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Within a hybrid electric vehicle, given a power request initiated by pedal actuation, a portion of overall power may be generated by fuel within an internal combustion engine, and a portion of power may be taken from or stored within a battery via an e-machine. Generally speaking, power taken from a vehicle battery must eventually be recharged at a later time. Recharge energy typically comes ultimately from engine generated power (and hence from fuel), or from recovered braking energy. A hybrid electric vehicle control system attempts to identify when to use each type of power, i.e., battery or engine power, in order to minimize overall fuel consumption. In order to most efficiently utilize battery and fuel generated power, many HEV control strategies utilize a concept wherein battery power is converted to a scaled fueling rate.

Acoustic comfort of automotive cabins has progressively become one of the key attributes of passenger comfort within vehicle design. Wind noise and the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) system noise are two of the key contributors to noise levels heard inside the car. The increasing prevalence of hybrid technologies and electrification has an associated reduction in powertrain noise levels. As such, the industry has seen an increasing focus on understanding and minimizing HVAC noise, as it is a main source of noise in the cabin particularly when the vehicle is stationary. The complex turbulent flow path through the ducts, combined with acoustic resonances can potentially lead to significant noise generation, both broadband and tonal.

To achieve an accurate estimate of losses in a battery it is necessary to consider the reversible entropic losses, which may constitute over 20% of the peak total loss. In this work, a procedure for experimentally determining the entropic heating coefficient of a lithium-ion battery cell is developed. The entropic heating coefficient is the rate of change of the cell’s open-circuit voltage (OCV) with respect to temperature; it is a function of state-of-charge (SOC) and temperature and is often expressed in mV/K. The reversible losses inside the cell are a function of the current, the temperature, and the entropic heating coefficient, which itself is dependent on the cell chemistry. The total cell losses are the sum of the reversible and irreversible losses, where the irreversible losses consist of ohmic losses in the electrodes, ion transport losses, and other irreversible chemical reactions.

Component sizing generally represents a demanding and time-consuming task in the development process of electrified powertrains. A couple of processes are available in literature for sizing the hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) components. These processes employ either time-consuming global optimization techniques like dynamic programming (DP) or near-optimal techniques that require iterative and uncertain tuning of evaluation parameters like the Pontryagin’s minimum principle (PMP). Recently, a novel near-optimal technique has been devised for rapidly predicting the optimal fuel economy benchmark of design options for electrified powertrains. This method, named slope-weighted energy-based rapid control analysis (SERCA), has been demonstrated producing results comparable to DP, while limiting the associated computational time by near two orders of magnitude.

SUV Aerodynamics has received increased attention as the stake this segments holds in the automotive market keeps growing year after year, as well as its direct impact on fuel economy. Understanding the key physics in order to accomplish both fuel efficient and aesthetic products is paramount, which indeed gave origin to a major initiative to foster collaborative aerodynamic research across academia and industry, the so-called DrivAer model. In addition to this sedan-based model, a new dedicated SUV generic model, called AeroSUV [1], has been introduced in 2019, also intended to provide a common framework for aerodynamic research for both experimental work and numerical simulation validation. The present paper provides an area of common ground for SUV bodywork design focused on aerodynamic drag reduction by investigating both Estate and Fast back configurations of the generic AeroSUV model.

More stringent Federal emission regulations and fuel economy requirements have driven the automotive industry towards more sophisticated vehicle thermal management systems to best utilize the waste heat and improve driveline efficiency. The final drive unit in light and heavy duty trucks usually consists of geared transmission and differential housed in a lubricated axle. The automotive rear axle is one of the major sources of power loss in the driveline due to gear friction, churning and bearing loss affecting vehicle fuel economy. These losses vary significantly with lubricant viscosity. Also the temperatures of the lubricant are critical to the overall axle performance in terms of power losses, fatigue life and wear. In this paper, a methodology for modeling thermal behavior of automotive rear axle with heat exchanger is presented. The proposed model can be used to predict the axle lubricant temperature rise.

This paper describes the design, development, and operation of a rear axle dual-shell heat exchanger on the RAM 1500 Light Duty truck. This system has been proven to increase fuel economy and reduce exhaust emissions, particularly CO2, on the EPA Cold City schedule. The energy conversion strategy was first explored using math modeling. A PUGH analysis associated with concept selection is included. To refine the hardware and develop a control strategy prior to testing, a portable flow cart was developed to assess system performance and to correlate the multi-node heat transfer model. Bench testing focused on the durability and functional aspects of integrating the dual-shell axle cover with the axle and coolant delivery system through a comprehensive design and validation plan. Vehicle testing included various fuel economy and emissions related driving schedules to quantify the benefits.

Active grille shutter (AGS) in a vehicle provides aerodynamic benefit at high vehicle speed by closing the front-end grille opening. At the same time this causes lesser air flow through the cooling module which includes the condenser. This results in higher refrigerant pressure at the compressor outlet. Higher head pressure causes the compressor to work more, thereby possibly negating the aerodynamic benefits towards vehicle power consumption. This paper uses a numerical method to quantify the compressor power consumed in different scenarios and assesses the impact of AGS closure on total vehicle energy consumption. The goal is to analyze the trade-off between the aerodynamic performance and the compressor power consumption at high vehicle speeds and mid-ambient conditions. These so called real world conditions represent highway driving at mid-ambient temperatures where the air-conditioning (AC) load is not heavy.

Downsized turbocharged gasoline direct injection (TGDI) engines with high specific power and torque can enable reduced fuel consumption in passenger vehicles while maintaining or even improving on the performance of larger naturally aspirated engines. However, high specific torque levels, especially at low speeds, can lead to abnormal combustion phenomena such as knock or Low-Speed Pre-Ignition (LSPI). LSPI, in particular, can limit further downsizing due to resulting and potentially damaging mega-knock events. Herein, we characterize the impacts of lubricant and fuel composition on LSPI frequency in a TGDI engine while specifically exploring the correlation between fuel composition, particulate emissions, and LSPI events. Our research shows that: (1) oil composition has a strong impact on LSPI frequency and that LSPI frequency can be reduced through a carefully focused approach to lubricant formulation.

There are a variety of test protocols associated with vehicle fuel economy and emissions testing. As a result, a number of test protocols currently exist to measure axle efficiency and spin loss. The intent of this technical paper is to describe a methodology that uses a singular axle efficiency and spin loss procedure. The data can then be used to predict the effects on vehicle FE and GHG for a specific class of vehicles via simulation. An accelerated break-in method using a comparable energy approach has been developed, and can be used to meet the break-in requirements of different vehicle emission test protocols. A “float to equilibrium” sump temperature approach has been used to produce instantaneous efficiency data, which can be used to more accurately predict vehicle FE and GHG, inclusive of Cold CO2. The “Float to Equilibrium” approach and “Fixed Sump Temperature” approach has been compared and discussed.

Battery state-of-charge (SOC) is critical information for the vehicle energy management system and must be accurately estimated to ensure reliable and affordable electrified vehicles (xEV). However, due to the nonlinear temperature, health, and SOC dependent behaviour of Li-ion batteries, SOC estimation is still a significant automotive engineering challenge. Traditional approaches to this problem, such as electrochemical models, usually require precise parameters and knowledge from the battery composition as well as its physical response. In contrast, neural networks are a data-driven approach that requires minimal knowledge of the battery or its nonlinear behaviour. The objective of this work is to present the design process of an SOC estimator using a deep feedforward neural network (FNN) approach. The method includes a description of data acquisition, data preparation, development of an FNN, FNN tuning, and robust validation of the FNN to sensor noise.

The automotive industry continues to develop new powertrain and vehicle technologies aimed at reducing overall vehicle-level fuel consumption. Specifically, the use of electrified propulsion systems is expected to play an increasingly important role in helping OEM’s meet fleet CO2 reduction targets for 2025 and beyond. This will also include a strong growth in the global demand for electric drive units (EDUs). The change from conventional vehicles to vehicles propelled by EDUs leads to a reduction in overall vehicle exterior and interior noise levels, especially during low-speed vehicle operation. Despite the overall noise levels being low, the NVH behavior of such vehicles can be objectionable due to the presence of tonal noise coming from electric machines and geartrain components as well as relatively high shares of road/wind noise. In order to ensure customer acceptance of electrically propelled vehicles, it is imperative that these NVH challenges are understood and solved.

Modern engines have high torque outputs and have low RPM due to increased demand for fuel efficiency. Vibrations caused by such engines have to be mitigated. Decoupling the roll mode from the remaining five rigid body modes results in a response which is predominantly about the torque roll axis (TRA) and helps reduce vibrations. Therefore, placing the mounts on the TRA early in the design phase is crucial. Best NVH performance can be obtained by optimizing the powertrain mount parameters viz; Position, Orientation and Stiffness. Many times, packaging restricts the mounts to be placed about the TRA resulting in degradation in NVH performance. Assuming that the line through the engine mount (Body side) centers is the desired TRA, we propose a novel method of shifting the TRA by adding mass modifying the powertrain inertia such that the new TRA is parallel to and on top to the desired TRA. This in turn will decouple the roll mode and reduce vibrations.

Cylinder deactivation has been in use for several years resulting in a sizable fuel economy advantage for V8-powered vehicles. The size of the fuel-economy benefit, compared to the full potential possible, is often limited due to the amount of usable torque available in four-cylinder-mode being capped by Noise, Vibration, and Harshness (NVH) sensitivities of various rear-wheel-drive vehicle architectures. This paper describes the application and optimization of active vibration absorbers as a system to attenuate vibration through several paths from the powertrain-driveline into the car body. The use of this strategy for attenuating vibration at strategic points is shown to diminish the need for reducing the powertrain source amplitude. This paper describes the process by which the strategic application of these devices is developed in order to achieve the increased usage of the most fuel efficient reduced-cylinder-count engine-operating-points.

Environmental noises such as wind, road, powertrain, and HVAC noise are important aspects to consider when implementing a hands-free terminal for mobile phone calling from within a car. Traditionally, these environmental noises have been exclusively considered for driver comfort; however, with the introduction of the hands-free terminals (HFT) and increasing consumer demand relative to mobile phone call quality, a broader implication of high background noise levels should be considered. HFT algorithm development and implementation can and does provide a high level of background noise suppression to mitigate these concerns, but this is often done at the expense of computational power and cumulative delay during a phone call. The more advantageous solution would be to address the problem from a source and path perspective with emphasis on reduction of noise in the frequency bands which most influence call quality performance.

A novel approach to the Integration of Turbocompounding/WHR, Electrification and Supercharging technologies (ITES) to reduce fuel consumption in a medium heavy-duty diesel engine was previously published by FEV. This paper describes a modified approach to ITES to reduce fuel consumption on a heavy-duty diesel engine applied in a Class 8 tractor. The original implementation of the ITES incorporated a turbocompound turbine as the means for waste heat recovery. In this new approach, the turbocompound unit connected to the sun gear of the planetary gear set has been replaced by an organic Rankine cycle (ORC) turbine expander. The secondary compressor and the electric motor-generator are connected to the ring gear and the carrier gear respectively. The ITES unit is equipped with dry clutch and band brake allowing flexibility in mechanical and electrical integration of the ORC expander, secondary compressor and electric motor-generator to the engine.

Vehicle weight reduction through the use of components made of magnesium alloys is an effective way to reduce carbon dioxide emission and improve fuel economy. In the design of these components, which are mostly under cyclic loading, notches are inevitably present. In this study, surface strain distribution and crack initiation sites in the notch region of AZ31B-H24 magnesium alloy notched specimens under uniaxial load are measured via digital image correlation. Predicted strains from finite element analysis using Abaqus and LS-DYNA material types 124 and 233 are then compared against the experimental measurements during quasi-static and cyclic loading. It is concluded that MAT_233, when calibrated using cyclic tensile and compressive stress-strain curves, is capable of predicting strain at the notch root. Finally, employing Smith-Watson-Topper model together with MAT_233 results, fatigue lives of the notched specimens are estimated and compared with experimental results.

With continued industry focus on reducing parasitic transmission and driveline losses, detailed studies are required to quantify potential enablers to improve vehicle fuel economy. Investigations were undertaken to understand the influence of lower viscosity Automatic Transmission Fluids (ATF) on transmission efficiency as compared with conventional fluids. The objectives of this study were to quantify the losses of lower viscosity ATF as compared with conventional ATF, and to understand the influence of ATF properties including viscosities, base oil types, and additive packages on fuel efficiency. The transmission efficiency investigations were conducted on a test bench following a vehicle-based break-in of the transmission using a prescribed drive cycle on a chassis dynamometer. At low temperature, the lower viscosity ATF showed a clear advantage over the conventional ATF in both spin loss and loaded efficiency evaluations.

As European and Chinese tailpipe emission regulations for gasoline light-duty vehicles impose particulate number limits, automotive manufacturers have begun equipping some vehicles with a gasoline particulate filter (GPF). Increased understanding of how soot morphology, reactivity, and GPF loading affect GPF filtration and regeneration characteristics is necessary for advancing GPF performance. This study investigates the impacts of morphology, reactivity, and filter soot loading on GPF filtration and regeneration. Soot morphology and reactivity are varied through changes in fuel injection parameters, known to affect soot formation conditions. Changes in morphology and reactivity are confirmed through analysis using a transmission electron microscope (TEM) and a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) respectively.

The key hurdles to achieving wide consumer acceptance of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are weather-dependent drive range, higher cost, and limited battery life. These translate into a strong need to reduce a significant energy drain and resulting drive range loss due to auxiliary electrical loads the predominant of which is the cabin thermal management load. Studies have shown that thermal sub-system loads can reduce the drive range by as much as 45% under ambient temperatures below −10 °C. Often, cabin heating relies purely on positive temperature coefficient (PTC) resistive heating, contributing to a significant range loss. Reducing this range loss may improve consumer acceptance of BEVs. The authors present a unified thermal management system (UTEMPRA) that satisfies diverse thermal and design needs of the auxiliary loads in BEVs.