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The number of EVs are increasing in power distribution systems every day. This research analyses different penetration levels of electric vehicles in power distribution systems to provide stable energy for smart devices and observes its impacts on operational costs and environmental emissions. The supply of EV power is determined based on smart device consumption by optimal energy management of EV batteries so that both the utilities and the car owner get benefits. Utilities can save energy by reducing system loss, while EV owners can earn money by selling it to utilities at their convenient time for smart device operations. The PG&E 69-bus distribution system is used for the simulation and case studies. Case studies in this research show how the power management of EV's batteries charging and discharging characteristics benefits both utilities and EV owners. The uncertainty of the driving pattern of EVs is also considered in the research to get more accurate results.

Digital Image Correlation (DIC) technology is a powerful tool in the field of experimental mechanics to obtain the full-field deformation/strain information of an object. It has been rapidly applied in industry in recent years. However, for the large-angle full-field strain measurement of small-sized cylindrical objects, it’s still a challenge to the DIC accurate measurement due to its small size and curved surface. In this paper, a measurement method based on the multi-camera DIC system is proposed to study the compressive performance of small-sized cylindrical materials. Three cameras form two stereo DIC measurement systems (1 and 2 cameras, and 2 and 3 cameras), each of which measures a part of the object. By calibrating three cameras at the same time, two stereos DIC coordinate systems can be unified to one coordinate system. Then match the two sets of DIC measurement data together to achieve large-angle measurement of the cylindrical surface.

Increasing the demand for EV charging has increased the burden and accretion of the power quality issues. Harmonic voltages and currents have a significant negative influence on power system components, specifically power transformers. The voltage and current harmonics created by EV chargers and their impacts on power transformers have been discussed in this paper, and an approach is proposed to reduce such harmonics in the system. For this purpose, firstly, the total harmonic distortion (THD) of a typical EV charger is evaluated. Then an analysis is performed utilizing Fast Fourier Transform (FTT) to extract individual harmonics. To this end, this paper addresses the power quality issues on the power transformers by implementing a passive filter. The harmonic voltages and currents were measured on different levels of charging loads. The simulation results show that more than 30% of total harmonic distortions were reduced to 1.16% using a passive filter.

Integration of electric vehicles (EV) in power distribution systems reduces emissions that contribute to climate changes and improves public health by reducing ecological damage. Even though EVs significantly impact reducing carbon emissions and less dependency on hydrocarbon-based generators, they could negatively impact power systems, especially power quality. This paper analyzes electric vehicle charging stations’ impact on power quality concerning the voltage and current analysis of the harmonic distortion. As a case study, a sample system has been chosen, and a charging station is integrated into the system to investigate the harmonic impacts on the system. Finally, various mitigation techniques to eliminate the harmonics and minimize EVs’ adverse impacts on power quality in power distribution systems have been discussed.

A new method is demonstrated for rating the “severity” of a hypoid gear set duty cycle (revolutions at torque) using the intercept of T-N curve to support gearset selection and sizing decision across vehicle programs. Historically, it has been customary to compute a cumulative damage (using Miner's Rule) for a rotating component duty cycle given a T-N curve slope and intercept for the component and failure mode of interest. The slope and intercept of a T-N curve is often proprietary to the axle manufacturer and are not published. Therefore, for upfront sizing and selection purposes representative T-N properties are used to assess relative component duty cycle severity via cumulative damage (non-dimensional quantity). A similar duty cycle severity rating can also be achieved by computing the intercept of the T-N curve instead of cumulative damage, which is the focus of this study.

As vacuum suction cups are widely used in stamping plants, it becomes urgent and important to understand their performance and failure mode. Vacuum suction cups are employed to lift, move, and place sheet metal instead of human hands. Occasionally the vacuum cups would fail and drop parts, even it would cause expensive delays in the production line. In this research, several types of vacuum cups have been studies and compared experimentally. A new tensile device and test method was developed to measure the pulling force and deformation of vacuum cups. The digital image correlation technique has been adopted to capture and analyze the contour, deformation and strain of the cups under different working conditions. The experimental results revealed that the relevant influential parameters include cup type, pulling force angles, vacuum levels, sheet metal curvatures, etc.

An objective evaluation of ground vehicle performance is a challenging task. This is further exacerbated by the increasing level of autonomy, dynamically changing the roles and capabilities of these vehicles. In the context of decision making involving these vehicles, as the capabilities of the vehicles improve, there is a concurrent change in the preferences of the decision makers operating the vehicles that must be accounted for. Decision based methods are a natural choice when multiple conflicting attributes are present, however, most of the literature focuses on static preferences. In this paper, we provide a sequential Bayesian framework to accommodate time varying preferences. The utility function is considered a stochastic function with the shape parameters themselves being random variables. In the proposed approach, initially the shape parameters model either uncertain preferences or variation in the preferences because of the presence of multiple decision makers.

Self-piercing riveting (SPR) has been used in production to join sheet materials since the early 1990s. A large amount of experimental trial work was required in order to determine an appropriate combination of rivet and anvil design to fulfill the required joint parameters. The presented study is describing the methodology of SPR joint design based on numerical simulation and experimental methods of defining required simulation input parameters. The required inputs are the stress-strain curves of sheet materials and rivets for the range of strains taking place in the SPR joining process, parameters required for a fracture model for all involved materials, and friction parameters for all interfaces of SPR process. In the current study, the normalized Cockroft-Latham fracture criterion was used for predicting fracture. Custom hole and tube expansion tests were used for predicting fracture of the riveted materials and the rivet, respectively.

This research assesses the integration of different levels of electric vehicles (EVs) in the distribution system and observes its impacts on environmental emissions and power system operational costs. EVs can contribute to reducing the environmental emission from two different aspects. First, by replacing the traditional combustion engine cars with EVs for providing clean and environment friendly transportation and second, by integrating EVs in the distribution system through the V2G program, by providing power to the utility during peak hours and reducing the emission created by hydrocarbon dependent generators. The PG&E 69-bus distribution system (DS) is used to simulate the integration of EVs and to perform energy management to assess the operational costs and emissions. The uncertainty of driving patterns of EVs are considered in this research to get more accurate results.

This paper proposes a method to evaluate the sensitivity of the perceived quality of a panel interface design to variation in the measurements of fit and finish. The novelty of this approach is in the application of the concept of utility to fit and finish. The significance is in the ability to evaluate alternative designs with regard to perceived quality long before time and money are spent on their realization. In the automotive industry “fit and finish” is the term applied to the precision of the alignment of one part to another. Fit and finish gives the buyer a sense of the overall quality of the vehicle purely from an aesthetic perspective. Fit and finish is usually evaluated by the manufacturer through dimensional measurements of the gap and flushness conditions between panels.

To ensure ride comfort, the dynamic characteristics, such as natural frequencies, of a vehicle is often tuned to a specific value by managing the magnitude and location of some masses and/or configuration of stiffeners without sacrificing the structural strength and overall fuel performance of the vehicle. We first formulate the mathematical statement of the problem in a constrained eigenvalue form. Optimal solutions are sought using various finite element techniques. A novel methodology involving genetic algorithm and Newton’s iterative method is developed to solve the constrained eigenvalue problems. Several examples, including discrete and continuous systems, are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness and accuracy of the proposed methodology. The strategy of managing the mass location and distribution to target a preferred natural frequency or frequencies is given in the conclusion.

Variable Compression Ratio systems are an increasingly attractive solution for car manufacturers in order to reduce vehicle fuel consumption. By having the capability to operate with a range of compression ratios, engine efficiency can be significantly increased by operating with a high compression ratio at low loads, where the engine is normally not knock-limited, and with a low compression ratio at high load, where the engine is more prone to knock. In this way, engine efficiency can be maximized without sacrificing performance. This study aims to analyze how the effectiveness of a VCR system is affected by various powertrain and vehicle parameters. By using a Matlab model of a VCR system developed in Part 1 of this work, the influence of the vehicle characteristics, the drive cycle, and of the number of stages used in the VCR system was studied.

The need for transient thermal simulations in vehicle packaging studies has grown rapidly in recent years. To date, the computational costs associated with the transient simulation of 3D conjugate heat transfer phenomena has prohibited the widespread use of full vehicle transient simulations. This paper presents results from a recent study that explored a method to circumvent the computational costs associated with long transient conjugate heat transfer simulations. The proposed method first segregates the thermal structural and fluid physics domains to take advantage of time scale differences. The two domains are then re-coupled to calculate a series of steady state conjugate heat transfer simulations at various vehicle speeds. The local convection terms are then used to construct a set of surrogate models dependent on vehicle speed, that predict the local heat transfer coefficients and the local near wall fluid temperatures.

Bendability is a critical characteristic of sheet metal during the stamping process in automobile industry. Bending operation plays an important role in the panels forming of vehicles. In this study, the recently developed “Incremental Bending” method was utilized to evaluate the ambient bendability of 7xxx series avoiding bending crack. A 3D digital image correlation (DIC) measurement system is improved to capture the displacement and strain information on the stretched side of the sheet samples. The background, experimental method and data post-procedure are introduced in detail. After several sequential images acquisition and data processing, the major strain histories on the stretch zone of the samples are measured. With different bending process and parameters, the location of peak strain and the surface major strain distribution were evaluated as a function of R/T ratio (the inner radius over sheet thickness).

Light-weighting vehicles cause an increase in Aluminum Alloy stamping processes in the Automotive Industry. Surface finish and lubricants of aluminum alloy (AA) sheet play an important role in the deep drawing processes as they can affect the friction condition between the die and the sheet. This paper aims to develop a reliable and practical laboratory test method to experimentally investigate the influence of surface finish, lubricant conditions, draw-bead clearances and pulling speed on the frictional sliding behavior of AA 6XXX sheet metal. A new double-beads draw-bead-simulator (DBS) system was used to conduct the simulated test to determine the frictional behavior of an aluminium alloy with three surface lubricant conditions: mill finish (MF) with oil lube, electric discharge texture (EDT) finish with oil lube and mill finish (MF) with dry lube (DL).

Bendability is one of the most important formability characteristics in sheet metal forming, so it has to be understood for robust aluminum stamping process designs. Crack is one of the major failure modes in aluminum sheet bending. In this study, a new “incremental bending” method is proposed to reduce the risk of bending failure. A novel laboratory test methodology is conducted to test the 5xxx series aluminum sheet bendability with 3D digital image correlation (DIC) measurement system. The designs of test apparatus and test procedure are introduced in this paper. Through the data processing and evaluation of a sequence image acquisition, the major strain histories within the zone of the through thickness crack of test samples are measured. Testing results show that incremental bending is capable of reducing peak strain on the outer surface obviously compared with traditional non-incremental bending. The more step, more movement, the more peak strain reduction.

Fatigue life estimation, reliability and durability are important in acquisition, maintenance and operation of vehicle systems. Fatigue life is random because of the stochastic load, the inherent variability of material properties, and the uncertainty in the definition of the S-N curve. The commonly used fatigue life estimation methods calculate the mean (not the distribution) of fatigue life under Gaussian loads using the potentially restrictive narrow-band assumption. In this paper, a general methodology is presented to calculate the statistics of fatigue life for a linear vibratory system under stationary, non-Gaussian loads considering the effects of skewness and kurtosis. The input loads are first characterized using their first four moments (mean, standard deviation, skewness and kurtosis) and a correlation structure equivalent to a given Power Spectral Density (PSD).

Polymer plastics are widely used in automotive light weight design. Tensile tests are generally used to obtain material stress-strain curves. Due to the natural of the plastic materials, it could be elongated more than several hundred percent of its original length before breaking. Digital Image Correlation (DIC) Analysis is a precise, full field, optical measurement method. It has been accepted as a practical in-field testing method by the industry. However, with the traditional single-camera or dual-camera DIC system, it is nearly impossible to measure the extreme large strain. This paper introduces a unique experimental procedure for large elongation measurement. By utilization of quad-camera DIC system and data stitch technique, the strain history for plastic material under hundreds percent of elongation can be measured. With a quad-camera DIC system, the correlation was conducted between two adjacent cameras.

Dimensional problems for punched holes on a sheet metal stamping part include being undersized and oversized. Some important relationships among tools and products, such as the effect of conical punch tip angle, are not fully understood. To study this effect, sheets of AA6016 aluminum and BH210 steel were punched by punches with different conical tip angles. The test method and test results are presented. The piercing force and withdrawing force when using conical punches were also studied. The results indicate that the oversize issue for a punched hole in a stamped panel is largely due to the combination of the conical tip effect and the stretching-release effect.

Material formability is a very important aspect in the automotive stamping, which must be tested for the success of manufacturing. One of the most important sheet metal formability parameters for the stamping is the edge tear-ability. In this paper, a novel test method has been present to test the aluminum sheet edge tear-ability with 3D digital image correlation (DIC) system. The newly developed test specimen and fixture design are also presented. In order to capture the edge deformation and strain, sample's edge surface has been sprayed with artificial speckle. A standard MTS tensile machine was used to record the tearing load and displacement. Through the data processing and evaluation of sequence image, testing results are found valid and reliable. The results show that the 3D DIC system with double CCD can effectively carry out sheet edge tear deformation. The edge tearing test method is found to be a simple, reliable, high precision, and able to provide useful results.