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Wide varieties of vehicle Engine Management Systems are designed by different Tier#1 suppliers to meet highly complex requirements with the help of electronics. Emerging technologies and features of Engine Management Systems require a number of strategies for reducing the overall timing for verification with high quality testing. Analysis and decoding of data especially for highly critical and complex such as gasoline direct injection (GDi) engine fuel delivery output, high pressure fuel pump (HPFP), spark control output and different varieties of engine position signals are time consuming. This paper introduces Virtual Engine Control Module (VECM) technology to solve the problem of decoding complex signals and high level verification. A proposed test bench setup consists of VECM, ECM, simulator and real actuator load with complete software flashed inside the ECM.

As fuel prices continue to rise automotive manufacturers continue to push their suppliers to provide technology that improves the potential fuel efficiency of their applications. In addition there is an increasing trend towards smaller, lighter and more compact vehicles to mitigate the automotive carbon footprint. These movements necessitated the development of a new compact, low mass, variable displacement compressor to match the requirements for these smaller and more efficient vehicles. The new Delphi MVC, or Miniature Variable Compressor, meets these requirements by integrating the high efficiency of our latest swashplate variable compressor design into a compact and lightweight package. This design can be offered in a range of displacements from 80 to 100cc and can be offered as either internally or externally controlled to support the customer's needs.

As automotive and commercial vehicle OEM's continue their quest to reduce cost, product selection, quality, and reliability must be maintained. On-engine and wheel located connection systems create the greatest challenges due to the extreme levels of vibration. In the past, devices were fewer, and there where less direct connects in high vibration locations (Engine/ wheel sensors, electronic controllers, fuel injectors). Instead, small wire harnesses (“pigtails”) were commonly used. These pigtails can dampen the effect of the environment which includes mild to severe vibration by keeping the environmental effect away from the electrical connection contact point. Electrically connecting directly to the device creates new challenges in the connection system with the increased threat of fretting corrosion. Suppliers supporting OEM's are attempting to meet these direct connect requirements with lubrication, precious metal plating, and high contact force contacts.

A majority of the plastics manufacturing operations are dependent on the formability of the molten thermoplastics. Ability of the material to flow at a set temperature influences the formability and the overall polymer melt process. Lubricating additive technologies are being developed to engineer the melt flow performance of the resin, promoting the compounding and molding process such as to reduce torque on the motor, reduced shear degradations, enhance uniform filling of hard-to-fill section, promoting thin wall molding, and influence the overall cycle time. Various lubricants are used in formulations to supplement superior flow and metal release with minimal effect on mechanical properties. This paper discusses the methodology to characterize the effectiveness of melt flow additives through comparing two different processing aids in Polybutylene terephthalate (PBT) polyester filled and unfilled matrix and imply differences in processing.

Close coupled catalysts and new ceramic catalyst substrates have significantly improved the light-off performance of automotive converters required to meet stringent emission requirements. The hotter environment of these catalytic converters and the lower structural strength of the ceramic substrates require the rethinking of converter designs. The development of new package requirements to accommodate the change in environment and new substrates are discussed. A historical perspective on converter durability is presented as reference. Development of durability test protocols is essential to verifying product durability performance to these new environments. Data collection and documentation of testing templates are shown to demonstrate the effectiveness of tests that represent real world environments. Design improvements to address failure modes are discussed along with durability improvement results.