reduced by changing the physicochemical properties of washcoat components. Synthesized gas activity tests were performed to investigate the effect of modified washcoat on hydrogen sulfide formation and catalytic activity. BET surface area tests, X- ray diffraction tests, and gas chromatography tests were also carried out to examine the characteristics of catalysts. Preparation methods for catalysts were focused on minimizing the adsorption of sulfur species on catalysts. The first approach is heat treatment of cerium oxide to reduce adsorption sites for sulfur compounds. But this leads to deterioration of CO and NOx conversion efficiencies. The second one is adding new types of promoters that increase thermal durability and dynamic oxygen storing function of cerium oxide.