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Design work for truck suspension systems requires multi-objective optimization using a large number of parameters that cannot be solved in a simple way. This paper proposes a process-based systematization concept for ride comfort design using a set-based design method. A truck was modeled with a minimum of 13 degrees of freedom, and suspension performance under various vehicle speeds, road surface conditions, and load amounts was calculated. The range of design parameters for the suspension, the range of performance requirements, and the optimal values within these ranges were defined based on the knowledge and know-how of experienced design engineers. The final design of the suspension was installed in a prototype truck and evaluated. The performance of the truck satisfied all the objectives and the effectiveness of the set-based design approach was confirmed.

Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) is a very effective aftertreatment device to limit particulate emissions from diesel engines. As the amount of soot collected in the DPF increases, the pressure loss increases. Therefore, DPF regeneration needs to be performed. Injected fuel into the exhaust line upstream of the Diesel Oxidation Catalyst (DOC), hydrocarbons are oxidized on the DOC, which increases the exhaust gas temperature at the DPF inlet. It is also necessary that the injected fuel is completely vaporized before entering the DOC, and uniformly mixed with the exhaust gases in order to make the DOC work efficiency. However, ensuring complete evaporation and an optimum mixture distribution in the exhaust line are challenging. Therefore, it is important that the fuel spray feature is grasped to perform DPF regeneration effectively. The purpose of this study is the constructing a simulation model.

A simulation has been developed at the Japan Automobile Research Institute to predict the fuel economy of HEVs, which are currently being developed in the advanced clean energy vehicle research and development project of MITI/NEDO (ACE Project). The ACE Project includes six types of HEV. The effect of hybrid components efficiency on fuel economy was evaluated by sensitivity coefficient. The results show that the fuel economy of HEVs can improve that of the base vehicle by two times. The sensitivity coefficient of the battery is largest in the FCEV, while that of the motor is largest in the series or series/parallel HEVs.

Fuel injection timing retardation for reducing exhaust emission of direct injection diesel engines prolongs the period to complete cold starting. Engine speed at this period varies through some accelerating and faltering stages. The speed variation and relating combustion characteristics was investigated through the measurement of cylinder pressure for each cylinder as well as the dynamic fuel injection timing and instantaneous engine speed. An improvement of cold start was shown by application of afterheat of a sheathed type glow plug and an electronic fuel injection timing control device.

Recently, a long distance Inter City Bus Network has been developed in Japan. The maxi mum traveling distance is approximately 1,000 km. The driver and passengers must endure long periods of sitting in the same seat. Therefore, the ride comfort ability is the most important characteristic for the Inter City Bus. Noise and vibration level have the greatest effect on ride comfort, therefore they must be considerably reduced to realize the good comfortability. This paper presents the methods of analysis and improvement to reduce the bus body vibration excited by road surface roughness. Modal Analysis Method and Finite Element Method are applied to the bus body construction. Further more, the relationship between the bus body vibration and engine suspension system characteristics are investigated.

A current unmodified and modified engines with different amounts of thermal insulation have been used to generate data from which changes in bsfc, cooling loss, emissions, exhaust loss were determined. Since legislative requirement exists for allowable emission of NOx, fuel injection timing and other controllable factors were adjusted to maintain constant NOx emission except a test of influence on NOx emission according to the rate of heat insulation (adiabaticity). The effect of higher combustion temperature on the combustion phenomena is discussed.

This paper presents a study on the effects of the engine size and rotation speed on diesel combustion characteristics and engine performance of two differently sized diesel engines (85 mm and 135 mm bores). For simplification of the evaluation, the experimental conditions were set based on the similarity rules proposed by Chikahisa. The combustion characteristics and the indicated thermal efficiencies were compared for the small and the large engines at the same engine speed. To examine the effects of the velocities of the in-cylinder gas and the fuel spray on the combustion and the thermal efficiency, the engine speed was changed in the small engine, while maintaining a non-dimensional engine speed.

The present study investigated the aerodynamic pitching stability of sedan-type vehicles under the influence of A- and C-pillar geometrical configurations. The numerical method used for the investigation is based on the Large Eddy Simulation (LES) method. Whilst, the Arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) method was employed to realize the prescribed pitching oscillation of vehicles during dynamic pitching and fluid flow coupled simulations. The trailing vortices that shed from the A-pillar and C-pillar edges produced the opposite tendencies on how they affect the aerodynamic pitching stability of vehicles. In particular, the vortex shed from the A-pillar edge tended to enhance the pitching oscillation of vehicle, while the vortex shed from the C-pillar edge tended to suppress it. Hence, the vehicle with rounded A-pillar and angular C-pillar exhibited a higher aerodynamic damping than the vehicle with the opposite A- and C-pillars configurations.

The 1st stage of automated mechanical transmission (AMT) was initiated in 1985 by Hino's development of EE-Drive, featuring a pneumatically-stroke-controlled, oil-sprayed coil spring type clutch.[1] [2]* This system made its way into city buses, thus expanding the market for automatic transmission (AT) in Japan. This paper introduces EE-Drive 2nd stage, to be installed mainly on medium-duty trucks, and featuring a hydraulic-pressure-controlled, oil-sprayed clutch. This system is characterized by smooth starting through controlling the pressure of the clutch disk directly. It also features quick shifting, because it allows gears to be shifted with no clutch stroke, but rather through decreasing the pressure. This will prove competitive with AT with a torque converter (HAT) which will appear in the 1990's as a sophisticated electronically controlled AT (ECT).

Approximately 200,000 units of Hino J-series diesel engine were produced for 7 years. The J-series engines had a reputation all over the world for their performance, reliability, lightweight, and installation ability. They are composed of 4, 6 cylinders engines and unique 5-cylinder engine J07C. In 2002, newly modified J-series engines, which met the Japan 2001 noise emission regulations, were developed and J07C-TI, 5-cylinder TI engine, equipped with a common-rail fuel injection system was added in the J-series. Common-rail fuel injection system was equipped in order to achieve the emission targets in the future as well as to meet the current emission regulations. Achieving higher injection pressure level through the all engine speed, include excess low speed, was effective in reduction of PM emissions and in increasing of low engine speed torque drastically.

A new model of 4 × 2 semi-trailer tractor was introduced to the Japanese truck market from HINO MOTORS last year, which has improved riding comfort and remarkable features for trailer connecting/disconnecting operations. This new model has two typical methods of comfortable ride, those are full-floating cab mount system and air ride suspension for the rear axle. Since the analysis of tractor vibrations and the vehicle height control system of this model have given satisfactory results, and their outline is described here.

Large truck accidents sometimes result in severe damages or give large disturbance of traffic and there are demands of improving vehicle safety characteristics. Main types of traffic accidents concerned are rear-end collision and single accident. As countermeasures for rear-end collisions, world-first collision mitigation brake for commercial vehicles; Pre-crash Safety System, was developed. If there is possibility of collision, warning to driver and brake control intervention is carried out in stepwise fashion and collision speed is decreased. To achieve higher effect in collision mitigation, it is necessary to activate warning or brake-force in earlier timing. Inter-vehicle or infrastructure-vehicle communication offer promising prospect. Tractor-trailer combinations show some instable behaviors. “Roll Stability Assist” and “Vehicle Stability Control” were developed to assist drivers to avoid the occurrence of these instable behaviors.

In order to improve the brake thermal efficiency of the engine, such as cooling and friction losses from the theoretical thermal efficiency, it is necessary to minimize various losses. However, it is also essential to consider improvements in theoretical thermal efficiency along with the reduction of the various losses. In an effort to improve the brake thermal efficiency of heavy-duty diesel engines used in commercial vehicles, this research focused on two important factors leading to the engine's theoretical thermal efficiency: the compression ratio and the specific heat ratio. Based on the results of theoretical thermodynamic cycle analyses for the effects of the above two factors, it was predicted that raising the compression ratio from a base engine specification of 17 to 26, and increasing the specific heat ratio would lead to a significant increase in theoretical thermal efficiency.

Characteristics of diesel combustion with high pressure fuel injection were investigated, using a supercharged and charge air cooled single cylinder engine. Observation and analysis of combustion was performed using high speed schlieren photography at a definite low level NOx emission, while varying the parameters of both injection pressure and swirl ratio. Engine performance at a high injection pressure was evaluated in combination with shallow dish type combustion chamber and 8 hole nozzle. Two different intake ports (higher and lower swirl ratio) were used for the evaluation. Conventional injection system in combination with toroidal cavity and 4 hole nozzle was compared as a base line. It is generally said that quiescent combustion system is suitable for higher injection pressure configuration. According to the observed result of combustion photographs, however, higher swirl ratio shows better mixing than a lower swirl ratio, which was also confirmed by the performance test.

In order to reduce diesel NOx emissions, aftertreatment methods including LNT (Lean NOx Trap) and urea SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) have been researched. One of the shortcomings of urea SCR is its NOx reduction performance degradation at low exhaust gas temperatures and possible emission of unregulated byproducts. Here, a new type of a urea-dosing device to overcome these shortcomings is studied. This dosing device actively produces ammonia without depending upon the exhaust gas temperature, and designed for onboard application. The device incorporates an electrically heated bypass with a hydrolysis catalyst. An injector supplies urea solution into the bypass. The bypass is heated only when thermolysis is needed to produce ammonia (NH3). The hydrolysis catalyst further assists in the production of NH3. The ammonia gas obtained is then mixed with the main exhaust gas flow.

A diesel engine is advantageous in its high thermal efficiency, however it still wastes about 50% of total input energy to exhaust and cooling losses. A feasibility study of thermoacoustic refrigerator was carried out as one of the means to recuperate waste heat. The thermoacoustic refrigerator prototyped for this study showed a capability to achieve cooling temperature lower than -20 degree C, which indicated that the system has a potential to be used in refrigerator trucks not only for cargo compartment cooling but also for cabin cooling.

Researchers concerned with motorcycle occupant protection have attempted to develop ways to protect the motorcycle occupant from injury. In the hope of finding a means to protect the motorcycle occupant's lower extremities, the authors have investigated past research, designed a device that incorporates an energy-absorbing component, tested the device in a series of collisions with automobiles, and performed an analysis of the test results to assess the merits of the new device. Results show that although the device may under certain circumstances reduce lower leg injuries, there may be increased potential for upper leg, chest, and head injuries

The non-physiological motions of human cervical vertebrae were analyzed in volunteer tests for rear-end impacts and were considered to be an important parameter for neck injuries. The objectives of this study are to improve the Marko de Jager neck model using volunteer test data and to analyze the influence of horizontal and vertical accelerations on cervical vertebral motion. In the beginning of this study, a neck model was positioned based on X-ray cineradiography of a volunteer. Motions of each vertebra were compared with those of volunteer test data for low speed rear-end impacts (4, 6, 8km/h). In these comparisons, the differences of vertebrae motions between the neck model and the volunteer tests were found. To improve the validity of the neck model, the connection properties and the bending properties of the upper and lower vertebrae of the model were modified to increase rigidity.

In a diesel engine, the mixing of the fuel spray and in-cylinder air controls rate of beat release during combustion, namely it will determine the thermal efficiency, maximum output and gas or noise emission, etc. Therefore, it is important to measure the droplet size and its volume density distribution in diesel fuel sprays. The optical measuring method, which includes a light scattering and holographic technique, seems the only feasible method for analysing these unsteady characteristics of fuel sprays. The light scattering technique described herein was based upon Mie scattering theory, and the droplet size and volume density distribution of fuel sprays were calculated from the combination of the light extinction and the forward-to-backscattering ratio of Mie scattering intensity. The volume density and droplet size distribution of fuel sprays were obtained from the light intensity distribution on a photograph of fuel sprays.

Recently the analysis of air-fuel mixing and combustion has become important under the stringent emissions regulations of diesel engines. In the case of gasoline engines, the KIVA computer program has been developed and used for the analysis of combustion. In this paper, the calculations of combustion phenomena in DI diesel engines are performed by modifying the KIVA program so as to be applicable to multi-hole nozzles and arbitrary patterns of injection rate. The thermophysical and ther-mochemical properties of gasoline are altered to those diesel fuel. In order to investigate the ability of this modified program, the calculations are compared with the experiments on single cylinder engines concerning the pressure, flame temperature and mass change of chemical species in cylinders. Furthermore, the calculation for the heavy duty DI diesel engine is performed with this diesel combustion program.