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This paper compares the material consumption and fire patterns which developed on four nearly identical compact sedans when each was burned for exactly the same amount of time, but with different wind speed and direction during the burns. This paper will also compare the effects of environmental exposure to the fire patterns on the vehicles. The burn demonstrations were completed at an outdoor facility in southeast Michigan on four late model compact sedans. The wind direction was controlled by placing the subject vehicle with either the front facing into the wind, or rear facing into the wind. Two of the burns were conducted when the average observed wind speed was 5-6kph and two of the burns were conducted at an average observed wind speed of 19kph.

Impact toughness (or resistance to fracture) is a key material property for press hardened steel used in construction of the safety-critical elements of automotive body structures. Prior austenite grain size, as primarily controlled by the incoming microstructure and austenitization process, is a key microstructural feature that influences the impact toughness of press hardened steel. In this paper, a special Charpy V-notch impact test is developed to quantify the impact toughness of press hardened steel sheets with various prior austenite grain sizes, by stacking a number of thin sheets via mechanical riveting. Both the ductile-to-brittle transition temperature and upper shelf energy are analyzed in an effort to establish a correlation between impact toughness and prior austenite grain size. Within tested conditions, impact performance shows only a slight decrease as the prior austenitic grain size increases from 18 to 38 microns.

Development of the next generation internal combustion engines and automatic transmissions for automotive applications is a mandatory powertrain engineering activity required now and in the coming years to meet forthcoming global emissions regulations. This paper details a preliminary investigation into possible synergies for fuel consumption reduction considering emerging automotive technologies integrated into the next generation combustion engine and automatic transmission architectures. A range of hypothetical gasoline engines were created and paired with a generalized set of step gear automatic transmissions designed to meet the performance requirements of high volume longitudinal full size truck application. These designs were then run through a design of experiments orthogonal array for prediction of fuel consumption on the WLTP test schedule and stand still acceleration to 100 kph.

Laser welding of dissimilar metals such as Aluminum and Copper, which is required for Li-ion battery joining, is challenging due to the inevitable formation of the brittle and high electrical-resistant intermetallic compounds. Recent research has shown that by using a novel technology, called laser braze-welding, the Al-Cu intermetallics can be minimized to achieve superior mechanical and electrical joint performance. This paper investigates the robustness of the laser braze-welding process. Three product and process categories, i.e. choice of materials, joint configurations, and process conditions, are studied. It is found that in-process effects such as sample cleanness and shielding gas fluctuations have a minor influence on the process robustness. Furthermore, many pre-process effects, e.g. design changes such as multiple layers or anodized base material can be successfully welded by process adaption.

The electric vehicle on-board charger (OBC) is responsible for converting AC grid energy to DC energy to charge the battery pack. This paper describes the development of GM’s second generation OBC used in the 2016 Chevrolet Volt. The second generation OBC provides significant improvements in efficiency, size, and mass compared to the first generation. Reduced component count supports goals of improved reliability and lower cost. Complexity reduction of the hardware and diagnostic software was undertaken to eliminate potential failures.

The Cadillac CT6 plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) power-split transmission architecture utilizes two motors. One is an induction motor type while the other is a permanent magnet AC (PMAC) motor type referred to as motor A and motor B respectively. Bar-wound stator construction is utilized for both motors. Induction motor-A winding is connected in delta and PMAC motor-B winding is connected in wye. Overall, the choice of induction for motor A and permanent magnet for motor B is well supported by the choice of hybrid system architecture and the relative usage profiles of the machines. This selection criteria along with the design optimization of electric motors, their electrical and thermal performances, as well as the noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) performance are discussed in detail. It is absolutely crucial that high performance electric machines are coupled with high performance control algorithms to enable maximum system efficiency and performance.

This paper describes the capabilities of a new two-motor plug-in hybrid-electric propulsion system developed for rear wheel drive. The PHEV system comprises a 2.0L turbocharged 4-cylinder direct-injected gasoline engine with the new hybrid transmission [1], a new traction power inverter module, a liquid-cooled lithium-ion battery pack, and on-board battery charger and 12V power converter module. The capability and features of the system components are described, and component performance and vehicle data are reported. The resulting propulsion system provides an excellent combination of electric-only driving, acceleration, and fuel economy.

An all-new electric variable transmission (EVT) developed by General Motors for rear-wheel-drive products is at the center of the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) propulsion system for the Cadillac CT6. This transmission includes two integrated electric motors, planetary gearing, and hydraulic clutches. It is capable of power-split-hybrid operation in continuously variable transmission (CVT) ratio ranges, parallel-hybrid operation in fixed gear ratios, and all-electric propulsion in different ratio combinations. Transmission operation, mechanical design, controls design, motor design, and output capability are explained, and simulation results used as the benchmark for final development are included. All-electric launch and driving, selectable regeneration, and power blending with the turbocharged engine provide smooth and seamless propulsion through the entire driving range.

The strain-induced diffusionless shear transformation of retained austenite to martensite during straining of transformation induced plasticity (TRIP) assisted steels increases strain hardening and delays necking and fracture leading to exceptional ductility and strength, which are attractive for automotive applications. A novel technique that provides the retained austenite volume fraction variation with strain with improved precision is presented. Digital images of the gauge section of tensile specimens were first recorded up to selected plastic strains with a stereo digital image correlation (DIC) system. The austenite volume fraction was measured by synchrotron X-ray diffraction from small squares cut from the gage section. Strain fields in the squares were then computed by localizing the strain measurement to the corresponding region of a given square during DIC post-processing of the images recorded during tensile testing.

Friction stir linear welding (FSLW) is widely used in joining lightweight materials including aluminum alloys and magnesium alloys. However, fatigue life prediction method for FSLW is not well developed yet for vehicle structure applications. This paper is tried to use two different methods for the prediction of fatigue life of FSLW in vehicle structures. FSLW is represented with 2-D shell elements for the structural stress approach and is represented with TIE contact for the maximum principal stress approach in finite element (FE) models. S-N curves were developed from coupon specimen test results for both the approaches. These S-N curves were used to predict fatigue life of FSLW of a front shock tower structure that was constructed by joining AM60 to AZ31 and AM60 to AM30. The fatigue life prediction results were then correlated with test results of the front shock tower structures.

The ever-increasing regulatory requirement on CO2 emissions drives efficiency improvement of vehicle powertrain systems. In this context, three mega trends have been happening in the automotive transmission industry. First, future automatic transmissions will have more gear steps to offer a broader ratio spread and finer ratio steps, which may enable the engine to operate at its efficient regions more often. Second, engine downsizing with boosted power and flexible cylinder deactivation have been become the technology trend to achieve better thermal efficiency. These engine technologies demand improved transmission dampers with greater isolation capabilities to drive future transmission dampers to be equipped with softer springs. Third, future transmissions will be more efficient due to new architectures and incremental subsystem improvements.

GM has developed an all-new gasoline-electric hybrid powertrain for the model year 2016 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid vehicle, which was designed to achieve excellent fuel economy, performance, and drive quality. The powertrain shares the transmission architecture with the 2016 Chevrolet Volt extended range electric vehicle, but includes changes to optimize the system for engine driven charge sustaining operation in the range of conditions represented by the US EPA 5 cycle fuel economy tests. In this paper, we describe the Malibu Hybrid propulsion system features and components, including the battery pack, transaxle, electric motors and power electronics, engine, and thermal system. The modifications between the Volt and Malibu Hybrid propulsion systems are discussed and explained as resulting from the differences between the primarily electric and gasoline powered applications.

Previously published research [1] covering the role of piston material properties in brake torque variation sensitivity and roughness concluded that phenolic pistons have significantly higher low-pressure range compliance than steel pistons, which promotes lower roughness propensity. It also determined that this property could be successfully characterized using a modern generation of direct-acting servo hydraulically actuated brake component compression test stands. This paper covers a subsequent block of research into the role of the caliper piston in brake torque variation sensitivity (BTV sensitivity) and thermal roughness of a brake corner. It includes measurements of hydraulic stiffness of pistons in a “wet” fixture, both with and without a brake pad and multi-layer bonded noise shim.

This paper describes the development of a semi-automated end-of-line driveline system balance tester for an automotive assembly plant. The overall objective was to provide final quality assurance for acceptable driveline noise and vibration refinement in a rear wheel drive vehicle. The problem to be solved was how to measure the driveline system unbalance within assembly plant constraints including cycle time, operator capability, and integration with a pre-existing vehicle roll test machine. Several challenging aspects of the tester design and development are presented and solutions to these challenges are addressed. Major design aspects addressed included non-contacting vibration sensing, data acquisition/processing system and vehicle position feedback. Development challenges addressed included interaction of engine and driveline vibration orders, flexible driveline coupling effects, tachometer positional reference error, and vehicle-to-vehicle variation of influence coefficients.

As the number of fixed gear ratios in automatic transmissions continues to increase in the pursuit of powertrain system efficiency, particular consideration must continue to be focused on optimizing the design for shifting performance. This investigation focuses on the effect of shift time on the performance attributes of shift quality, durability, on schedule fuel consumption and enablers to further reduce shift time. A review of fundamental design features that enable reduced shift times in both planetary and dual clutch transmissions is presented along with key operating features of both the transmission and engine/prime mover. A lumped parameter metric is proposed to assess and compare the upshift controllability of new transmission architectures and powerflows using simple analysis. The durability of fast shift times during performance maneuvers are quantified through calculation of shifting clutch energy and power from analysis and form measurements on a powertrain dynamometer.

This investigation utilizes energy analysis and statistical methods to optimize step gear automatic transmissions gear selection for fuel consumption. A full factorial matrix of simulations using energy analysis was performed to determine the optimal number of gears and gear ratios that provide the best fuel consumption performance for a particular vehicle - engine application. The full factorial matrix setup as a design of experiment (DOE) was applied to five vehicle applications, each with two engines to examine the potential differences that variations in road load and engine characteristics might have on optimal transmission gearing selection. The transmission gearing options considered in the DOE were number of gears, launch gear ratio and top gear ratio. Final drive ratio was also included due to its global influence on vehicle performance and powertrain operating speeds and torque.

A new approach for modeling and analysis of a transmission and driveline system is proposed. By considering the stiffness, damping and inertias, model equations based on lumped parameters can be created through standard Lagrangian Mechanics techniques. A sensitivity analysis method has then been proposed on the eigenspace of the system characteristic equation to reveal the dynamic nature of a transmission and driveline system. The relative sensitivity calculated can clearly show the vibration modes of the system and the key contributing components. The usefulness of the method is demonstrated through the GM 6-speed RWD transmission by analyzing the dynamic nature of the driveline system. The results can provide a fundamental explanation of the vibration issue experienced and the solution adopted for the transmission.

General Motors has introduced a new front wheel drive seven speed dry dual clutch automatic transmission in 2014. The 250 Nm input torque rated gear box was designed and engineered for a global market in both front wheel drive and all-wheel drive configurations. The transmission has integrated start/stop capability enabled by the use of an electric motor driven pump and a pressurized accumulator. The architecture selected was chosen for optimization of packaging, fuel economy, mass, shift pleasability, and NVH. High mileage durability and world class drivability were the cornerstone deliverables during the engineering and design process Fuel efficiency is estimated to be 3% - 10% improvement over a conventional six speed automatic transmission. FWD variant wet mass of 78.1 kg was achieved through the rigorous engineering processes used to optimize the transmission system.

Spot weld separation in vehicle development stage is one of the critical phenomena in structural analyses regarding quasi-static test condition, like roof strength or seat/belt pull. It directly reduces structural performance by losing connected load path and occasionally introduces tearing on surrounding sheet metals. Traditionally many efforts have been attempted to capture parent metal ductile fracture, but not applied to spot weld separations in automotive FEA simulations. [1,2,3] This paper introduces how to develop FFLD failure criteria from a series of parametric study on ultra high strength sheet steel and deals with failure criteria around spot weld and parent metal. Once the fracture strains for sheet steels are determined, those developed values were applied to traditional spot weld coupon FEA simulations and tests. Full vehicle level roof strength FEA simulations on a typical automotive body structure were performed and verified to the physical tests.

For the conventional 6 speed automatic transmission with engine stop-start powertrain, an electrically-driven auxiliary pump is implemented to maintain the transmission line pressure as required to lock-up the CB1234 clutch during engine auto-stop conditions. Upon releasing the brake pedal, the transmission engages into first gear with the objective to accelerate the vehicle in a responsive manner. In this study, a novel normally-engaged dual-piston clutch concept is designed to keep the CB1234 clutch locked-up during engine auto-stop conditions with the intention to eliminate the auxiliary pump without compromising vehicle performance. This dual piston clutch concept requires a relatively low line pressure to release the normally-engaged clutch when needed, thus, minimizing the hydraulic pumping work. To explore the functionality of this concept under a wide-open-throttle (WOT) auto-start transition, modeling and simulation of the normally-engaged dual-piston clutch is completed.