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Racing continues to be the singular, preeminent source of powertrain development for automakers worldwide. Engineering teams rely on motorsports for the latest prototype testing and research. Endurance racing provides the harshest and most illuminating stage for system design validation of any motorsport competition. While advancements throughout the 20th Century brought about dramatic increases in engine power output, the latest developments from endurance racing may be more impactful for fuel efficiency improvements. Hybrid powertrains are a critical area of research for automakers and are being tested on the toughest of scales. Prototype Powertrain in Motorsport Endurance Racing brings together ten vital SAE technical papers and SAE Automotive Engineering magazine articles surrounding the advancements of hybrid powertrains in motorsports.

Industries related to automotive manufacturing and its supply chain play a key role in leaving a carbon footprint during an automobile's life cycle. Per the report from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) in March, 2008 [1], “motor vehicle industry in the U.S. spends about $3.6 billion on energy annually.” The proposed research will focus on energy savings opportunities in automotive manufacturing and its supplier network. The US Department of Energy (DOE) funds 24 Industrial Assessment Centers (IAC) throughout the U.S. that conduct energy assessments at many of these facilities. The results of these assessments are summarized in a database maintained by Rutgers University which acts as the central management body for all the IACs. This research will present key concepts summarized from this database.

Automotive industries in the US and around the world have enormous impact on the economy of each country. Not just the major vehicle manufacturer, but all the other companies in the supply chain are equally important. This was evident with the earthquake and Tsunami that happened in March 2011. Because of the massive destruction at suppliers' facilities, the automakers in the US and other countries struggled to get the necessary parts and supplies. This created a ripple effect throughout the world and led to the closure of several automakers' facilities for a long time. Thus, the automotive supply chains are as important as the main automotive manufacturing facilities. Since these suppliers produce a lot of parts and supplies, the corresponding energy usage is also significant. The current research is focused on compressed air and process heating system analysis at one of the automotive parts manufacturer in Mexico.

This research attempts to investigate the effect of change in system curve on the energy intensity method of measurement and verification of energy savings. With recent push from US government on energy efficiency through EPACT 2007 and upturn in performance contracted energy efficiency project implementations the effective and accurate evaluation of energy savings as compared to the baseline is of paramount importance. The authors have studied different methods of Measurement and Verification (M&V) of energy savings from literature to compare and contrast and clearly bring out merits and de-merits of each. Finally, the role of production level variable plays in establishing the baseline energy usage is discussed. Though modern models proposed in the literature of determining baseline energy usage consider production level, this variable is compounded from two variables viz., time of usage of a system and fraction of total capacity usage.

When operating a piece of heavy equipment, the equipment operator is exposed to Whole Body Vibration (WBV), with peaks in the acceleration called jolting and jarring. Various published consensus standards exist to analyze overall WBV, but a consensus standard does not exist for describing, detecting, and categorizing the jolting and jarring peaks. During previous research into methods of measuring jolting and jarring, a Root Mean Square (RMS) method was implemented and deployed in jolting and jarring event meters called Shox Boxes (invented by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, NIOSH). The RMS assessment was difficult for end users of the Shox Boxes to utilize for describing and categorizing the peaks. This paper offers a hypothetical standard, the Jolt-Duration (JD) method, based on the simple amplitude and duration of the peaks, as well as the time between peaks.

Incidents in which a piece of construction equipment backed into a worker resulted in an average of 17 deaths per year at road construction sites and 15 deaths per year at building construction sites from 1997 through 2001. This trend continues and researchers at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health are evaluating methods to decrease these incidents. A new technology based on the detection of electronic identification tags worn by workers has been developed and evaluated at a road construction site. The tag-based proximity warning system consists of a magnetic field generator and communications system that mounts on the back of a piece of construction equipment such as a dump truck, road grader, or loader. Workers at a construction site wear a small tag that detects the magnetic marker field.

A family of transmission systems based on a “Planetary Gear - CVT” mechanism is presented here. The systems considered consist of two compound planetary gear trains connected through a CVT pulley system to provide the power/torque split and recirculation function, without the use of additional clutches and/or chain drives. A two degree of freedom system results in which one of the degrees of freedom is directly related to the CVT ratio. The mechanisms considered here combine the gear reduction function of compound planetary gear trains with the continuously variable trans- used as a circulating power control unit. The kinematics and dynamics of this family of systems is presented with emphasis on the belt forces, torques on the various shafts and the overall input/output velocity ratios through the CVT ratio span. Then a parametric analysis is conducted to characterize the effect of the various functional ratios and parameters of the system in terms of the overall performance.

In this paper, a new method for the hydro-dynamic analysis of a sliding cylinder in a fully lubricated parallel track is presented. The method is an extension of Booker's “Mobility Method” (developed for cylindrical journal bearings) to the case of sliding cylinders, in which the clearance between the track and the cylinder, the viscosity of the lubricant, the radius and length of the pin, the sliding velocity and the applied transverse load determine the hydrodynamic behavior of the cylinder. In the Rand Cam™ Engine [1]*, the axicycloidal motion of vanes is driven by a rotor and a cylindrical cam, and one of the alternative designs to provide this function is based on a cylindrical pin sliding within a track which follows the profile of the motion of the main cams of the engine. This function is very important for the engine, since it separates the load bearing function from the sealing function left to the apex-like seals.

The need to assess the effect of exhaust gas emissions from heavy duty vehicles (buses and trucks) on emission inventories is urgent. Exhaust gas emissions measured during the fuel economy measurement test procedures that are used in different countries sometimes do not represent the in-use vehicle emissions. Since both local and imported vehicles are running on the roads, it is thought that studying the testing cycles of the major vehicle manufacturer countries is worthy. Standard vehicle testing cycles on chassis dynamometer from the United States, Canada, European Community Market, and Japan1 are considered in this study. Each of the tested cycles is categorized as either actual or synthesized cycle and its representativness of the observed driving patterns is investigated. A total of fourteen parameters are chosen to characterize any given driving cycle and the cycles under investigation were compared using these parameters.

In the case of advanced light weight material applications, the design of such components, in many cases, are based on applied surface tractions These surface loads can be caused by various means. When wind effects are present these tractions can be due to pressure, suction or drag. In the case of underwater applications, hydrostatic pressure and friction caused by moving against water current needs to be considered in the design. These are some of the traction load applications, a design engineer has to deal with in his advanced material applications. In contrast to the conventional materials, the modern structures made of highly directional dependent material properties, respond the applied loads and environment in an unpredicted way, so that, a detail analysis and design is always necessary. Hence in the present study a higher-order shear deformation formulation is developed to calculate the distribution of stresses accurately in angle-ply laminated shells of revolution.

The federal emission standards for heavy duty vehicle engines require the exhaust emissions to be measured and calculated in unit form as grams per break horse-power-hour (g/bhp-hr). Correct emission results not only depend on the precise emission measurement but also rely on the correct determination of vehicle energy consumption. A Transportable Heavy-Duty Vehicle Emission Testing Laboratory (THDVETL) designed and constructed at West Virginia University provides accurate vehicle emissions measurements in grams over a test cycle. This paper contributes a method for measuring the energy consumption (bhp-hr) over the test cycle by a chassis dynamometer. Comparisons of analytical and experimental results show that an acceptable agreement is reached and that the THDVETL provides accurate responses as the vehicle is operated under transient loads and speeds. This testing laboratory will have particular value in comparing the behavior of vehicles operating on alternative fuels.

Results of a research effort directed towards identifying and measuring the genotoxic properties of respirable particulate matter involved in mining exposures, especially those which may synergistically affect genotoxic hazard, are presented. Particulate matter emissions from a direct injection diesel engine have been sampled and assayed to determine the genotoxic potential as a function of engine operating conditions. Diesel exhaust from a Caterpillar 3304 diesel engine, representative of the ones found in underground mines, rated 100 hp at 2200 rpm is diluted in a multi-tube mini-dilution tunnel and the particulate matter is collected on 70 mm fluorocarbon coated glass fiber filters as well as on 8″ x 10″ hi-volume filters. A six mode steady state duty cycle was used to relate engine operating conditions to the genotoxic potential.

New high-tech materials which are anticipated to revolutionize the internal combustion engine are being created everyday. However, their actual utilization in existing engines has encountered numerous stumbling blocks. High piston sidewall forces and thermal stresses are some of the problems of primary concern. The Stiller-Smith Engine should provide an environment more conducive to the use of some of these materials. Absent from the Stiller-Smith Engine is a crankshaft, and thus a very different motion is observed. Since all parts in the Stiller-Smith Engine move in either linear or rotary fashion it is simple to balance. Additionally the use of linear connecting rod bearings changes the location of the sidewall forces thus providing an isolated combustion chamber more tolerant to brittle materials and potential adiabatic designs. Presented herein is the development of this new engine environment, from conceptualization to an outline of present and future research.

The Stiller-Smith Mechanism provides a unique approach in the use of the rotational characteristics of the cross-slider link of the elliptic trammel. Establishment of the research need and a historical development of the design concept are presented complete with a detailed kinematic analysis. Successful incorporation of the new mechanism is pictorially presented.

The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) is engaged in research on the effects of whole-body vibration (WBV). The purpose of this research is to quantify the decrement in performance, such as reaction time and continual manual control tracking tasks, caused by WBV. Such decrements may have a bearing on the safety and health of approximately seven million drivers of trucks, buses, tractors, and off-the-road vehicles who are exposed to WBV. To study these effects in the Laboratory, the WBV team at NIOSH has designed and developed a new vibration system. This paper describes the theoretical basis and the main design and construction features of the vibration system for simulating the driver's vibration environment as well as the research possibilities and limits. A hydraulic cylinder and pivoted frame made the concept of a pendulum vibration system a reality.