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This paper describes a novel approach for modeling an automotive HVAC unit. The model consists of black-box models trained with experimental data from a self-developed measurement setup. It is capable of predicting the temperature and mass flow of the air entering the vehicle cabin at the various air vents. A combination of temperature and velocity sensors is the basis of the measurement setup. A measurement fault analysis is conducted to validate the accuracy of the measurement system. As the data collection is done under fluctuating ambient conditions, a review of the impact of various ambient conditions on the HVAC unit is performed. Correction models that account for the different ambient conditions incorporate these results. Numerous types of black-box models are compared to identify the best-suited type for this approach. Moreover, the accuracy of the model is validated using test drive data.

Autonomous driving systems and connected mobility are the next big developments for the car manufacturers and their suppliers during the next decade. To achieve the high computing power needs and fulfill new upcoming requirements due to functional safety and security, heterogeneous processor architectures with a mixture of different core architectures and hardware accelerators are necessary. To tackle this new type of hardware complexity and nevertheless stay within monetary constraints, high performance computers, inspired by state of the art data center hardware, could be adapted in order to fulfill automotive quality requirements. The European Processor Initiative (EPI) research project tries to come along with that challenge for next generation semiconductors. To be as close as possible to series development needs for the next upcoming car generations, we present a hybrid semiconductor system-on-chip architecture for automotive.

In this paper a method for the identification of most significant vehicle parameters influencing the behavior of a lateral control system of autonomous car is presented. Requirements for the design stage of the controller need to consider many uncertainties in the plant. While most vehicle properties can be compensated by an appropriate tuning of the control parameters, other vehicle properties can change significantly during usage. The control system is evaluated based on performance measures. Analyzed parameters comprise functional tire characteristics, mass of the vehicle and position of its center of gravity. Since the parameters are correlated, but Sobol’ sensitivity analysis assumes decorrelated inputs, random variation yields no reasonable results. Furthermore, the variation of each parameter or set of parameters is not applicable since the numbers of required simulations is increased significantly according to input dimension.

Current regulatory developments aim for stricter emission limits, increased environmental protection and purification of air on a local and global scale. In order to find solutions for a cleaner combustion process, it is necessary to identify the critical components and parameters responsible for the formation of emissions. This work provides an evaluation process for particle formation during combustion of a modern direct injection engine, which can help to create new aftertreatment techniques, such as a gasoline particle filter (GPF) system, that are fit for purpose. With the advent of “real driving emission” (RDE) regulations, which include market fuels for the particulate number testing procedure, the chemical composition and overall quality of the fuel cannot be neglected in order to yield a comparable emission test within the EU and worldwide.

Air charge calibration of turbocharged SI gasoline engines with both variable inlet valve lift and variable inlet and exhaust valve opening angle has to be very accurate and needs a high number of measurements. In particular, the modeling of the transition area from unthrottled, inlet valve controlled resp. throttled mode to turbocharged mode, suffers from small number of measurements (e.g. when applying Design of Experiments (DoE)). This is due to the strong impact of residual gas respectively scavenging dominating locally in this area. In this article, a virtual residual gas sensor in order to enable black-box-modeling of the air charge is presented. The sensor is a multilayer perceptron artificial neural network. Amongst others, the physically calculated air mass is used as training data for the artificial neural network.

The BMW Group has introduced electric cars to the market with the MINI E already in 2009. The next step will be the launch of the BMW ActiveE in 2011, followed by the revolutionary Mega City Vehicle in 2013. The presentation will explain the BMW Group strategy for implementing sustainable mobility. A focus will be emobility, the use of carbon fiber and the holistic sustainability approach of BMW Group?s project i. Reference will be made to the research results of the MINI E projects in the US and in Europe. Presenter Andreas Klugescheid, BMW AG

The quality of the paint application in automotive industry depends on several process parameters. Thus, finding an optimal solution based on experimental configuration is tedious and time consuming. A first step to reduce the effort is to model the application within the framework of a simulation environment. In this study, we present an approach for the systematic variation of design parameters of the paint process to quantify their influence on the quality of the paint application. Using that information the design space is reduced by neglecting the parameters with low impact and later used to predict an optimal set of input parameters for an optimal paint application.

Handling characteristics, ride comfort and active safety are customer relevant attributes of modern premium vehicles. Electronic control units offer new possibilities to optimize vehicle performance with respect to these goals. The integration of multiple control systems, each with its own focus, leads to a high complexity. BMW and ITK Engineering have created a tool to tackle this challenge. A simulation environment to cover all development stages has been developed. Various levels of complexity are addressed by a scalable simulation model and functionality, which grows step-by-step with increasing requirements. The simulation environment ensures the coherence of the vehicle data and simulation method for development of the electronic systems. The article describes both the process of the electronic control unit (ECU) development and positive impact of an integrated tool on the entire vehicle development process.

BMW, DaimlerChrysler, Motorola and Philips present their joint development activity related to the FlexRay communication system that is intended for distributed applications in vehicles. The designated applications for powertrain and chassis control place requirements in terms of availability, reliability and data bandwidth that cannot be met by any product currently available on the market under the testing conditions encountered in an automobile. A short look back on events so far is followed by a description of the protocol and its first implementation as an integrated circuit, as well as its incorporation into a complete tool environment.

The aim of the project is to reliably identify the set of constructive features responsible for the highest noise levels in the interior of motor vehicles. A simulation environment based on artificial intelligence techniques such as neural networks and genetic algorithms has been implemented. We used a system identification approach in order to approximate the functional relationship between the target noise series and the sets of constructive parameters corresponding to the cars. The noise levels were measured with a microphone positioned on the driver''s chair, and corresponded to a variation of the engine rotation of 600-900 rot/min. The database includes 45 different cars, each described by vectors of 67 constructive features.

Integrated Chassis Management ICM is a novel and demanding approach to develop a vehicle chassis and all its control systems in a common process which explicitly addresses the interrelations between them. Primary aims are the improvement of driving safety and comfort by creating synergies in the use of sensor information, hardware, and control strategies. The Electronic Brake Management EBM is an essential part of ICM and an important step to its development.

BMW - the driving force for progress As we approach the new millenium, to ensure the continuation of the progress into the future, BMW uses leading edge approaches in its materials research and processing. Overview production sites all over the world - Plant Dingolfing Quality requirements for automobile painting The complex and wide-ranging demands that the outer skin of an automobile has to meet offered us the chance to advance with a technological leap from liquid clear coat to the potentials of powder clear coat. The new clear coat technology The clear coat creates the ultimate gloss effect - and powder-based clear coat makes the surface of the car even more brilliant. To achieve this effect the body is covered by microscopically small paint particles. A pioneer achievement A lot of challenges in both material development and systems-engineering had to be made. The automotive world was watching, many experts said it could not be successfully used as an OEM clear coat.

Fast and exact measurement of engine oil consumption is a very difficult task. Our aim is to achieve this measurement at a common test bed without engine modifications. We resolved this problem with a new technique using Laser Mass Spectrometry to detect appropriate tracers in the raw engine exhaust. The tracers are added to the engine oil. to the engine oil. For detection of these tracers we use a Laser Mass Spectrometer (LAMS). This is a combination of resonant laser ionization (with an all-solid-state laser) and Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry. Currently this is the only way to detect oil originated molecules (like our tracers) in the raw exhaust very fast (50 Hz) and sensitive (ppb-region). Thus, engine mapping of oil consumption over load and speed can be performed in 1-2 days with about 90 measurements. Even measurement during dynamic engine operation is possible, but not quantitative (due to the lack of information about dynamic exhaust gas mass flow).

The Columbus Orbital Facility (COF) is being developed as the European Laboratory contribution to the International Space Station (ISS) program. The COF Active Thermal Control System (ATCS) is based on a single phase water loop for the collection of waste heat from payloads and subsystems and the rejection to the ISS Heat Exchangers (HXs). During 1993 the budget constraints and the shifting to November 2002 of the European Laboratory launch led to an incremental qualification approach for the COF ATCS water loop: to qualify the ATCS water loop by analysis using mathematical models correlated throughout a series of testing. The water loop testing has been developed through different incremental steps whose results were correlated by means of ESATAN-FHTS models. The water loop setup testing was upgraded, step by step, by using commercial and flight representative items on the basis of the equipment development status.

As features in vehicles and their associated loading on the vehicle's power supply increase, the existing 14V power supply system is being pushed to its limits. At some point it will be necessary to provide a complementary higher supply voltage for higher power loads to ensure reliable operation. Industry efforts have been underway to define the next step(s) toward a common architecture. These efforts are currently focused on a dual voltage 14V/42V system with specified voltage limits. A change in the vehicle's power supply voltage and over-voltage specifications have a direct impact on semiconductors. Cost, reliability, available process technology, and packaging are among the areas that are affected. Reducing or eliminating the load dump transient can provide cost reduction, especially for power switching devices. Smart semiconductor switches with integrated diagnostic and protection features provide the potential to replace fuses in the new architecture.

Wheel slip control system have found a remarkable penetration in all car segments. The information on the wheel behavior has lead to further developments which control the brake performance as well as the driving of the car in general. Latest systems introduced especially on luxury cars use wheel individual brake intervention to ensure vehicle stability under various driving maneuvers within the physical limits. Such systems use vehicle dynamic sensors and special hydraulics which serve as energy source for the automatic brake application. The technical effort of such systems like the Dynamic Stability Control DSC has limited the installation to upper class cars so far. New approaches are required to allow for a more wide spread penetration. Optimized hydraulics together with a rational design of the electronics seems to offer a basis for a more cost effective design.

Increasing demand for dynamically controlled safety features, passenger comfort, and operational convenience in upper class automobiles requires an intensive use of electronic control units including software portions. Modeling, simulation, rapid prototyping, and verification of the software need new technologies to guarantee passenger security and to accelerate the time-to-market of new products. This paper presents the state-of-the-art of the design methods for the development of electronic control unit software at BMW. These design methods cover both discrete and continuous system parts, smoothly integrating the respective methods not merely on the code level, but on the documentation, simulation, and design level. In addition, we demonstrate two modeling and prototyping tools for discrete and continuous systems, namely Statemate and MatrixX, and discuss their advantages and drawbacks with respect to necessary prototyping demands.

For the first time in volume production, supporting welded aluminum structures were used in the chassis area. Metal sheets, extruded sections, longitudinally seam welded pipes and castings were used as semi-finished products. Extensive strength tests, in cooperation with the Design Department and Production, resulted in sophisticated design solutions. In considering matters important to the customer, these solutions were substantiated through numerous examinations which are especially necessary for aluminum.

In a joint research project between industrial companies and a number of research institutes, nitrogen oxide conversion in oxygen containing exhaust gas has been investigated according to the following procedure Basic investigations of elementary steps of the chemical reaction Production and prescreening of different catalytic material on laboratory scale Application oriented screening of industrial catalyst material Catalyst testing on a lean bum gasoline engine, passenger car diesel engines (swirl chamber and DI) and on a DI truck engine Although a number of solid body structures show nitrogen oxide reduction by hydrocarbons, only noble metal containing catalysts and transition metal exchanged zeolites gave catalytic efficiencies of industrial relevance. A maximum of 25 % NOx reduction was found in the European driving cycle for passenger cars, about 40 % for truck engines in the respective European test.

The production of the BMW ALPINA B12 5.7 with Switch-Tronic transmission provides the markets of Europe and Japan with an exclusive, luxury-orientated, high performance limited series limousine. This is the first vehicle worldwide to be fitted with the progressive exhaust gas aftertreatment technology known as the Electrically Heated Catalyst (EHC), in which the effectiveness of the power utilized is increased significantly by an alternating heating process for both catalytic converters. Only since this achievement has the implementation of the EHC been viable without extensive modification to the battery and alternator. With this exhaust gas aftertreatment concept, the emissions of this high performance vehicle will fall to less than half the maximum permissible for compliance with 1996 emission standards.