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Listen in as Dr. Ravi Rajamani discusses his new book, the history of electric flight, and electric propulsion. Learn more at books.sae.org/t-135.

As AM technologies are being used with higher frequencywithin the automotive and aerospace industries, the interest in powder characterization and contaminant identification is growing—especially for suppliers looking to gain entry into these highly regulated industries. Standards for powder materials and methods used for aerospace applications are still be developed, and regulatory agencies such as the Federal Aviation Administration have been requesting that standards be developed as guidance for the industry. Methods such as CCSEM and HLS could be viable options for suppliers needing to adhere to a powder specification by demonstrating compliance. Solutions exist to integrate such methods into a production environment as exemplified by RJ Lee Group.

Can you become a visionary or are you born one? How does a visionary capture an opportunity and makes it a successful business? Are engineers more qualified to solve technical problems or run companies? SAE's "The Visionary's Take" addresses these and many other questions, by talking directly with those who have dared to tackle difficult engineering problems, and create real-life products out of their experience. In these short episodes, Sanjiv Singh and Lyle Chamberlain, respectively CEO and Chief Engineer from Near Earth Autonomy, talk about their experience in creating a brand-new company in the UAV world. Founded in 2011, Near Earth Autonomy brought together a group of engineers and roboticists, looking for unconventional solutions to very hard logistics problems, presenting danger to human life. The answers were developed by pushing technology to a higher level, testing quickly and often, and keeping an open mind to alternative ways of framing engineering challenges.

Can you become a visionary or are you born one? How does a visionary capture an opportunity and makes it a successful business? Are engineers more qualified to solve technical problems or run companies? SAE's "The Visionary's Take" addresses these and many other questions, by talking directly with those who have dared to tackle difficult engineering problems, and create real-life products out of their experience. In these short episodes, Sanjiv Singh and Lyle Chamberlain, respectively CEO and Chief Engineer from Near Earth Autonomy, talk about their experience in creating a brand-new company in the UAV world. Founded in 2011, Near Earth Autonomy brought together a group of engineers and roboticists, looking for unconventional solutions to very hard logistics problems, presenting danger to human life. The answers were developed by pushing technology to a higher level, testing quickly and often, and keeping an open mind to alternative ways of framing engineering challenges.

We're working to solve the STEM crisis and building the next generation of engineers and scientists with our Kindergarten-College programs supported by the SAE Foundation: - A World In Motion (AWIM) Kindergarten-8 - Collegiate Design Series (CDS) College Help us inspire curiosity in STEM: find out more at saefoundation.org today.

To date, the universal metric for road safety has been historical crash data, specifically, crash frequency and severity, which are direct measures of safety. However, there are well-recognized shortcomings of the crash-based approach; its greatest drawback being that it is reactive and requires long observational periods. Surrogate measures of safety, which encompass measures of safety that do not rely on crash data, have been proposed as a proactive approach to road safety analysis. This white paper provides an overview of the concept and evolution of surrogate measures of safety, as well as the emerging and future methods and measures. This is followed by the identification of the standards needs in this discipline as well as the scope of SAE’s Surrogate Measures of Safety Committee.

It is ironic that as aircraft have gotten more sophisticated, much of their manufacture has remained manual. However, as orders for commercial aircraft have dramatically increased over the past years and are expected to remain on that trajectory, the competition has become not just about how fast new technologies can be put on the aircraft, but about how fast the aircraft can be manufactured and delivered. Enter ever increasing automation and robotics. Just as it has taken multiple years to reach the sophisticated content levels on current generation aircraft, so too has it been necessary to continually learn new ways and means to increase automation on the manufacturing floor. For both aircraft on the flight line and on the production line, safety is paramount.

Diesel engine manufacturers strive towards further efficiency improvements. Thus, reducing in-cylinder heat losses is becoming increasingly important. Understanding how location, thermal insulation, and engine operating conditions affect the heat transfer to the combustion chamber walls is fundamental for the future reduction of in-cylinder heat losses. This study investigates the effect of a 1mm-thick plasma-sprayed yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) coating on a piston. Such a coated piston and a similar steel piston are compared to each other based on experimental data for the heat release, the heat transfer rate to the oil in the piston cooling gallery, the local instantaneous surface temperature, and the local instantaneous surface heat flux. The surface temperature was measured for different crank angle positions using phosphor thermometry.

In order to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) and soot emissions while maintaining high thermal efficiency, more advanced combustion concepts have been developed over the years, such as Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition (HCCI) and Partially Premixed Combustion (PPC), as possible combustion processes in commercial engines. Compared to HCCI, PPC has advantages of lower unburned hydrocarbon (UHC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions; however, due to increased fuel stratifications, soot emissions can be a challenge when adding Exhaust-Gas Recirculation (EGR) gas. The current work presents particle size distribution measurements performed from HCCI-like combustion with very early (120 CAD BTDC) to PPC combustion with late injection timing (11 CAD BTDC) at two intake oxygen rates, 21% and 15% respectively. Particle size distributions were measured using a differential mobility spectrometer DMS500.

“Spotlight on Design: Insight” features an in-depth look at the latest technology breakthroughs impacting mobility. Viewers are virtually taken to labs and research centers to learn how design engineers are enhancing product performance/reliability, reducing cost, improving quality, safety or environmental impact, and achieving regulatory compliance. Telematics, the convergence of telecommunications and informatics, uses electronic and computer technology built in to the vehicle to provide vehicle tracking, satellite navigation, wireless technology, and diagnostic information. In the episode “Diagnostics and Prognostics: Telematics Deep Dive” (8:09), an engineer from Delphi’s Telematics program discusses the advantages and challenges of telematics devices for the automotive industry, demonstrates the installation of an aftermarket telematics device, and shows how telematics can enhance diagnostics and preventative maintenance.

“Spotlight on Design” features video interviews and case study segments, focusing on the latest technology breakthroughs. Viewers are virtually taken to labs and research centers to learn how design engineers are enhancing product performance/reliability, reducing cost, improving quality, safety or environmental impact, and achieving regulatory compliance. In the episode “Composite Materials: Advanced Materials and Lightweighting” (30:20), Molded Fiber Glass Companies, known for its deep involvement in the creative development of the molded fiberglass process for the Corvette, demonstrates the manufacturing of sheet molded composite for fiberglass parts. Tanom Motors introduces the Tanom Invader, a blend between an automobile and a motorcycle made exclusively with composite materials. Finally, Euro-Composites demonstrates the manufacturing of honeycomb core material made out of aramid paper and phenolic resin used in aircraft structures.

“Spotlight on Design” features video interviews and case study segments, focusing on the latest technology breakthroughs. Viewers are virtually taken to labs and research centers to learn how design engineers are enhancing product performance/reliability, reducing cost, improving quality, safety or environmental impact, and achieving regulatory compliance. Just how prevalent is the problem of counterfeit electronic parts? What are the consequences of using sub-par components in safety or mission critical systems? The Federal Aviation Administration estimates that 2% of the 26 million airline parts installed each year are counterfeit, accounting for more than 520,000 units, maybe more.

In the truck industry there is a continuous demand to increase the efficiency and to decrease the emissions. To acknowledge both these issues a waste heat recovery system (WHR) is combined with a partially premixed combustion (PPC) engine to deliver an efficient engine system. Over the past decades numerous attempts to increase the thermal efficiency of the diesel engine has been made. One such attempt is the PPC concept that has demonstrated potential for substantially increased thermal efficiency combined with much reduced emission levels. So far most work on increasing engine efficiency has been focused on improving the thermal efficiency of the engine while WHR, which has an excellent potential for another 1-5 % fuel consumption reduction, has not been researched that much yet. In this paper a WHR system using a Rankine cycle has been developed in a modeling environment using IPSEpro.

The SAE 2012 World Congress theme, Get Connected, represents the new and diverse connections that will drive significant advancements in the auto industry of tomorrow. Not only does the theme symbolize literal connections, such as those between vehicles, infrastructure, the Internet, and the nation's electrical grid, but also demonstrates the most fundamental of connections; the connections and relationships between engineers who are developing the next generation vehicle technology. From OEMs to suppliers, across academia and governments, connecting to one another and using these connections to share ideas and expertise - in both healthy competition and in partnership - will be the catalyst of forthcoming innovation and the auto industry's basis to continued future success. GetConnected: SAE 2012 World Congress April 24-26, 2012 Cobo Center, Detroit, Michigan, USA Start connecting today. Vist www.sae.org/congress for more information.

The rapid pace of recent progress in vehicle electrification technologies points to a bright future for electric-drive vehicles, but uncertainty regarding future technical trajectories and uncertainty in consumer response make possible a multitude of electric-drive vehicle futures. This presentation will examine a range of these possible electric-drive futures as a function of different technology and pricing scenarios. An exploration of initial conditions, market uptake, and resulting social benefits will show how HEV and PEV technology enable the attainment of stringent vehicle efficiency goals and unlock potential for lower-carbon futures. Presenter Jacob Ward, Department Of Energy

A consortium of interested parties has conducted an experimental characterization of two Tau parallel kinematic machines which were built as a part of the EU-funded project, SMErobot1. Characteristics such as machine stiffness, work envelope, repeatability and accuracy were considered. This paper will present a brief history of the Tau parallel machine, the results of this testing and some comment on prospective application to the aerospace industry.

The local equivalence ratio, Φ, was measured in fuel jets using laser-induced spontaneous Raman scattering in an optical heavy duty diesel engine. The measurements were performed at 1200 rpm and quarter load (6 bar IMEP). The objective was to study factors influencing soot formation, such as gas entrainment and lift-off position, and to find correlations with engine-out particulate matter (PM) levels. The effects of nozzle hole size, injection pressure, inlet oxygen concentration, and ambient density at TDC were studied. The position of the lift–off region was determined from OH chemiluminescence images of the flame. The liquid penetration length was measured with Mie scattering to ensure that the Raman measurement was performed in the gaseous part of the spray. The local Φ value was successfully measured inside a fuel jet. A surprisingly low correlation coefficient between engine-out PM and the local Φ in the reaction zone were observed.

In 1990 in the USA, Section 206 of the Clean Air Act ushered in a new era in passenger car and light truck service and maintenance. Ensuing requirements led to introduction of sophisticated vehicle on-board diagnostic systems. These systems demand the increasing sophistication of service providers. The amount of service information has expanded exponentially. The sophistication of the tools needed to diagnose and repair vehicles has become increasingly complex. To meet the needs of today's service professionals, new systems had to be developed. The convergence of regulations, vehicle complexity, tool capabilities and the growing volume of service information required the vehicle producers and service communities to implement more efficient information delivery systems.

The structure of HCCI (homogeneous charge compression ignition) combustion flames was quantitatively analyzed by measuring the two-dimensional gas temperature distribution using phosphor thermometry. It was found from the relation between a turbulent Reynolds number and Karlovitz number that, when compared with the flame propagation in an S.I. engine, HCCI combustion has a wider flame structure with respect to the turbulence scale. As a result of our experimentation for the influence of low temperature reaction (LTR) using two types of fuel, it was also confirmed that different types of fuel produce different histories of flame kernel structure.