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The public transport in India is gradually shifting towards electric mobility. Long range in electric mobility can be served with High Voltage Battery (HVB), but HVB can sustain for its designed life if it’s maintained within a specific operating temperature range. Appropriate battery thermal management through Battery Cooling System (BCS) is critical for vehicle range and battery durability This work focus on two aspects, BCS sizing and its coolant flow optimization in Electric bus. BCS modelling was done in 1D CAE software. The objective is to develop a model of BCS in virtual environment to replicate the physical testing. Electric bus contain numerous battery packs and a complex piping in its cooling system. BCS sizing simulation was performed to keep the battery packs in operating temperature range.

Transmission of vibration and noise to the occupants and especially driver contributes significantly to the quality perception of the motor vehicle and eventually, it affects the overall ride comfort. These forces mainly reach to customer through tactile locations, i.e. floor, gearshift lever, steering wheel and seat. Showroom/Parking customer drive pattern of a vehicle evinces the steering system and driver’s seat rail vibration as strikingly linked aspect to evaluate human comfort [1]. This paper deals with the study of vibration at steering wheel and seat affecting human comfort at engine idle rpm with AC ON and OFF condition for passenger vehicles. The transmissibility of engine and radiator induced vibrations has been investigated with respect to modal alignment of steering and seat system.

Durability is an important indicator to measure the automobile quality and reliability. Automotive industry is striving to develop products having excellent performance to weight ratios and along with high safety standards. A successful product should have adequate robustness during normal customer operation and the ability to withstand high impact events without impairment of function or safety relevant damage. Road Load Data Acquisition (RLDA) along with efficient design and validation processes are, among others, critical factors for success in the automotive industry. Physical RLDA is expensive and time consuming, the prototype vehicles being costly and only available at a later stage in the vehicle development cycle. Component failures occurring on the proto test vehicles can prove to be a major setback, delaying the product launch by months. In order to overcome above challenge, this paper presents an innovative methodology to carry out Digital RLDA (dRLDA).

The regulatory requirement in Economic Commission for Europe (ECE R58) regulation applies to the Rear underrun protection devices which are intended to be fitted to commercial vehicles of N categories. The purpose of this regulation is to offer effective protection against underrunning of vehicles. This paper describes Computer aided engineering (CAE) methodology for testing rear underrun protection devices with loading sequences to be decided by Original equipment manufacturer. A sample model is prepared and analyzed to represent actual test conditions. Constraints and boundary conditions are applied as per test of vehicle. Finite element simulation is carried out using LS DYNA solver. Structural strength and integrity of Rear under protection device assembly is observed for different regulatory load requirement.

Currently automotive sector is facing bi-fold challenge of light weighting and cost reduction. As end-customer is getting more focused on total cost of ownership, it is need of time that light weighting and cost reduction goes hand in hand. Presently lightweight materials such as magnesium, aluminum & composites are used but often this impact towards cost increase. In present study, a novel approach has been followed which not only focus on light weighting but also integrate design functions of two engine systems. This paper deals with the new system design to focus on low cost, light weight, NVH friendly and low development time. In design phase, function of two engine systems i.e. engine cover and Air filter were integrated followed by structural analysis. In final phase of this project, the experimental component was developed and validated for its intended function.

Currently automotive design is facing multi facet challenges such as reduction in greenhouse gases, better thermal management, low cost solution to market, etc. Considering these challenges, effort has been taken to improve thermal management of engine while optimizing the cost of engine. Engine Lubrication system consist of Engine oil and oil cooler, which play vital role in thermal management as well as optimization of frictional losses by ensuring proper lubrication and cooling of engine components. For better thermal management of engine, a lubrication system is designed without Oil cooler, proto type made and tested. This paper deals with evaluation of various engine performance parameter and engine temperature with and without oil cooler for light duty Diesel engines on passenger car application. Further solution of Oil cooler removal and Engine cooling improvement with the help of oil change is validated at vehicle level to understand real world behavior of the system.

In this work, Calculations and design of connecting rod of IC engine is performed in innovative way. Calculation point of view, Con rod is the utmost critical component of IC Engine as it is the part which translates reciprocating forces into rotary forces and thus creates unbalance in engine. From the functionality point of view, connecting rod must have the higher inertia at the lowest weight. Different forces acting on con rod are: - Peak combustion pressure, inertia force of reciprocating masses, Weight of Reciprocating parts and frictional forces due to cylinder wall thrust. It experiences complex forces of compression and tensile in cyclic manner, which repeats after each 720 (in case of 4 stroke) or 360 (in case of 2 stroke) phase of degree. Hence, the design calculations are analyzed for the axial compressive as well as axial tensile loads considering the fatigue strength of con rod. This literature computes the required size and strength in the critical areas of failure.

Currently automotive industry is struggling for its sustainability to produce cost effective products with better or same performance. In this study, fuel return line has been converted from Viton/Hypalon material to Epichlorohydrin based material. In initial phase, technical specifications and material properties has been compared. In later phase, components were developed with modified material and validated at Test bed as well as Vehicle level to understand the material behavior in Real world usage. Further, test results were compared and results shows that the new material is able to cater vehicle application requirement in terms of reliability and durability with a good cost saving.

With Continuous increase in demand to reduce weight is forcing Automotive Designers towards finding ways to explore new materials for the Engine components. Currently, Aluminum, Thermoplastics and Composites are widely used in Engine application. This paper examines the potential of a Magnesium alloy Front Cover designed to replace the Cast iron Front Cover in a Light duty Diesel engine. In presented study, a Cast iron Engine front cover is re-designed for Magnesium alloy and components developed. Further Magnesium alloy component tested at vehicle level and it has been demonstrated that a magnesium alloy Front cover can achieve key functional requirements such as Structural durability, Sealing, NVH, while providing substantial Weight saving.

Automakers are being subjected to increasingly strict fuel economy requirements which led OEMs to focus more on Light weighting and Energy efficiency areas. Considering the aforesaid challenges, efforts have been taken in Light weighting of mounting bracket for Engine application. This paper deals with conversion of Engine accessory bracket from Aluminum material to Metal Matrix composite (MMC). In Design phase, existing bracket has been studied for its structural requirements and further Bracket is designed to meet MMC process requirement and CAE carried out for topology optimization and Structural integrity. Finally observations and results were compared for Existing design and Proposed design and further optimization proposed.

During endurance tests on new prototypes, it is often observed that test drivers come back with some feed back on clutch slippage. This is a typical example of subjective evaluation and at times it is found that it is the test driver's perception rather than the actual clutch slippage. To over come this problem, a new method has been evolved which captures the clutch slippage automatically and quantify that to the minutest details. This is achieved using GPS based instrumentation and software for automatic detection. This system is part of intelligent control which using the GPS determines the actual speed of the vehicle and also acquires the engine speed through RPM sensor which is converted into vehicle speed. Using a dedicated software program, variation in actual speed and calculated speed provides the information on clutch slippage along with the gear shift pattern during test driving.

Engine Monitoring System (EMOS) plays a crucial role towards engine safety and monitoring for low cost commercial vehicles not equipped with a full-fledged Engine Management System (EMS). The EMOS system mainly focuses on monitoring of coolant temperature, alternator belt failure, and lubrication oil pressure and coolant level indication This paper describes various engineering design considerations for balancing the application requirements with implementation costs. It also highlights some common pit-falls in detecting alternator failures leading to nuisance trips as well as system design considerations involved in matching the gauge indication accuracy with the coolant high temperature trip point. The system designer needs to take into account, difference between alternator belt slippage versus total belt failure condition and implement different control strategies accordingly.

To ensure a robust, reliable and durable product, predicting the useful life of aggregates at the concept stage is a very important aspect in the any product design. This requirement is very much necessary in today’s competitive environment, wherein the customer expectations are increasing and development time for reliable product is shrinking. Clutch is one of the important aggregate in an automobile having manual transmission. It acts like a fuse in the driveline system wherein its wear and tear cannot be avoidable. The performance of Clutch is correlated with its useful life. In this paper, a unique methodology is formulated for the prediction of beta life of clutch. Actual field data of over 3 to 4 years related with warranty claims, mode of failures, usage kilometers etc. has been collected on a typical utility vehicle platform which has been operating on roads of Indian subcontinent.

Electrical and Series Hybrid Vehicles are generally provided with single speed reduction gearbox. To improve performance and drive range, a two-speed gearbox with coordinated control of traction motor and gearshift actuator is proposed. For a two-speed gearbox, gearshift without clutch would increase the shifting effort. Active Synchronization is introduced for a smoother gearshift even without clutch. The quality of gearshift is considered as a function of applied shift force and time taken. To enhance the quality of the gearshift further, the location of the synchronizer in the transmission system is optimized. To validate the improvement in the quality of the gearshift, a mathematical model of the two-speed gearbox incorporating proposed location of synchronizer assembly along with active synchronization is developed. The qualitative and quantitative analysis of the results achieved is presented.

Spot weld connections are used extensively in the automotive industry to join panels of automotive structures. Spot weld connections play a very vital role in the overall structural rigidity and integrity of the Body in White. The spot weld connections and layout have direct impact on functionability of automotive structure and capital investment for robots, guns and operators. There is continuous pressure on automotive engineers to reduce the number of spot weld connections in a structure without compromising on the structural performance across various disciplines such as crash, NVH & durability. Hence the need is felt to develop a generic and systematic CAE simulation procedure which will guide the designer towards arriving at an optimum design, with minimum number of spot weld connections, which meet all the performance requirements of the structure.

Common rail direct injection technologies have enabled the development of very high power and torque for a given capacity of the engine. These high performance engines have very high brake mean effective pressures and peak firing pressures. These high pressures increase the blow-by gas flow in cylinder crankcase. Vehicle brake assist systems as well as some actuators on engine need the vacuum. The vacuum is generated by the vacuum pump driven by the engine cam shaft or separately as accessory drive. The air pulled for creating the vacuum gets mixed with the lubricating oil. This air mixture with the lubrication oil gets circulated in the blow by circuit. Collectively, blow-by gases and the vacuum pump oil with air carry substantial engine oil particles. These oil particles need to be separated before connecting to the air intake circuit to reduce oil consumption and to reduce exhaust emissions. Generally cyclone type oil mist separation systems are used on the automobile engines.

Basic Function: Vehicle remote is used for vehicle lock/unlock/search/Hazard lights /approach light functions for customer convenience and vehicle security system. Conventional approach: 1 Use of separate RF (Radio Frequency) receiver -Additional Cost impact. 2 High remote RF power - Reduced remote battery life and bigger remote size required 3 High sensitivity RF receiver - High cost. Low Cost approach: It involves the followings: 1 Integration of RF receiver inside the Body Control Module (BCM). 2 Low Power Remote and Optimization of Remote PCB layout to get the maximum power. 3 External wired antenna taken out from BCM and proper routine need be ensured to get the best performance. 4 BCM mounting location to get the best remote range in all vehicle directions. This paper relates to the methodology for low cost approach for the RF communication between remote transmitter and receiver with achieving the best remote performance at vehicle level condition.

Electric radiator fan is a vital component within IC and EV passenger vehicle cooling system. However, due to its operation, it induces noise and in-cab vibration affecting human comfort level. This paper primarily focus on FMS (Fan Motor Shroud) assembly induced steering wheel vibrations in a vehicle under idle + AC ON condition. The entire NVH performance was cascaded from vehicle level to component level to evaluate for high steering wheel vibration and its transfer path analysis. Unit level vibrations study was also carried out using a rigid rig under controlled conditions. Based on FMS vibration analysis, it was observed that fan blade rotating imbalance leads the high vibrations within system. Thus, a balancing method with higher precision and accuracy was used to measure and balance the fan under all operating conditions. Sensitivity analysis had been carried out for fan imbalanced boundary conditions and operating speeds.

Vehicle thermal management system (VTMS) is a means of monitoring and controlling temperatures of vehicular components and aggregates to within optimum limits, thereby ensuring the proper functioning of the component or aggregate in an automobile. An integrated approach is required for developing VTMS, to satisfy the complex requirements of performance, reliability, fuel economy and human thermal comfort in modern vehicles. Fan motors and blowers play a crucial role in vehicle thermal management. These fan motors/ blower systems need to be designed in a manner such that there is minimum parasitic load on the prime mover. This work comprises performing Transient Powertrain Cooling (T-PTC) and Transient Air-conditioning (T-AC) simulation on a vehicle for prediction of parameters affecting fan operation of Condenser Radiator Fan Module (CRFM) during simulated city drive cycles.

In this paper hydropneumatic suspension system design methodology for light military tracked vehicle is discussed in detail. A guide to locate the major impact factor & its effect on the system level design is demonstrated. Spring & damping characteristics of hydropneumatic suspension have significant bearing on the tracked vehicle mobility characteristics. A methodology has been derived to optimize the kinematics of the suspension system by optimizing the load transferring leverage ratio resulting in enhanced system life. The paper also discusses the analytical method used for prediction of spring & damping characteristics and the factors affecting them.