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In automotive infotainment systems, multiple types of digital audio signals are usually present. Some come from internal sources, such as a CD or USB stick, and some come from external sources, such as an internet stream or digital radio. These sources usually have different sample-rates, and may also be different from one or more system sample-rates. Managing and transporting these signals throughout the system over different sample-rate domains require detailed upfront architecture analysis and correct system design to ensure signal quality is maintained to the desired level. Incorrect design can add significant user-perceivable noise and distortion. This paper examines the key analysis factors, the effects of poor design and the approaches for achieving robust signal handling and ensuring desired signal quality.

Accurate evaluation of vehicles' transient total power requirement helps achieving further improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency. When operated, the air-conditioning (A/C) system is the largest auxiliary load on a vehicle, therefore accurate evaluation of the load it places on the vehicle's engine and/or energy storage system is especially important. Vehicle simulation models, such as "Autonomie," have been used by OEMs to evaluate vehicles' energy performance. However, the load from the A/C system on the engine or on the energy storage system has not always been modeled in sufficient detail. A transient A/C simulation tool incorporated into vehicle simulation models would also provide a tool for developing more efficient A/C systems through a thorough consideration of the transient A/C system performance. The dynamic system simulation software MATLAB/Simulink® is frequently used by vehicle controls engineers to develop new and more efficient vehicle energy system controls.

Estimation and prediction of residual life and reliability are serious concerns in life cycle management for aging structures. Laboratory testing replicating fatigue loading for a typical military aircraft wing skin was undertaken. Specimens were tested until their fatigue life expended reached 100% of the component fatigue life. Then, scanning electron microscopy was used to quantify the size and location of fatigue cracks within the high stress regions of simulated fastener holes. Distributions for crack size, nearest neighbor distances, and spatial location were characterized statistically in order to estimate residual life and to provide input for life cycle management. Insights into crack initiation and growth are also provided.

As global automobile manufacturers prepare for the phase-out of R134a in Europe, they must address the issue of using the new refrigerant for European sales only or launching the product worldwide. Several factors play into this decision, including cost, service, risk, customer satisfaction, capacity, efficiency, etc. This research effort addresses the minimal vehicle-level hardware differences necessary to provide a European solution of R1234yf while continuing to install R134a into vehicles for the rest of the world. It is anticipated that the same compressor, lubricant and condenser; most fluid transport lines; and in most cases the evaporator can be common between the two systems.

This paper focuses on the numerical investigation of the mixing and combustion of ethanol and gasoline in a single-cylinder 3-valve direct-injection spark-ignition engine. The numerical simulations are conducted with the KIVA code with global reaction models. However, an ignition delay model mitigates some of the deficiencies of the global one-step reaction model and is implemented via a two-dimensional look-up table, which was created using available detailed kinetics models. Simulations demonstrate the problems faced by ethanol operated engines and indicate that some of the strategies used for emission control and downsizing of gasoline engines can be employed for enhancing the combustion efficiency of ethanol operated engines.

Because combustion engine equipped vehicles must conform to stringent hydrocarbon (HC) emission requirements, many of them on the road today are equipped with an engine air intake system that utilizes a hydrocarbon adsorber. Also known as HC traps, these devices capture environmentally dangerous gasoline vapors before they can enter the atmosphere. A majority of these adsorbers use activated carbon as it is cost effective and has excellent adsorption characteristics. Many of the procedures for evaluating the adsorbtive performance of these emissions devices use mass gain as the measurand. It is well known that activated carbon also has an affinity for water vapor; therefore it is useful to understand how well humidity must be controlled in a laboratory environment. This paper outlines investigations that were conducted to study how relative humidity levels affect an activated carbon hydrocarbon adsorber.

To obtain the maximum output power and fuel economy from an internal combustion engine, it is often necessary to detect engine knock and operate the engine at its knock limit. This paper presents the ability to detect knock using in-cylinder ionization signals on a large displacement, air-cooled, “V” twin motorcycle engine over the engine operational map. The knock detection ability of three different sensors is compared: production knock (accelerometer) sensor, in-cylinder pressure sensor, and ionization sensor. The test data shows that the ionization sensor is able to detect knock better than the production knock sensor when there is high mechanical noise present in the engine.

The requirement of reduced emissions and improved fuel economy led the introduction of direct-injection (DI) spark-ignited (SI) engines. Dual-fuel injection system (direct-injection and port-fuel-injection (PFI)) was also used to improve engine performance at high load and speed. Ethanol is one of the several alternative transportation fuels considered for replacing fossil fuels such as gasoline and diesel. Ethanol offers high octane quality but with lower energy density than fossil fuels. This paper presents the combustion characteristics of a single cylinder dual-fuel injection SI engine with the following fueling cases: a) gasoline for PFI and DI, b) PFI gasoline and DI ethanol, and c) PFI ethanol and DI gasoline. For this study, the DI fueling portion varied from 0 to 100 percentage of the total fueling over different engine operational conditions while the engine air-to-fuel ratio remained at a constant level.

With increasingly stringent emissions regulations and concurrent requirements for enhanced engine thermal efficiency, a comprehensive characterization of the automotive gasoline fuel spray has become essential. The acquisition of accurate and repeatable spray data is even more critical when a combustion strategy such as gasoline direct injection is to be utilized. Without industry-wide standardization of testing procedures, large variablilities have been experienced in attempts to verify the claimed spray performance values for the Sauter mean diameter, Dv90, tip penetration and cone angle of many types of fuel sprays. A new SAE Recommended Practice document, J2715, has been developed by the SAE Gasoline Fuel Injection Standards Committee (GFISC) and is now available for the measurement and characterization of the fuel sprays from both gasoline direct injection and port fuel injection injectors.

In this paper, an analytical procedure for prediction of shell radiated noise of air induction systems (AIS) due to engine acoustic excitation, without a prototype and physical measurement, is presented. A set of modeling and simulation techniques are introduced to address the challenges to the analytical radiated noise prediction of AIS products. A filter seal model is developed to simulate the unique nonlinear stiffness and damping properties of air cleaner boxes. A finite element model (FEM) of the AIS assembly is established by incorporating the AIS structure, the proposed filter seal model and its acoustic cavity model. The coupled acoustic-structural FEM of the AIS assembly is then employed to compute the velocity frequency response of the AIS structure with respect to the air-borne acoustic excitations.

The traditional method of engine knock detection is to compare the knock intensity with a predetermined threshold. The calibration of this threshold is complex and difficult. A statistical knock detection method is proposed in this paper to reduce the effort of calibration. This method dynamically calculates the knock threshold to determine the knock event. Theoretically, this method will not only adapt to different fuels but also cope with engine aging and engine-to-engine variation without re-calibration. This method is demonstrated by modeling and evaluation using real-time engine dynamometer test data.

Knock correction is the spark angle retard applied to the optimum ignition timing to eliminate knock. In adaptive knock control, this amount of spark retard at an operating point (i.e. Speed, load) is stored in a speed/load characteristic map. It will be reused when the engine is operated in this range once more. In this paper, a method to learn the knock correction values into a speed/load characteristic map is described. This method proportionally distributes the knock correction into the characteristic map according to the distance between the speed/load of these nodes and the current operating point. The distributed knock correction value is filtered and accumulated in its adjacent nodes. Simulation examples demonstrate that the retrieved values from the map by the proposed method are smoother than those produced by the method of [2][3]. The mathematical basis for this method is developed. The one and two independent variable cases are illustrated.

This work demonstrates a practical method for predicting vehicle-level automotive steering system NVH performance from component-level NVH measurements of hydraulic steering pumps. For this method, in-vehicle measurements were completed to quantify vehicle noise path characteristics, including steering system structure borne, fluid borne and airborne paths. At the component level, measurements of steering pump reaction forces, sound power and dynamic hydraulic pressure were also completed. The vehicle-level measurement data was used to construct NVH transfer functions for the vehicle. These transfer functions were in turn combined with the pump component data measured on a test stand to create a prediction for steering pump order vehicle interior noise. The accuracy of these predicted values was assessed through comparison with actual vehicle interior noise measurements.

A test load specification is required to validate an automotive product to meet the durability and design life requirements. Traditionally in the automotive industry, load specifications for design validation tests are directly given by OEMs, which are generally developed from an envelop of generic customer usage profiles and are, in most cases, over-specified. In recent years, however, there are many occasions that a proposed load specification for a particular product is requested. The particular test load specification for a particular product is generated based on the measured load data at its mounting location on the given type of vehicles, which contains more realistic time domain load levels and associated frequency contents. The measured time domain load is then processed to frequency domain test load data by using the fast Fourier transform and damage equivalent techniques.

In an effort to understand steering systems performance and properties at the microscopic level, we developed Multibody simulations that include multiple three-dimensional gear surfaces that are in a dynamic state of contact and separation. These validated simulations capture the dynamics of high-speed impact of gears traveling small distances of 50 microns in less than 10 milliseconds. We exploited newly developed analytic, numeric, and computer tools to gain insight into steering gear forces, specifically, the mechanism behind the inception of mechanical knock in steering gear. The results provided a three dimensional geometric view of the sequence of events, in terms of gear surfaces in motion, their sudden contact, and subsequent force generation that lead to steering gear mechanical knock. First we briefly present results that show the sequence of events that lead to knock.

The present work discusses the application of multivariate statistical methods for the analysis of NVH data. Unlike conventional statistical methods which generally consider single-value, or univariate data, multivariate methods enable the user to examine multiple response variables and their interactions simultaneously. This characteristic is particularly useful in the examination of NVH data, where multiple measurements are typically used to assess NVH performance. In this work, Principal Components Analysis (PCA) was used to examine the NVH data from a benchmarking study of hydraulic steering pumps. A total of twelve NVH measurements for each of 99 pump samples were taken. These measurements included steering pump orders and overall levels for vibration and sound pressure level at two microphone locations. Application of the PCA method made it possible to examine the entire set of data at once.

Identification of vibration transfer paths is critical to proper isolation of vibration excitations from becoming objectionable noise in a vehicle. Traditional transfer path methods involve comparing vibration inputs to the outputs of each joint. This method can be time consuming and inefficient due to a complexity of paths. A new statistical method was developed to improve the efficiency of testing. This method requires the measurement of the excitation vibration input at each joint of the source component and response sound measurements in the vehicle. Identification of transfer paths using regression analysis will determine the trouble paths to scrutinize.

The present work demonstrates the application of Design of Experiments (DOE) statistical methods to the design and the improvement of a hydraulic steering pump noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) performance in relief. DOE methods were applied to subjective ratings to examine the effect of several different factors, as well as the interactions between these factors on pump relief NVH. Specifically, the DOE was applied to the geometry of the cross ports on a hydraulic relief valve to improve “whistle” noise in the pump. Statistical methods were applied to determine which factors and interactions had a significant effect on pump whistle. These factors were used to produce a more robust cross port configuration reducing whistle noise. Lastly, the final configuration was experimentally verified on the test apparatus and subjectively confirmed in vehicle-level testing.

Engine air induction noise can play a significant role in the reduction of vehicle interior noise levels and tuning interior sound quality. Given the need to reduce prototyping and testing costs, it is important to gain an understanding of the level and frequency structure of the noise radiating from the open inlet of the air induction system. Engine simulation used independently can predict inlet noise; however, its utility is limited to systems that are largely one-dimensional. Systems that exhibit a three-dimensional nature, such as the wave dynamics in an engine air cleaner, require a more intensive approach. Boundary Element Analysis (BEA) has been demonstrated to be a tool that can be used to predict the frequency response of ducted systems and is particularly useful in highly three-dimensional systems.

Determination of the critical speed of a driveshaft is critical for development and validation of its design for use in a vehicle because of its destructive effects. Typical calculations to determine critical speed are either over simplistic and not very accurate or very complicated requiring CAE software and capabilities. An analytical five-section non-prismatic beam model was developed to fill in this gap. The model was developed to compute the critical speed in a worksheet and proven to be as or more accurate as utilizing FEA methods. The model worksheet calculates the critical speed for one-piece conventional driveshafts and adapted for Visteon's Slip-In-Tube (SIT) driveshafts.