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The Focus Electric is Ford�s first full-featured 5 passenger battery electric vehicle. The engineering team set our sights on achieving best-in-class function and efficiency and was successful with an EPA certified 1XX MPGe and range XXX then the facing competition allowing for a slightly lower capacity battery pack and larger vehicle without customer trade-off. We briefly overview the engineering method and technologies employed to deliver the results as well as sharing some of the functional challenges unique to this type of vehicle. Presenter Charles Gray, Ford Motor Co.

The presentation offers a brief history of the electric vehicle and parallels the realities of those early vehicles with the challenges and solutions of the electrified vehicles coming to market today. A technology evolution for every major component of these vehicles has now made this mode of transportation viable. The Focus Electric is Ford's first electric passenger car utilizing the advanced technology developments to meet the needs of electric car buyers in this emerging market. Presenter Charles Gray, Ford Motor Co.

Combustion engines are typically only 20-30% efficient at part-load operating conditions, resulting in poor fuel economy on average. To address this, LiquidPiston has developed an improved thermodynamics cycle, called the High-Efficiency Hybrid Cycle (HEHC), which optimizes each process (stroke) of the engine operation, with the aim of maximizing fuel efficiency. The cycle consists of: 1) a high compression ratio; 2) constant-volume combustion, and 3) over-expansion. At a modest compression ratio of 18:1, this cycle offers an ideal thermodynamic efficiency of 74%. To embody the HEHC cycle, LiquidPiston has developed two very different rotary engine architectures ? called the ?M? and ?X? engines. These rotary engine architectures offer flexibility in executing the thermodynamics cycle, and also result in a very compact package. In this talk, I will present recent results in the development of the LiquidPiston engines. The company is currently testing 20 and 40 HP versions of the ?M?

Vehicle target setting is an evolving process based on continually changing internal (management, standards) and external (competitive and legal) requirements. In addition to evolving requirements, the process for establishing and documenting targets may not be clear. The objective of this paper is to detail the overall process of target setting, the critical factors to consider, and key definitions for each stage of the process. It will describe the complete process from early competitive benchmarking to final verification testing. Setting targets for a vehicle requires definition and thorough benchmarking of the competition, an understanding of the key attributes used to describe the vehicles' performance, and a clearly defined set of requirements. These requirements will be regulatory, corporate and competitively based and grouped by clearly defined, customer perceived attributes which can be cascaded to specific vehicle systems.

In this paper a diagnostic design process is proposed for developmental vehicles where mainstream design process is not well-suited. First a review of current practice in on-board vehicle fault diagnostics design is presented with particular focus on the application of this process to the development of the Ford Escape Hybrid Electric Vehicle (HEV) program and a demonstration Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle (FCEV) program. Based on the review and evaluation of these experiences, a new tool for diagnostics design is proposed that promises to make the design more traceable, to reduce the repetition of work, and to improve understandability and reuse.

Small crack growth from notches under variable amplitude loading requires that crack opening stress be followed on a cycle by cycle basis and taken into account in making fatigue life predictions. The use of constant amplitude fatigue life data that ignores changes in crack opening stress due to high stress overloads in variable amplitude fatigue leads to non-conservative fatigue life predictions. Similarly fatigue life predictions based on small crack growth calculations for cracks growing from flaws in notches are non-conservative when constant amplitude crack growth data are used. These non-conservative predictions have, in both cases, been shown to be due to severe reductions in fatigue crack closure arising from large (overload or underload) cycles in a typical service load history.

The efforts of the ISO “Test Variability Task Force” have been aimed at improving the understanding and at reducing brake dynamometer test variability during performance testing. In addition, dynamometer test results have been compared and correlated to vehicle testing. Even though there is already a vast amount of anecdotal evidence confirming the fact that different procedures generate different friction coefficients on the same brake corner, the availability of supporting data to the industry has been elusive up to this point. To overcome this issue, this paper focuses on assessing friction levels, friction coefficient sensitivity, and repeatability under ECE, GB, ISO, JASO, and SAE laboratory friction evaluation tests.

The Service Bay Diagnostic System (SBDS) will be designed to assist the dealership technician in diagnosing and repairing Ford Motor vehicles. The system hardware will be configured around a Service Bay Computer with mass storage capability and auxiliary service equipment. Major system features include: guided service writer/customer interaction, interactive vehicle diagnostics, information management. capabilities, and an additional aid to identifying intermittent failures through the use of a portable over-the-road data acquisition device. In order to assist the technician in properly diagnosing the causal factor, the Service Bay Computer System will also be enhanced through the use of an expert system knowledge base.

Variable amplitude torsion, bending, and combined torsion and bending fatigue tests were performed on an axle shaft. The moment inputs used were taken from the respective history channels of a cable log skidder vehicle axle. Testing results indicated that combined variable amplitude loading lives were shorter than the lives of specimens subjected to bending or torsion alone. Calculations using strain rosette readings indicated that principle strains were most active around specific angles but also occurred with lesser magnitudes through a wider angular range. Over the course of a biaxial test, cyclic creep narrowly limited the angles and magnitudes of the principal strains. This limitation was not observed in the calculated principal stress behavior. Simple life predictions made on the measured strain gage histories were non-conservative in most cases.

Over the past several years a task group within the SAE Automotive Corrosion and Protection (ACAP) Committee has conducted extensive on-vehicle field testing and numerous accelerated lab tests with the goal of establishing a standard accelerated test method for cosmetic corrosion evaluations of finished aluminum auto body panels. This project has been a cooperative effort with OEM, supplier, and consultant participation and was also supported in part by DOE through USAMP (AMD 309). The focus of this project has been the identification of a standardized accelerated cosmetic corrosion test that exhibits the same appearance, severity, and type of corrosion products that are exhibited on identical painted aluminum panels exposed to service relevant environments. Multi-year service relevant exposures were conducted by mounting panels on-vehicles in multiple locations in the US and Canada.

Oscillating heat transfer is a fundamental phenomenon occurring in Stirling machines and IC engines. A group of relevant dimensionless numbers which characterize this problem is identified by dimensional analysis. The convective heat transfer coefficient, or Nusselt number, is a function of the Reynolds number, the Prandtl number, plus the dynamic Reynolds number and the dimensionless amplitude, when compressibility is not considered. The case for compressible fluid is more complicated. An experiential study confirms above analysis and results in a nonlinear longitudinal fluid temperature distribution in the pipe. The history effect is found to affect the heat transfer rate remarkably. A correlation equation for Nusselt number is obtained by multivariate analysis.

A review of flame kernel growth in SI engines and the regimes of premixed turbulent combustion showed that a misfire model based on regimes of premixed turbulent combustion was warranted[1]. The present study will further validate the misfire model and show that it has captured the dominating physics and avoided extremely complex, yet inefficient, models. Results showed that regimes of turbulent combustion could, indeed, be used for a concept-simple model to predict misfire limits in SI engines. Just as importantly, the entire regimes of premixed turbulent combustion in SI engines were also mapped out with the model.

This paper is the first in a series of documents designed to record the progress of the SAE J2293 Task Force as it continues to develop and refine the communication requirements between Plug-In Electric Vehicles (PEV) and the Electric Utility Grid. In February, 2008 the SAE Task Force was formed and it started by reviewing the existing SAE J2293 standard, which was originally developed by the Electric Vehicle (EV) Charging Controls Task Force in the 1990s. This legacy standard identified the communication requirements between the Electric Vehicle (EV) and the EV Supply Equipment (EVSE), including off-board charging systems necessary to transfer DC energy to the vehicle. It was apparent at the first Task Force meeting that the communications requirements between the PEV and utility grid being proposed by industry stakeholders were vastly different in the type of communications and messaging documented in the original standard.

Current road vehicles have tendency of use softer suspension springs to improve ride comfort, but as a moving device with suspension system, vehicles have other parts that can affect attributes for comfort perception, and is necessary the correct definition of which one should be modified to address the comfort issue and avoid impact in attributes for stability. Usually springs are not the main responsible for bad comfort behavior, but shock absorbers and bushings are. A typical passenger car shows a wide possibility of loads carriage and how to set up correctly the suspensions considering its tradeoffs and brand DNA is the main issue.

Internal combustion engines are designed to meet the high power, low fuel consumption and also, low exhaust emissions. The engine running conditions is valid the concept that, the expectative is very high because of the variety of operating conditions like cold start, frequent start and stop, time high speed and load, traditional gasoline, mix of gasoline and alcohol and finally, alcohol fuel only. Considering such demand, this paper explains the relationship between the reliability bathtub curve, specifically the "Infant Mortality" portion. The bathtub curve describes failure rate as a function of time. The "Infant Mortality" portion of the curve is the initial section for which the failure (death) rate decreases with time (age). In general, these problems are related to manufacturing aspects or poor design definitions. With development of technology, hard failures, the ones that cause dependability, are becoming rare.

As automotive manufacturers continue to increase their use of thermoplastics for interior and exterior components, there is a likelihood of squeaks due to material contacts. To address this issue, Ford's Body Chassis NVH Squeak and Rattle Prevention Engineering Department has developed a tester that can measure friction, and any accompanying audible sound, as a function of sliding velocity, normal load, surface roughness, and environmental factors. The Ford team has been using the tester to address manufacturing plant issues and to develop a database of polymeric material pairings that will be used as a guide for current and future designs to eliminate potential noise concerns. Based upon the database, along with a physical property analysis of the various plastic (viscoelastic) materials used in the interior, we are in the process of developing an analytical model which will be a tool to predict frictional behavior.

The Indirect Boundary Element Analysis is employed for developing a computational pass-by noise simulation capability. An inverse analysis algorithm is developed in order to generate the definition of the main noise sources in the numerical model. The individual source models are combined for developing a system model for pass-by noise simulation. The developed numerical techniques are validated through comparison between numerical results and test data for component level and system level analyses. Specifically, the source definition capability is validated by comparing the actual and the computationally reconstructed acoustic field for an engine intake manifold. The overall pass-by noise simulation capability is validated by computing the maximum overall sound pressure level for a vehicle under two separate driving conditions.

We review the advantages of silicon micromachining in manufacturing low-cost, high-volume, mechanical sensors. The characteristics of the technology are discussed and contrasted with those of typical milling operations. We describe the fabrication of simple mechanical elements to explain how micromachined parts can be manufactured in large numbers with a high degree of dimensional control. These parts are the key components of cost-effective, high performance pressure, flow, and acceleration sensors that are gradually penetrating the automotive market.

Most people still remember the introduction of the IBM PC in 1981 and the first Microsoft Windows operating system in 1985. These were the pioneering technologies that started a revolution in automotive test equipment in the service bay. What was once a purely mechanical garage environment where information was published annually in large paper manuals has evolved into a highly technical computing environment. Today vehicle networks link onboard vehicle control systems with diagnostic systems and updated service information is published daily over the Internet. A lot has changed over the last twenty years, and manufacturers of diagnostic test equipment are learning to deal with the constantly evolving computing platforms and host operating systems. This paper traces the history of automotive diagnostic equipment at Ford Motor Company and shares some of the hard lessons learned from the early systems.

This paper is the second in the series of documents designed to record the progress of a series of SAE documents - SAE J2836™, J2847, J2931, & J2953 - within the Plug-In Electric Vehicle (PEV) Communication Task Force. This follows the initial paper number 2010-01-0837, and continues with the test and modeling of the various PLC types for utility programs described in J2836/1™ & J2847/1. This also extends the communication to an off-board charger, described in J2836/2™ & J2847/2 and includes reverse energy flow described in J2836/3™ and J2847/3. The initial versions of J2836/1™ and J2847/1 were published early 2010. J2847/1 has now been re-opened to include updates from comments from the National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST) Smart Grid Interoperability Panel (SGIP), Smart Grid Architectural Committee (SGAC) and Cyber Security Working Group committee (SCWG).