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Many materials have emerged from the aerospace and defense industries that may have a significant impact on commercial vehicles in the future. Some of these new materials were investigated for their application on Class 8 trucks. The most promising materials were applied to prototype parts and installed on a test truck as part of a lightweight development program. Most of these materials have unique characteristics that require a more complex and rigorous design process than the equivalent design with a conventional material. The major obstacles to be overcome are the high cost of the raw material and the development of automated fabrication methods.

The Boeing 747 and Lockheed L-1011 airliners, as well as several aircraft still on the drawing board, have large, curved, plastic windshields that would not have been possible as recently as five years ago. This paper discusses several recently developed transparent materials which collectively were an important factor in making these new windshield concepts practical for both current and projected aircraft. Included are plastic materials, thin, chemically strengthened glass, protective coatings, heat-resistant interlayers, and an electrically conductive coating with improved light transmission and reduced reflectance. The windshield designs of recent and projected aircraft are used to illustrate how windshield designers are making use of these new materials.

Losses reduction and oil flow optimization management in construction machines and, in general, in heavy duty vehicles are two of the most challenging missions of today fluid power research. One of the most promising ideas is to implement multiple hydraulic power sources but this requires a flexible pump switch system; in fact, depending on flow request and machine mode, one or more pumps can be switched to serve each actuator. To put into practice these concepts it is necessary to in-depth design the distribution system, through which hydrostatic transmissions supply the different loads. The new component here presented realizes the pump switch management, creating a matrix framework of the hydraulic flow connections. Putting this concept it into practice the new architecture is able to connect alternatively a pump to one actuator at a time providing also for cross connections, enabling different sources flow summation.

The risk of head or chest injuries is usually evaluated by means of acceleration measurements using a dummy. Unfortunately, this data provides no information on load distribution over the contact areas which is often related to localized fractures of the bony structure. Therefore, new methods of measuring local forces were developed. 1. Pressure indicating devices attached to a dummy's face are capable of monitoring the local pressure during impact; foil's color change is interpreted by means of digital image analysis. 2. A velocity sensitive viscous tolerance criterion was calculated from the chest compression response of a dummy instrumented with strain gauges on the ribs. The application of advanced techniques in laboratory tests clearly supports the experience of improved protection potential through the use of airbag systems.

The blue and white smoke (cold smoke) emitted from diesel engines during warm up at low temperatures and idling conditions contains pollutant gases which irritate eyes and nose, and reductions in this irritating, odorous gas have become important with the increasing numbers of DI diesel engine vehicles. To assess the blue and white smoke a qualitative assessment method is necessary, though, there are no simple and exact measuring methods. In this study a new assessment method using a digital camera and photo analysis system with a computer is introduced. With this method the luminance of the cold smoke is displayed as 8 bit data, and a quantitative evaluation is simple, when the influence of sunshine is corrected for the smoke luminance. This paper describes the correction method for the sunshine illumination and the technique for taking the photographs.

The Controllable Mechanical DiodeTM (CMD) is a new technology that improves fuel economy, mass and packaging in modern automatic transmissions. In this 40-minute course, participants will gain an understanding of the base construction, function and value of the new Controllable Mechanical DiodeTM innovation. Advantages of its use in new automatic transmissions will be explained along with examples of the CMD’s alignment to electrified transmissions.

Automotive OEMs are compelled by increasingly stringent global emissions standards to find economic solutions for building higher efficiency vehicles without compromising safety and ride quality. This challenge requires new advanced high strength steels (AHSS) that will significantly reduce vehicle weight and improve fuel economy. In addition to providing higher strength, these automotive sheet steels must have exceptional formability to produce reduced gauge parts with increasingly complex geometries. Formability is comprised of two components, global and local. Global formability represents the ability of a sheet material to be deformed under various stress conditions and to be formed into a part without failure. It can be estimated using forming-limit diagrams or ductility measurements from conventional uniaxial tensile tests. However, these tests cannot reliably assess the local formability at the edges or at the internal holes of the blanks during stamping.

Due to its affordability, excellent stiffness-to-density ratio, and predictable forming characteristics, steel has historically dominated the material selection for vehicle body structures. As light-weighting has gained momentum due to more stringent vehicle emissions standards, the usage of Advanced High Strength Steels (AHSS) has proliferated during the past two decades. In the last decade, significant efforts have been made in developing the “third generation” of AHSS with strength-ductility combinations significantly better than in the first generation AHSS. A paradigm changing nanostructured 3rd Generation AHSS has been developed by NanoSteel that will be described with a focus on the new mechanisms, enabling structures, and resulting mechanical properties.

Hino Motors is about to launch a new truck model FA as a family product of the model FB class 5 category trucks which have been sold since 1986, Model FA, a class 3 category cab-over-engine truck has a GVW of 13,500 Lbs. and is powered by a 3.8 liter direct injection turbocharged diesel engine which produces 125 HP in conformity with federal exhaust gas emission regulations for 50 states. The new truck was designed and developed to satisfy several principal design objectives such as excellent maneuverability, driving comfort, superior fuel economy as well as sufficient reliability and durability within the simplest possible structure. This paper describes its design objectives, features focusing on cab and engine and technologies devoted to the development.

In July 1989, Hino Motors, Ltd. launched a new medium-duty truck series called the Cruising Ranger (Fig. 1), replacing its nine-year-old conventional model. The Cruising Ranger series has been developed under the concept of a “Stylish, Driver-Friendly, Profitable Truck” with an emphasis on harmonization with the social environment. It features major changes in exterior style and interior design, and improvements in basic performance such as comfort, drivability, safety, and fuel efficiency with careful consideration given to market requirements. The series also meets the 1989 Japanese exhaust emission standards. To accomplish these design enhancements, a number of new technologies have been introduced in the Cruising Ranger.

An innovative IC development “merges” Hall effect sensing with the control circuitry, protective functions, and the high-current outputs necessary to power a new series of brushless dc (fan) motors. This proprietary and single-chip design replaces a separate Hall sensor IC and the various other components (many discretes) and provides the position and rotational sensing, the commutation circuitry, and switching functions required in a 2-phase, unipolar motor. Additionally, this custom IC includes several advantages and features not (usually) included in “discrete” designs: internal zener diode for limiting “flyback” voltage, output current limiting (with an option for further reduction), output enable (PWM speed control), and thermal shutdown. This. paper will highlight the functions, limits, merits, and potential for the “merging” of magnetic sensing and power.

This paper presents a new type of link for an engineered structure which combines a stamped metal component and an injection molded, thermoplastic part. The joining of the two dissimilar materials is accomplished during the injection using features already stamped into the metal component. This allows the structure to be lighter and cheaper than a structure assembled by fasteners. What will be highlighted in this document is the development of this specific link, from prototyping of the concept through the industrialization of the test samples, the concept validation and, finally the realization of a mass production part. A comparative study versus an existing technology will be shown to demonstrate the enhanced performance of this technology. Currently, the targeted application of this technology is a Front End carrier.

One of the main factors of the drum brake performance and quality is the accuracy of “S” profiles of the cam shafts. To reduce cost, most axle and brake manufacturers use cam shafts with forged “S” cams, in some cases decreasing the accuracy of “S” profile, brake performance, and quality as compared to a machined “S” profile option. Today's highly competitive market, especially the bus market, requires the highest possible brake performance at reduced cost. This paper shows how to meet both requirements for cam shaft manufacturing, high “S” profile accuracy and low machining cost, at the same time.

More stringent mechanical property requirements in automotive sheet steels, coupled with improvements in steel processing techniques, have made traditional methods for categorizing sheet steel obsolete. In particular, classification of steel quality by terms such as CQ, DQ and DQSK is no longer appropriate. SAE's Division 32 has addressed this issue and written a recommended practice for classifying sheet steel. The new method is based on nominal yield strength coupled with yield strength uniformity. Also included are provisions for differences in surface quality. The methodology has applicability to hot rolled, cold rolled, and coated sheets in the low to medium strength range.

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.

Abstract The input of combustion heat in engines has a major impact on the piston friction and the resulting wear of the piston skirt. The new methodology presented here enables the simulation of combustion heat input during motored operation, and thus a detailed investigation of the piston friction under realistic piston temperature profiles of real engine operation is possible. For this purpose a standardized engine test bench for motored friction evaluations was expanded to include, among other things, a movable high-power diode laser with special defocusing optics. The setup of the test engine is based on the FEV teardown step methodology [1] and has open access to the engine piston from above due to a cylinder head dummy. Thus, the heat input by means of a high-power diode laser into the piston crown can be made. The reduced engine structure also enables a precise and highly accurate evaluation of the piston friction.

A new method, the sulfur trace method (S-trace method), for measurement of engine oil consumption was investigated. This method uses the sulfur, naturally contained in the engine oil, as an oil tracer. This method could be developed with the use of sulfur-free fuel and with the establishment of an analytical technique to determine the trace amount of sulfur dioxide in the exhaust gas. Measuring with this method is more rapid than the drain-weigh method and without the use of the special equipment which is used for radioactive materials. This S-trace method requires about 20 minutes of engine operating time, and has a detection capability of 1 gram per hour. The coefficient of variation is better than 10% at the oil consumption level of 20 grams per hour. The results using this method are satisfactory and agree with the drain-weigh method or with the radiometric method.

This paper describes one method for producing random 6-axis vibration within an accelerated test process to expedite design verification. The concept behind accelerated testing to identify failure modes and achieve product improvement is reviewed. The machine is presented as an alternative to existing technologies within the accelerated testing process. Together, the concept and machine are presented to engineers as a possible tool to verify new designs and discover non-intuitive failure modes prior to releasing a design for production. The theory of operation and the performance parameters of the machine are also discussed.

The present paper describes a newly developed method of computing the losses and efficiencies of hydrostatic power converters. Unlike previous methods this approach is not based on a physical/technical analysis of a single hydraulic pump or motor type. Instead, it employs purely mathematical methods based on measurement data to provide a universally applicable method for computing the power and efficiency behavior of hydrostatic machinery of any design. The accuracy of the method is confirmed by a comparison of measured and calculated performance and efficiency data.

This paper creates a worksheet to thoroughly document vehicle damage during an incompatible vehicle-to-vehicle frontal crash. This data form serves as a supplement to the current and already established NASS inspection forms. It will assist biomechanics research by determining the extent by which incompatibility caused or changed occupants' injuries through structural analysis of the vehicles. This study identifies deficiencies in the current NASS inspection system for compatibility, and develops new measurable parameters to document the crash and associate injury to it.