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The dual clutch transmission is one of the possible choices for electric vehicle drivelines. The basic principle and control mode of shifting of wet dual clutch transmission are introduced, and the dynamic process of shifting of wet double clutch transmission is studied. Combined with the dynamic model of the wet clutch engagement process, the difference between the dynamic characteristics of the dual clutch transmission modeling using the Coulomb friction model and the dual-clutch transmission model using the average flow model and the micro-convex contact theory is analyzed. The shift control strategy of the dual clutch transmission proposes a correction method to improve the shifting smoothness. Studies have shown that the torque response of the wet clutch has significant hysteresis, and the improved control algorithm can significantly improve the shifting smoothness of the wet dual clutch transmission.

In this paper, a multi-mode active seat suspension with a single actuator is proposed and built. A one-DOF seat suspension system is modelled based on a quarter car model of commercial vehicle with an actuator which is comprised of a DC motor and a gear reducer. Aiming at improving ride comfort and reducing energy consumption, a multi-mode controller is established. According to the seat vertical acceleration and suspension dynamic travel signals, control strategies switch between three modes: active drive mode, energy harvesting mode and plug breaking mode.

This paper discusses simplified lumped parameter thermal modeling of power train components. In particular, it discusses the tradeoff between model complexity and the ability to correlate the predicted temperatures and flow rates with measured data. The benefits and problems associated with using a three lumped mass model are explained and the value of this simpler model is promoted. The process for correlation and optimization using modern software tools is explained. Examples of models for engines and transmissions are illustrated along with their predictive abilities over typical driving cycles.

The capabilities of various numerical models to accurately account for the onset and development of cavitation in diesel injector nozzles is assessed and evaluated. The numerical predictions of the models are computed, and are compared to measured experimental data and observations. The numerical predictions for actual diesel nozzle geometry have been validated with experimental measurements of the total vapor mass flow rate. This vapor flow is found to be developed along the nozzle length due to the nucleation of the cavitation bubbles inside the diesel injector. The cavitation inception criteria that is used for the quantitative cavitation calculations included vapor quality, voidage, cavitation kinetic energy and cavitation energy. The results indicate that the cavitation simulation model predicts a diffused and gradual vapor distribution inside the nozzle in agreement with the experimental data.

New methods are required for implementing the proliferation and sophistication of electronic controls and features to meet the customer's quality expectations. Vehicle electronic integration provides a potential solution for reconciling the seemingly contradictory objectives of high quality at reasonable cost. No module can be considered independently with this global approach. OEM subsystem and component suppliers' devices will need to play in concert with the overall vehicle's electrical/electronic strategy. Some new, separately packaged electronic features may eventually be assimilated within the framework of other electronic controllers.

This paper proposes the adaptation of a modulation technique called Modified Frequency Modulation (MFM) to vehicle multiplexing. MFM was developed during the latter 1960's for use in magnetic disk drives. Disk drives use MFM encoding to achieve a maximum density of recorded data on a disk. The advantage in vehicle multiplexing is that the technique is synchronous with an average of 0.75 transitions per bit. Another advantage is that it can tolerate a large amount of rise and fall time wave shaping, which can significantly reduce radiated EMI. The paper will compare the EMI characteristics generated by NRZ, PWM, VPWM, Manchester, and MFM encoding. Included are typical encoding requirements such as symbol generation, arbitration capabilities, latency, invalid bit testing as well as encoding techniques effect on the host microcomputer.

This paper presents a method for developing a product design and manufacturing process concept, before project final approval, which integrates several other methodologies and uses cross-functional teams. It is a method for completing a “paper” study which quickly considers many of the downstream steps of product development, which will be conducted in greater detail later. It results in a selection of the best design and process for the overall product application and supports this selection with sound numerical targets for quality, cost, weight, investment and process capability.

There are many opportunities for lightweighting with ductile iron castings. Current research shows ductile iron castings free of massive carbides can be achieved at under 2 mm (0.080”) through alloying or process changes which means that significant weight reductions are possible. In fact, for aluminum components over 4 mm thick, ductile iron may provide lightweighting opportunities at a cost savings. However, the conventional guidelines for casting design are inadequate when using ductile iron at dimensions less than the typical machine stock. This paper will discuss the current research on thin walled ductile iron, when it is superior to aluminum, design considerations, and current DOE SBIR funded research efforts to address these inadequacies. Research results on efforts to quantify and improve surface roughness in expanded polystyrene for lost foam casting are also discussed.

Tyre behavior plays an important role in vehicle dynamics simulation. The Magic Formula Tyre Model is a semi-empirical tyre model which describes tyre behavior quite accurately in the handling simulation. The Magic Formula Tyre Model needs a set of parameters to describe the tyre properties; the determination of these parameters is nontrivial task due to its nonlinear nature and the presence of a large number of coefficients. In this paper, the homotopy algorithm is applied to the parameter identification of Magic Formula tyre model. A morphing parameter is introduced to correct the optimization process; as a result, the solution is directed converging to the global optimal solution, avoiding the local convergence. The method uses different continuation methods to globally optimize the parameters, which ensures that the prediction of the Magic Formula model can be very close to the test data at all stages of the optimization process.

The design of suspension affects the vehicle dynamics such as ride comfort and handling stability. Nonlinear characteristics and friction are important characteristics of suspension system, and the influence on vehicle dynamic performance cannot be ignored. Based on the seven-degree-of-freedom vehicle vibration nonlinear model with friction, the vibration response process of the vehicle and the influence of suspension friction on vehicle ride comfort and suspension action process were studied. The results show that friction will significantly affects the simulation of ride comfort and coincide with the function of the shock absorber. The suspension shock absorbers of vehicles were optimized with and without suspension friction. The results showed that the suspension tended to choose softer shock absorbers when there was friction. However, both of the two optimizations are able to improve the ride comfort of vehicles, and the simulation results were similar.

Elastomeric bushings are widely used in the passenger cars to make the cars have an ideal vehicle Noise, Vibration and Harshness (NVH) performance. However, elastomeric bushings also influence on the vehicle handling, ride and the durability performance of each component in the vehicle suspension system. It is relatively easy and cost effective to change the compliance of the bushing components compared with other method because they are made of elastomeric materials. The design of an elastomeric bushing is really a big challenge. One of the main difficulties comes from the different target compliance is wanted according to the handling, ride and durability demand at each different orientation (indicated by X Y Z) of the bushing. In this paper the following procedure was used for optimization of suspension elastomeric bushing compliance. Firstly, a detailed multi-body model was built including the nonlinear bushing effects and lower control arm flexibility.

The paper reports an experimental and simulating exploration over a series of problems such as overheat of the complete machine and thermal cracks in the valve bridge region of cylinder head. The studies involve heat load test of complete machine, measuring the temperature of the bottom part of cylinder head, analyzing coolant-flow distribution of upper nozzles in the bottom side of cylinder head, and three-dimensional numerical simulation on the coolant flow in the sixth cylinder water jacket which lies on the most wicked heat transfer condition. The test and simulation results show that overheat of engine results largely from insufficiency of the heat-sinking capacity of water-radiator and shortage of the coolant flux. The unsuitable flow field in cylinder head water jacket, where only 12.22% coolant can cool the bottom of cylinder head, is the main reason causing cylinder head overheat on the bottom side and thermal cracks in the valve bridge region.

Problems such as higher heat load in the diesel engine and the occurrence of crazes within the valve bridge of heavy-duty vehicle diesel engine should be solved, with the increase of the power density of heavy-duty vehicle diesel engine. In this paper, the heat load experiment of complete machine, temperature-measuring of bottom part of cylinder head and the three-dimension numerical simulation on coolant flow and heat transfer in the water jacket have been performed. The result shows that the main reasons of higher heat load of the engine are insufficiency of heat-sinking capability of the water-radiator and shortage of coolant flux; and the unsuitable flow field in water jacket in cylinder head, where only a little of the coolant can cool the bottom of cylinder head, is the main cause of cylinder head bottom over-heated and thermal crack in the valve-bridge region.

For designing new products or developing new specifications, the reliability performance of systems and components experienced by the customer provides invaluable information for the engineer. This information, not only provides for the visibility of reliability requirements, but also an awareness of potential degradation of the systems and components during its life cycle. In this paper, a method is presented for predicting vehicle system and component reliability from vehicle fleet repair data. This method combines sampling stratification, computer data analysis and statistical modeling techniques into a reliability analysis procedure to provide reliability prediction. Specifically, published vehicle fleet data was used to provide the basis for predicting the vehicle system and component reliability at any mileage level.

This paper presents a comparison study on the spray characteristics with different fuels and different fuel injection parameters. Both experimental and numerical studies were employed in investigating the macroscopic spray structure and the spray characteristics of liquid-phase LPG or LPG/diesel blended fuel (LDBF) injection from high-pressure injectors. The experimental work was conducted on a high-pressure constant volume vessel with high-speed photography. Experimental results show that the spray tip penetration of LPG is shorter than that of the diesel fuel, and the spray cone angle of the LPG is also smaller than that of the diesel fuel at the same injection conditions because LPG has better evaporation and atomization. Based on the computation of characteristics of LPG and diesel fuel spray using KIVA-3V2 and KH-RT breakup model, it is found that the spray tip penetrations at the initial injection stage agree well between numerical and experimental results.

Lower engine emission is an important target in the evaluation of the control strategy of ECU. So the hardware in the loop simulation system (HILSS) including emission model is necessary. In this paper, a NOx emission neural network (NN) model is constructed based on the reflection relationship between the NOx formation and some direct influence factors such as concentration of oxygen, combustion temperature, combustion period. Combined with a nonlinear dynamic diesel engine model based on the filling and emptying methods, the NOx emission NN model can reach the trade-off between simulation accuracy and computational overhead. A new HILS platform based on Matlab/RTW and VxWorks real time operating system is introduced in the paper. The graphic programming and automatic code generating methods also developed to accelerate the development of HILSS.

It is postulated that the value-adding intellectual activity in an enterprise can be formulated as an engineering design problem, using axiomatic design. Axiomatic design formulates a decomposition structure that includes four domains: customer, functional, physical, and process. Knowledge exists within the entities in domains and in the relation between the entities in adjacent domains. Once an entity has been identified in one domain, a properly designed knowledge management system can suggest all the known solutions in the adjacent domains, and the interactions between the domains, along with details about how well these solutions work.

This paper discusses the feasibility and issues associated with integrating a consumer off-the shelf product into a vehicle. For this evaluation, we selected a handheld personal computer (HPC), cellular telephone and modem to integrate with the vehicle audio, climate and system controls. Connectivity between the HPC and the vehicle is established by the use of the standard infrared serial data link that comes with the HPC. Connectivity outside the vehicle uses a cellular telephone for voice and a cellular digital packet data (CDPD) modem for data. This system is built into the Dodge ESX-2 hybrid powered concept vehicle for demonstration.

The rapid growth of information technology has the potential to affect many of the reasons why people drive. The Internet is arguably the most significant recent milestone in the growth of information technology. This paper examines the ways Internet communication might affect the travel experience by a) eliminating traditional reasons for personal travel, b) providing new reasons, c) changing the balance between personal and freight travel, and d) changing trip length distribution. Changes of the types listed could affect the product demand "mix" for electric, hybrid-electric and fuel cell vehicles being developed.

Faced with the need to reduce development time and cost, the hardware-in-the-loop simulation increasingly proves to be an efficient tool in the development of automotive engine control system. In this article, the rapid prototyping technology is used to develop a hardware-in-the-loop simulation system for the diesel engine electronic control unit development. The hardware-in-the-loop simulation presented in this paper is based on Linux RTAI system, an open source hard real-time extension of the Linux Operating System, at low costs and within industrial standards. It exploits standard x86-based computing platforms provided with real-time Linux software in combination with generic computer-aided design software (Matlab/Simulink). One of its main characteristics is that it can automatically generate the real-time simulation code for many target processors, which runs under Linux RTAI operating system.