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Kinetic energy recovery systems (KERS) placed on one axle coupled to a traditional thermal engine on the other axle is possibly the best solution presently available to dramatically improve the fuel economy while providing better performances within strict budget constraints. Different KERS may be built purely electric, purely mechanic, or hybrid mechanic/electric differing for round trip efficiency, packaging, weights, costs and requirement of further research and development. The paper presents an experimental analysis of the energy flow to and from the battery of a latest Nissan Leaf covering the Urban Dynamometer Driving Schedule (UDDS). This analysis provides a state-of-the-art benchmark of the propulsion and regenerative braking efficiencies of electric vehicles with off-the-shelve technologies.

As part of the current initiatives aimed at enhancing safety, efficiency and environmental sustainability of aviation, a significant improvement in the efficiency of aircraft operations is currently pursued. Innovative Communication, Navigation, Surveillance and Air Traffic Management (CNS/ATM) technologies and operational concepts are being developed to achieve the ambitious goals for efficiency and environmental sustainability set by national and international aviation organizations. These technological and operational innovations will be ultimately enabled by the introduction of novel CNS/ATM and Avionics (CNS+A) systems, featuring higher levels of automation. A core feature of such systems consists in the real-time multi-objective optimization of flight trajectories, incorporating all the operational, economic and environmental aspects of the aircraft mission.

BMW can look back on 20 years of research activities on hydrogen propulsion systems. Hydrogen fuel is the only means of offering pure driving pleasure on the basis of a sustainable energy loop. As the hydrogen era is still quite a while away the BMW Energy Strategy „Via Natural Gas to Hydrogen” has been developed. The first step was to build series-production compressed natural gas (CNG) cars back in 1995. By switching to liquefied natural gas (LNG) not only is the cruising range tripled but technologically the final stepping-stone is reached in preparing the way for liquefied hydrogen. BMW's automotive and drive technology for hydrogen is now available and ready to move out of the laboratory on to the road. At Munich Airport a BMW „Clean Energy” car is already providing shuttle services. Its fuel is supplied by the world's first public filling station for liquefied hydrogen.

This paper presents new aspects of the casting and manufacturing of BMWs inline six-cylinder engine. This new spark-ignition engine is the realization of the BMW concept of efficient dynamics at high technological level. For the first time in the history of modern engine design, a water-cooled crankcase is manufactured by magnesium casting for mass production. This extraordinary combination of magnesium and aluminium is a milestone in engine construction and took place at the light-metal foundry at BMW's Landshut plant. This paper gives a close summary about process development, the constructive structure, and the manufacturing and testing processes.

This paper presents the conceptual design of a new low-cost measurement system for the determination of pollutant concentrations associated with aircraft operations. The proposed system employs Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) and passive electro-optics equipment installed in two non-collocated components. The source component consists of a tuneable small-size and low-cost/weight LIDAR emitter, which can be installed either on airborne or ground-based autonomous vehicles, or in fixed surface installations. The sensor component includes a target surface calibrated for reflectance and passive electro-optics equipment calibrated for radiance, both installed on an adjustable support. The proposed bistatic system determines the column-averaged molecular and aerosol pollutant concentrations along the LIDAR beam by measuring the cumulative absorption and scattering phenomena along the optical slant range.

Sport Activity Vehicle (SAV) share a growing market of an entirely new class of vehicles. Outstanding comfort in traditional on-road and also off-road terrain combined with leading edge technology are basic features of this concept. But in addition to that, the SAV has to offer the same overall safety features, expected by e.g. a luxury-segment sedan. A way to ensure the BMW X5 becoming one of the safest cars was the consequent use of simulation techniques in passive safety development. This paper deals with introduction of a CAE driven development process for passive safety in the BMW X5 project, focusing on examples in front and side impact.

This paper introduces the Seabus SB-8, a new Wing-In-Ground-Effect (WIGE) craft designed for 8 - 10 passengers. The craft will be used for fast transportation across Port Phillip Bay in Melbourne, Australia. With a cruise speed of about 140 km/hr, it can cross the bay in 30 min as compared to 75 min for land transportation. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis was conducted on the design to determine aerodynamic properties at various angles of attack and operating heights. The influence of ground effect was also determined as well as the effect of Centre of Gravity (CG) position on longitudinal stability. Using flow visualization areas of potential flow separation were identified and interactions of wake vortices with different parts of the aircraft were determined. Note that some aspects of the design are proprietary.

A comprehensive experimental study was conducted to investigate human movements when entering a vehicle. The primary goal of this study was to understand the influence of environmental changes on entry motions selected by a driver to enter a vehicle. The adjustable hardware setup “VEMO” (Variable Entry Mockup) was used for the experiments. With VEMO it is possible to simulate different types and classes of vehicle configurations. Around 30 test persons of different anthropometry participated in the experiments. The visual measurement system VICON was used for motion capturing, motion data cleaning and biomechanical analysis. The results corroborate the theory of leading body parts (LBPs) i.e. body parts that control targeted movement of the entire body. It could be demonstrated how motion patterns of LBPs, including spatial and dynamic characteristics such as orientation and velocity, respond to modifications of the geometrical environment.

The design of a longitudinal stability augmentation system (SAS) for an aircraft with reduced tail size in the preliminary design phase is presented. Reducing tail size will reduce drag and weight and result in better fuel consumption, but it will reduce the level of stability. A control law is designed to give the aircraft the same stability level as that with the initial tail size. The feedback gains of the control law is computed with the equivalent stability derivative criteria of and CmαCmq . The paper also gives an overview of classical root locus and pole placement method and demonstrates that equivalent stability derivative criteria is suitable for preliminary aircraft design applications. Moreover, the control laws are also synthesized using robust control LQG/LTR which can be elaborated more in the detail design phase.

The Deep Orange program immerses automotive engineering students into the world of an OEM as part of their 2-year graduate education. In support of developing the program’s seventh vehicle concept, the students studied the sponsoring brand essence, conducted market research, and made a heuristic assessment of competitor vehicles. The upfront research lead to the definition of target customers and setting vehicle level targets that were broken down into requirements to develop various vehicle sub-systems. The powertrain team was challenged to develop a scalable propulsion concept enabled by a common vehicle architecture that allowed future customers to select (at the point of purchase) among various levels of electrification best suiting their needs and personal desires. Four different configurations were identified and developed: all-electric, two plug-in hybrid electric configurations, and an internal combustion engine only.

The trend in the previous years showed that an ideal product is not obtained as a sum of development results of several separated disciplines but rather as a result of a holistic multidisciplinary CAE approach. In the course of the whole component development process it is necessary to consider all functions of an individual component equivalent to their importance in the system as a whole, in order to achieve both a technical and a financial optimum. The predictability and the accuracy of an individual computational method have to be regarded against the background of the entire simulation process. A continuative CAE-standard and a harmonious interaction between the different computational disciplines promise more success than focusing specifically on individual topics and thereby neglecting the “bigger picture”. This awareness provided the basis for a decision to change the entire crash simulation software to ABAQUS.

This paper relates to the design and development of a multi-modal UAV capable of aerial flight and underwater propulsion. A novel hybrid propulsion system has been manufactured and tested. Consisting of folding blades, the propeller has been optimized for propulsion both in air and water. The critical water to air transition phase is achieved by an additional impulsive thruster powered by a C02 cartridge. To decrease the drag in underwater cruise and reduce the potential damage when the vehicle impacts the water, a morphing wing has been developed. This consists of foam-carbon fiber lay-up constructed wings in a variable sweep configuration. The actuation of the sweep is achieved by linear servos mounted on the sleeve shaped spar. An integrated prototype is constructed, using an unconventional, anhedral horizontal stabilizers to allow clearance for the morphing wing.

The quiet nature of hybrid and electric vehicles has triggered developments in research, vehicle manufacturing and legal requirements. Currently, three countries require fitting an Approaching Vehicle Alerting System (AVAS) to every new car capable of driving without a combustion engine. Various other geographical areas and groups are in the process of specifying new legal requirements. In this paper, the design challenges in the on-going process of designing the sound for quiet cars are discussed. A proposal is issued on how to achieve the optimum combination of safety, environmental noise, subjective sound character and technical realisation in an iterative sound design process. The proposed sound consists of two layers: the first layer contains tonal components with their pitch rising along with vehicle speed in order to ensure recognisability and an indication of speed.

One of the primary hazards associated with the operation of Unmanned Aircraft (UA) is the controlled or uncontrolled impact of the UA with terrain or objects on the terrain (e.g., people or structures). National Aviation Authorities (NAAs) have the responsibility of ensuring that the risks associated with this hazard are managed to an acceptable level. The NAA can mandate a range of technical (e.g., design standards) and operational (e.g., restrictions on flight) regulatory requirements. However, work to develop these regulations for UA is ongoing. Underpinning this rule-making process is a safety case showing how the regulatory requirements put in place ensure that the UA operation is acceptably safe for the given application and environment.

As the popularity of vehicle navigation systems rises, incorporating Real Time Traffic Information (RTTI) has been shown to enhance the systems' value by helping drivers avoid traffic delays. As an innovative premium automaker, BMW has developed a testing process to acquire and analyze RTTI data in order to ensure delivery of a high quality service and to enhance the customer experience compared to audible broadcast services. With a methodology to obtain valid and repeatable RTTI data quality measurements, BMW and its service partner, Clear Channel's Total Traffic Network (TTN), can improve its offered service over time, implement corrective measures when appropriate, and confidently ensure the service meets its premium objectives. BMW has partnered with TTN and SoftSolutions GmbH to implement a traffic data quality process and software tools.

During early phases of interior car layout a lot of different aspects have to be considered like crashworthiness, regulations, philosophy of the company etc.. Ergonomic aspects do not always play the most important role in these cases. Since aspects of comfort in cars are getting more and more important in nowadays these aspects should be taken into account very early in the interior car layout process. This paper shows a way to design the interior layout of a car from scratch for a good postural comfort for all anthropometries with the aid of a digital human model (RAMSIS). The novelty of this approach is to use the digital human model to design the interior and not to verify or correct an existing one.

In a voluntary agreement, the German automobile industry has undertaken to recover 95 percent by weight of End–of–Life Vehicles in the year 2015. In addition, the European draft directive on „End–of–Life Vehicles” recycling calls for evidence that at least than 85 percent by weight of the materials are suitable for material recycling. It is therefore essential while new vehicles are being developed to be in a position to assess their suitability for dismantling and recycling. An automobile consists of a large number of individual components, each of which must be examined separately before a well–founded statement regarding the overall recycling level can be made. For this purpose the BMW Group has developed its own dismantling software which permits virtual dismantling analysis even during a vehicle's development phase and thus enables suitability for recycling to be determined at the earliest possible time.

Underbody aerodynamics has become increasingly important over the last three decades because of its vital contribution to improving a vehicle's overall performance. This was the motivation for the research conducted by BMW Aerodynamics, concerning the determination of the overall pressure distribution on the underbody of a series-production vehicle. Static pressure measurements have been taken under various test conditions. Real on-road tests were carried out as well as wind tunnel experiments under application of different road simulation techniques. The analyzed vehicle configurations include wheel rim-tire and body modifications. The results presented include surface pressure data, drag and lift coefficients, ride heights, pitch and roll angles. The acquired data is used to examine the underbody flow topology and determine how the diverse attempts to represent the real on-road conditions affect its pressure distribution.

Flow control over aerodynamic shapes in order to achieve performance enhancements has been a lively research area for last two decades. Synthetic Jet Actuators (SJAs) are devices able to interact actively with the flow around their hosting structure by providing ejection and suction of fluid from the enclosed cavity containing a piezo-electric oscillating membrane through dedicated orifices. The research presented in this paper concerns the implementation of zero-net-mass-flux SJAs airflow control system on a NACA0015, low aspect ratio wing section prototype. Two arrays with each 10 custom-made SJAs, installed at 10% and 65% of the chord length, make up the actuation system. The sensing system consists of eleven acoustic pressure transducers distributed in the wing upper surface and on the flap, an accelerometer placed in proximity of the wing c.g. and a six-axis force balance for integral load measurement.

The maturity reached in the development of Unmanned Air Vehicles (UAVs) systems is making them more and more attractive for a vast number of civil missions. Clearly, the introduction of UAVs in the civil airspace requiring practical and effective regulation is one of the most critical issues being currently discussed. As several civil air authorities report in their regulations “Sense and Avoid” or “Detect and Avoid” capabilities are critical to the successful integration of UAV into the civil airspace. One possible approach to achieve this capability, specifically for operations beyond the Line-of-Sight, would be to equip air vehicles with a vision-based system using cameras to monitor the surrounding air space and to classify other air vehicles flying in close proximity. This paper presents an image-based application for the supervised classification of air vehicles.