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The development of experimental ORC systems is an extremely complex, time consuming and costly task. Running a range of experiments on a number of different component configurations may be prohibitively expensive and subject to equipment issues and failures. Yet ORC systems offer significant potential for automotive manufacturers to improve vehicle efficiency, reduce fuel consumption and vehicle emissions; the technology is particularly relevant for those involved in the design and/or manufacture of heavy duty trucks. This paper is focused on the validation of a computational ORC system simulation tool against a number of SAE published test results based on the European Stationary Cycle. Such studies on industry standard systems are essential in order to help promote confidence in a virtual prototype approach.

Condensation occurrence in automotive headlights can be detrimental to consumer acceptance of a product. This paper describes a technique for transient numerical simulation of liquid film formation on surfaces during lighting thermal analysis performed using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), including how the film’s properties influence the thermal solution. The numerical technique presented accounts for the change in the film thermal state and thickness due to heat exchange with external fluid flow and solid bodies, surface evaporation/condensation, melting/crystallization within the film volume, and its motion due to gravity and friction forces from the surrounding airflow. Additionally, accurate modeling of radiation effects is critical for lighting applications, including the attendant influence on the thermal distribution of the solids that may have surfaces subject to condensation.

The development of the Electrical Wire Interconnection System, or EWIS, for today's advanced aircraft is one of the most complicated engineering activities around. In addition to having to respond to very high rates of change during development, the aircraft are continually evolving in electronic and electrical content through their entire lifecycle. Relatively new mandates, such as the CFR Part 25 Subpart H EWIS, have put additional demands on aircraft OEMs and their key suppliers, forcing companies to reassess their design practices and methodologies. This paper investigates how a systems engineering approach to the development of the electrical wiring systems can enable and facilitate a more efficient EWIS development and maintenance methodology.

Meeting aerospace configuration control mandates involves a host of issues such as data access control, configuration context and release management, just to name a few factors. Currently, many companies rely on the existing product lifecycle management (PLM) environment to identify and sort out issues during data release. This has proven to be inadequate. In this paper, it is postulated that new design tools employing automation can save a great deal of time when meeting these mandates and eliminate errors as well. The tools are based on the model-based development (MBD) process, which puts much more emphasis on the actual data instead of simply drawings. This paper explores how leading aerospace original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) are adopting new capabilities for the designers during the development process in an effort to mitigate errors related to data inconsistencies.

AUTOSAR 4.x is being deployed by many of the world's top automotive OEMs. It has also seen increased adoption in regions outside of Europe. OEMs exert significant effort in the design, configuration, integration, and final build of AUTOSAR-based systems. This presentation gives an overview on the main advantages and critical gaps of adopting AUTOSAR to E/E design automation, including the digital interaction between Tier 1 suppliers and OEMs. This paper also discusses how the Electronics Architecture and Software Technology Architecture Description Language, or EAST-ADL, complements some of the weaknesses found in the current AUTOSAR release.

Manufacturing companies are benefiting from technology in most key areas of the flow from design through manufacture. This applies to the wire harness industry which is a key element of the modern automotive industry. Wire harness manufacturing engineering, however, is a critical path function that is under severe pressure and yet has been under-served by technology. In some respects it has become the weak link in the chain. Recent innovations in commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) technology are set to change this situation. Software applications are now available to deliver transformational manufacturing engineering automation as well as being able to integrate with technology in other areas of the process. This will enable a digitally continuous data flow that can remove excessive cost, time, and pressure - while helping manufacturers meet the increasing demands of the industry.

Until recently, the electrical systems architecture that connects hardware devices and their accompanying control components were not separately a part of formal certification mandates. This changed with the advent of the FAR Part25 Subpart H EWISi (Electrical Wire Interconnection Systems) mandate. Interestingly this mandate, like certain others, does not impose specific solution. Instead it provides a structure that outlines what must be accomplished from a variety of perspectives - safety, signal separation, part selection, etc. The designer has some flexibility on which decisions to make, but those decisions can have significant cross-domain impact, which in turn, have influence on the intended product performance. What is needed is a method to design, verify and build virtually the entire electrical architecture with confidence that the best architecture is defined within the program constraints.