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The Boeing Company in Mesa, Arizona, has been conducting a concept design study of a roadable helicopter called the “Converticar” to assess its feasibility. This is a twin-engine vehicle with twin retractable coaxial counter-rotating rotors. The purpose of the study is to describe a vehicle that carries four passengers in the equivalent of a luxury car that also can fly like a helicopter, and can be priced like a luxury car. To come near this cost goal, the production rate must be on the order of 500,000 units a year. At that rate there is no chance of training a comparable number of pilots each year. So the machine must fly and navigate autonomously, with the pilot just dialing in where he/she wants to go. Technologically, the concept appears to be feasible. Modern design processes, new materials, and improved manufacturing process should allow the Converticar to be built at the prescribed rate when the proper infrastructure for manufacturing it is made available.

A wide body aircraft carries almost a half–ton of water and ice between the cabin and skin of the aircraft. The water can get on wires and connectors, which can cause electrical problems, cause corrosion and rust, and, eventually, “rain in the plane”. The speaker is the CEO of CTT Systems that has developed a system that solves the condensation by using dry air. The speaker will discuss how condensation can be prevented and how airlines can also save maintenance costs in the process. This topic is relevant for the attendees at the Aerospace Expo, as they are decision makers who need to be aware of this issue. It is also important for the MRO shows as the attendees are on the front lines of dealing with this problem.

The objective of the development of the aerodynamic drag predictive tool CDaero was for use as a module for the Automobile Design Support System (AutoDSS). CDaero is an empirically based drag coefficient predictive tool based initially on the MIRA (Motor Industry Research Association) algorithm. The development philosophy was to be able to predict the aerodynamic drag coefficient of an automobile with knowledge of the features of the surface geometry control curves. These are the curves that control the 3-dimensional geometry as seen in the profile, plan and front and rear views. CDaero has been developed in a computing environment using the equation solver TKSolver™. Fifty-one input feature values are first determined from the automobile geometry and then entered into the program. CDaero models the drag coefficient with thirteen different components covering the basic body, as well as additional components such as the wheels, mud flaps, etc.

Buick engineers are well pleased with their '69 Chassis. Benefits of a unique front suspension camber curve are documented. The effects of various suspension parameters on ride and handling are explained. These were varied independently of one another in the course of evaluating over 30 suspension configurations.

The airline industry seems to be providing more leisure features on planes like inflight entertainment, Internet access and Digital TV, but it seems the airline industry has ignored the issue of excess condensation on aircraft, which had plagued carriers since the birth of the airline industry. How safe are passengers when a wide body aircraft carries in excess almost a half ton of water and ice between the cabin and skin of the aircraft? Besides the added weight straining the aircraft, excess condensation soaks wires and connectors which can cause electrical shorts. There have been instances of emergency doors frozen shut, locked by ice stemming from excess water dripping inside the plane. Extra water also causes “rain-in-the-plane”, an issue that has gained national attention and causes passenger discomfort. It's time for the industry to address what has become a serious issue.

As a typical parameter of the road-vehicle interface, the road friction potential acts an important factor that governs the vehicle motion states under certain maneuvering input, which makes the prior knowledge of maximum road friction capacity crucial to the vehicle stability control systems. Since the direct measure of the road friction potential is expensive for vehicle active safety system, the evaluation of this variable by cost effective method is becoming a hot issue all these years. A ‘wheel slip based’ maximum road friction coefficient estimation method based on a modified Dugoff tire model for distributed drive electric vehicles is proposed in this paper. It aims to evaluate the road friction potential with vehicle and wheel dynamics analyzing by using standard sensors equipped on production vehicle, and fully take the advantage of distributed EV that the wheel drive torque and rolling speed can be obtained accurately.

Longevity is one of the great achievements of the twentieth century. This paper will explore ways that elderly people can employ technology to enhance their independence, loosely termed “ElderTech.” ElderTech is designed to establish a sustained, long-term investment in research and development (R&D) for technologies that can provide the largest growing population, Americans over the age of 65, with the tools to ensure active aging (maintaining independence, self-reliance, and an enhanced quality of life). It will also promote aging in place (in the home); and will address and ease Medicare's financial burden on the federal government. ElderTech is aimed to establish a technology framework that will ensure that the United States (U.S.) is ready to meet the needs of its older Americans.

This Life Support Laboratory consists of a simulator of the spacecraft called Nautilus, which houses Air Revitalization Subsystem, Atmospheric Control and Supply, and Fire Detection and Suppression in the Equipment Area. There are supporting facilities including a Human Metabolic Simulator, simulated Low and Moderate Temperature Coolant Loop, chemical analysis bench, purified water supply, vacuum and gas supplies. These facilities are scheduled to be completed and start to operate for demonstration purposes by March 2005. There are an ARES Ground Model (AGM) and a Trace Contaminant Control Assembly in the ARS. The latter will be integrated with the AGM and a Condensing Heat Exchanger. The unit of AGM is being engineered, built, and will be delivered in early 2005 by EADS Space Division. These assemblies will be operated for sensitivity analysis, integration and optimization studies. The main goal is the achievement for optimal recovery of oxygen.

With the advent of low evaporative emission requirements there has been the rapid adoption of multilayer extrusion technology into the production of Fuel and Vapour tubing used on Fuel systems on automobiles. Multilayer extrusion technology enables a manufacturer of Fuel and Vapour tubing to simultaneously co-extrude dissimilar thermoplastic materials in tubular form. This allows the manufacturer to combine expensive and brittle high performance evaporative emission ‘barrier’ polymers with lower cost engineering polymers. However, it is a well-known characteristic of these multilayer tube constructions that the joints between them and connector ‘barbs’ have lower joint integrity. Joint integrity is most often quantified by ‘Pull-off’ and leakage tests. Recent developments in LEV-II requirements for 2004 and beyond indicate that joint integrity will become a focus area for study and improvement.

A cooperation of several research partners supported by the German Federal Ministry of Research and Education proposes a new active matrix LED light source. A multi pixel flip chip LED array is directly mounted to an active driver IC. A total of 1024 pixel can be individually addressed through a serial data bus. Several of these units are integrated in a prototype headlamp to enable advanced light distribution patterns in an evaluation vehicle.

This paper presents a new design method for solving the vehicle vibration problem induced by engine drive, by using a μ-synthesis. We have tried the active control of engine mounts to insulate the vibration of engine. We experimented on the effects by using computer simulation and vibration simulator. Computer simulation results show that resonance peak can be effectively reduced. We have also confirmed the effect of vibration simulator, which shall be reported in this paper.

Dynamic skip fire (DSF) has shown significant fuel economy improvement potential via reduction of pumping losses that generally affect throttled spark-ignition (SI) engines. In DSF operation, individual cylinders are fired on-demand near peak efficiency to satisfy driver torque demand. For vehicles with a downsized-boosted 4-cylinder engine, DSF can reduce fuel consumption by 8% in the WLTC (Class 3) drive cycle. The relatively low cost of cylinder deactivation hardware further improves the production value of DSF. Lean burn strategies in gasoline engines have also demonstrated significant fuel efficiency gains resulting from reduced pumping losses and improved thermodynamic characteristics, such as higher specific heat ratio and lower heat losses. Fuel-air mixture stratification is generally required to achieve stable combustion at low loads.

3-D Flow separations such as those that occur on the rear end of a vehicle have an impact on wall pressure distribution, hence on aerodynamic forces. The identification of these phenomena can be made through the analysis of skin friction patterns, which consist of the “footprints” of flow separations. These can be determined from qualitative and quantitative data obtained from near-wall PIV measurements. The wake flow of different configurations of a simplified 1/4 scale car model are analyzed. The influence of the slant angle and the Reynolds number on 3-D separated flow patterns and their induced pressure distribution is addressed, based on near-wall PIV, standard PIV and wall pressure measurements. This enables to understand how a topological change (the size or shape of a separation pattern) modifies the associated pressure distribution (therefore the drag coefficient). Finally, insights into instantaneous topology identification are presented.

SOME POSSIBILITIES for shortening the field length requirements of present-day jet aircraft are: Install leading-edge, high-lift devices which are retrofitable to present-day aircraft. Retrofit — or purchase new — aircraft powered by turbofan engines. These have an inherently higher take-off thrust to cruise thrust ratio than the jets, which vastly improves the take-off acceleration. Use boundary-layer control actuated by turbine discharge gas for immediate consideration in new aircraft engines. Use direct-lift jet engines. These will improve the block speed characteristics of the aircraft and also give vertical take-off and landing capabilities. This paper discusses the advantages of each of these possibilities. The author also describes the problem of airport location within a city, and its effect of total travel time.*

THE usefulness of planetary gear trains and the engineering techniques necessary for optimum design are discussed in this paper. A simple method for calculating planetary gear ratios is described which can be used to determine quickly the potential usefulness of any planetary configurations. The author lists criteria which help to evaluate the potential of a planetary gear train schematic from the standpoints of gear noise and structural viewpoint. Detailed design of individual members include spacing of the pinions, mounting considerations, thrust direction, lubrication, and stress evaluation.

RADIATION can produce almost instantaneous failure of modern aircraft lubricants, tests at Southwest Research Institute show. Two types of failures demonstrated are rapid viscosity rise and loss of heat conductivity. Furthermore, it was found that lubricants can become excessively corrosive under high-level radiation. Generally speaking, the better lubricants appeared to improve in performance while marginal ones deteriorated to a greater extent under radiation. When the better lubricants were subjected to static irradiation prior to the deposition test, there was a minor increase in deposition number as the total dose was increased.

THIS PAPER outlines progress to October, 1958, on the new Shock and Vibration Manual. At that point, the methods of solving vibration isolation problems had been established. After further refinements and expansion, the manual will be issued by SAE Committee S-12 on Shock and Vibration. The manual will set up procedures to be followed by engineers who don't have extensive experience in the field. It will give procedures for problems having up to six degrees of freedom. The procedure, as described in the paper, now consists of three steps: 1. Specification of the data required for the solution of a given problem. 2. Calculating whether vibration isolators are needed. 3. Determining the dynamic properties of the isolation system when the above step indicates isolation mounts are needed.

THIS PAPER reviews VTOL problems, indicating probable ways toward optimization of whole lifting and propelling system. Also discussed are the power and thrust requirements for optimum cruise and vertical take-offs and landings for propeller-driven and jet-propelled aircraft. Three speed ranges offer the most promise for VTOL aircraft, if thrust requirements for cruise and take-off are to match. The ranges are centered around Mach numbers of 0.65, 0.8, and 2.0+. There is a possibility of overcoming the high thrust needed for hovering by use of bypass augmentation, special hovering jets, or favorable ground effects, the author reports.

EXPERIMENTS have been conducted at Cambridge University which probed the sliding friction and wear of nonmetals, and the deformation of solids at high rates of strain. The author was particularly interested in the deformation and damage of metals and nonmetals under high-speed liquid impact. The findings will contribute to the development of materials that can withstand the friction of high-speed space flight. The author discusses the sliding friction and wear of wood, diamond, glass, rubber, and metallic carbides. In the last part of the paper, he describes the high-speed problems arising when solids are deformed very rapidly.