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A highly anti-corrosive organic-inorganic hybrid paint for automotive steel parts has been developed. The inorganic component included in the paint is silicon dioxide (SiO2), which has the capability to passivate zinc. By application of the paint on a trivalent chromatetreated zinc-plated steel sheet or a trivalent chromate-treated zinc-nickel-plated steel sheet, high anti-corrosion protection can be provided to steel materials. Particularly in the case of application over a zinc-nickel-plated steel sheet, 0 mm corrosion depth after a cyclic corrosion test (CCT) of 450 cycles was demonstrated.

One way to improve the fuel efficiency of HVs is to reduce the losses and size of the Power Control Unit (PCU). To achieve this, it is important to reduce the losses of power devices (such as IGBTs and FWDs) used in the PCU since their losses account for about 20% of the total loss of an HV. Furthermore, another issue when reducing the size of power devices is ensuring the thermal feasibility of the downsized devices. To achieve the objectives of the 4th generation PCU, the following development targets were set for the IGBTs: reduce power losses by 19.8% and size by 30% compared to the 3rd generation. Power losses were reduced by the development of a new Super Body Layer (SBL) structure, which improved the trade-off relationship between switching and steady-state loss. This trade-off relationship was improved by optimizing the key SBL concentration parameter.

To evaluate the influence of FAME, which has poor oxidation stability, on engine oil performance, an engine test was conducted under large volumes of fuel dilution by post-injection. The test showed that detergent consumption and polymerization of FAME were accelerated in engine oil, causing a severe deterioration in piston cleanliness and sludge protection performance of engine oil.

TOYOTA has developed the iQ with a 1.3L engine for the Scion brand in USA. Due to the importance of fun-to-drive factor for the Scion brand image, a responsive driving performance is required even with compact packaging and a small engine. In addition, because of the recent attention to global-warming and energy issues on a global scale, development of vehicles with high fuel economy is one of the most important issues for a car manufacturer. Therefore, it is necessary for a vehicle to have both high driving performance and fuel economy. TOYOTA has adopted the CVT-i as the transmission for this purpose. The following were achieved by adopting the CVT-i as the transmission for the iQ(1.3L). 1 Responsive driving performance with shift changes without a time lag. 2 Compact transmission for efficient vehicle packaging 3 Class-leading fuel economy performance. Moreover, it was developed with adjustments for the US market by improving the shift schedule for a linear acceleration feel.

Routing quality always dominates the top 20% of in vehicle- navigation customer complaints. In vehicle navigation routing engines do not customize results based on customer behavior. For example, some users prefer the quickest route while some prefer direct routes. This is because in vehicle navigation systems are traditionally embedded systems. Toyota announced that new model vehicles in JP, CN, US will be connected with routing function switching from the embedded device to the cloud in which there are plenty of probe data uploaded from the vehicles. Probe data makes it possible to analyze user preferences and customize routing profile for users. This paper describes a method to analyze the user preferences from the probe data uploaded to the cloud. The method includes data collection, the analysis model of route scoring and user profiling. Furthermore, the evaluation of the model will be introduced at the end of the paper.

The dissolution and exfoliation of chromium plating specific to Russia was studied. Investigation and analysis of organic compounds in Russian soil revealed contents of highly concentrated fulvic acid. Additionally, it was found that fulvic acid, together with CaCl2 (a deicing agent), causes chromium plating corrosion. The fulvic acid generates a compound that prevents reformation of a passivation film and deteriorates the sacrificial corrosion effectiveness of nickel.

The details of Di-Air, a new NOx reduction system using continuous short pulse injections of hydrocarbons (HC) in front of a NOx storage and reduction (NSR) catalyst, have already been reported. This paper describes further studies into the deNOx mechanism, mainly from the standpoint of the contribution of HC and intermediates. In the process of a preliminary survey regarding HC oxidation behavior at the moment of injection, it was found that HC have unique advantages as a reductant. The addition of HC lead to the reduction or metallization of platinum group metals (PGM) while keeping the overall gas atmosphere in a lean state due to adsorbed HC. This causes local O₂ inhibition and generates reductive intermediate species such as R-NCO. Therefore, the specific benefits of HC were analyzed from the viewpoints of 1) the impact on the PGM state, 2) the characterization of intermediate species, and 3) Di-Air performance compared to other reductants.

This article proposes a rubber suspension bushing model considering amplitude dependence as a useful tool at the initial design phase. The purpose of this study is not to express physical phenomena accurately and in detail and to explore the truth academically, but to provide a useful design method for initial design phase. Experiments were carried out to verify several dynamic characteristics of rubber bushings under vibration up to a frequency of 100 Hz, which is an important frequency range when designing ride comfort performance. When dynamic characteristic theory and the geometrical properties of the force-displacement characteristic curve were considered using these dynamic characteristics as assumptions, an equation was derived that is capable of calculating the dynamic stiffness under an arbitrary amplitude by identifying only two general design parameters (dynamic stiffness and loss factor) under a reference amplitude.

An obstacle recognition algorithm for the Pre-Crash Safety system has been newly developed with a stereo vision system and a millimeter wave radar with additional functions. This algorithm uses the merits of both the millimeter wave radar and the stereo vision system, and has two main features. One feature utilizes the merits of the stereo vision system detection with the detection results from the millimeter wave radar allowing for a more detailed horizontal position and width of the obstacle. This enables the equipment to operate at an earlier stage according to how well the relationship between the vehicle and the obstacle is understood. Another feature fuses detection from the millimeter wave radar and the stereo vision system. This system has succeeded in enhancing the detection performance of pedestrians who have been more difficult to detect than reflective objects such as cars.

In order to enhance the catalytic performance of the NOx Storage-Reduction Catalyst (NSR Catalyst), the sulfur tolerance of the NSR catalyst was improved by developing new support and NOx storage materials. The support material was developed by nano-particle mixing of ZrO2-TiO2 and Al2O3 in order to increase the Al2O3-TiO2 interface and to prevent the ZrO2-TiO2 phase from sintering. A Ba-Ti oxide composite material was also developed as a new NOx storage material containing highly dispersed Ba. It was confirmed that the sulfur tolerance and activity of the developed NSR catalyst are superior to that of the conventional one.

Recently, the demands of vehicle owners have become more diversified. This is particularly true in the paint appearance of the vehicle. Responding to these demands Toyota has developed an ink jet painting system, Toyota Fantasy Print System. This system can illustrate practically any picture which the customer desires. The system utilized a subtractive method of paint mixture which mixes or piles up these four permeable inks. The development of durable ink as well as equipment which can efficiently and effectively apply the ink onto the required contoured surface.

Transmission electron microscope (TEM) is a powerful tool for studying catalyst materials at nano-size and/or atomic level. Conventional TEM usually needs to be observed at room temperature in high vacuum conditions. A gaseous atmosphere and high temperature condition may change the properties of catalyst materials. Recently we developed an in situ observation system in TEM for observing the oxidation and reduction under a gas atmosphere at high temperature. Using the new in situ observation system in TEM, the morphological changes of the nano particle and support were observed in the heated gaseous atmosphere at atomic level in real time.

Because of recent advances in steering control technology, steer-by-wire systems have continued to become more realistic. The principal issue for these steer-by-wire systems is considered to be promoting reliability through the construction of a design concept that can be utilized appropriately by drivers. This paper first describes the flow between the concept and system structure, and proposes a steer-by-wire system with a mechanical backup mechanism as one possibility. This paper also describes an investigation into its potential advantages using an experimental vehicle installed with the proposed system structure. The potential advantages of steer-by-wire are improved vehicle driving performance, vehicle maneuverability, and the feasibility of innovative packaging and design. In order to make improved maneuverability and design innovations compatible, it is critical to achieve steering characteristics that require little maneuvering angle.

NO2 sources of roadside atmosphere at Matsubarabashi monitoring station in Tokyo were investigated analytically. The result showed that contribution of urban background is dominant from November to February and NO oxidation with O3 has large contribution from April to September. NO2 air quality standard will be achieved by reducing vehicle NOx emission to post-new long-term regulation level. The analytical method was verified by using our developed simulation system, which consists of micro traffic flow analyzer and CFD-based, unsteady-state diffusion with chemical reaction solver.

Stringent emission regulations call for advanced catalyst substrates with thinner walls and higher cell density. However, substrates with higher cell density increase backpressure, thinner cell wall substrates have lower mechanical characteristics. Therefore we will focus on cell configurations that will show a positive effect on backpressure and emission performance. We found that hexagonal cells have a greater effect on emission and backpressure performance versus square or round cell configurations. This paper will describe in detail the advantage of hexagonal cell configuration versus round or square configurations with respect to the following features: 1 High Oxygen Storage Capacity (OSC) performance due to uniformity of the catalyst coating layer 2 Low backpressure due to the large hydraulic diameter of the catalyst cell 3 Quick light off characteristics due to efficient heat transfer and low thermal mass

Three-way catalyst shows high performance under stoichiometric atmosphere. The CeO2-ZrO2 based materials (CZ) are added as a buffer of O2 concentration. To improve the catalyst performance the larger O2 storage capacity (OSC) are needed. Theoretically, the sulfur oxidation-reduction reaction moves oxygen 8 times larger than cerium. We focused on this phenomenon and synthesized Ln2O2SO4 as a new OSC material. The experimental result under model gas shows that the OSC of Ln2O2SO4 is 5 times lager than CZ.

Breath alcohol interlock systems are used in Europe and the U.S. for drunk driving offenders, and a certain effect has been revealed in the prevention of drunk driving. Nevertheless, problems remain to be solved with commercialized detectors, i.e., a person taking the breath alcohol test must strongly expire to the alcohol detector through a mouthpiece for every test, more over the determination of the breath alcohol concentration requires more than 5 seconds. The goal of this research is to develop a device that functions suitable and unobtrusive enough as the interlock system. For this purpose, a new alcohol detector, which does not require a long and hard blowing to the detector through a mouthpiece, has been investigated. In this paper, as a tool available on board, a contact free alcohol detector for the prevention of drunk driving has been developed.

Previous studies have investigated the impacts of biofuel usage on the performance, drivability and durability of modern diesel engines and exhaust after-treatment systems including test work with different types, concentrations and mixtures of bio fuel components. During this earlier work vehicle fuel filter blocking issues were encountered during a field trial using various types of EN 14214 compliant Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME) blended into EN 590 diesel. This paper summarises a subsequent literature review that was carried out looking into potential causes of this filter blocking and further work that was then carried out to expand on the findings. From this, a laboratory study was carried out to assess the increase in fuel filter blocking tendency (FBT) when various FAMEs from mixed sources were blended into EN 590 diesel at different concentrations, including levels above those currently allowed in the European market.

We developed a high performance automotive lithium-ion battery and applied it to our new Toyota Intelligent Idling Stop System. This hybrid power management system has been introduced in the “intelligent package” of Toyota Vitz vehicles sold in Japan. The lithium-ion battery is installed under the seat on the passenger-side. The battery supplies electric power to the auxiliary electrical systems during the “idling stop” mode, and when restarting the engine. The main requirements of this battery are to supply high electric power output even at low temperatures and at the same time, maintain continuous power during charge and discharge cycling, and have long storage life. This performance has been accomplished successfully through a series of improvements in battery materials and structures.

In this study, a new practical design method (tool) for engine sound quality in a car interior is proposed. The tool can automatically create the target interior sound using the psychoacoustic index ‘powerfulness’ based on subjective tests. Moreover, it can calculate the intake noise characteristic to create the target interior sound and select the suitable intake specification from the prepared database. By using this method sound engineering can be easily and effectively carried out without manufacturing an experimental car.