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Recent developments in diesel fuel injection equipment coupled with moves to using ULSD and biodiesel blends has seen an increase in the number of reports, from both engine manufacturers and fleet operators, regarding fuel system deposit issues. Preliminary work performed to characterise these deposits showed them to be complicated mixtures, predominantly carbon like but also containing other possible carbon precursor materials. This paper describes the application of the combination of hydropyrolysis, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to the analysis of these deposits. It also discusses the insights that such analysis can bring to the constitution and origin of these deposits.

Through improving the 48V hybrid vehicle archetype, governmental emission targets could be more easily met without incurring the high costs associated with increasing levels of electrification. The braking energy recovery function of hybrid vehicles is recognised as an effective solution to reduce emissions and fuel consumption in the short to medium term. The aim of this study was to evaluate methods to maximise the braking energy recovery capability of the 48V hybrid electric vehicle over pre-selected drive cycles using appropriately sized electrified components. The strategy adopted was based upon optimising the battery chemistry type via specific power capability, so that overall brake power is equal to the maximum battery charging power in a typical medium-sized passenger car under typical driving. This will maximise the regenerative braking energy whilst providing a larger torque assistance for a lower battery capacity.

As future commercial aircraft incorporates more EMAs, the aircraft electrical power system architecture will become a complex electrical distribution system with increased numbers of power electronic converters (PEC) and electrical loads. The overall system performance and the power management for on-board electrical loads are therefore key issues that need to be addressed. In order to understand these issues and identify high pay-off technologies that would enable a major improvement of the overall system performance, it is necessary to study the aircraft EPS at the system level. Due to the switching behaviour of power electronic devices, it is very time-consuming and even impractical to simulate a large-scale EPS with some non-linear and time-varying models. The dynamic phasor (DP) technique is one way to solve that problem.

An experimental investigation has been carried out to compare the indicated performance and heat release characteristics of a DI diesel engine at compression ratios of 18.4:1 and 15.4:1. The compression ratio was changed by modifying the piston bowl volume; the bore and stroke were unchanged, and the swept volume was nominally 500cc. The engine is a single cylinder variant of modern design which meets Euro 4 emissions requirements. Work output and heat release characteristics for the two compression ratios have been compared at an engine speed of 300 rev/min and test temperatures of 10, -10 and -20°C. A more limited comparison has also been made for higher speeds representative of cold idle at one test temperature (-20°C). The reduction in compression ratio generally produces an increase in peak specific indicated work output at low speeds; this is attributable to a reduction in blowby and heat transfer losses and lower peak rates of heat release increasing cumulative burn.

Currently the wing box rib assembly process requires the manual location and temporary fixing of components within product specific jig or fixtures for drilling. After drilling and reaming, parts are separated, cleaned, deburred prior to adding sealant, reclaiming and final bolting, but this may significantly increase cost, manufacturing lead-time, reduces flexibility and cannot usually be economically modified for use on other aircraft types. Due to potential increase in demand for the next generation single isle aircraft, existing tooling solutions have to be improved and new technologies have to be developed. This paper describes the development and testing of flexible tooling to provide clamping and support for drilling wing box ribs to mating rib posts within a restricted environment. Results are presented along with a discussion of the problems that may be encountered during clamping trials.

Reducing friction in crankshaft bearings during cold engine operation by heating the oil supply to the main gallery has been investigated through experimental investigations and computational modelling. The experimental work was undertaken on a 2.4l DI diesel engine set up with an external heat source to supply hot oil to the gallery. The aim was to raise the film temperature in the main bearings early in the warm up, producing a reduction in oil viscosity and through this, a reduction in friction losses. The effectiveness of this approach depends on the management of heat losses from the oil. Heat transfer along the oil pathway to the bearings, and within the bearings to the journals and shells, reduces the benefit of the upstream heating.

Current assembly systems that deal with large, complex structures present a number of challenges with regard to improving operational performance. Specifically, aerospace assembly systems comprise a vast array of interrelated elements interacting in a myriad of ways, resulting in a deeply complex process that requires a multi-disciplined team of engineers. The current approach to ramp-up production rate involves building additional main assembly fixtures which require large investment and lead times up to 24 months. Within Airbus Operations Ltd there is a requirement to improve the capacity and flexibility of assembly systems, thereby reducing non-recurring costs and time-to-market. Recent trends to improve manufacturing agility advocate Reconfigurable Assembly Systems (RAS) as a viable solution. Yet, adding reconfigurability to assembly systems further increases both the operational and design complexity.

The replacement for the current single-aisle aircraft will need to be manufactured at a rate significantly higher that of current production. One way that production rate can be increased is by reducing the processing time for assembly operations. This paper presents research that was applied to the build philosophy of the leading edge of a laminar flow European wing demonstrator. The paper describes the implementation of determinate assembly for the rib to bracket assembly interface. By optimising the diametric and the positional tolerances of the holes on the two bracket types and ribs, determinate assembly was successfully implemented. The bracket to rib interface is now secured with no tooling or post processes other than inserting and tightening the fastener. This will reduce the tooling costs and eliminates the need for local drilling, de-burring and re-assembly of the bracket to rib interface, reducing the cycle time of the operation.

Aerospace assembly systems comprise a vast array of interrelated elements interacting in a myriad of ways. Consequently, aerospace assembly system design is a deeply complex process that requires a multi-disciplined team of engineers. Recent trends to improve manufacturing agility suggest reconfigurability as a solution to the increasing demand for improved flexibility, time-to-market and overall reduction in non-recurring costs. Yet, adding reconfigurability to assembly systems further increases operational complexity and design complexity. Despite the increase in complexity for reconfigurable assembly, few formal methodologies or frameworks exist specifically to support the design of Reconfigurable Assembly Systems (RAS). This paper presents a novel reconfigurable assembly system design framework (RASDF) that can be applied to wing structure assembly as well as many other RAS design problems.

This paper considers a wide range of options for the allowing regeneration onto the aircraft bus for possible inclusion in future aircraft power quality specifications. For many loads, such as actuators, the size and weight of power converters could be significantly reduced if the requirement to avoid regeneration was removed from the specifications.

DISI engine emissions and fuel economy are strongly dependent upon fuel injection and spark timings, particularly when the engine is operating in stratified charge mode. Experimental studies of the effects of injection and spark timings and the interaction between these are described. The sensitivity of HC and NOx emissions to timings during stratified charge operation, the comparison of performance under stratified and homogeneous charge modes of operation and the rationale for mode switch point settings are investigated. The high sensitivity of emissions to injection and spark timing settings gives rise to potential robustness issues. These are described.

The paper will deal with the problem of establishing a desirable power sharing in multi-feed electric power system for future more-electric aircraft (MEA) platforms. The MEA is one of the major trends in modern aerospace engineering aiming for reduction of the overall aircraft weight, operation cost and environmental impact. Electrical systems are employed to replace existing hydraulic, pneumatic and mechanical loads. Hence the onboard installed electrical power increases significantly and this results in challenges in the design of electrical power systems (EPS). One of the key paradigms for future MEA EPS architectures assumes high-voltage dc distribution with multiple sources, possibly of different physical nature, feeding the same bus(es). In our study we investigate control approaches to guarantee that the total electric load is shared between the sources in a desirable manner. A novel communication channel based secondary control method is proposed in this paper.

Aircraft manufacturers desire to increase production to keep up with anticipated demand. To achieve this, the aerospace industry requires a significant increase in the manufacturing and assembly performance to reach required output levels. This work therefore introduces the Variation Aware Assembly (VAA) concept and identifies its suitability for implementation into aircraft wing assembly processes. The VAA system concept focuses on achieving assemblies towards the nominal dimensions, as opposed to traditional tooling methods that aim to achieve assemblies anywhere within the tolerance band. It enables control of the variation found in Key Characteristics (KC) that will allow for an increase in the assembly quality and product performance. The concept consists of utilizing metrology data from sources both before and during the assembly process, to precisely position parts using motion controllers.

High power density for aerospace motor drives is a key factor in the successful realization of the More Electric Aircraft (MEA) concept. An integrated system design approach offers optimization opportunities, which could lead to further improvements in power density. However this requires multi-disciplinary modelling and the handling of a complex optimization problem that is discrete and nonlinear in nature. This paper proposes a multi-level approach towards applying random heuristic optimization to the integrated motor design problem. Integrated optimizations are performed independently and sequentially at different levels assigned according to the 4-level modelling paradigm for electric systems. This paper also details a motor drive sizing procedure, which poses as the optimization problem to solve here. Finally, results comparing the proposed multi-level approach with a more traditional single-level approach is presented for a 2.5 kW actuator motor drive design.

The aerospace manufacturing sector is continuously seeking automation due to increased demand for the next generation single-isle aircraft. In order to reduce weight and fuel consumption aircraft manufacturers have increasingly started to use more composites as part of the structure. The manufacture and assembly of composites poses different constraints and challenges compared to the more traditional aircraft build consisting of metal components. In order to overcome these problems and to achieve the desired production rate existing manufacturing technologies have to be improved. New technologies and build concepts have to be developed in order to achieve the rate and ramp up of production and cost saving. This paper investigates how to achieve the rib hole key characteristic (KC) in a composite wing box assembly process. When the rib hole KC is out of tolerances, possibly, the KC can be achieved by imposing it by means of adjustable tooling and fixturing elements.

Airbus commercial wings are assembled manually in dedicated steel structures. The lead time to design, manufacture and commission these fixtures is often in excess of 24 months. Due to the nature of these fixtures, manufacturing is slow in responding to changes in demand. There is underused capacity in some areas and insufficient ramp-up speed where increased production rate is needed. Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems and Reconfigurable Assembly Systems (RAS) provide an approach to system design that provides appropriate capacity when needed. The aim of the paper is to review RAS technologies that are suitable for cost-effective wing structure assembly and what knowledge gaps exist for a RAS to be achieved. The paper examines successful cases of RAS and reviews relevant system design approaches. Cost savings are acknowledged and tabularised where demonstrated in research. The research gaps to realising a RAS for wing assembly are identified and different approaches are considered.

A computational model has been developed to support investigations of temperature, heat flow and friction characteristics, particularly in connection with warm-up behaviour. A lumped capacity model of the engine block and head, empirically derived correlations for local heat transfer and friction losses, and oil and coolant circuit descriptions form the core of the model. Validation of the model and illustrative results are reported.

Two methods of determining the rate of heat transfer from the combustion chamber have been investigated. A First Law analysis is shown to be ill-conditioned because of sensitivity to heat release and gas property calculations. An alternative approach equates cycle-averaged chamber heat transfer to the difference between heat rejected to the coolant and gas heat transfer to the exhaust port. This has been examined as a basis for calibrating the Woschni correlation.

The cycle-by-cycle variation of heat transferred per cycle (q) to the combustion chamber surfaces of spark ignition engines has been investigated for quasi-steady and transient conditions produced by throttle movements. The heat transfer calculation is by integration of the instantaneous value over the cycle, using the Woschni correlation for the heat transfer coefficient. By examination of the results obtained, a relatively simple correlation has been identified: This holds both for quasi-steady and transient conditions and is on a per cylinder basis. The analysis has been extended to define a heat flux distribution over the surface of the chamber. This is given by: where F(x/L) is a polynomial function, q″ is the heat transfer per cycle per unit area to head and piston crown surfaces and gives the distribution along the liner

Surface-mounted heat flux sensors have been used in the intake port of a fuel injected, spark ignition engine to investigate heat transfer between the surface, the gas flows through the port, and fuel deposited in surface films. The engine is of a four valve per cylinder design, with a bifurcated intake port. For dry-port conditions heat transfer per cycle varies between 0 and 300 J/m2 depending on location, towards the surface at low temperatures and away from the surface at fully-warm conditions. Particular attention has been given to the changes in heat transfer rate associated with fuel deposition. Typically this is of the order of 5 kW/m2 in regions of heavy fuel deposition and varies by a factor of 2 over the period of an engine cycle. During warm-up, as coolant temperature increases from 0 to 90°C, changes in heat transfer associated with fuel deposition typically increase from 300 J/m2 to 1000 J/m2.