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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.

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.

“Spotlight on Design” features video interviews and case studies, focusing on technology breakthroughs, hands-on testimonials, and the importance of fundamentals. Viewers are virtually taken to industry labs and research centers to learn how design engineers solve real-life problems. These challenges include enhancing product performance, reducing cost, improving quality and safety, while decreasing environmental impact, and achieving regulatory compliance. In the episode “Automotive Charging Infrastructure: Vehicle and Grid Integration” (21:00), engineers from NextEnergy and an infrastructure expert from General Motors explain how technologies are rapidly converging to power electric vehicles and support the overall electric grid. This episode highlights: How the fast expansion of charging infrastructure is changing the way electric and hybrid-electric vehicles are gaining the confidence of consumers.

“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. Extreme environment sensors require extreme environment cables that can reliably perform in temperatures up to 2300° F, withstand intense vibration, and have extraordinary strength. In the episode “Sensors: Noise Avoidance and Cable Manufacturing” (8:53), an engineer at Meggitt Sensing Systems demonstrates the intricate process of developing cable for sensors used in these situations.

Four-way, integrated, diesel emission control systems that combine selective catalytic reduction for NOx control with a continuously regenerating trap to remove diesel particulate matter were evaluated under real-world, on-road conditions. Tests were conducted using a semi-tractor with an emissions year 2000, 6-cylinder, 12 L, Volvo engine rated at 287 kW at 1800 rpm and 1964 N-m. The emission control system was certified for retrofit application on-highway trucks, model years 1994 through 2002, with 4-stroke, 186-373 kW (250-500 hp) heavy-duty diesel engines without exhaust gas recirculation. The evaluations were unique because the mobile laboratory platform enabled evaluation under real-world exhaust plume dilution conditions as opposed to laboratory dilution conditions. Real-time plume measurements for NOx, particle number concentration and size distribution were made and emission control performance was evaluated on-road.

Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) catalysts are used to reduce NOx emissions from internal combustion engines in a variety of applications [1,2,3,4]. Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) performed an Internal Research & Development project to study SCR catalyst thermal deactivation. The study included a V/W/TiO2 formulation, a Cu-zeolite formulation and a Fe-zeolite formulation. This work describes NH3 storage capacity measurement data as a function of aging time and temperature. Addressing one objective of the work, these data can be used in model-based control algorithms to calculate the current NH3 storage capacity of an SCR catalyst operating in the field, based on time and temperature history. The model-based control then uses the calculated value for effective DEF control and prevention of excessive NH3 slip. Addressing a second objective of the work, accelerated thermal aging of SCR catalysts may be achieved by elevating temperatures above normal operating temperatures.

What will the passenger car fleet look like over the next two decades? As most expected, affordability and convenience are the major drivers of new vehicle technology penetration into the market. Within this scope, vehicle electrification strategy to limit oil dependence and meet the European targets for CO2 emissions should be cost-effective and convenient to the buyer. This paper will focus first, through different economic models, on the penetration of passenger electrified vehicles (Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles PHVs and Electric Vehicles EVs) in Europe (EU15: 15 European Union member countries) up to 2030. Economic models are based on real world use behaviors and driving patterns in order to compute fuel and energy consumption and to estimate total cost of the vehicle including incentives. The economic models use household wages in order to later make conclusions on vehicle technology market shares by vehicle classes.

The Pennsylvania State University is one of 16 North American universities that participated in the EcoCAR advanced vehicle technology competition (http://www.ecocarchallenge.org/). A series-hybrid-electric vehicle based on a General Motors crossover SUV platform has been designed, built and tested for this purpose. The powertrain features a 1.3 L turbodiesel engine running on a B20 fuel system, a 75kW generator directly coupled to the engine and advanced lithium-ion batteries. In this paper, the vehicle architecture and control strategy are detailed and performance predictions (e.g., acceleration, fuel consumption and emissions) are presented. This includes discussion of the development process that led to the selected designs. The predicted performance is compared with data obtained on a chassis dynamometer and during on-road measurements over specified drive cycles. Presenter Shawn Getty

This paper presents a low-cost path for extending the range of small urban pure electric vehicles by hydraulic hybridization. Energy management strategies are investigated to improve the electric range, component efficiencies, as well as battery usable capacity. As a starting point, a rule-based control strategy is derived by analysis of synergistic effects of lead-acid batteries, high efficient operating region of DC motor and the hydraulic pump/motor. Then, Dynamic Programming (DP) is used as a benchmark to find the optimal control trajectories for DC motor and Hydraulic Pump/Motor. Implementable rules are derived by studying the optimal control trajectories from DP. With new improved rules implemented, simulation results show electric range improvement due to increased battery usable capacity and higher average DC motor operating efficiency. Presenter Xianke Lin

Plugin Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) have a large battery which can be used for electric only powertrain operation. The control system in a PHEV must decide how to spend the energy stored in the battery. In this paper, we will present a prototype implementation of a PHEV control system which saves energy for electric operation in pre-defined geographic areas, so called Green Zones. The approach determines where the driver will be going and then compares the route to a database of predefined Green Zones. The control system then reserves enough energy to be able to drive the Green Zone sections in electric only mode. Finally, the powertrain operation is modified once the vehicle enters the Green Zone to ensure engine operation is limited. Data will be presented from a prototype implementation in a Ford Escape PHEV Presenter Johannes Kristinsson

Impact of driving patterns on fuel economy is significant in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs). Driving patterns affect propulsion and braking power requirement of vehicles, and they play an essential role in HEV design and control optimization. Driving pattern conscious adaptive strategy can lead to further fuel economy improvement under real-world driving. This paper proposes a real-time driving pattern recognition algorithm for supervisory control under real-world conditions. The proposed algorithm uses reference real-world driving patterns parameterized from a set of representative driving cycles. The reference cycle set consists of five synthetic representative cycles following the real-world driving distance distribution in the US Midwestern region. Then, statistical approaches are used to develop pattern recognition algorithm. Driving patterns are characterized with four parameters evaluated from the driving cycle velocity profiles.

Software products in the automotive industry are by nature widely distributed and costly to update (recall), so high reliability is clearly of utmost importance. Just as clearly, the increasing reliance on remote access to such systems, for diagnostic and other purposes, has made security an essential requirement, and traditional techniques for software development are proving to be inadequate in dealing with these issues. Correctness by Construction is a software design and development methodology that builds reliability and security into the system from the start. It can be used to demonstrate, with mathematical rigor, a program's correctness properties while reducing the time spent during testing and debugging. This paper will discuss the use of Correctness by Construction, and its accompanying SPARK language technology, to improve automotive systems' security and reliability. (The approach can also account for safely issues, although that is not the focus of this paper.)

This study undertakes an investigation of the effect of battery charge balance in hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) on EPA fuel economy label values. EPA's updated method was fully implemented in 2011 and uses equations which weight the contributions of fuel consumption results from multiple dynamometer tests to synthesize city and highway estimates that reflect average U.S. driving patterns. For the US06 and UDDS cycles, the test results used in the computation come from individual phases within the overall certification driving cycles. This methodology causes additional complexities for hybrid vehicles, because although they are required to be charge-balanced over the course of a full drive cycle, they may have net charge or discharge within the individual phases. As a result, the fuel consumption value used in the label value calculation can be skewed.

One promising solution for increasing vehicle fuel economy, while still maintaining long-range driving capability, is the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). A PHEV is a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) whose rechargeable energy source can be recharged from an external power source, making it a combination of an electric vehicle and a traditional hybrid vehicle. A PHEV is capable of operating as an electric vehicle until the battery is almost depleted, at which point the on-board internal combustion engine turns on, and generates power to meet the vehicle demands. When the vehicle is not in use, the battery can be recharged from an external energy source, once again allowing electric driving. A series of models is presented which simulate various powertrain architectures of PHEVs. To objectively evaluate the effect of powertrain architecture on fuel economy, the models were run according to the latest test procedures and all fuel economy values were utility factor weighted.

ISO 26262 is the actual standard for Functional Safety of automotive E/E (Electric/Electronic) systems. One of the challenges in the application of the standard is the distribution of safety related activities among the participants in the supply chain. In this paper, the concept of a Safety Element out of Context (SEooC) development will be analyzed showing its current problematic aspects and difficulties in implementing such an approach in a concrete typical automotive development flow with different participants (e.g. from OEM, tier 1 to semiconductor supplier) in the supply chain. The discussed aspects focus on the functional safety requirements of generic hardware and software development across the supply chain where the final integration of the developed element is not known at design time and therefore an assumption based mechanism shall be used.

In this paper we present the results of full-scale chassis dynamometer testing of two hybrid transit bus configurations, parallel and series and, in addition, quantify the impact of air conditioning. We also study the impact of using an electrically controlled cooling fan. The main trend that is noted, and perhaps expected, is that a significant fuel penalty is encountered during operation with air conditioning, ranging from 17-27% for the four buses considered. The testing shows that the series hybrid architecture is more efficient than the parallel hybrid in improving fuel economy during urban, low speed stop and go transit bus applications. In addition, smart cooling systems, such as the electrically controlled cooling fan can show a fuel economy benefit especially during high AC (or other increased engine load) conditions.

Multicore processor are well established in classical and tablet personal computers for some year. Such processors use more then one central core for computation and allow to integrate more computational power with smaller costs. However more than 90% of all processors worldwide are not placed in classical IT but are empedded in bigger systems like in modern vehicles or airplanes. Such systems face a very high demand in terms of safety, security an reliability which hinders the use of multicores in such systems. The funded project ARAMiS faces these demands and has the goal to enable the usability of multicore systems in the domains automotive and avionics, as well as later also railway. ARAMiS is the basis for higher traffic safety, traffic efficiency and comfort.

The worldwide drive to improved energy efficiency for engine systems is being supported by several engine R&D programs at Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). This research includes large programs in major-market engine categories, such as heavy-duty, non-road, and light-duty; and includes diesel, gasoline, and alternative fuel aspects. This presentation describes several key diesel engine programs being pursued under the SwRI Clean High Efficiency Diesel Engine consortium (CHEDE-VI), whose goal is to demonstrate future diesel technology exceeding 50% brake thermal efficiency. Additionally, SwRI?s High Efficiency Dilute Gasoline Engines consortium (HEDGE-II), is reviewed, where advanced technology for ultra-high efficiency gasoline engines is being demonstrated. The HEDGE-II program is built upon dilute gasoline engine research, where brake thermal efficiencies in excess of 42% are being obtained for engines applicable to the light-duty market. Presenter Charles E.

The traction motor is key to the �synergy of the electric powertrain�, the overall functionality of the battery, e-motor, power control electronics, and charging system. Therefore some automakers have decided to design, develop, and produce their traction motors in house while some others are working with suppliers for their electric power train motors. Off-the-shelf motors, no matter how extensively they are adapted for a specific application, can compromise the efficiencies of the propulsion system. Presenter Marc Winterhoff, Roland Berger Strategy Consultants

As the need to develop better and less expensive batteries for automotive applications continues, we will likely need to examine potential tradeoffs between enhanced performance and costs. In particular, the choice of cathode materials automatically involves changes in performance and material costs. We will examine some of the possible cathode materials for use in next-generation battery packs, and the financial implications regarding those materials. Presenter Jon Hykawy, Byron Captial Markets