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This SAE Standard establishes the minimum construction and performance requirements for a 15 pole connector between towing vehicles and trailers, for trucks, trailers, and dollies, for 12 VDC nominal applications in conjunction with SAE J2742. The connector accommodates both power and ISO 11992-1 signal circuits along with dual ground wires to accommodate grounding requirements within the constraints of the SAE J2691 terminal capacity.

This SAE standard establishes the minimum construction and performance requirements for a 15 Pole Connector Between Towing Vehicles and Trailers, for trucks, trailers, and dollies in conjunction with SAE J2742. The connector accommodates both power and ISO 11992-1 signal circuits along with dual ground wires to accommodate grounding requirements within the constraints of the SAE J2691 terminal capacity.

COMVEC™ conference is the only North American event that addresses vehicles and equipment spanning on-highway, off-highway, agricultural, construction, industrial, military, and mining sectors.

Due to the general requirements in the automotive industry to reduce the power consumption, fuel consumption rate and CO2 emission a new HID (High Intensity Discharge) bulb with only 25W is under development for front lighting systems. A first headlamp integrated in a hybrid vehicle is now launched as a first application in the market. The current regulation in ECE allows to get rid of the mandatory headlamp cleaning system and the automatic leveling requirement once the 25W HID bulb is applied. The reason for this is the objective luminous flux of the 25W HID bulb, which emits less than 2000 lm, a boundary defined in the regulation, where a headlamp cleaning and an automatic leveling is requested. That simplifies especially the integration in smaller vehicles and electric and hybrid vehicles. The paper describes the special design of the headlamp, the projector unit, the light performance, packaging advantages and future outlook of further applications in the near future.

The new 5480 Reach Truck, designed at Dynamic Industries, introduces a movable frame between the main frame and the telescopic boom. The use of this movable frame allows the usually fixed boom pivot to be elevated for greater lifting heights with smaller boom sections. By combining the motions of the boom and the movable frame, horizontal motion at the boom tip is possible without moving the truck. With the movable frame, the total machine height and length can be reduced for a given lifting goal. Another advantage of the movable frame is the ability to reach further below grade than is now possible in the industry. The 5480 Reach Truck has a maximum lift of 54 feet (16.5 meters) and can reach 24 feet (7.3 meters) below-grade.

A unique shuttle bus is being constructed by Minicars, Inc., and Walter Vetter Karosserie-werk for Denver’s Transitway/Mall. The bus is designed for frequent stop, low speed service in a downtown pedestrian environment. It features a very low floor and multiple wide doors for rapid passenger boarding and deboarding. Two versions will be supplied for comparative evalation, a low noise diesel configuration and a battery-electric configuration. Either version can subsequently be converted to the alternative propulsion system.

The classical methods of deflection analysis are finding more application to complex automotive chassis frame structures. Much too time consuming for manual application, they are now coming into more widespread use with the aid of high-speed computers. This paper describes a computerized deflection analysis for complete truck frames under the cases of torsion and flexure. The rapid, accurate analysis permits investigation of more design problems resulting in the eventual production of more efficient frame structures.

A rear-steering control method for a four-wheel steering truck has been developed. The purpose of this investigation is to develop a control method to minimize the turning radius without the excursion of the vehicle rear end toward the outside of the turn. The basic control concept is to steer the rear wheels so that the vehicle rear end follows the path of the front end. The control method was applied to an experimental medium-duty truck with four-wheel steering system. The simulation and vehicle test results showed the control method to be effective in minimizing the turning radius without causing the excursion of the vehicle rear end toward the outside in short turns.

A direct method is developed for designing a vehicle fuel filler door with torsional spring. The design parameters include the door's geometrical parameters and spring dimensions. The design requirements are based on the finger force curve during closing and opening, and the bending stress in the spring. An example is included to demonstrate the effectiveness of the new method.

In the near future, GM will introduce a new product to the marketplace. The vehicle is a full-size, four-door utility vehicle based on its current C/K full-size truck product line. This new vehicle is smaller than the current Suburban and does not provide room for a third seat. It is expected that this utility will supplement the small truck four-door utility and create a new market niche with its unique size and features. The process used to design, develop and validate the new product in an aggressive 93-week time frame, is the subject of this paper.

The need to reduce the injury to pedestrians that are run over or pinned beneath a bus is an ongoing concern for transit authorities and other operators. Occasionally, a pedestrian will be run over by the right rear wheel while exiting the rear door. This accident occurs in various scenarios such as when people exit the bus and become entangled in the door grab bars, or when they fall between the curb and the bus while it approaches or departs. With all scenarios, the S-1 Gard acts similar to a cow catcher, pushing the fallen pedestrian out and away from the rear tire. This paper will: outline various incident scenarios, evaluate the S-1 Gard's performance in a city environment, review installation of the guard as well as its maintenance requirements. The purpose of this paper is to bring to the attention of transit authorities and shuttle operators the overall value of this device.

A method has been developed which allows prediction of the field performance of structural components based on prototype vehicle test procedures and results. Component designs can then be optimized by selecting prototype durability test objectives which more accurately reflect actual field usage. This procedure, which is based on fatigue damage calculations from component strain histories, has been successfully applied to non-safety related body, frame and suspension structural components of light trucks and vans.

The automobile industry is seeing an increased need for the application of plastics and their derivatives in various forms such as fiber reinforced plastics, in the design and manufacture of various automotive structural components, to reduce weight, cost and improve fuel efficiency. A lot of effort is being directed at the development of structural plastics, to meet specific automotive requirements such as stiffness, safety, strength, durability and environmental standards and recyclability. This paper presents the concept of reinforcing large injection molded fiber reinforced body panels with structural uni-directional fibers (carbon, graphite, kevlar or fiber glass) wound in tension around the body panels by filament winding technique. Structural uni-directional fibers in tension wound around the fiber reinforced plastic inner body panels would place these body panels under compression.

Topology optimization is used for obtaining the best layout of vehicle structural components to achieve predetermined performance goals. Unlike the most common approach which uses the optimality criteria methods, the topology design problem is formulated as a general optimization problem and is solved by the mathematical programming method. One of the major advantages of this approach is its generality; thus it can solve various problems, e.g. multi-objective and multi-constraint problems. The MSC/NASTRAN finite element code is employed for response analyses. Two automotive examples including a simplified truck frame and a truck frame crossmember are presented.

A multi-year Power System R&D project was initiated with the objective of developing an off-road hybrid heavy-duty concept diesel engine with front end accessory drive-integrated energy storage. This off-road hybrid engine system is expected to deliver 15-20% reduction in fuel consumption over current Tier 4 Final-based diesel engines and consists of a downsized heavy-duty diesel engine containing advanced combustion technologies, capable of elevated peak cylinder pressures and thermal efficiencies, exhaust waste heat recovery via SuperTurbo™ turbocompounding, and hybrid energy recovery through both mechanical (high speed flywheel) and electrical systems. The first year of this project focused on the definition of the hybrid elements using extensive dynamic system simulation over transient work cycles, with hybrid supervisory controls development focusing on energy recovery and transient load assist, in Caterpillar’s DYNASTY™ software environment.

The goal of this study was to determine the design constraints for the Georgia Southern SAE BAJA vehicle to operate in a rough terrain without unwanted direct body impact. The BAJA vehicle may encounter two distinct kinds of failure while climbing or descending terrain obstacles: Hang up failure, and Nose in failure. Hang up failure occurs when the bottom of the chassis of the vehicle makes contact with the obstacle. This occurs after the front tires have cleared the obstacle but before the rear tires have. This mitigates the pace of the vehicle but does not structurally threaten it. Nose in failure is when the protruding front bumper or “nose” of the vehicle makes contact with either the ground or the obstacle before or after encountering the obstacle. The possible ramifications of this event are much more disastrous than the Hang up failure. Nose in failure can send the vehicle into an end over end flip, or cause significant structural damage to the frame.

Driver visibility from commercial vehicles is often an issue in post-accident litigation. While the visibility through the windows of most vehicles is restricted due to the required structure of the vehicle itself, most manufacturers and users incorporate a series of mirrors to enhance driver visibility and to reduce blind spots. The challenge for an engineer is to first demonstrate what the driver could see to a reasonable degree of engineering certainty, and then to convey this information in a form that is easy for the lay person to grasp. This paper outlines procedures for calculating and modeling the driver visibility from commercial vehicles. The primary techniques presented require access to the vehicle, although the paper also presents techniques by which visibility can be analyzed through photogrammetry and 3-D computer models, both for the vehicle and for any mirrors incorporated onto the vehicle.